YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE

EOIES OF THE NEW WORLD ;

IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.

FREDRIKA BREMER.
TRANSLATED BY MARY HOWITT.
" SING UNTO THE LORD A NEW SONG." — Psalm XCVl.
IN TWO VOLUMES,
YOL. I,

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
329 & 331 PEARL STREET,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1853.

TO THE READER.

The only excuse for troubling thee with so long a cor
respondence is, that if it had not been published in this
manner, it would not have been published at all. And
my excuse for publishing it at all is, that, for many rea
sons, I would not abstain from doing so.
In placing these letters in thy hand, dear reader, I
should wish that thy mind might be favorably disposed
toward them, or, at least, might not be in opposition to the
spirit in which these letters were first written. They need
it more than any thing which I have yet written, because,
I can not conceal it from myself, they suffer from — ego
tism — the offense of all autobiography. This, while it
may not offend the sympathetic feelings of a brother or
sister, may easily offend the stranger who does not partake
in them. Much, therefore, in the letters which referred
to myself, and which was personally agreeable to me, has
been omitted in their transcription for the press, but not
all, otherwise the ingenuous character of the letters must
have been sacrificed, together with the peculiar coloring
of my life and its circumstances in America. Much re
mains of that which individually pleased or annoyed me
— perhaps more than should have remained. While tran
scribing these letters, I have often been unable to realize
to myself that I was then preparing them for the public,
and not writing them merely to my sister," "my inner
most,"^ whom even the innermost might be revealed,

iv TO THE READER.
and the most childish things be spoken. As soon as I be
gan to write, that sister always stood before me, with her
mild, heavenly eyes, her indulgent smile, intercepting the
view of my unknown readers. I saw only her — I forgot
them. I know that I have often erred in this way, and
especially in the earlier portion of these collected letters,
during a time when illness rendered me weak, and weak
ness strengthened egotism. If I have allowed this illness
to remain too prominent in this portion of the letters, there
is, however, this excuse for it, that it is a malady which
is very prevalent in America, which is caused by the cli
mate, the general diet and mode of life, and against which
both natives and emigrants can not be sufficiently cau
tioned. And if I have said too much about this malady
and its causes, other authors, on the contrary, had said too
little. It is the most dangerous monster of the New World.
In extreme cases it leads to the mad-house or to death.
Happy they who know how to avoid it, or who, at the com
mencement, find, as I did, a good physician, who, by the
united powers of diet and medicine, is . able to avert the
malady before it gains too much ascendency.
I have, in the letters to my sister, preserved the endear
ing epithets as they were originally written, and which we
in Sweden make use of among relatives or dear friends ;
although many readers may think them somewhat child
ish, I can not help it. I have attempted to exclude them
and to substitute others more befitting, but I could not
succeed ; such appeared stiff, unnatural, and prosaic. Bet
ter the childish than the prosaic, thought I ; and the lit
tle words will, I trust, be overlooked for the sake of the'
great matter, which, without any merit of mine, is yet
contained in these letters.

TO THE READER. v
And if, dear reader, thou hast now and then patience
with the letter-writer when she speaks in sickness of body,
or in the foolishness of affection, thou wilt be rewarded by
being led, in her healthier arid stronger moments, as by a
sisterly hand, into a more familiar and cordial intimacy
with that great country beyond the Atlantic, with its peo
ple, its homes, and its inner life, than might otherwise
have been the case ; and this thou wilt find is worth all
the trouble.
I know the faults of my work, a knowledge often pain
ful to me, better than my reader, or any one else. And
this knowledge would depress me, if I did not know, at
the same time, that all which is best in this work will con
tribute in bringing nearer to each other the good homes
of the New World, and the good homes of Europe, and,
above all, those of my native land ; in bringing the noble,
warm hearts there nearer to those which beat here, and
thus, as far as I am able, aid in knitting together the
beautiful bonds of brotherhood between widely-sundered
nations. Mayst thou, dear reader, feel the same, and let this rec
oncile thee to the Letter-writer.

TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS.

Stockholm, May, 1853.
These letters were written in your homes while I lived
there with you, as a sister with her brothers and sisters
— in the North, in the West, in the South of your great
country. They were written during familiar intercourse
with you. And without you they would not have been
what they now are, for without you I could not have be
come acquainted with the Homes of the New World, nor
have been able, from your sacred peaceful hearths, to con
template social life beyond. To you, therefore, I inscribe
these letters. They will bear witness to you of me, and
of my life among you. You said to me,
" We hope that you will tell us the truth." ""
You wished nothing else from me. I have endeavored
to fulfill your wishes. Be you my judges !
That which I saw and found in the New World has been
set down in these letters. They are, for the most part,
outpourings from heart to heart — from your homes to my
home in Sweden. When I wrote, I little thought of com
mitting them to the press, little thought of writing a book
in America, least of all in these letters, and of that they
bear internal evidence. Had such a thought been present
with me, they would have been different to what they
are ; they would have been less straightforward and nat
ural ; more polished, more attired for company, but wheth
er better — I can not say. My mind in America was too
much occupied by thoughts of living to think of writing
about life. Life was overpowering.
The idea of writing letters on America did not occur to

Viii TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS.
me until I was about to leave the great land of the West,
and the feeling became more and more strong in me, that
what I had seen and experienced during these two years'
journeyings was not my own property alone, but that I
had a duty to fulfill as regarded it. I had, it is true, a
presentiment from the first that the great New World
would supply me with many subjects for thought, to be
made use of at some future time, perhaps even in books,
but in what manner, in what books — of that I had no dis
tinct idea. I confess to you that I went about in Amer
ica with the thought of metamorphosing the whole of
America in — a novel, and you, my friends, into its heroes
and heroines, but that with such subtle delicacy that
none of you should be able to recognize either America or
yourselves. But the realities of your great country could not be
compressed into a novel. The novel faded away like a
rainbow in the clouds, and the reality stood only the
stronger forward, in all its largeness, littleness, pleasant
ness, sorrow, beauty, completeness, manifold and simple —
in one word, in all its truth ; and I felt that my best
work would be merely a faithful transcript of that truth.
But how that was to be accomplished I did not clearly
know when I left America.
" You will understand, you will know it all when you
are at home !" frequently said that precious friend who
first met me on the shore of the New World, whose home
was the first into which I was received, whom I loved to
call my American brother, and who beautified my life
more than I can tell by the charm of his friendship, by
the guidance of his keen intellect, and his brotherly kind
ness and care ; whose image is forever pictured in my
soul in connection with its most beautiful scenes, its ro
mantic life, its Indian summer, and, above all, its High
land scenery on that magnificent river, where he had
built his delightful home, and now — has his grave ! Yet

TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS. ix
no, not alone in connection with these pictures does he
live before me ; time and space do not contain a charac
ter such as his. To-day, as yesterday, and in eternity,
shall I perceive his glance, his voice, his words, as they
were once present with me ;¦ they are united with all that
is beautiful and noble in the great realm of creation. His
words are a guide to me as well in Sweden as they were
in America. I love to recall every one of them.
" You will know it all when you come into your own
country," said he, with reference to many questions, many
inquiries, which at my departure from America were dark
to my understanding.
The thought of publishing the letters which I had writ
ten home from America, as they first flowed from my pen
on the paper, or as nearly so as possible, did not occur to
me until several months after my return, when with a
feeble and half unwilling hand I opened these letters to a
beloved sister who was now no longer on earth. I con
fess that the life which they contained reanimated me,
caused my heart to throb as it had done when they were
written, and I could not but say to myself, " These, the
offspring of the moment and warm feeling, are, spite of
all their failings, a more pure expression of the truth
which my friends desire from me, and which I wish to
express, than any which I could write with calm reflec
tion and cool hand." And I resolved to publish the let
ters as they had been inspired by the impression of the
moment, and have, on their transcription, merely made
some omissions and occasional additions. The additions
have reference principally to historical and statistical facts
which I found passingly touched upon in the letters or in
my notes, and which are now amplified. The omissions
are of such passages as refer to my own affairs or those
of others, and which I considered as of too private or too
delicate a nature to bear publicity. I have endeavored,
in my communications from private life, not to overstep
A3

x TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS.
the bounds which a sense of honor and delicacy prescribed,
nor to introduce any thing which it would be undesirable
to publish, either as regarded confidential communication
or the names of individuals. I am deeply sensible of the
requirements of delicacy in this respect, and nothing would
be more painful to me than to feel that from want of due
circumspection I had failed herein.
I fear, nevertheless, that some of my friends may feel
their delicacy wounded by the praise which I could not
always withhold. They must forgive me for my love's
sake !
I have lived in your country and your homes with no
ordinary affection ; your homes received me there in no
ordinary manner. If the heaped-up measure sometimes
ran over, it was less my fault than — yours. Ah ! the
deeds of selfishness and of hatred ring every day in our
ears with the names of those who practice them. Let us
preserve, then, other names to be conveyed round the
world on the wings of spring and love, that like a heav
enly seed they may take root in the earth, and cause all
the best feelings of the soul to blossom. The heart some
times is ready to doubt of goodness and its power on earth
— :it must see before it can believe. I would hereby aid
it in this respect. I have spoken of you.*
The best, the most beautiful, in your hearts and in your
homes, has, after all, not been revealed. I know that with
in the human heart and home, as in the old temple of the
older covenant, there is a holy of holies upon whose gold
en ark the countenances of the cherubim may alone gaze
and read the tables of the covenant.
I have followed my own convictions in that which I
have censured or criticised in your country and your peo-
* In the English and American editions the initials of the names are
merely given, where the names helong to private individuals. I have
however, considered this veiling of my friends to be superfluous in the
¦Swedish, where in any case their names merely sound as a remote echo

TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS. xl
pie. That which I myself have seen, heard, experienced,
felt, thought, that have 1 written, without fearing any
thing, excepting any error as regards truth and justice.
But when you read these letters, my friends, have pa
tience, if possible, till the end ; and remember that these
are often the impression of the moment, which later im
pressions mature or change.
Consider them as digits, which you must go through
before you are able to combine them into a whole. Four
of the letters, those, namely, to H. C. Orsted, to- 1. P. Bbck-
lin, to her majesty the Q,ueen Dowager of Denmark, and
to H. MaTtensen, are to be regarded as resting-places by
the way, from which the ground which has been passed
over is reviewed,' and the path and the goal reflected upon.
Some repetitions occur in these, which it was not possible
to avoid. I fear that some repetition may also be found
in the other letters, and it might have been avoided.
But 
From you, my friends, I hope for that truth before
\hich it is pleasant to bow even when it is painful.
Wherever I have erred, wherever I have formed a wrong
judgment, I hope that you will freely correct me. I know
that you will acknowledge all that which is good and true
in what I have written. I fear from you no unjust judg
ment. It seems to me that I have found among you the
gentlest human beings, without weakness ; therefore I
love to be judged by you.
I here return to your beautiful homes as a spirit, re
minding you of the stranger whom you received as a
guest, and who became a friend, to converse with you of
former days spent on your hearths, to thank and to bless
you, and not merely you, whose guest I was, but the many
who benefited me in word or deed, the warm-hearted, no
ble-minded, all those who let me drink the morning dew
of a new, a more beautiful creation, that elixir of life
which gives new, youthful life to heart and mind, Words

Xii TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS.
are poor, and can only feebly express the feelings of the
soul. May, however, somewhat of the life's joy which you
afforded me again breathe forth from these letters to you,
and convey to you a better expression of thanks than that
which can here be uttered by,
Your guest and friend,
Fredrika Bremer.

THE

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

LETTER I.
ON THE SEA.

Septemher 23d, 1849.
This is, dearest Agatha, my second day on the great
ocean ! And if the voyage goes on as it has begun I shall
not soon long for land. The most glorious weather, the
heaven and the sea full of light, and for a habitation on
my voyage to the New World a cabin large and splen
did as a little castle, and besides that, convenient in the
highest degree. And how I enjoy my quiet, uninterrupted
life here on board, after the exciting days in England,
where the soul felt itself as on a rack, while the body
hurried hither and thither in order to see and accomplish
that which must be seen and accomplished before I was
ready for my journey ! For it was requisite to see a little
of England, and especially of London, before I saw Amer
ica and New York. I did not wish to be too much over
come by New York, therefore I would know something of
the mother before I made acquaintance with the daugh
ter, in order to have a point and rule of comparison, that I
might correctly understand the type. I knew that Sweden
and Stockholm were of another race, unlike the English
country, and towns, people, manners, mode of building,
and so on. But England had in the first place given pop
ulation, laws, and tone of mind to the people of the New
World. It was the Old World in England which must be-
A

2 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
come my standard of judgment as regarded the New. For
that reason I came first to England, and to England I
shall, please G-od, return when I have finished my pil
grimage on the other side of the ocean, in order to obtain
a more decided impression, to form a conclusive judgment
before I return home. We will expound together the runes
in the native land of runic lore.
Now, however, I know what London looks like, and I
shall not be amazed by the buildings of New York.
To-day, Sunday, has been to me really a festival day.
We have had divine service on board, and that was good
and beautiful. The passengers, about sixty in number,
together with the crew of the vessel, all in their best at
tire, assembled in the great saleon on deck. The captain,
a brisk, good-looking young officer, read the sermon and
prayers, and read them remarkably well. The whole as
sembly joined in the prayers and responses, as is custom
ary in the English Episcopal Church. The sun shone in
upon that gay assembly, composed of so many different
nations. To be so solitary, so without countrymen, kindred, or
friends in this assembly, and yet to know myself so pro
foundly united with all these in the same life and the
same prayer — " Our Father, which art in heaven !" — it
affected me so much that I wept (my usual outlet, as you
know, for an overflowing heart, in joy as in grief). The
captain thought that I needed cheering, and came to me
very kindly after the service. But it was not so. I was
happy. Since then I have walked on deck, and read a poem
called " Evangeline," a tale of Acadia, by the American
poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem belongs
to America, to its history and natural scenery. There is
much dramatic interest and life in it. The end, however
strikes me as melodramatic and somewhat labored. The
beginning, the descriptions of the primeval forests of the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 3
New World, the tall trees, which stand like the old Druids,
with long descending beards and harps, which sound and
lament in the wind, is glorious, and is a chord of that
fresh minor key which pervades the whole song, about the
peaceful, persecuted people of Acadia — a beautiful but
mournful romance, and founded upon history. This little
book was given to me by William Howitt on my departure
from England ; and thus I have to thank him for this my
first taste of American literature, in which I fancy I can
perceive a flavor of the life of the New World.
How pleasant it is to be able to read a little, and to be
able to lie and think a little also ! People here show me
every possible attention ; first one and then another comes
and speaks a few words to me. I answer politely, but I
do not continue the conversation ; I have no inclination
for it. Among the somewhat above fifty gentlemen who
are passengers on board, there is only one — a handsome
old gentleman — whose countenance promises any thing
of more than ordinary interest. Nor among the twelve
or thirteen ladies either is there any thing remarkably
promising or attractive, although some are very pretty
and clever. I am very solitary. I have an excellent cabin
to myself alone. In the day I can read there by the
light from the glass window in the roof. In the evening
and at night it is lighted by a lamp through a ground-
glass window in one corner.
People eat and drink here the whole day long ; table is
covered after table ; one meal-time relieves another. Ev
ery thing is rich and splendid. Yes, here we live really
magnificently ; but I do not like this superabundance,
and the eternally long dinners are detestable to me, all
the more so sitting against a wall between two gentlemen,
who are still as mice, and do nothing but eat, although
one of them, an Englishman, might converse very well if
he would. My passage-money is thirty-five sovereigns,
which includes every thing. Somewhat less in price,

4 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and somewhat less to eat and drink, would be more to
my taste.
Later. I have just seen the sun go down in the sea,
and the new moon and stars come forth. The North Star
and Charles's Wain have now gone farther from me ; but
just above my head I see the Cross and the Lyre, and
near them the Eagle, which we also see at home ; and
with these companions, by-the-way, I can not be other than
cheerful. We have the wind in our favor, and drive on
our thundering career with all sails set. If we continue
to proceed in this way, we shall make the voyage in from
twelve to thirteen days.
I hope, my sweet Agatha, that you regularly received
my two letters from England ; I sent the last from Liver
pool on the morning before I went on board. I was quite
alone there, and had to do and arrange every thing for
myself ; but all went on right. I had the sun with me,
and my little traveling fairy, and the last dear letters of
my beloved, my passport to the New World, and — to the
better world, if so be, for they are to me like a good
conscience. I say nothing about my good spirits, but
you know me, my darling : "Long live Hakon Jarl!"
Thursday. Five days at sea ! and we are already more
than half way to New York. We have had fair wind
without intermission, and if all goes on as it has begun
we shall make one of the most rapid and most prosper
ous voyages which has ever been made from Europe to
America. " But one must not boast till one has crossed
the brook." To-day, when the wind blew and the sea
heaved somewhat roughly, my style of writing became
somewhat like Charles XII.'s in his letter to "mon cceur."
I get on capitally, my little heart, and do not wish myself
away, so comfortable am I here, and so animating and
elevating appears to me the spectacle of heaven and earth.
Yes, the soul obtains wings therefrom, and raises herself
upward high above the roaring deep.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. g
For several days we have seen no other object than
heaven and sea, and circling sea-birds ; not a sail, nor the
smoke of a steamer. All is vacancy in that immense cir
cle of space. But the billows, and the sunbeams, and the
wandering clouds are sufficient company ; these and my
own thoughts. I stand and walk whole hours alone on
deck, and inhale the fresh, soft sea-air, watch one levia
than dive down and rise again from the roaring waves,
and let my thoughts dive down also, and circle round like
the sea-birds in the unknown distance. There was al
ways something of the life and joy of the Viking in me,
and it is so even now. Yesterday was a glorious day ; it
was throughout a festival of beauty, which I enjoyed un
speakably. In my early youth, when we were many in family, and
it was difficult to be alone, I used sometimes to go and lock
myself in that dark little room at Aersta, where mamma
keeps her keys, merely that I might feel myself alone, be
cause as soon as I was quite alone in that pitch darkness,
I experienced an extraordinary sensation — a sensation as
if I had wings, and was lifted up by them out of my own
being, and that was an unspeakable enjoyment to me.
That half-spiritual, half-bodily feeling is inexplicable to
me ; but it always returns when I am quite alone and al
together undisturbed by agitating thoughts, as is the case
at this time. I experience a secret, wonderful joy as I
stand thus alone among strangers, in the midst of the
world's sea, and feel myself to be free and light as a bird
upon the bough.
Yet it is not this feeling alone which gives me here
calmness, and, as it were, wings, but another, which I well
understand, and which is common to all alike as to me.
For whoever, when alone in the world or in heart, can from
his heart say, Our Father! — mine and all men's! — to
him will be given rest and strength, sufficient and immor
tal, merely through this consciousness.

6 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Out of the chaotic group of human countenances which
at first met my eyes here, a few figures have come near
er to me, and have acquired an interest for me through
glances, expression, or words. Among these is a tall, re
spectable clergyman from New York, by name John Knox,
and who seems to me to have a little of the historical Knox-
nature of stern Puritanism, although united to much be
nevolence. Besides him, a family from New York also,
consisting of an old lady, the mother, with her daughter
and son-in-law — a handsome young couple, who have for
their bridal tour visited, during eleven months, Egypt,
Greece, Italy, France, &c, without having, in the first in
stance, seen Niagara, or any of the natural wonders of their
own country, which I do not quite forgive in them. They
are now on their return, the old lady having gained the
knowledge " that all human nature is very much alike
throughout the world." This family, as well as Mr. Knox,
are Trinitarian, and will not concede that Unitarians are
Christians. There are also a couple of young ladies from Georgia.
One of them a handsome, married lady ; the other a very
pale young girl with delicate features, Hannah L  ,
clever, sensible, and charming, with whom it is a pleasure
for me to converse. Although belonging to a slavehold-
ing family, she condemns slavery, and labors at home to
make the slaves better and happier. She is consumptive,
and does not expect to live long ; but goes forward to meet
death with the most contented mind. One sees the fu
ture angel gleam forth from her eyes, but the suffering
mortal is seen in her delicate features.
Besides these, there are some elderly gentlemen with
respectable and trustworthy countenances, who assure me
that I shall find much pleasure in my journey throuo-h the
United States ; and, lastly, a couple of slaveholders, hand
some, energetic figures, who invite me to the South, and
assure me that I shall find the slaves there to be " the
most happy and most enviable population !"

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 7
The days pass on calmly and agreeably. The only ob
jection I have to the life on board the " Canada" is the ex
cess of eating and drinking.
Monday, October 1. The tenth day on board. It has
been somewhat less agreeable during the last few days :
stormy and rough. We had yesterday what they call " a
gale." I endeavored, but in vain, to stand on deck. I was
not made to be a sailor. We are near Newfoundland. We
steer so far northward to avoid the equinoctial storms on
the more southern ocean. But we have had contrary
winds, and considerable storms for some days, so that we
have not progressed as favorably as the commencement
promised. We shall not reach Halifax till to-morrow.
We shall put in there for a few hours and send our Euro
pean letters to the post (for this reason I am bringing mine
into order), after which we steer direct south to New York.
I am perfectly well ; have not been sea-sick for a mo
ment ; but can not deny but that it seems to me rather
unpleasant when, in the evening and at night, the waves
thunder and strike above our heads, and the vessel heaves
and strains. Fortunately, the ladies are all well and cheer
ful ; and in the evening three of them sing, two of whom
met here for the first time in the world, the " old lady,"
who, after all, is not so old — only about fifty — and who
has a splendid soprano voice, and the pale girl and her
friend, with their clear voices, sing hymns and songs re
markably well together. It is very charming and beauti
ful. The tones remain with me at night like consolatory
spirit- voices, like the moonlight on the swell of the waves.
Last night, when the sea was rough and there was even
some danger, when every movable thing was tumbled
about, and I thought of my home, and was in " a shock
ing humor," and acknowledged it even to my fellow-voy
agers, those three voices sang hymns so exquisitely till
about midnight, that every restless wave within me hush
ed itself to repose. To-day we have better weather and

8 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
wind, and are all in good spirits. Some little children,
however, are so sick that it is pitiable to see them. This
next night we shall come into dangerous water. One of
the great steamers, which goes between Europe and Amer
ica, struck amid the surf in the neighborhood of Halifax,
and suffered considerable damage. But we must manage
better than that. Our captain, Judkins, is considered to
be a remarkably skillful seaman. An excellent, good-
tempered, and kind-hearted man is he besides ; likes to
come and sit in the saloon with the ladies, tells them
stories, and plays with the children.
I read a deal here on board ; one can get through a
vast many books on such an occasion. I have read Cha
teaubriand's " Confessions," but without much pleasure.
What can one learn from an autobiography in which the
writer acknowledges that he will confess nothing about
himself which would be derogatory to his dignity? It
was in a manner different to this that St. Augustine wrote
his Confessions, regarding merely the external eye ; in a
different manner Rousseau, great and noble, at least in
his desire to confess to the truth. Thus will I sometimes
shrive myself ; for every object and every consideration is
mean, except this, the highest. Chateaubriand's French
vanity spoils, for me, his book ; nevertheless, I have re
tained some glorious descriptions, some occasional pro
found word or expression, as well as another fresh convic
tion of the weakness of human nature.
I have read here, also, Miss Martineau's " Life in the
East." I like to study pictures of the East, and of the
earliest period of the cultivation of our race in opposition
to the West — that promised land which I am approach
ing with a thousand questions in my soul. But I am dis
turbed in Miss Martineau's book by her evident endeavor
to force her own religious opinions upon the life and his
tory of antiquity. Some great and beautiful thoughts,
nevertheless, run through the book, like a refreshing

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 9
breeze. In them I recognize that noble spirit before
which I often bowed myself in awe, and before which 1
bowed last when reading her "Life in a Sick-room."
The calmest day we have yet had on board ! And this
calm is really beautiful after the last day's storm. Little
sparrows swarm around our vessel in the evening, with
greetings from land. They remind me of the birds which
brought to Columbus the first intelligence from the shores
of the New World. What must have been his state of
mind on seeing them !
To-morrow morning early we may set foot on American
soil at Halifax; but as we there fall in again with "Old
England," I take the matter coolly. I have been on deck
for a long time. Sea and sky are calm, and of an uniform
light gray, like the every-day life of the North. We leave
a broad, straight pathway behind us on the sea, which
seems to fade away toward the horizon.
I have been annoyed to-day by the behavior of some gen
tlemen to a little storm-driven bird which sought for rest
in our vessel. Wearied, it settled down here and there
upon our cordage, but was incessantly driven away, espe
cially by two young men, an Englishman and a Spaniard,
who seemed to have nothing to do but to teaze this poor
little thing to death with their hats and handkerchiefs.
It was distressing to see how it endeavored again and
again, upon its wearied wings, to follow the vessel, and
again panting to alight upon its cordage or masts, only
to be again driven away. I was childish enough to per
secute these young men with my prayers that they would
leave this poor little creature in peace. But it was to no
purpose, and, to my astonishment, neither did any of the
other passengers take the little stranger under their pro
tection. I called to mind that I had seen in Swedish
vessels little storm-driven birds treated differently — left
in peace, or fed with bread-crumbs. The end of the pur
suit here was, that after the bird had left its tail in the
A2

10 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
hand of one of its tormentors, it was soon taken ; it was
then put into a dark cage, where it died in a few hours.
I consider myself to be far from all excess of sensibility ;
but nothing angers me more, among human beings, than
unnecessary cruelty to animals ; and I know that a noble
human nature abhors it. For the rest, I deplored over
the cruel children in men's shape, because I believe in a
Nemesis even in little things ; and I believe that the hour
may come when these young men may long for rest, and
find none ; and that then that hunted bird may make
itself remembered by them. When I arrive in America,
one of my first visits shall be to the Quakers, because I
know that one of the beautiful traits of their religion is
mercy to animals.
I once was also a cruel child, when I did not understand
what suffering was, and what animals are. I received
my first lesson in humanity to animals from a young,
lively officer, who afterward died the death of a hero in
the war against Napoleon. Never shall I forget his re
proachful glance and tone, as he said to me, " The. poor
worm !" It is now more than thirty years since !
I shall, my dear heart ! write no more this time ; but
as soon as I reach New York I shall again write to you.
And that which I long for there, is to hear from home. It
is now so long since I had a letter.
Many feelings stir within me as I thus approach the
end of my voyage, feelings not easy to describe. What
will be the end of it ? That I do not know. One thing,
however. I know : that I shall see something new ; learn
something new ; forget that which was of old ; and press
onward to that which lies before me. There is much for
me to forget and to be renewed. And this, also, I know :
that friends will meet me in that foreign land ; and that
one faithful friend comes to meet me on the shore. That
is good !
Good-night, dear little sister. I embrace you and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. H
mamma — kind greetings to relations and friends — and
may she live in the New World as in the Old.
Your Fredrika.

LETTER II.
New York, October 4th, 1849.
Good-morning, little sister mine ! or, rather, good-even
ing in the New World, where I now set firm foot, after
thirteen days rocking on the sea. I am lodging in the
Astor House, one of the largest and best hotels of New
York, and where the inhabitants are as numerous as in
the capital of Iceland, namely, about five hundred.
Opposite to this Astor House I see a large so-called
museum, with fluttering banners and green shrubs on the
roof, and the walls covered with immense paintings, rep
resenting " The Greatest Wonders in the World," in im
mense, wonderful animals, and extraordinary human be
ings, all of which may be seen in the house. Among
these I observe a fellow who makes a summerset aloft in
the air out of the yawning jaws of a whale ; a " salto mor-
tale" like the salt-prophet, Jonas ; and many such like
curiosities, which are still further trumpeted forth by a
band of musicians from a balcony before the house. They
play very well, and the whole looks very merry.
In front of the Astor House is a green space inclosed
with trees, and in the centre a large fountain, which has
a refreshing appearance, and there I have refreshed my
self by walking an hour this afternoon. Astor House is
situated in Broadway, the great high-street and thorough
fare of New York, where people and carriages pour along
in one incessant stream, and in true republican intermix
ture. Long lines of white and gilded omnibuses wind
their way at an uninterrupted rapid rate, as far as one
can see, amid thousands of other vehicles, great and small.

12 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The broad side-paths are thronged with people of all class
es; there are beautiful houses, and houses under erection ;
splendid shops, and a heap of horrible rubbish. There is
something confused in this Broadway which makes one
feel a little bewildered in the beginning. And thus, in
the first place, I merely think of getting across the street
alive. That beautiful little green plot, with its lovely
fountain, seems to me, beside the bustling Broadway, like
an oasis in the agitated sand.
I must now say something of my arrival here.
I last left you the day before we reached Halifax. That
night was the end of any danger in our voyage ; for it
was during a thick mist that we approached the shore
and its dangerous surf. We were obliged every now and
then to lie still. In the morning, however, we were at
Halifax, and I saw the surf billows, like some unknown,
enormous sea-creatures, heave themselves, roaring at a
distance around us. I went on shore at Halifax, but only
to meet again the worst features of the Old World, fog,
rags, beggars, dirty, screaming children, wretched horses,
and such like. I was glad to stay only a few hours there.
The following day we took our course direct to New
York ; that was a real enjoyment — warm weather, a calm
sea, favorable wind, and in the evening the ocean full of
phosphoric light and stars, and heaven full of stars also,
shining out from amid poetical clouds. It was a glorious
evening. I was on deck till quite late, and watched the
fire- works which our keel called forth from the deep along
the whole track of the ship. We sailed, as it were, in an
element of bright silver, from which the most splendid
constellation of golden stars sprang forth incessantly.
The day before had been cloudy, the heavens and the
sea had been gray, the waves lead-colored ; but when we
came into the large, beautiful haven of New York which
inclosed us like an open embrace, the sun broke through
the clouds strong and warm, and every thing far around

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 13
was illuminated. It was a glorious reception by the New
World ; besides this, there was a something so singularly
full of vitality, so exuberantly young, which struck me
deeply : there was in it something of that first life of
youth, such as is felt at fifteen or sixteen. I drank in the
air as one might drink in water, while I stood on deok
looking out upon the new shore which we were rapidly
approaching. The shore is low. A forest of masts, as yet, hid New
York from my sight ; one only saw its towers and its
smoke ; and right and left in the harbor lay, with its green
hills, and groups of beautiful villas and houses, the large
islands, Long Island, and to the left, Staten Island, which
seemed to me higher and more woody than the rest of the
coast. The harbor is magnificent ; and our arrival was
festively beautiful, thanks to sun and wind !
A very agreeable family, of the name of B  , from
Georgia, took charge of me and mine with the utmost
kindness, and I accompanied them to the Astor House,
where we immediately obtained rooms. The pale girl and
myself took up our quarters in a room four stories high ;
we could not manage it otherwise.
I had not been a quarter of an hour in the Astor House,
and was standing with my traveling companions in a par
lor, when a gentleman dressed in black, with a refined,
gentlemanly appearance and manner, and a pair of the
handsomest brown eyes I ever saw, approached me gently,
and mentioned my name in a remarkably melodious voice :
it was Mr. Downing, who had come from his villa on the
Hudson to meet me on my arrival. I had scarcely expect
ed that, as I was so much after my time, and he had al
ready made a journey to New York on my behalf in vain.
His exterior and his whole demeanor pleased me greatly.
I do not know why, but I had imagined him to be a mid
dle-aged man, with blue eyes and light hair ; and he is a
young man, about thirty, with dark eyes and dark hair,

14 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of a beautiful brown, and softly curling — in short, of quite
a poetical appearance ! He will remain here with me over
to-morrow ; but he insists upon it that on the following
day I shall accompany him to his house on the Hudson,
where I can make the acquaintance of his wife at my leis
ure, in the Highlands of the Hudson, as well as consider
over my future traveling movements.
I have spent the evening, with my friends from the
" Canada" and Mr. Downing, in one of the many large
drawing-rooms of the house, and there made various ac
quaintances. Magnificent drawing-rooms with furniture
of velvet, with mirrors and gilding brilliant with gas-light
ed, magnificent chandeliers, and other grandeur, -stand open
in every story of the house for ladies and gentlemen who
live here, or who are visiting here, to converse or to rest,
talking together on soft and splendid sofas or arm-chairs,
fanning themselves, and just as if they had nothing else to
do in the world than to make themselves agreeable to one
another. Scarcely can a lady rise, than immediately a
gentleman is at hand to offer her his arm.
October 5th. Uf ! If is more wearisome here than any
body can believe ; and I am quite tired out after one day
of lion-life here.
Through the whole day have I had nothing to do but
to receive visits ; to sit or to stand in a grand parlor, and
merely turn from one to another, receiving the salutations
and shaking hands with sometimes half a dozen new ac
quaintance at once — gentlemen of all professions and all
nations, ladies who invite me to their house and home,
and who wish that I would go immediately ; besides a
number of letters which I could do no more than merely
break open, requests for autographs, and so on. I have
shaken hands with from seventy to eighty persons to-day
while I was unable to receive the visits of many others.
Of the names I remember scarcely any, but the greater
number of the people whom I have seen please me from

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 15
their cordial, frank manners, and I am grateful to them
for their extreme friendliness toward me : it feels to me so
warm and hospitable. Nevertheless, I was very glad to
be relieved for a few hours from my good friends, and to
drive out with Mr. Downing to the beautiful Greenwood,
the large and new cemetery of New York, a young Pere
la Chaise, but on a more gigantic scale as to situation
and plan. One drives as if in an extensive English park,
amid hill and dale. From the highest hill, Ocean Hill, as
it is called, one looks out to the sea — a glorious view. I
should like to repose here. The most beautiful monu
ment which I saw was of white marble, and had been
erected by sorrowing parents over their young daughter
and only child. The young girl had been thrown from a
carriage. On our return to the hotel, I dined with Mr. Downing in
one of the smaller saloons. I saw some gentlemen sitting
at table, whom it was as distressing for me to look at as
it is to look at over-driven, worn-out horses, for so they
looked to me. The restless, deeply-sunk eyes, the excited,
wearied features, to what a life they bore witness ! Bet
ter lie and sleep on Ocean Hill than live thus on Broad
way ! These figures resembled a few of those which I had
seen at the Astor House ; but I had already seen on Broad
way both human beings and horses which I wished not to
have seen on the soil of the New World, and which test
ify to dark passages of life even there. And yet — how
should it be otherwise, especially at New York ? which
is rather a large hotel, a caravanserai for the whole world,
than a regular American city.
After dinner, I again received visitors ; among these,
Mrs. Child. She gave me the impression of a beautiful
soul, but too angular to be happy. The little poetess,
Miss Lynch, was among the visitors of the morning, an
agreeable, pretty, and intellectual young lady, in whose
countenance there is a look of Jenny Lind. I also saw

16 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
some of my countrymen. A pleasant young Swede, Fres-
tadius, came with a large bouquet. The Norwegian con
sul, Hejerdahl, Mr. Buttenskon, I had scarcely time for
more than merely to exchange a greeting with. Oneonius
came, also, from the West, and wished to talk with me,
that I might warn our countrymen against emigration and
its sufferings.
Among the invitations of to-day there was one to a
Phalanstery, situated in New Jersey, not far from New
York. I shall have no objection to make a nearer ac
quaintance with these wild beasts. The family which in
vited me thither on a visit to themselves did not seem at
all repulsive, but, on the contrary, attractive, so ingenu
ous, kind, and earnest did they appear.
But that which I am a little afraid of is, for myself at
least, lest life in this country should be like this of to
day ; then I should be regularly worn out, for my strength
could never stand against these many lively people. What
is to be done if it goes on in this way ? Fortunately, I
shall be conveyed away from New York early to-morrow
morning by the excellent Mr. Downing. This evening I
must, spite of my fatigue, drive to a soiree at the house of
Miss Lynch, who wishes to introduce me to some of her
literary friends. I am dressed for this purpose, have on
my best clothes, and look quite respectable in them, and
am writing while I wait for the carriage. Only to think
of those who are lying down to sleep !
I am still in joint quarters with the pale young girl from
the South ; I have never seen any one with so serene a
mind, or one who meets suffering so cheerfully. She is a
quiet, pious being, endowed with great strength and ten
derness of soul.
I must now go ! Good-night !
Newburgh, on the Hudson, October 7th.
Sunday. My sweet sister, my sweet friend ! how glad

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 17
I am to' be here in the young, New World ; how thank
ful I am to Providence, who, in his mercy, through the
impulse of mind and of steam, brought me happily hither,
although I am, at the same time, almost as much burden
ed as elevated by the crowd of impressions and thoughts
which, as it were, rush in upon me at once.
Every thing of which I have had a foretaste, which I
have sought after and longed for, do I meet with here, and
more than that. I mean nourishment and light for the
inquiring and searching spirit within me. I consider my
self especially fortunate in coming in contact with Mr.
Downing, a noble and acutely discriminating spirit, a true
American, yet without blind patriotism, an open heart, a
critically sagacious intellect, one who can assist me to un
derstand the condition and the questions of this country.
And with such assistance it is very requisite to begin.
It was also requisite that I should really be released
bodily from my friends of the Astor House and New York,
who otherwise would have made an end of me in the be
ginning. I was so weary of that first day's labor in so
cial life, which lasted till long after midnight, and was so
much in want of rest and sleep, that I did not believe it
possible for me to set off from New York at five o'clock
the next morning. I said so to Mr. Downing, who very
mildly, yet decidedly, remarked, "Oh, we must endeavor
to do so !" on which I thought to myself, " these Ameri
cans believe that every thing is possible !" but feeling, at
the same time that the thing was quite impracticable.
And yet at half past four the next morning I was up and
ready dressed, kissed in her bed the pale girl from the
South, who at the last moment tied round my neck a lit
tle silk handkerchief, as delicate and white as herself, and
then hastened down to place myself under the tyranny of
Mr. Downing. The carriage was already at the door, and
seated in it I found Miss Lynch, whom Mr. Downing had
invited to pass the Sunday at his house.

18 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" Go ahead ! New World !" cried the servant at the
door of the hotel to our driver ; and we rolled away down
Broadway to the harbor, where the great steam-boat, the
" New World," received us on board. This was really a
little floating palace, splendid and glittering with white
and gold on the outside, splendid and elegant within : large
saloons, magnificent furniture, where ladies and gentlemen
reclined comfortably, talking or reading the newspapers.
I saw here none of Dickens' smoking and spitting gen
tlemen. We floated proudly and smoothly on the broad,
magnificent Hudson. It was a pity that the day was
rainy, because the voyage was, excepting for this, one of
the most beautiful which any one can conceive, especially
when, after a few hours' time, we reached what are called
the Highlands. The shores, with their boldly wood-cov
ered heights, reminded me continually of the shores of the
Dala and the Angermanna Rivers, nay, seemed to me to be
long to the same natural conformation, excepting that here
it was broader and on a larger scale ; and the dark clouds
which hung between the hills in heavy draperies above
the river were in perfect harmony with the gloomily beau
tiful passes through which we swung, and which pre
sented at every new turn new and more magnificent pic
tures. The river was full of life. Wooden-roofed steam
boats, brilliant, as ours, with gold and white, passed up
and down the river. Ofher steam-boats drew along with
them flotillas of from twenty to thirty boats, laden with
goods from the country to New York, while hundreds of
smaller and larger craft were seen skimming along past
the precipitous shores like white doves with red, fluttering
neck-ribbons. On the shores shone forth white country-
houses and small farms. I observed a great variety in
the style of building : many of the houses were in the"
Gothic style, others like Grecian temples ; and why not t
The home ought to be a temple as well as a habitation
and a store-house. Also in our old north was the house-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 19
place, a sacred room in which the household gods were to
be worshiped. I saw also that there was every variety
of church on the shores ; the prevailing color being white.
Many private houses, however, were of a soft gray and
of a sepia tint. During the latter part of the journey, the
clouds came down upon us, and we became perfectly wet.
But with the agreeable Miss Lynch and Mr. Downing it
was an easy thing to preserve sunshine in temper and in
conversation. After a sail of between three and four hours, we landed
at the little town of Newburgh, where Mr. Downing's car
riage awaited to convey us up the hills to a beautiful villa
of sepia-colored sandstone, with two small projecting tow
ers, surrounded by a park : lying high and open, it has a free
view over the beautiful river and its shores. A delicate,
pretty little woman met us at the door of the house, em
braced Mr. Downing, and cordially welcomed his guests.
This was Mrs. Downing. She seemed to be of a bird-like
nature ; and we shall get on and twitter together charm
ingly, because I too have something of that nature
about me.
The Astor House and its splendid rooms, and social life
and the " New World" steamer, with all its finery, were
good specimens of the showy side of the life of the New
World ; and Mr. Downing said that it was quite as well
that I should at once have seen something of it, that I
might the better be able to form an opinion of the other
side of life here — of that which belongs to the inward,
more refined, peculiar, individual development. And I
could not easily have a better specimen of this than in Mr.
Downing himself and his home. He has built his house
himself. It .was himself who planted all the trees and
flowers around it ; and every thing seems to me to bear the
stamp of a refined and earnest mind. It stands in the
midst of romantic scenery, shadowy pathways, the pretti
est little bits of detail and splendid views. Every thing

20 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
has been done with design — nothing by guess, nothing
with formality. A soul has here felt, thought, arranged.
"Within the house there prevails a certain darkness of tone :
all the wood-work of the furniture is brown ; the daylight
even is dusk, yet nevertheless clear, or, more properly, full
of light — a sort of imprisoned sunshine, something warm
and deep ; it seemed to me like a reflection of the man's
own brown eyes. In the forms, the furniture, and the ar
rangement prevails the finest taste ; every thing is noble
and quiet, and every thing equally comfortable as it is
tasteful. The only things which are brilliant in the rooms
are the beautiful flowers in lovely vases and baskets. For
the rest, there are books, busts, and some pictures. Above
small book-cases, in the form of Gothic windows, in the
walls of Mr. Downing's parlor, stand busts of Linnaeus,
Franklin, Newton, and many other heroes of natural sci
ence. One sees in this habitation a decided and thorough
individuality of character, which has impressed itself on
all that surrounds it. And in this -way ought every one
to form himself and his own world. One feels here Mr.
Downing's motto, "11 buono e el bello." In food, in fruits,
as well as in many small things, prevails a certain amount
of luxury, but which does not make any outward show ;
it exists, as it were, concealed in the inward richness and
exquisite selection of the thing itself. I did not expect
to have met with this kind of home in the young New
World. Since I have been here, it has rained and blown inces
santly, and I am quite appalled at the climate. It could
hardly be worse with us in October. But not the less
happy do I esteem myself for having come to so good a
home. My room is in the upper story, and has a magnif
icent view over the Hudson and the hills on the other side
of the river.
I thought that I should be here, for a time at least, free
from visitors. But no ! Last evening, as I sat with my

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 21
friends in their peaceful parlor, there came, amid the dark
ness, the storm, and the rain, Professor Hart, the editor of
Sartain's " Union Magazine," in Philadelphia, who imme
diately, on the announcement of my arrival in the news
papers, had traveled from Philadelphia to New York, and
from New York had followed me hither, merely, he said,
to "monopolize" me for his magazine, begging me to write
for it, and for none other, during my visit to America. So
much for American enterprise in matters of business. For
the rest, there was so much gentlemanly refinement in
his manner, and a something so benevolently good and
agreeable in his pale, delicate countenance, that I could
not help taking a fancy to him, and giving him my word
that if I should write any thing for publication in Amer
ica I would leave it in his hands. But I doubt whether
I shall write any thing here : here I have need to think
and to learn.
Monday, the 8th of October. To-day the sun shines
above the lordly Hudson, which flows at my feet ; and I
should feel myself happy with my thoughts and my Amer
ican books, were not the stream of visitors again in mo
tion, taking up my time and my attention. I must beg
of the Downings to defend my forenoon hours, and during
them not to allow me to be called from my cage ; if not,
I shall become a savage lion, instead of a tame lioness, as
they would have me, and as is most becoming to my dis
position. I feel myself particularly happy with the Down
ings, and I am able to learn very much from Mr. Down
ing, whose individuality of character strikes me more and
more. There is something of a quiet melancholy in him,
but he has an unusually observant glance, a critical, and
rather sarcastic turn of mind, the result of a large compre
hension. He is silent, but one of those silent persons from
whom one seems to hear profound wisdom, though not a
word is said. His mind is in a high degree receptive and
discriminating, and the conversation of all is interesting

22 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
to him. His wife is a charming, merry, and amiable little
creature, of a highly cultivated mind, and equal to her
husband. I have to-day, at the suggestion of Mr. Downing, writ
ten to Professor Bergfalk to invite him hither. Professor
Bergfalk is at this time at Poughkeepsie, a few Swedish
miles up the country, where he is perfecting himself in the
use of the English language. I consider it is a particu
larly fortunate thing for me to be able now and then, dur
ing my stay here in this country, to meet and to converse
with Bergfalk ; and I wish him to make Mr. Downing's
acquaintance, and for Mr. Downing to become acquainted
with Bergfalk, that he may know how interesting a Swed
ish learned man can be.
Now receive a large, cordial embrace across the great
ocean for mamma and you !
P.S. — I must tell you that among my invitations is one
to a wedding in the neighborhood. I shall gladly accept it.
I like to see brides and weddings.
In my next letter I shall speak of my plans and of my
route for the future : at present they are not wholly de
cided ; further than that I wish to spend the winter in
Boston — the American Athens — and there, as far as I can,
come to a knowledge of the intellectual movements in the
life of the New World. In the first place, it is a good
thing for me to spend about three weeks with the Down
ings, and to make excursions with them to some of their
friends on the Hudson — "some of the best people in the
country," as they say. Among these is Washington Irving,
who, together with Fennimore Cooper, was the first who
made us in Sweden somewhat at home in America. Miss
Sedgwick is expected here in a few days. I shall be glad
to see her, and thank her for the pleasure we have had in
her "Redwood" and " Hope Leslie." If I could only have
a little time for myself ! The difficulty to me is to be able
to receive all the kind people who hasten to me from far

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 23
and near, from different states and towns. But although
I can but imperfectly respond to their good-will, yet I am
not the less heartily grateful for it ; and never shall I for
get how, on the very first day of my arrival in New York,
more than half a dozen homes were opened to me, where
I might have been received as guest and member of the
family ; and the number of these homes increase daily.
I have even had invitations from Quakers. Would that I
could have accepted one fifth of these !

LETTER III.
On the Hudson, October 11th, 1849.
My dear Heart ! — We went to the wedding at nine
o'clock in the morning. We drove to the house of the bride
in pouring rain. All the guests, about a hundred in num
ber, were already assembled. The bride's father, an el
derly gentleman of a remarkably agreeable appearance,
offered me his arm to lead me into the room where the
marriage was to take place. It was the only daughter of
the house who was to be married. The elder sister had
been dead about a year, and that the mother still grieved
for her loss might be seen by her pale, sorrowful counte
nance. The wedding company was very silent. One
might rather have believed one's self in a house of mourn
ing than at a joyful festival. And as the eldest daughter
had died soon after her marriage, and* in consequence of
it, namely, when she was about to become a mother, it
was not without cause that this festival was regarded with
serious thoughts.
Ladies and gentlemen were introduced to me one after
another, and then again the whole circle became silent.
Presently it was whispered round that the marriage cere
mony was about to commence. A door opened, and a
young gentleman entered, leading in a young lady in her

24 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
bonnet and traveling dress. They took their places side
by side at the bottom of the room, a venerable old clergy
man stepped forward to the young couple, and — they were
united in holy wedlock forever by a short prayer, a short
admonition, and a short benediction. Friends and rela
tions then came forward, and kissed and congratulated the
new-married pair ; I also went forward, leaning on the fa
ther's arm, kissed the bride, and shook hands with the
young husband. He looked happy and perfectly self-pos
sessed. She also looked pleased, and, besides that, very
pretty ; nay, she would have appeared really handsome
if she had been in bridal attire, and not dressed as for a
journey, and that evidently less with regard to looking
handsome than to the rainy weather in which the new-
married couple would commence their journey through
life ; that is to say, immediately after the marriage cere
mony they would set sail for Niagara, and must therefore
hasten away to the steam-boat. Champagne and cake
was handed round.
One saw the bridal presents arranged upon a table ;
they were looked at, and each wedding guest received a
little pasteboard box, tied round with white ribbon, in
which was a piece of bride-cake. After that every one
set off, even the young couple, they to return, after a few
weeks' pleasure tour, to reside with the parents. It all
took place in the twinkling of an eye.
This marriage ceremony seemed to me characteristic of
that haste and precipitation for which I have often heard
the Americans reproached. Life is short, say they, and
therefore they hurry along its path, dispensing with all
needless forms and fashions which might impede the nec
essary business of life, and perform even this as rapidly
as possible, making five minutes suffice to be married in,
and receiving even the marriage benediction in traveling
costume, that they may instantly set off on a journey —
to Niagara, or somewhere else.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 25
But I must acknowledge that on this occasion it was
merely the form which was hurried. It was evident that
earnestness lay at the bottom of every heart, and even the
short marriage blessing bore the impression of deep and
solemn earnestness. One could easily see that it was not
a matter of jest, not a matter of passing interest, but one
of great importance. Many persons were affected ; some
wept — they thought, probably, of the former marriage in
this family. The old servant, a negro, who handed about
refreshments, had one of those countenances in which may
be read a whole volume of the inner life of the family, and
which shows that it is a life of affection, in which the serv
ant feels himself to be a member of the family.
Many people disapprove of these marriages in traveling
attire, and at the moment of setting out for a journey, and
insist on their being conducted with greater solemnity.
Nor are they the only customary mode here. They have
also evening marriages, when the bride is dressed pretty
much as with us, and every thing is conducted with about
the same solemnity, with the exception of exhibiting the
bride to the people, surrounded by lights, marshals, and
bridemaids, as is usual with us in Sweden, and I believe
in Sweden alone.
Saturday, Oct. 20th. I have not now written for sev
eral days ; the time having been occupied by many people,
and many engrossing engagements. I shall now, howev
er, note down the more important of the late occurrences.
Hitherto I have not received any letter. I long, I long,
so much !
I have greatly enjoyed this period of my new life, and
the Hesperian fruits ; and whether it is the effect of these
or of the New World's youthful, lively atmosphere (we
have had for some time the most beautiful weather), or of
the new impressions which daily flow in upon me, but I
feel the strings of life vibrate, as it were, more strongly, and
my pulse beat at times almost feverishly. I feel myself
B

26 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLTJ.
to be drinking nectar spiritually and bodily ; it is a divine
drink, but almost too potent for a weak mortal, at least as
an every-day beverage. The excess of social intercourse is
also too exciting, however charming and agreeable it may
be. Mr. and Mrs. Downing, who have no children, seem
to live for the beautiful and the agreeable in life amid a
select circle of friends and neighbors, who for the most
part reside on the lovely banks of the Hudson, and a
cheerful and unembarrassed social intercourse seems to
characterize the life of this circle. They are continually
visiting one another. The banks of the Hudson are now
in all the pomp of autumn, and the foliage of the woods
which clothe the shores and the heights, and which con
sist of a great variety of trees, is now brilliant with the
most splendid variation of color, from light yellow to in
tense scarlet ; but it is too gorgeous and chaotic a splendor
to be truly agreeable to my eye, which requires more uni
formity of color.
Of fruit there is here the greatest abundance ; the most
beautiful peaches, although their season is properly over ;
pears, plums, grapes — that is to say, hot-house grapes, and
many other. The Downings' table is ornamented every
day with a basket filled with the most glorious fruit —
really Hesperian — and beautiful flowers arranged with the
most exquisite taste. The breakfasts here, in the country,
are much more substantial than with us in Sweden. Be
sides coffee and tea, the table is supplied with fish, fresh
meat, buckwheat cakes, omelets, and so on. Besides
which, here is bread of Indian corn, and a kind of sweet
potato, which is peculiar to the country, and which is an
extremely good and palatable fruit. It is long, soft, and
mealy, yellow and very sweet. It is commonly brought
to table unpeeled, and is eaten with butter. At dinner
there is meat, in the same way as in England, together
with various vegetables and fruit peculiar to America. In
the afternoon but little is eaten ; they have commonly

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 27
tea, and bread and butter or tea-bread, and after that pre
served fruits, mostly peach, and cream. One custom,
which appears to me to be especially excellent, is to place
little tables beside the guests, one to each two persons,
before the tea is handed round. In this way people place
themselves together, two and two, and have the most de
licious little tete-a-tete, and that you know I am very fond
of. I can not converse well except when tete-a-tete.
My happiest hours here are those which I spend alone
in the forenoon, in my own room, with American books
which Mr. Downing lends me, and those passed in the
evening with my host and hostess, sitting in the little
darkened parlor with book-cases and busts around us, and
the fire quietly glimmering in the large fireplace. There,
by the evening lamp, Mr. Downing and his wife read to
me by turns passages from their most esteemed American
poets. The books I afterward carry with me up into my
chamber ; in this way I have become acquainted with
Bryant, Lowell, and Emerson, all of them representatives,
in however dissimilar a manner, of the life of the New
World. Bryant sings especially of its natural life, of its
woods, its prairies, its peculiar natural scenes and phenom
ena — and his song breathes the quiet, fresh inspiration of
natural life. One feels the sap circulating through the
growth of the tree, and the leaves shooting forth. His
" Thaunatopsis," or night song, is a largely conceived, al
though a short poem, in which the whole earth is regard
ed as a huge burial-place. Lowell is inspired by the
great social questions of the New World, by the ideal life
of the New World, which he calls forth into existence in
his songs about freedom, about the bliss of a free and
contented noble life, and about the honor and beauty of
labor. Again and again I beg Mr. Downing to read to
me that beautiful little poem, " The Poor Man's Son,"
which charms me by its melody, and by its impartial
spirit — which is moral melody, and by that cheerful truth

28 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
which it utters in the prospects for the poor man's son
on the soil of the New World. Would that I could trans
late for you that beautiful poem, and that Mr. Downing
could read it to you with his musical voice ! His little
wife, Caroline, prefers reading a short epic poem, called
" Sir Launfall's Vision." Lowell's ideas are purely moral,
and a deep vein of religious feeling runs through them.
One of his most beautiful songs, in which burns a strong
and noble patriotism, is directed against a political meas
ure in Congress favorable to the maintenance of slavery
in the United States. By this and many anti-slavery
songs has this young poet taken his place among the
leaders of that great party in the country which calls it
self Abolitionist, and which insists upon the abolition of
slavery. He must express himself in verse — he does not
make the verse, he sings it, and in his song there is that
overflowing sentiment which makes the heart overflow,
and the mind spread forth her wings.
Emerson, rather a philosopher than poet, yet poetical
in his prose philosophical essays, strikes me as a new and
peculiar character, the most unusual of the three. He
seems to me as an American Thorild, who, by his own
strong, powerful nature, would transform the world, seek
ing for law and inspiration merely within his own breast. -
Strong and pure, self-collected and calm, but at the same
time fantastical, he puts forth from his transcendental
point of view aphorisms on nature and history, on God
(whom he does not regard as a personal God, but as a
superior soul in harmony with laws) and on men, criti
cising men and their works from the ideal of the highest
truth and the highest beauty. "The world," says Emer
son, " has not seen a man," and he looks forward with
longing to that man, the man of the New World, in whose
advent he believes. What this new man shall really be,
and what he is to do, is somewhat undecided — merely
that he shall be true and beautiful, and further, I suspect,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 29
he must be very handsome and tall of stature, if he is to
find favor with Emerson, who is himself, they say, a man
of singular beauty, and who regards any personal defect
as a sort of crime. The new man regards no laws but
those within his own breast ; but there he finds' the un-
falsified wells of truth and beauty. The new man believes
in himself alone ; he demands every thing from himself,
and does all for himself, reposes upon himself and in him
self. The new man is a stoic, but not stern as such ; he
is beautiful and gentle. Wherever he comes, life blooms :
in the circle of friends it becomes as a holy day ; nectar
and ambrosia pour forth at his approach ; but he himself
needs no friend. He needs none, not even God ; he himself
becomes god-like, inasmuch as that he does not need him.
He conquers heaven, inasmuch as he says to heaven, " I
desire thee not '." He descends down into nature as a re
storer, governs and places it under the spell of his influence,
and it — is his friend.' In it he has that which suffices him ;
the divinities of the woods whisper to him their peace and
their self-sufficingness ; there is not a mole-hill which has
not a star above it ; there is no sorrow which the healing
life of nature can not heal. He says farewell to the proud
world ; he tramples upon the greatness of Rome and. Greece
in this little rural home, where he in the trees can see God.
Emerson's language is compressed and strong, simple, but
singularly plastic. His turns of thought are original ; old
ideas are reproduced in so new and brilliant a manner, that
one fancies them heard for the first time. The divining-
rod of genius is in his hand. He is master in his own
domain. His strength seems to me peculiarly to be that
of the critic, a certain grand contempt^and scorn of the
mediocre of the weak and paltry wherever he sees it, and
he sees it in much and in many things. He chastises it
without mercy ; but, at the same time, with wonderful
address. Emerson's performances in this way are really
quite regal. They remind me of our King Gustavus Adol-

30 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
phus the Great, when he took the criminal soldier by the
hair and delivered him over to punishment, with the
friendly words,' " Come, my lad, it is better that thy body
now suffer chastisement than that thy soul go to hell."
Yet there is more in Emerson even than the intention of
chastisement. The writings of this scorner of imperfec
tion, of the mean and the paltry, this bold exacter of per
fection in man, have for me a fascination which amounts
almost to magic-! I often object to him ; I quarrel with
him ; I see that his stoicism is one-sidedness,. his pan
theism an imperfection, and I know that which is greater
and more perfect, but I am under the influence of his
magical power. I believe myself to have become greater
through his greatness, stronger through his strength, and
I breathe the air of a higher sphere in his world, which
is indescribably refreshing to me. Emerson has more
ideality than is common among thinkers of the English
race, and one might say that in him 'the idealism of Ger
many is wedded to the realism of Britain.
I have as yet never gone a step to see a literary lion ;
but Emerson, this pioneer in the moral woods of the New
World, who sets his ax to the roots of the old trees to hew
them down, and to open the path for new planting — I
would go a considerable way to see this man. And see
him I will — him who, in a society as strictly evangelical
as that of Massachusetts and Boston (Emerson was the
minister of a Unitarian congregation in Boston), had the
courage openly to resign his ministration, his church, and
the Christian faith, when he had come to doubt of its
principal doctrines ; who was noble enough, nevertheless,
to retain universal esteem and old friends ; and strong
enough, while avoiding all polemical controversy and bit
terness of speech, to withdraw into silence, to labor alone
for that truth which he fully acknowledged, for those doc
trines which the heathen and the Christian alike acknowl
edge. Emerson has a right to talk about strength and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 31
«
truth, because he lives for these virtues. And it will ben
efit the world, which is slumbering in the Church from
the lack of vital Christianity, to be roused up by such
fresh winds from the Himalaya of heathenism. But how
can Emerson overlook  ? Yet I will not ask about
it. Emerson is just and true. Would that many were
like him !
But now I must tell you something of my late doings
in society. Miss Catherine Sedgwick, the author of "Red
wood," came here, together with her young niece, Susan,
a few days after my arrival. Mr. Downing, who greatly
esteems her, wished me to make her acquaintance. She
is between fifty and sixty, and her countenance indicates a
very sensible, kind, and benevolent character. Her figure
is beautifully feminine, and her whole demeanor woman
ly, sincere, and frank, without a shadow of affectation. I
felt my soul a little slumbrous while with her for the first
few days ; but this feeling was, as it were, blown quite
away in a moment by a touching and beautiful expres
sion of cordiality on her side, which revealed us to each
other ; and since then I have felt that I could live with
her as with a heavenly soul, in which one has the most
undoubting trust. I derived pleasure, also, from her
highly sensible conversation, and from her truly womanly
human sympathies. She has a true and gentle spirit ;
and I feel that I could really depend upon her. Of late
years she has written much for what I will call the peo
ple of lower degree in society ; because here, where almost
every person works for their living, one can not properly
speak of a working class, but quite correctly of people of
small means and narrow circumstances — a class which
has not yet worked itself up. Franklin, himself a work
man, and one who worked himself upward, wrote for this
class. Miss Sedgwick writes for the same ; and her little
novels and stories are much liked, and produce a great
deal of good. People praise, in particular, a story called

32 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" Home," which I shall endeavor to read. Miss Sedgwick
was at this time occupied in preparing a new edition of
her collected works. She consulted me about some pro
posed alterations in some of these works, and I told her
that I, for my own part, never would alter any thing in the
works which I had written long since, even where I saw
their faults, and could easily correct them ; because, where
an author lives and writes through a long course of years,
his or her works constitute a history of that author's de
velopment, which ought to remain unaltered as a history
in itself, alike instructive to him as to others. An au
thor's works are portions of an autobiography, which he
must write whether he will or not.
Miss Sedgwick invited me to her house in Lenox, in
the western part of Massachusetts, during the next sum
mer, and promised to visit with me a Shaker establish
ment in New Lebanon, which lies at no great distance
from her house.
While Miss Sedgwick has been here the Downings have
made an excursion with us to the top of South Beacon,
one of the highest hills in the highlands of this district.
Mr. Downing drove me, and for this mountain road a skill
ful driver and a good horse were really needful, because
the road was steep, and rather an apology for a road than
any thing else. But we stumbled and struggled over stock
and stone in our light carriage, until we had ascended
about, nine hundred feet, and from the top of the wood-
covered hill looked down upon half the world, as it seemed
to me, but which presented the appearanoe of a billowy
chaos of wooded heights and valleys, in which human
dwellings were visible merely as specks of light, scarcely
discernible to the naked eye. Man, so great in his suf
fering, in his combat, Vanished into nothing, seen from
this material hilltop, and therefore I thought not about
him. That which was most refreshing to me in this land
scape was the view of the Hudson, which, like a clear

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 33
thought bursting from chaos, makes for itself a path
through the woods, and flows brilliantly forth into the in
finite. Our party was a little too large and a little too
merry for me. I know not how it is that a thoughtful
silence should always come over me in suoh gay parties
amid natural scenes. And here I ought to have been alone
with the magnificence of Nature. One little moment,
partly alone and partly with Mr. Downing, who knows
how to be gay and jocular with the gay, and silent with
the silent, was to me the crowning luxury of the excur
sion, during which there was no lack of Champagne and
joke, and more substantial fare yet for the palate, together
with polite gentlemen and lovely ladies, both young and
old. Yes, lovely ladies there certainly are here, but rather
pretty and delicate than, properly speaking, beautiful. A
really beautiful woman I have not yet seen here, but nei
ther have I seen a single ill-favored countenance or de
formed person. That which especially pleases me is the
easy, unembarrassed, and yet modestly kind intercourse
which exists between the young of both sexes.
Completely weary were we when, after our excursion
to the hills, we reached home in the evening, and beauti
ful was rest in that lovely, quiet home with the kind Down
ings. That which my mind has retained of the excursion
is the view of that bright river, bursting forth from the
gloomy forests of earth. It gleams, as it were, within me.
I parted from Miss Sedgwick with a feeling that I
should never like to part with her. Her niece, Susan,
was an agreeable, well-educated girl. A young gentle
man, who is said to be her lover, followed her hither.
A few days after our excursion to South Beacon, we
went up the Hudson to visit a family of the name of D.,
who belong to the aristocracy of these shores. We set off
in good time in the morning ; the air was delicious ; the
wind still, and the shores shone out in the utmost splen
dor of their autumnal pomp beneath a somewhat subdued
B2

34 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
sunshine. The sails on the river scarcely moved, and
above the heights lay a sort of sunny mist, a light haze
which is said to distinguish this period of the year, and
that state of the atmosphere which is here called "the In
dian Summer." It commences, they say, at the end of
October, and extends often through the whole of Novem
ber into December, and is considered one of the most beau
tiful parts of the year. And if I am to judge by these
days, one can scarcely imagine more perfect weather;
warm and calm, the purest, most delicious atmosphere,
sunshine softened by that light haze which seems to cast
a mystical, romantic veil over the landscape brilliant with
the splendor of autumn. Whence comes this Egyptian
veil of mist ? " It comes from the Indians, who are now
smoking their pipes at their great Pahaws," replied the
cheerful Mrs. Downing ; " I wish you to have an accurate
idea of things here." The accurate truth, however, is that
nobody can say what is the real cause of this smoke-like
mist, or of this summer in the midst of autumn.
But to return to our excursion, which was charming.
We left the Highlands of the Hudson ; the shores now
became lower and the river wider, embracing islands on
its bosom. But soon we perceived in the distance a yet
higher and more massive range of hills than I had hitherto
seen, the magnificent thousand-feet-high Catskill Mount
ains, which are a portion of the great Alleghany chain,
which divides North America from north to south.
The banks of the river, which were scattered with
houses, appeared rich and well cultivated. There were
no castles, no ruins here, but often very tasteful houses,
with terraces and orchards, whole parks of peach-trees.
The only historical legends of these shores are a few tra
ditions of wars with the Indians. I did not seem to miss
the ruins and the legends of the Rhine. I like these
fresh, new scenes, which have a vast future. We have
ruins enough in the Old World. Among the company on

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 35
board was a Shaker in drab clothes, and a hat with broad
brim ; in countenance he looked like a cross old fellow,
not at all a good representative of the Shaker establish
ment. After a sail of about three hours, we reached Blithe-
wood, the beautiful seat of the D.'s, whither we were in
vited to a great breakfast. Here, as in many other places,
I observed how they exclude the daylight from the rooms.
This troubles me, who am accustomed to our light rooms
in Sweden, and who love the light. But they say that
the heat of the sun is too powerful here for the greater
part of the year, and that they are obliged as much as
possible to exclude its light from the rooms. A handsome,
stately lady, whose figure was of remarkably beautiful
proportions, and much rounder than is common among
the ladies I have yet seen, received us kindly. This was
Mrs. D. She is a Catholic, and is, I believe, of an Irish
family, and her sisters are Calvinists. They manage,
however, to agree together remarkably well, both in affec
tion and good deeds — that central • Church in which all
sects may unite in the name of the same Lord.
We were conducted to our room, refreshed and dressed
ourselves ; then came breakfast and all the neighbors,
and I had to shake from sixty to seventy kindly-extended
hands, which would not have been a difficult task if a
deal of small talk had not followed, wliich, through the
repetition of the same word and thing, became wearisome,
and made me feel like a parrot. The assembly was beau
tiful and gay, and the breakfast, which was magnificent,
was closed by a dance. - It was a pleasure to me to see so
many lovely and lively young girls — delicate figures,
though deficient in strength. The ladies dress with taste ;
have small hands and feet, and remind one of the French,
but are more lovely than they. Something, however, is
wanting in their countenances, but what I do not rightly
know — I fancy it is expression. I was not quite in spirits,
and felt to-day somewhat fatigued. When, however, in

36 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the evening, I came forth into the open air, and, accom
panied by the silent Mr. Downing, wandered quietly be
side the glorious, calm river, and contemplated the masses
of light and soft velvet-like shadow which lay on the
majestic Catskill Mountains, behind which the sun sank
in cloudless splendor ; then did the heart expand itself,
and breathe freely in that sublime and glorious landscape ;
then did I drink from the mountain springs ; then did I
live for the first time that day.
In the evening I enjoyed an unusual pleasure. Mrs. D.
played on the harp and piano, and sang remarkably well,
with extraordinary power, like a real musician, which I
believe is a rare thing in this country. There were both
words and expression in her singing, and so there is also
in her demeanor ; hers is a noble figure, with a free and
independent carriage ; " she sustains herself," as you
would say. She neither sings nor talks by rote. She
sings and talks out of her own independent, feeling, and
thinking soul. Her eldest son, a boy of thirteen, has, it
appears to me, a real genius for music, even though he
broke off and was not able to sing to the end — and I be
lieve that he really could not — a little fantastic song, the
first notes of which, however, were sufficient to foretell a
something beyond talent in the boy. He was not in the
mood, and in that state he could not sing. Mrs. D. told
me, during our conversation at table, that her son was to
learn a handicraft trade, because, although they were now
wealthy, the time might come when they would be so no
longer, but when it might be necessary for him to earn
his bread as a common workman — so uncertain is the
stability of wealth in America ; why so, I could not rightly
understand. The following day I again saw a crowd of people, who
came to see the Swedish stranger. In the afternoon I
visited two or three beautiful places in the neighborhood.
On one of these, a point projecting into the river, has a

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 37
ruin been built, in which are placed various figures and
fragments of walls and columns, which have been brought
from the remarkable ruins lately discovered in Central
America or Mexico. The countenances and the head
dresses resembled greatly those of Egyptian statues. I
was struok in particular with a sphinx-like countenance,
and a head similar to that of a priest of Isis. This ruin
and its ornaments, in the midst of a wild, romantic, rocky,
and wooded promontory, was a design in the best taste.
In the evening we left this beautiful Blithewood, its
handsome mistress, and our friendly entertainers. We
returned home in the night. The cabin in which we sat
was close and very hot. Just beside us sat two young
men, one of whom smoked and spat incessantly just be
fore Mrs. Downing and myself. " That gentleman needs
a Dickens !" said I softly to Mr. Downing. " But then,"
replied Mr. Downing, in the same under tone, " Dickens
would have committed the mistake of supposing him to be
a gentleman I"
Of my Blithewood visit I retain the Catskill Mountains
and Mrs. D. I made a little sketch of her profile in my
album (I took one also of Miss Sedgwick) ; and she gave
me, at parting, a beautiful purse, made with an unusual
kind of beads.
Another festivity at which I was present during this
time was at Mrs. Downing's grandmother's. It was a
family party, on the occasion of her ninetieth birth-day.
She lives on the opposite shore ; and there assembled this
day in her honor children and grandchildren, and grand
children's children, as well as other near connections, an
assembly of from fifty to sixty persons. The little old
lady of ninety was still lively and active, almost as much
so as a young girl. We ate and drank, and some toasts
were proposed. I gave one for " The Home" in America
as well as in Sweden. In the afternoon we had a little
music. I played Swedish polkas ; and a young artist, a

38 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Mr. C, properly a landscape painter, son-in-law of one of
the' sons or grand-daughters of the family, sang an Italian
bravura aria so beautifully, and with such an exquisite
voice, that it was really a refreshment to hear him, and
one was sure that he had learned the art in Italy.
I have been entertained at two other houses on the Hud
son, and saw in the one a beautiful, animated hostess, and
many beautiful articles of luxury, but without that elegant
arrangement which distinguishes the house of the Down
ings ; and in the other an original old lady, who has been
compared among the neighbors to "ma chere Mere" in
" The Neighbors," and who really gives occasion for the
: comparison ; besides which, we met there a remarkably
excellent man, Dr. H., a firm Swedenborgian, and a more
agreeable person to talk with than the generality of Swe-
denborgians whom I have met with. He has built a house
for himself upon one of the terraces of the Hudson. A splen
did lodge, of gray stone, is already complete, and people
are a little curious to know whether a lady is not coming
into the house ; and it is maintained that the heart of an
amiable young girl in the neighborhood is interested in
the question.
N.B. — Dr. H. is very much esteemed and liked, espe
cially by the ladies ; but he has hitherto exhibited a heart
of stone to their charms.
I have been much pleased at this moment by a visit
from Bergfalk, as well as by witnessing his state of mind,
and the fresh, unprejudiced view which he takes of the
good and evil in this New World ; and by his warm feel
ing for Sweden, and the strong hope which he entertains
of her future development. He is fresh and vigorous,
and has a pleasure in communicating his thoughts. And
although his English is every now and then the most
wonderful gibberish that ever was heard, yet his thoughts
find their way through it, and by it, and sometimes in a
brilliant manner. Thus, for example, last evening, when

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 39
characterizing the faults and the merits of Macaulay's
historical work, this was so striking as to cause the other
wise undemonstrative Mr. Downing to exclaim, repeated
ly, "Excellent! delightful!"
Mr. Downing was interested by Bergfalk in a high de
gree, and invited him to spend the night there ; but he had
already engaged rooms in the town. We accompanied
him to his inn ; and I gave him Lowell's and Emerson's
#works to bear him company.
To-day, Sunday the 21st, as I continue my letter, Berg
falk is again here, and with him a Swedish doctor, Udden-
berg, living at Barthelemi, and who came to, pay his re
spects to me. The morning has been intellectually rich
to me in a conversation on Lowell's poem of " Prometheus,"
and the manner in which an American poet has treated
this primeval subject of all ages and all poets. Bergfalk
again distinguished himself by his power of discriminating
the characteristics of the subjects ; and nothing like this
is ever thrown away upon Mr. Downing. At my request,
he read that fine portion of Prometheus's defiance of the
old tyrants, in which the poet of the New World properly
stands, forth in opposition to those of the Old World, be
cause it is not, as in the Prometheus of iEschylus, the joy
of hatred and revenge, in the consciousness that the power
of the tyrant will one day come to an end ; nor as in Shel
ley, merely the spirit of defiance, which will not yield,
which knows itself to be mightier than Zeus in the strength
of suffering and of will — no : it is not a gelfish joy which
gives power to the newly-created Prometheus ; it is the
certainty which defies the tyrant, and by his strength has
prepared freedom and happiness for the human race. That
threat with which he arms himself against his executioner,
that defiance by which he feels that he can crush him, is
prophetic of the ideal future of the New World of America;
for much suffering has rendered keen his inner vision, and
made of him a seer, and he beholds

40 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
"A sceptre and a throne ;
The pipings of glad shepherds on the hills,
Tending the flocks no more to bleed for thee ;
The songs of maidens pressing with white feet
The vintage, on thine altars poured no more ;
The murmurous bliss of lovers underneath
Dim grapevine bowers, whose rosy branches press
Not half so close as their warm cheeks untouched
By thoughts of thy brute lust ; the hive-like hum
Of peaceful commonwealths, where sunburn'd toil
Reaps fcr itself the rich earth made its own
By its own labor, lightened with glad hymns
To an omnipotence which thy mad bolts
Would cope with as a spark with the vast sea —
Even the spirit of free love and peace,
Duty's own recompense through life and death ;
These are such harvests as all master-spirits
Reap, haply not on earth, but reap no less
Because the sheaves are bound by hands not theirs ;
These are the bloodless daggers wherewithal
They stab fallen tyrants, this their high revenge •
For their best part of life on earth is when
Long after death, prisoned and pent no more,
Their thoughts, their wild dreams even, have become
Part of the necessary air men breathe ;
When, like the moon herself behind a cloud,
They shed down light before us on life's sea,
That cheers us to steer onward, still in hope ;
Earth with her twining memories ivies o'er
Their holy sepulchres ; the chainless sea,
In tempest, or wide calm, repeats their thoughts,
The lightning and the thunder, all free things
Have legends of them for the ears of men.
All other glories are as falling stars,
But universal nature watches theirs :
Such strength is won by love of human kind."
After this came Caroline Downing, with her favorite
bard Bryant, the poet of nature. But Bryant's song also
is warm with patriotism, with faith in the future of Amer
ica, and in her sublime mission. Thus, in that beautiful
epic poem, " The Prairies," in which he paints, as words
can seldom paint, the illimitable Western fields, in their
sunbright, solitary beauty and grandeur, billowy masses
of verdure and flowers waving in the wind ; above these

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 41
the vagrant clouds ; and, higher still, the sunshine, gleam
ing above the vast scene, paradisaic, splendid, and rich,
but silent and desolate as the desert. The silence, how
ever, is broken. The poet hears a low humming. What
is it ? It is a bee, which flies forth over the flowery plain
and sucks the honey of the flowers. The busy bee be
comes a prophet to the poet ; and in its humming flight
and its quiet activity he hears the advancing industry of
the human race, which will extend itself over the prairies,
transform them into a new Paradise, and cause new and
yet more beautiful flowers to spring up :
" From the ground
Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice
Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn
Of Sabbath worshipers. The low of herds
Blends with the rustling of the heavy grain
Over the dark-brown furrows."
Last of all, I come to the poems of Emerson, small in
dimensions, but great in their spirit and tone ; and read
aloud a little dithyrambic poem, which is characteristic
of the individuality of the poet. Other American poets
speak to society; Emerson always merely to the individ
ual ; but they all are to me as a breeze from the life of
the New World, in a certain illimitable vastness of life,
in expectation, in demand, in faith, and hope — a some
thing which makes me draw a deeper breath, and, as it
were, in a larger, freer world. Thus says Emerson's
poem : "GIVE ALL TO LOVE.
" Give all to love ;
Obey thy heart ;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame -,
"Plans, credit, and the muse ;
Nothing refuse.
* * * *
For it is a god,
Knows its own path, »
And the outlets of the sky.

42 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" 'Tis not for the mean ;
It requireth courage stout,
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending ;
Such 'twill reward,
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.
" Yet hear me, yet
One word more thy heart behooved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,
Keep thee to-day,
To-morrow, forever
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
" Cling with life to the maid ;
But when the surprise,
Vague shadow of surmise,
Flits across her bosom young
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy free,
Do not thou detain a hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.
" Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive,
Heartily know,
When half gods go
The gods arrive."
This is noble stoicism. Among Emerson's poems are
some which bear witness to a less noble spirit — to a self-
consciousness which rejoices in its contempt of the world ;
that knows itself to have enough, while the world perish
es of hunger ; a something which reminds one of the an
swer of the ant to the grasshopper, in La Fontaine's fable.
But this shadow passes away, as do all clouds, from the
clear heaven of the poet, having not there their abiding
home. One strongly prominent feature in him is his love
of the strong and the great. Thus he speaks in his poem,
" The World-Soul :"

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 43
" Thanks to the morning light,
Thanks to the seething sea,
To the uplands of New Hampshire,
To the green-haired forest free ;
Thanks to each man of courage,
To the maids of holy mind,
To the boy with his games undaunted
Who never looks behind."
But nobler even than this is the song of our Geijer :
" I greet with love each field and grove,
And thou, blue billowy sea, I love ;
Life-giving light in depth and height,
Thou heavenly sun, art my delight !
But more than all earth's fair array,
More than the blue waves' dancing play,
Love I
The dawning light of heavenly rest
Within a trembling human breast !"
Of this light Emerson knows nothing. Emerson has,
in other respects, many points of resemblance with Geijer,
but he stands as much below him as heathenism stands
below Christianity.
I can not, perhaps, do full justice to Emerson's poems
by my translation ; I never was very clever at translation ;
and I fancy it almost impossible to render the poetic ele
ment of Emerson into another tongue, because it is of so
peculiar a kind, and has, like the character of the poet, its
own extraordinary rhythm and spirit.
Longfellow, the author of " Evangeline," is perhaps the
best read and the most popular of ^he poets of America ;
but this is owing to qualities which are common alike to
the elder poets of all countries, rather than to any peculiar
characteristics of the New World's poets. Those senti
ments, whether happy or sorrowful, which exist in the
breast of every superior human being, are peculiarly his
domain, and here he exercises his sway, and in particular
in his delineation of the more delicate changes of feeling.
In " Evangeline" alone has he dealt with an American
subject, and described American scenery.

44 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
But enough now, my sweet sister, of this poesy of morn
ing. We will now have our dinner. Men of the two coun
tries are invited, and yet a third, namely, the Swedish con
sul, from Boston, Mr. Benzon, who is coming to see me.
In the Evening. The day is ended, with its changing
scenes and impressions. If I could only take every thing
more coolly ! But I am too ardent, too easily excited.
Every impression goes directly to my heart, and there it
remains too strongly impressed. I am alone in my room,
and see from my window, through the dark yet star-bright
night, the steam-boats which pass along the Hudson, and
send forth from their chimneys sulphur-blue and yellow
flames. To-morrow morning I am going with the Downings to
visit some of their best friends, a family of the name of
H., who live on the Hudson, in the neighborhood of Wash
ington Irving ; and next week I return to New York, there
to begin my campaign, for which this little taste of rural
life and society is merely a prelude.
Among the people who, during this time, have come to
see me are, in particular, a married couple, Mr. and Mrs.
S., who came hither with their little baby from New York
solely to offer me their house as my home when there.
They were so beautiful and so earnestly kind ; there ap
peared to me to be something so pure, so single-minded
about them ; they seemed to speak so entirely from their
own honest hearts, that I was glad to accept their invita
tion, and to arrange to go to them before I took up my
quarters in any other homes, as I had promised to do for a
time : among others, that of Miss Lynch. It seems as if
I should scarcely be obliged to pay any thing for my liv
ing in this country, if I am to continue being thus enter
tained. But I must not expect that it will be thus every
where. Besides, it has its disadvantages, as well as its
advantages and its great pleasures.
Mr. and Mrs. S., who are of the class called Socialists

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 45
and Abolitionists, and who belong to the Liberal Move
ment party in the country, are universally acknowledged
to be remarkably noble and estimable people. " From
them," said Mr. Downing, " you will hear what is going
forward in this party, and you will probably see at their
house William Henry Channing, one of our most distin
guished lecturers and extempore speakers, and through
him you may become acquainted with Emerson."
I can not tell you, my Agatha, how fortunate I esteem
myself, that, immediately at the commencement of my
visit here, I have come into contact with so profoundly
thinking and so universally comprehensive a mind as that
of Mr. Downing, and who, besides, is so indescribably kind
to me, and so careful that I shall derive every possible
advantage from my journey, and see every thing, both
good and bad, in their true light. He never dictates, nev
er instructs me, but now and then, and as if by chance, he
mentions to me the names of persons who are active for
the future of the New World in one way or another, and
makes me observant of what is going on in the country.
I notice, among other things, with what precision all
branches of intellectual labor seem to be carried on ; and
how easily ability and talent make their way, find their
place and their sphere of action, become known and ac-
knowledged. Mr. Downing has mentioned to me Horace Mann, as
one of the persons who have most effectually labored for
the future, as an individual who has brought about, by
his enthusiasm and determination, a great reform in the
work of instruction, who has labored for the erection of
beautiful new schools in all parts of the country, and has
infused a new life into the organization of schools. It
appears that the reformers and the lecturers who develop
the spiritual and intellectual life in America, and call forth
its ideal, come from the Northern States,, from New En
gland, and in particular from Massachusetts, the oldest
home of the pilgrims and the Puritans,

46 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Of that which he himself has done, Mr. Downing speaks
with the utmost modesty ; but I heard from Miss Sedg
wick that few men in the United States are so universal
ly known, or so generally influential as he. His works
on architecture, on gardening, on flowers and fruits — and
all of which are calculated to ennoble the taste, to make
the purest productions in their branches of science and
art accessible to every man — these works are to be found
every where, and nobody, whether he be rich or poor,
builds a house or lays out a garden without consulting
Downing's works. Every young couple who sets up
housekeeping buys them.
"It happens," said Mr. Downing, modestly, "that I
came at a time when people began universally to feel the
necessity of information about building houses and laying
out gardens."
He is what people call here " a self-made man," that is
to say, a man who has less to thank education for what
he is than his own endeavors. " He is one of our best
men," said Miss Sedgwick.
It will readily be supposed that it was painful to me to
leave him and his truly sweet and kind little wife. Mr.
Downing has drawn up for me a proposed route of travel
— the plan of a journey for one year through the United
States, as well as furnished me with letters to his friends
in the different states. I still had a deal to say to you
about my happiness in being here, my happiness in the
new vitality which seems given to me, although I feel
that the, outer life is a little wearisome sometimes ; and I
expect to have to pay for it one of these days. But ah!
how few there are who have to complain of having too
many objects of interest, of experiencing too much good
will ! My beloved Agatha, think of me in thy prayers ;
and that I know thou dost, and thank God for me that
He has so abundantly fulfilled my secret prayers, has sat
isfied my hunger and my thirst, and nourished me with
His riches and His goodness !

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

47

In the Morning. Yet once more a greeting from the
beautiful banks of the Hudson from the heights of New-
burgh, before I leave them, perhaps forever. Mr. Down
ing says, indeed, that I must return to them next year ;
but it is long till then, and I must travel far and see very
much. Again a beautiful morning. The river is bright as a
mirror ; hundreds of little vessels glide softly, like swim
ming sea-gulls, on the bosom of the water between the
lofty hills. I wonder how they are able to move. The
wind seems to sleep. Over the river and the mountains;
over the golden woods, which assume every day a yet
more golden hue, over the white glittering villages with
their church spires, and in the bosom of the wooded hills,
rests the thin, white, misty veil of the Indian summer. It
is a scene of which the character is grand and calmly ro
mantic. I feel and see it, but not merely in external na
ture. This Indian summer, with its mystical life, its thin
veil cast over the golden woods and mountains — I feel it
in my soul. I look around me on nature, and ask, "Is it
I who live in thee, or dost thou awaken this life in my
soul ?"
I see the beautiful, well-built little houses, with their
orchards and grounds, which lie like pearls set in the em
erald green frame of the river ! How much is contained
in them of that which is most valuable in the life of the
New World ! How beautiful and perfect seems here pri
vate life, engrafted as it is into public life ; and what a
pleasure it is to me that I have become acquainted with
many of the families inhabiting these small homes on the
banks of this great and glorious river !
f r Not far from Mr. Downing's villa is a beautiful coun
try seat, inhabited by four sisters, all unmarried. A good
I brother, who had become wealthy by trade, built this
| house, and bought the land around it for his sisters. Some
years afterward, the brother fell into misfortunes : he lost

\l

48 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
all that he was possessed of. The sisters now took upon
themselves the education of his children — he has now
his home with them. They are excellent and agreeable
women, who know equally well how to converse seriously
or merrily. On the other side of the river, a brickmaker
has built himself a lovely villa. This honorable man — for
so he seems to be, and so he really is — has been here two
or three times to present me with flowers, and invite me to
his villa. Mr. Downing has called my attention to a beau
tiful little house, a frame house, with green veranda and
garden, just in this neighborhood. " It belongs," said he,
" to a man who in the day drives cart-loads of stone and
rubbish for making the roads. In this is the working-
man of the New World superior to him of the Old. He
can here, by the hard labor of his hands, obtain the more
refined pleasures of life, a beautiful home, and the advant
ages of education for his family, much more quickly.
And here he may obtain these if he will. In Europe the
greater number of work-people can not obtain them, do
what they will.
At this moment an explosion thunders from the other
side of the Hudson, and I see huge blocks of stone hurled
into the air, and then fall into the water, which foams
and bojls in consequence : it is a rock which is being
blasted with gunpowder on a line of rail-way now in
progress along the banks of the river, and where the pow
er of steam on land will compete with the power of steam
on water. To hurl mountains out of the way; to bore
through them ; to form tunnels ; to throw mountains into
the water, as a foundation for roads in places where it is
necessary for it to go over the water ; all this these Amer
icans regard as nothing. They have a faith to remove
mountains. Now come the steam-boats thundering like tempest in
the mountains. Two or three chase "each other like im
mense meteors ; one among them comes along heavily,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 49
laboring and puffing, dragging along a large fleet of larger
and smaller craft. New York receives butter, and cheese,
and cattle, and many other good things from the country ;
and the country, with its towns and rural abodes, receives
coffee and tea, and wine, and wearing apparel, and many
other things from New York, and, through New York, from
Europe. The little town of Newburgh maintains alone,
by its" trade from the country and back, two or three
steam-boats. When one sees the number and the mag
nificence of the steam-boats on the Hudson, one can
scarcely believe the fact that it is not more than thirty
years since Fulton made here his first experiment with
steam power on the river, and that amid general distrust
of the undertaking. He says himself, when speaking on
this subject,
" When I was about to build my first steam-boat, the
public of New York in part regarded it with indifference,
in part with contempt, as an entirely foolish undertaking.
My friends were polite, but they were shy of me. They
listened with patience to my explanations, but with a de
cided expression of disbelief in their countenances. As I
went daily to and from the place where my boat was
building, I often lingered unknown near the idle groups
of strangers who were collected there, and listened to their
remarks respecting the new locomotive. Their language
was always that of scorn and persecution. People laugh
ed aloud, and made jokes at my expense ; and reckoned
up the fallacy and loss of money on ' Mr. Fulton's Folly,'
as the undertaking was constantly called. Never did I
meet with an encouraging remark, an animating hope, or
a warm wish.
"At length came the day when the experiment was to be
tried. To me it was a moment of the utmost importance.
I had invited many of my friends to go on board and wit
ness the first successful voyage. Many of these did me
the kindness to come, but it was evident that they did so
C

50 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
reluctantly, and in the belief that they should become the
witnesses of my humiliation, and not of my triumph ; and
I know very well that there was sufficient reason to doubt
of my success. The machinery was new and ill made.
A great portion of it was prepared by artisans unaccus
tomed to such work ; and difficulties might easily arise,
also, from other causes. The hour arrived at which the
boat was to begin to move. My friends stood in groups
on deck. Their looks indicated uneasiness, mingled with
fear: they were silent and dejected. The signal was giv
en, and the boat was put in motion ; it advanced a short
distance, then stopped, and became immovable. The for
mer silence now gave place to murmurs, and displeasure,
and disquiet whisperings, and shrugging of shoulders. I
heard on all sides ' I said it would be so ;' ' It is a foolish
undertaking ;' 1 1 wish we were all well out of it.'
" I mounted on the platform, and told my friends that
I did not know what was the cause of the stoppage, but
that if they would be calm, and give me half an hour's
time, I would either continue the voyage or give it up
entirely. I went down to the engine, and very soon dis
covered an unimportant oversight in the arrangement :
this was put to rights. The boat began to move once
more. We left New York ; we passed through the High
lands ; we arrived at Albany ! But even then was mis
trust stronger than positive proof. It was doubted wheth
er the thing could be carried through, and if so, whether it
would ever lead to any great advantage."
This was about thirty years since ; and now half the
human race flies over land and sea upon Fulton's wings !
But even in the New World first discoveries have to con
tend with trouble and opposition.
The dew of morning lies upon the soft grass-plot before
my window, and the beautiful groups of flowers and trees
are glittering with it : among these is the little magnolia,
with beautiful light-red seed-vessels ; every thing is beau-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 51
tiful and peaceful, and — that great, rioh scene, the life
upon the river below ! I should like to live beside a large
river like this. What great thoughts, what life is there
not in it, from its commencement in the fountains of the
clouds, in the cradle of the hills, and during its course
through the valleys and the fields of earth, growing ever
mightier as it advances T
As guests the affluent cities it inviteth,
And flowery meadows gather round its knees. — Tegnek.
It is a benefactor wherever it goes ; it salutes and makes
festive ; confers benefits and blessings ; but it takes no
notice of this ; it pauses not, neither rests.
Lands it baptizes with its name, and flows on ;
A hero's life ! Then hastens he onward to his goal,
the ocean: there he finds rest — -rest worthy of a heroic
soul — peace in the infinite, the great : sufficient for all.
I would willingly live by the Hudson if I did not know
a river yet dearer to me : it is called Gbtha River. Our
Aersta is charming beside its salt waves. But I would
rather have a little place beside the River Gotha ; and I
fancy that you would be better there, on the western coast
of Sweden, than on the eastern and the colder.
I must now leave you to write other letters. Mr. Down
ing will also write a few words to you and to mamma. I
yesterday proposed a toast, your health, and we drank it
in Champagne.
Kind greeting to relations and friends, and say some
thing especially cordial to Beata Afzelius from me.

LETTER IV.
Brooklyn, November 5th, 1849.
My sweet Sister, — Again in New York, or in that por
tion of the great city which is called Brooklyn, and which
is separated from New York by the so-called East River,

62 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and which will be a city of itself, and which has also a
right to be so for its own sake. Brooklyn is as quiet as
New York is bewildering and noisy : it is built upon the
heights of Long Island ; has glorious views over the wide
harbor, and quiet, broad streets, planted on each side with
alanthus-trees, a kind of Chinese-tree, and I believe of the
acacia family, which has a leaf like our ash, only much
broader, and which bears long pods. There is also anoth-
. er kind of tree, with a taller stem, which gives shade and
a peaceful and rural character to the streets. It is said
that the merchants of New York go over to Brooklyn,
where they have their house and home, to sleep. The
friend with whom I am living, Marcus S., has his place of
business in New York, and his proper home here in Brook
lyn, one of the very prettiest rural homes, by name "Rose
Cottage," which he himself built, and around which he
has himself planted trees, covered arbors with trailing
vines, has sown the fields with maize and other vegeta
bles, so that the place has the united character of park
and garden. From this place he drives every morning to
New York, and hither he returns every evening, but not
merely to sleep, but to rest, and enjoy himself with wife,
children, and friends. Rose Cottage lies just on the out
skirts of the town (you must not imagine it a little town,
but one which has a hundred thousand inhabitants, its
own proper town-house, very magnificent, and from fifty
to sixty churches), and the country, with wooded heights
and green fields, may be seen therefrom on three sides.
But houses are now building at various distances, and
threaten soon to shut out the country. It may, however,
be some years yet before Rose Cottage comes into the city.
I shall now remain here a little while before I set off to
Massachusetts and Boston.
Much, very much had I to tell you, but, alas ! I have
neither the time nor the necessary repose ; and I must
here give you my life more as a compendium than I did

HOMES OF THE' NEW WORLD. , 53
in Denmark. My impressions of life here are more great,
more massive, on a broader scale, so to say ; I can not yet
bring them under control, can not yet deal with them ; I
can not give them expression. I have a feeling of the forms
in the block, but it will require time and labor to hew them
out. This much, however, is certain : the effect of my
American journey, as far as myself am concerned, is alto
gether quite different to what I expected. I came hither to
breathe a new and fresher atmosphere of life ; to observe
the popular life, institutions, and circumstances of a new
country ; to become clearer in my own mind on certain
questions connected with the development of nations and
people ; and, in particular, to study the women and the
homes of the New World, and from the threshold of the
home to obtain a view of the future of humanity, because,
as the river is born from the springs of heaven, so is the
life and the fate of a people born from the hidden life of
the home.
I came, in a word, to occupy myself with public affairs ;
and it is private affairs, it is the individual which seizes
upon my interest, my feelings, my thoughts. I came with
a secret intention of breaking myself loose from fiction
and its subjects, and of living with thinkers for other pur
poses ; and I am compelled toward it more forcibly than
ever ; compelled involuntarily, both by thought and feel
ing, toward fiction ; compelled to bring into life forms,
scenes, and circumstances, which, as dim shadows, have
for twenty years existed in the background of my soul.
And in this so-called realist country, but which has more
poetical life in it than people have any idea of in Europe,
have I already in petto, experienced and written more
of the romance of Hfe than I have done for many years.
And I shall continue to do so during my residence here.
When I became aware that, from my waking in the
morning, I was occupied in my innermost work-room, not
with American affairs and things, but with my own ideal

54 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
creations, influenced by the interest which every thing
that surrounded me, and which my new circumstances ex
cited within me, I then gave up the thought of attempt
ing to do any thing else but what God had given, me to
do. I must also here employ my talent, and follow my
oWn vocation, and let fate and circumstances make of it
what they must and will.
I shall, as hitherto, study the world of private life, but
shall allow the air and life of the New World, that great
world's life, to flow into it, and give to it greater effect.
Thus would I always have it to be. I must work it out
better hereafter. I have long had a presentiment of the
romance of life, in its infinite greatness and depth of feel
ing. When it dawned before my glance, that first view
of a transfigured world, never shall I forget that heavenly
Aurora, which was, which is, which will continue forever
to be a bright spot in my earthly life. For that I have to
thank Sweden. Clouds, however, veiled it for a moment ;
I did not see it clearly, or, rather, I could no longer recall
it in its first beauty. Now again I behold it ; and I pre
dict that for its perfect daybreak I shall have to thank —
America. My life, also, in and with this New World, as
sumes a romantic form. It is not merely a new conti
nent, a new form of things, with centuries for its future,
which I have here to observe ; it is a living soul, a great
character, an individual mind, with which I must become
acquainted, live and converse with during a profoundly
earnest intercourse. How I desire to see its characteris
tic features, to listen to its revelations, its unconsciously
oracular words regarding its life and its future ! And that
great, universal hospitality with which this great new
world receives me, makes me feel that it is a heart, a liv
ing spirit which meets me in it.
Now for a little of the exterior of my life. I last left
you when I was just about to pay a visit with Mr. Down
ing to Mr. H. and his family. As we came down to the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 55
bridge at Newburgh two men were there, the one fat and
the other lean, who were talking loudly, and with so much
warmth, that they seemed to be in a state of anger with
each other. " Every body who goes with this steam-boat
is robbed !" exclaimed the one ; " it is full of pickpockets
and rogues !" " Let every one who is careful of his life,"
cried the other, " take care not to go in the boat he rec
ommends : it has a cracked boiler, and will blow up be
fore long !" " That is not true, but the greatest lie !" re
turned the first, and they oast terrible glances at each oth
er from under their contracted eyebrows, while they con
tinued to go on commending their own boats and abusing
each other's.
" What is the meaning of this ?" said I to Mr. Down
ing, who smiled quietly, and replied, " Here is an oppo
sition. Two vessels are emulous for passengers, and these
fellows are hired by the two parties to puff their boats.
They act this part every day, and it means nothing at
all." I observed, also, that while they cast the most ferocious
glances at each other, there was frequently a smile on
their lips at the ready abuse which they poured out against
each other's boats, probably alike innocent and alike safe,
the one as the other ; and the people around them laugh
ed also, or did not trouble themselves the least about their
contention. I saw that the whole thing was a comedy,
and wondered only how they could endure to play it so
often. Mr. Downing had already made choice of his boat ; and
we had not long been on board before the captain sent to
offer " Miss Bremer and her friends" free passage by the
steamer as well as by the Hudson Rail- way. And thus,
by means of my good name and American politeness, we
sailed down the Hudson in the warm, calm summer air.
But the brickmaker, Mr. A., who had already declared
himself as my friend, had brought me beautiful flowers,

56 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
invited me to his villa by the Hudson, and discovered some
good phrenological developments in my forehead, here
seized upon me and conducted me to his wife, who intro
duced me "to a poet whose verses she maintained I must
have read ; and the poet introduced three ladies, and the
three ladies various other ladies and gentlemen. I be
came, as it were, walled in, felt as hot as if in an oven,
and fled out of the saloon to my silent friend on deck, up
braiding him because he had given me up as a prey to the
natives of the country. Nevertheless, I very much liked
my friend the brickmaker, who is a broad, substantial, kind
creature, with an open heart and countenance. I liked
also the poet, who was evidently a lively and good-tem
pered person, only that I had not read his verses, and all
these my new friends were too many for me. I was now
able to sit silently on deck with the silent Mr. Downing ;
but yet, with the consciousness that I inwardly conversed
with him, that his glance rested upon the same objects as
mine, and that his mind received them and judged of them,
if not as I did, yet in a manner which I could understand,
because I understood him. Now and then a word was ut
tered, now and then a remark was made, and all was
cheerful and amusing. How pleasant is such companion
ship !
When we left the steam-boat, we took our places on the
Hudson Rail-way, the same which is in progress opposite
to Newburgh, and along which we flew with arrow-like
speed to Mr. H.'s villa, which lies upon a height by the
river side. There we were soon in the midst of a beauti
ful home and domestic circle. The father of the family,
Mr. H., is the son of the general of that name, the con
temporary and friend of Washington, and one of the great
men of the American War of Independence. Mr. H., his
wife, a still handsome elderly lady, of quiet motherly ap
pearance, a son, and three daughters, constitute the fam
ily. Mrs. S., the married daughter, whose praise as a

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 57
woman remarkably gifted both in heart and head, I had
heard from many people, gave me an invitation to visit
with her the schools and various other benevolent institu
tions of New York, which I gratefully accepted. The two
younger, unmarried daughters, Mary and Angelica, seem
ed to me like types of the two female characters which are
often introduced in Cooper's novels. Mary is of a lively,
ardent character, full of energy ; she has bright brown
eyes, is witty and merry in conversation. Angelica is ma
donna-like, gentle and fair, a beautiful, noble, and, in mine
and many other people's eyes, a most highly attractive be
ing. I remarked in particular the charm of her voice and
her movement, and how, without asking any questions,
she could, even with ladies, set a conversation afloat, and
keep it up with animation.
Mr. H., the father, took me out with him to visit vari
ous small farmers of the district, so that I might see some
thing of their circumstances. At two of the houses we>
arrived just at dinner-time, and I saw the tables abund
antly supplied with meat and cakes of Indian meal, veg
etables, and fruit, as well as With the most beautiful
white bread. The houses were for the most part "frame
houses," that is to say, a sort of neatly-built wooden house ;
the rooms had large windows, which were light and clean.
It was a real pleasure to me to converse with Mr. H., who
is well acquainted with the country, and a warm friend
of its free institutions, the excellence of which he has had
an opportunity of testing during a long official life.
The day was beautiful, but a little cool in the wind —
not a " well-mingled air," as you are accustomed to call
it. And the air here has something so keen, so penetra
ting, that I am affected by it as I never was in Sweden.
There was a whole crowd of strangers to dinner, among
whom was Washington Irving, a man of about sixty, with
large, beautiful eyes, a large, well-formed nose, a counte
nance still handsome, in which youthful little dimples
C2

58 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and smiles bear witness to a youthfully fresh and humor
ous disposition and soul. He must be a man of an usu
ally happy temperament, and of the most excellent heart.
He has surrounded himself with a number of nieces (he
says he can not conceive of what use boys are in the
world), whom he makes happy, and who make him so by
their affection. He says he has the peculiar faculty of
liking every thing which he possesses, and every thing
which seeks his protection. He is an optimist, but not a
conceited one.
He was my neighbor at table, and I have to thank him
for not becoming sleepy ; nor should I have supposed, as
people told me, that he was accustomed to be sleepy at
great dinners, at which I certainly am not surprised. But
the dinner to-day was not one of the long and tedious de
scription, besides which he evidently endeavored to make
the conversation interesting and agreeable ; and I, too, did
my best, as you may easily suppose.
In the afternoon I begged him to allow me to take a
profile likeness of him ; and, in order that he might not
go quite asleep during the operation, I begged Angelica
H; to sit just opposite to him and talk to him ; and the
plan succeeded excellently. The handsome old gentle
man now became wide awake, loquacious and lively, and
there was such vivacity in his smile, and so much fun in
all the merry dimples of his countenance, that it is my
own fault if. I have not made one of the best and most
characteristic portraits that has ever been taken of this
universally beloved author. I am glad to have it to show
to his friends and admirers in Sweden. Washington Ir
ving invited me and my friends to his house for the fol
lowing evening ; but, as we were obliged to return home
that day, we could not accept his invitation, but engaged
to pay him a visit in the morning.
In the evening, the new married son of the family re
turned home from a journey. It was delightful to see

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 59
the handsome young man sitting between his father and
mother, full of mirth and cordiality, endeavoring to divide
himself, as it were, equally between them, replying to their
questions, and acknowledging their tokens of affection.
Among other objects of interest which I saw here, and
which I had also seen in a few other houses on the Hud
son, was the " American Birds" of Audubon, a work of
real genius and merit; for one does not merely see the
various kinds of American birds, but also their character
istics, their life and history ; how they build and feed
themselves ; their quarrels, perils, and joys. Some of the
paintings seem to me to show a little eccentricity in de
sign ; but what can be more eccentric than nature herself
in certain hours and humors?
Another interesting acquaintance which I made here
was with Mr. Stephens, who discovered and has written
upon the remains of Central America. What a rich field
is there presented for American enterprise and love of in
vestigation. And they ought not to rest, these Yikings of
the present time, before all this is their own, and they have
there free space to work in. At present there are great
difficulties in the way of their advancing into these regions.
On the following morning, we had, among other good
things for breakfast (they have only too many and too
highly-seasoned dishes — cayenne pepper here spoils both
meat and the stomach), we had honey from Hymettus,
which had been sent by a friend of the family who had
lately returned from his travels in Greece. This clas
sical honey seemed to me not any better than the vir
gin honey of our Northern bees. Flowers and bees are
pretty nearly alike all over the world, and are fed by the
same heavenly honey-dew. I thought how our bees at
Aersta murmur their songs in autumn around the mign-
onnette, and how thou thyself seest them now as thou
movest like a little queen among thy subjects in the flow
er-garden, among beds of flowers which thou hast had

60 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
planted. Alas ! but it is true that even now it is there
the winter trance, and the bees have forgotten themselves
in their hives ! I forget here how the year goes on, be
cause the Indian summer is a time of enchantment.
I went in the forenoon with Mary H. to Washington
Irving's. His house or villa, which stands on the banks
of the Hudson, resembles a peaceful idyll ; thick masses
of ivy clothe one portion of the white walls and garland
the eaves. Fat cows fed in a meadow just before the
window. Within, the room seemed full of summer
warmth, and had a peaceful and cheerful aspect. One
felt that a cordial spirit, full of the best sentiment of the
soul, lived and worked there. Washington Irving, al
though possessed of the politeness of a man of the world,
and with great natural good temper, has, nevertheless,
somewhat of that nervous shyness which so easily attach
es itself to the author, and in particular to him who is
possessed of delicacy of feeling and refinement. The po
etical mind, by its intercourse with the divine spheres, is
often brought somewhat into disharmony with clumsy
earthly realities. To- these belong especially the visits of
strangers and the forms of social intercourse, as we make
them in good society on earth, and which are shells that
must be cracked if one would get at the juice of either
kernel or fruit. But that is a difficulty for which one
often has not time. A portrait which hangs in Washing
ton Irving's drawing-room, and which was painted many
years since, represents him as a remarkably handsome
man, with dark hair and eyes — a head which might have
belonged to a Spaniard. When young, he must have been
unusually handsome. He was engaged to a young lady
of rare beauty and excellence ; it would have been diffi
cult to meet with a handsomer pair. But she died, and
Washington Irving never again sought for another bride.
He has been wise enough to content himself with the
memory of a perfect love, and to live for literature,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 61
I friendship, and nature. He is a wise man, but without
"wrinkles and gray hair. Washington Irving was at this
time occupied with his " Life of Mahomet," which will
shortly be sent to press. Two ladies, the one elderly, the
other younger, neither of them handsome, but with coun
tenances full of intelligence and feeling, and near relations
of his, were at his house.
Again at Mr. H.'s, I received a number of visitors, all
handsome, and in manners kind and open-hearted. The
ladies have, in general, fine figures, but they are somewhat
too spare. After that we had music. Mary H. and I had
just sat down, full of enthusiasm, to an overture for four
hands, which we played so that they who heard us cried
bravo ! when Mr. Downing, with his melodious voice and
decided manner, which makes him sometimes a sort of
amiable despot, interrupted us with the words, "Now it is
time," namely, time for us to take leave, and I hastened
to the rail- way, which, as with an iron hand, had stopped
the music of life. But it accompanied me, nevertheless,
in the impression of that beautiful family life which I
have again seen here ; and to the rail-road, also, accom
panied me that fine old gentleman, Mr. H., who during
the whole time had shown me the greatest kindness, and
now, at parting, begged me to regard him as a father, to
consider his house as mine, and to come and remain there
whenever I might find myself not so well off in any of the
United States. And I know that this offer on his part is
as equally sincere as is that of Mr. Downing, that I would
regard him as a brother, and allow him to serve me when
ever I might find occasion. " Bear that well in mind !"
these were his words at parting, so that I have now both
father and brother in this New World. That will do to
begin with !
I sat silent in the rail-way carriage beside my silent
friend, but the music of whose . soul I am always con
scious of, though he speak not a word ; so that, after all,
there was no interruption to the music.

62 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
We sailed up the Hudson on a gloomy but beautiful
evening. The air was quite calm ; now and then a steam
boat came thundering toward us with its flaming chim
ney, but the river was unusually quiet. From out the
dark shadows which the lofty mountains threw upon the
shores, gleamed here and there small red lights. " They
are from the cottages of the laborers on the rail- way," said
Mr. Downing.
" Not they," said I ; " they are little dwarfs that are
peeping out of the rocks, and that unclose the openings
to the mountain halls within ; we Scandinavians know
all about it !"
Mr. Downing laughed, and allowed my explanation to
pass. That which I seem to want here, if I think about
a want at all, where so much new and affluent life presents
itself, is that life of sagas and traditions which we possess
every where in Sweden, and which converts it into a poetic
soil full of symbolical runes, in forest, and mountain, and
meadow, by the streams and the lakes, nay, which gives
life to every stone, significance to every mound. In Swe
den all these magnificent hills and mountains by the Hud
son would have symbolical names and 'traditions. Here
they have only historical traditions, mostly connected with
the Indian times and wars, and the names are rather of a
humorous than a poetic tendency. Thus a point of rock,
somewhat nose-like in form, which runs out into the river,
is called St. Anthony's Nose ; and in sailing past it, I could
not help thinking of a merry little poem which Mr. Down
ing read to me, in which St. Anthony is represented as
preaching to the fishes, who came up out of the depths
quite astonished and delighted to hear the zealous father
of the Church preaching for their conversion. The end,
however, is, Much delighted were they,
But preferred the old way.
And thus continued in their natural vices ; and St. An
thony got — a long nose.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 63
I spent yet a few Indian summer days with my friends
by the Hudson — days rich in many things ; intercourse
with human beings, and with nature, and the enjoyment
of beautiful paradisaical fruits : the new moon lit her
torch* and gave a yet more highly romantic character to
the summer veil on mountain and river — wonderfully
beautiful days and scenes ! and wonderfully beautiful was
that day when, during a storm, I traveled with my friends
down the Hudson to New York. Autumn had during
its advance given uniformity of coloring to the woods. It
varied now between copper and gold, and shone like an
infinitely rich golden embroidery on the Indian veil of mist
which rested upon the heights along the Hudson. The
wind was so violent that at times the vessel was driven
on the banks, and, as the evening advanced, the groups
of people became more and more silent in the crowded
saloon. Friend drew near to friend, husband to wife ;
mothers pressed their children closer to their breasts.
My eye by chance fell on the tall figure of a man of
energetic appearance ; a little woman stood close beside
him, and her hand was pressed to his heart. A speechless
and passionate life prevailed there — prevailed throughout
the atmosphere, that stormy, hot evening. This and some
other scenes have inscribed themselves ineffaceably on my
soul; thou shalt read them there some time — there or
upon paper, for whatever I experience forcibly and deeply
thou knowest that I must, sooner or later, give back either
in word or form.
We arrived in storm and darkness at New York, but
nevertheless reached the Astor House most comfortably,
and very soon was. I seated familiarly with my friends in
a light and handsome room, drinking tea and the most
delicious milk cooled with ice.
" In order that I may now show you proper respect,"
said Mr. Downing, " as we are about to part, I believe that
I must beg from you — an autograph !"

64 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Thus he often good-humoredly teazes me, knowing, as
he does, my abhorrence of the American autograph collect
ors. We spent the evening pleasantly- reading by turns
from our favorite poets, Lowell, Bryant, and Emerson. It
was twelve o'clock when we separated, and I went to my
room. But I remained up for some time, listening through
the open window to the softly-plashing rain, drinking in
the balsamic air, and allowing the breath of a new life
to penetrate my very being.
I remained yet a few days at the Astor House with the
Downings. During these we visited the Exhibition of the
American Art Union in New York. Among the paintings
of native artists, I saw none which indicated peculiar gen
ius, with the exception of a large historical painting from
the first Mexican war between the Spaniards and the In
dians. A few pieces of sculpture gave me great pleasure,
from their delicacy of expression and mastership in execu
tion. Among these, in particular, was a marble bust of
Proserpine, and a fisher-boy listening to the sound of the
sea in a conch-shell, both the works of the American artist,
Hiram Powers. One could almost wish for something
greater and more national in subject, but greater beauty
or more perfection in form would be impossible. Just
opposite to the room of the American Art Union they have
placed, with good judgment, as it seemed to me, the so-
called Diisseldorf Gallery, a collection of paintings, prin
cipally of the German school, which has been opened for
the benefit and instruction of American artists and lovers
of art. But the want of time prevented me from visiting
this gallery at the present moment.
Among other good things which awaited 'me here was
an offer from a much-esteemed publisher of New York,
Mr. George P. Putnam, the same who is bringing out the
works of Miss Sedgwick, to publish a new and handsome
edition of my writings, which have hitherto been printed
and circulated here at a low price, and to allow me the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 65
same pecuniary advantage as a native author. Mr. Down
ing was pleased with the proposal, because he knows Mr.
Putnam to be a thoroughly honorable and trustworthy
man. It was not without pain that I parted from the Down
ings, with whom I had spent so richly intellectual and
delightful a time (I will call it my honeymoon in the New
World), and to whom I am really cordially attached. But
I shall see them again ; I have to thank Mr. Downing for
many things; for the wisdom and the tact, as well as
the brotherly earnestness with which he has assisted me
to arrange my movements here in the New World, and as
regarded invitations and other marks of friendliness which
I have received. At parting, he admonished me with his
beautiful smile, that I should on all occasions make use
of a little inborn tact — (N.B., a thing which I was born
without) — so as to know what I ought to do and to per
mit. I think, in the mean while, that I made good use of
his advice, by immediately afterward declining the pro
posal of a young gentleman to climb a lofty church tower
with him. Nothing strikes me so much as the youthful-
ness of this people — I might almost say childish fervor
and love of adventure. They hesitate at nothing, and
regard nothing as impossible. But I know myself to be
too old to climb up church towers with young gentlemen.
When the Downings left me, I was intrusted to the kind
care of Mr. Putnam, who was to conduct me to his villa
on Staten Island. It was with difficulty that we drove
through the throng of vehicles of all kinds which filled the
streets leading to the harbor, in order to reach the steam
boat in time. I can not help admiring the way in Which
the drivers here manage to get out of the way, and twist
about and shoot between and disentangle themselves,
without any misadventure from the really Gordian knot
of carts and carriages. It is extraordinary, but it is not
excellent. I sat all the time in expectation of seeing the

66 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
head of a horse come through the carriage window, or of
the carriage being smashed to pieces. In the mean while,
all went well ; we reached the steam-boat in time, had a
beautiful sail upon the calm waters of the extensive bay,
where large and small steam-boats are incessantly passing
and winding their way among the sailing craft. That is
a scene of life !
At Mr. Putnam's beautiful house on one of the heights
of Staten Island, I saw a most charming, cheerful, and
agreeable little hostess and three pretty children, and in
the evening a whole crowd of people from the neighbor
hood. I played Swedish polkas and ballads for them. The
best thing of the evening was a comic song, sung by an
excellent elderly gentleman.
I was frozen in my bed-room, because the weather is
now cold, and they do not heat the bed-rooms in this
country. It is here as in England, not as in our good
Sweden ; and I can hardly accustom myself to these cold
bed-chambers. It was to me particularly hard to get up
and to dress myself in that chilly room, with my fingers
benumbed with cold. But I forgot both the numbness
and the frost when I went down to breakfast, and saw
the bright sun, and the lovely and kind hostess in that
cheerful room, with its prospect over the bay, the city,
and the island. In the forenoon Mr. Putnam drove me
in a covered carriage to see the island, and to call upon
various families. The rich, golden woods shone in their
autumnal pomp of varied gold or brown — a coloring both
warm and deep, like that of the soul's noblest sufferings.
I indulged the emotion which it excited, and I drove
through the woods as through a temple filled with sym
bolic inscriptions, and that which it presented to me I
could read and decipher. Thus we advanced to the loft
iest point of the island, whence the prospect was glorious,
from its vast extent over land and water. The height
was lo.st ; and the eye hovered and circled, like the eagle,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 67
in the air; but with no rock, no mountain-crag, on which
to rest.
I saw also two handsome houses, with their gardens,
and two handsome, kind ladies. One of them was really
beautiful, but sorrowing : death had lately taken from
her her heart's joy. In the second home joy and happi
ness were the dwellers ; there was no mistake about that.
I was obliged to promise to return there in the spring, and
there to witness that lovely season. But I wonder how
many breaches of promise I shall be guilty of in this
country !
Mr. Putnam conveyed me back to New York, and to
the kind Mrs. S., who now took charge of me, and with
her I visited various public institutions, among which
were a couple of large schools, where I saw hundreds of
cheerful children, as well as young people. I remarked,
in particular, the bright, animated, beautiful eyes of the
children. The mode of instruction seemed to me espe
cially calculated to keep the children awake and attentive.
One building contained many, or all gradations of schol
ars. The lowest rooms are appropriated to the smallest
children, of from four to six years old (each child having
Hs little chair and detached desk standing before it), and
with each story ascends the age of the pupils, and the
branches of knowledge in which they are instructed. In
the uppermost story they have advanced to nineteen or
twenty, or even above (as well in the girls' school as the
boys'), take diplomas, and go thence out into the world to
live and teach according as they have learned here. I,
however, did not gain much information. I wished to
put questions, but they gave themselves little time to
answer, and I saw that my visit was regarded not as for
instruction, but for display. In the institution for the
deaf and dumb, a young teacher indicated by signs to the
pupils a long history, which they were to write upon the
writing-tablets which hung around the walls. They did

68 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
it excellently ; and I could not but marvel at their powers
of memory, and their quickness of apprehension and ex
pression. The following day an excursion was proposed to one of
the islands in the neighborhood of the city, where right-
minded men have established a large institution for the
reception and assistance of emigrants, who, in sickness or
destitution, arrive in New York from Europe. The island
is called "Ward's Island," the institution "the Emigrant's
Asylum." One of its .principal founders and supporters,
Mr. Colden, formerly one of the chief lawyers of New
York, and now a man of affluence, occupying himself
solely and entirely with benevolent institutions, conducted
Mrs. S. and myself, as well as Bergfalk, whom I persuaded
to accompany us thither, in his carriage. Bergfalk is
addicted to burying himself among law books and acts of
Parliament, to living with the dead, and I must decoy him
forth to breathe the fresh air with the living, and to live
among them.
The day was glorious, and the sail in the boat upon
that calm, fragrant water (I never knew water give forth
a fragrance as it does here) in that warm autumnal sun,
was one of the most agreeable imaginable. On Ward's
Island people may form a slight idea of the difficult ques
tion which the Americans have to meet in the reception
of the poor, and often most wretched population of Europe,
and how they endeavor to meet it. Thousands who come
clad in rags, and bowed down with sickness, are brought
hither, succored, clothed, fed, and then sent out westward
to the states of the Mississippi, in case they have no
friends or relations to receive them at a less remote dis
tance. Separate buildings have been erected for the sick
of typhus fever ; for those afflicted with diseases of the
eye ; for sick children ; for the convalescent ; for lying-in
women. Several new houses were in progress of erection.
Upon those verdant, open hills, fanned by the soft sea-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 69
breezes, the sick must, if possible, regain health, and the
weak become strong. We visited the sick ; many hund
reds were ill of typhus fever. We visited also the conva
lescent at their well-supplied dinner-table.
" But if," said I to Mr. Colden, " they are supplied ev
ery day with such soup and such meat as this, how can
you manage to get rid of them, at least of such as live
only to eat ?"
" With them we do as the Quaker did with his adver
sary," replied Mr. Colden, smiling: "he took hold of him
in a rough manner. ' How now V said the enemy. ' You
are really not going to strike me : that is against your re
ligious principles !' ' No,' said the Quaker, ' I shall not
strike thee ; but I shall keep hold of thee in a very uncom
fortable manner.' "
Bergfalk was as much pleased as I was in seeing this
noble, flourishing institution, which the people of the New
World have established for the unfortunate children of the
Old ; and I enjoyed no less the peculiar individuality of
Mr. Colden, one of those strong characters who sustain
such institutions as easily as a mother her child upon her
arm — a man strong of heart, soul, and body. For such
men I feel an admiration which is akin to a child-like love ;
I would willingly serve them as a daughter. They have
the magnetism which is ascribed to the mountain character.
I visited also with Mrs. S. the home established for the
restoration of fallen women ; it appeared to me excellent,
[and well arranged. Miss Sedgwick is one of the mana
gers, and does a very great deal of good. She reads to
the women stories which call forth their better nature, and
talks to them cordially and wisely. She must be one of
the most active supporters of this reformatory home.
Mrs. S., who is a gentle, motherly, and domestic woman,
as well as a good citizen even beyond the sphere of her
own house — and every noble woman ought to be the same
— was an amiable hostess, to me ; and the only thing

70 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
which I lacked was, that I was unable to talk more with
her. But these schools, asylums, etc., they are in the
highest degree excellent and estimable ; but ah ! how
they weary me ! Mrs. S. conducted me to the house of
Miss Lynch, where I saw a whole crowd of people, and
among them Bryant the poet, who has a beautiful, charac
teristic head, with silvery locks.
From Miss Lynch's I was taken by a kind and respect
able professor — Hackitt I believe he was called — to the
Elysian Fields, a park-like tract near New York, and so
called from their beautiful idyllian scenery ; and they were
beautiful as an idyll — and the day and the air — nay, my
child, we have nothing like them in the Old World ! at
least, I have never felt any such. I drink in this air as I
would drink nectar, and feel it almost like a pleasant in
toxication ; it must belong to this time of the year, and
to the magic life of this Indian summer. I wandered in
the Elysian Fields with really Elysian feelings, saw flocks
of white sails coming down the Hudson, like winged birds
of peace, and I allowed my thoughts to float up it to the
friends there, the new and yet so dear ; far from me, and
yet so near. It was an enchanting day, that day in the
Elysian Fields of the New World. My professor was good
and wise, as Mentor in " Les Aventures de Telemaque,"
and I fancy wiser, because he did not talk, but followed
me with fatherly kindness, and seemed to enjoy my pleas
ure. In the evening he conducted me across the East
River to Rose Cottage, in that quiet Brooklyn ; and there
I shall rest some days, a little apart from the world.
Now a word about my new friends, Marcus and Rebec
ca. They are a very peculiar kind of people ; they have
a something about them remarkably simple and humane,
serene, and beautiful, which seems to me of angelic puri
ty. The first day that I dined at their house they called
me by my name, and wished that I should call them the
same ; and now I live with them familiarly as with a

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 71
brother and a sister. They have been, and are indescrib
ably kind to me. The first day I was there I was some
what out of humor ; I suffered from the cold, especially
in my bed-room, and from having to place myself in new
circumstances, to which I always have a repugnance. But
they had a stove set in my chamber, made it warm and
comfortable, and I soon felt myself at home* with them,
and happy.
Marcus is also what is called a self-made man. But
I rather suspect that our Lord himself was of his kind,
both in heart and head. His countenance reminds me of
Sterne's expression about a face — " it resembles a bless
ing." His wife, Rebecca, comes of the race of Quakers,
and has something about her of that quiet, inward light,
and that reflectiveness which, it is said, belongs to this
sect. Besides this, she has much talent and wit, and it
is especially agreeable to hear her converse. Her exterior
is pleasing, without being beautiful ; her mouth remark
ably fresh and cheerful, and her figure classically beauti
ful. Both husband and wife are true patriots and warm
friends of humanity, loving the ideal in life, and living for
it. They are people of affluence, and are able to do much
good. They are interested in Socialism, but rather as
amateurs than as the actually initiated. Yet Marcus has
associated several of his clerks with him in his business.
But he is one of that class who do not like to talk about
what they do, or that others should busy themselves there
with. His wife and friends like to talk about him ; and
I do not wonder at it. The family consists of three chil
dren. Eddy, the eldest boy, twelve years old — and who
might serve as a model either for a Cupid or for one of
Raphael's angels— has a quiet, thoughtful demeanor, with
great refinement of expression. Little Jenny, the only
daughter, is a sweet little girl; and then comes "the
baby," a yellow-haired little lad, with his father's brow
and clear blue eyes ; a delicate, but delightful child.

72 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
With Marcus I talk about what is going on both now
andTorTiereafter in the country, whether afar off or near ;
with Rebecca about the history of the inward life J and
thus learn much which both affects and interests me.
Yes, my sister, there is here much more poetry, much
more of the romance of life, than we have imagined.
Life here is «new youth. The climate, also, is youthful,
but not always most agreeably so : it is very fickle. The
first days I spent here at Brooklyn were so bitterly cold
that I was frozen, both body and mind. Now, and for the
last three days, it has been so warm, that I have lain at
night with my window open, have seen the stars shining
through the Venetian shutters, and been saluted in the
crimson dawn by the mildest zephyrs, and that air, and
that odor, which has in it something magical.
November 1th. I have not been able to write for sev
eral days. I am sorry for it, my sweet child, but I can
not help it. I will some time, by word of mouth, fill up
the gaps which remain in my letters. Many things which
are flattering, and many things which are difficult, occur
to me every day, which are not worth putting down on
paper. My life is a daily warfare against kindness, and
politeness, and curiosity, during which I often am weary
and worn out ; often, also, I feel the wafting influence of
an extraordinary youthfulness and enjoyment gush through
my soul. I felt this one day during a conversation with
the noble, enthusiastic W. H. Channing — a character as
ardent as it is pure, with a beaming eye, and a counte
nance as pure and regular as I could imagine that of a
seraph to be. His figure, which is noble and elegant, is
well suited for that of a public speaker. He is rather a
critical admirer than an enthusiast as regards his country.
He loves enthusiastically merely the ideal and the perfect,
and knows that the reality falls short of this.
"We are very young, very young!" said he, speaking
of the people of the United States. He spoke of Emerson

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 73
with admiration, but as of a remotely lofty spirit. " He
is the best of us all !" said he.
" Is he your friend ?" I inquired.
" No," replied he; "I can not flatter myself with such
a relationship between us. He is, besides, too much apart,
too — . But you ought to see him to be able to understand
him." I made some observation against Emerson's turn of
mind. Channing did not make much reply to this, but
continued mentally to look up to Emerson as one looks
up to some star of the first magnitude. This man must
have the power of fascination.
On Wednesday I go with Channing, and Marcus, and
Rebecca to the North American Phalanstery in New Jer
sey, take a near view of that wonderful thing, and learn
more about Christian Socialism. Bergfalk will go with
us. After that I return here, where I remain to the end
of the week. The following week I shall spend with Miss
Lynch in New York, and give myself up to a life of society
there. After that, I return here, and accompany my friends
to Massachusetts, in order to celebrate with their relations
there the great festival of Thanksgiving-day, as it is called.
This day, which is fixed this year for the 26th of Novem
ber, is celebrated with particular solemnity in the states
of New England, where it first originated. After that, I
shall visit the Lowells, the Emersons, and many others,
to whom I am invited, and so on to Boston, where I think
of spending the winter months, and whence my friends
will return home.
In the evening, at sunset, I went out for a solitary walk
in the road, half town, half country. I walked beneath
the green trees ; and by my side went the beautiful Eddy,
quite silent. The evening^ sky glowed, and cast its warm
reflections over meadow and wooded height. And when
I turned my eyes from these to the beautiful boy at my
side, I met his, as gentle and winning as an angel's glanoe.
D

74 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
He seemed to see and to understand that which lived
within my soul. Thus walked we onward. But it began
to grow dusk ; and now a man on horseback rode up to
us with a large box or package upon his arm : it was that
good Marcus on his Dolly ; and the package which he car
ried was for me, and was full of the most beautiful flow
ers from Mr. Downing ; and with them a few words for
me, still more beautiful than the flowers. Rebecca and I
arranged the flowers in a beautiful alabaster vase, in the
form of a lily, rising from its basin. Marcus and Chan
ning assisted us with their eyes.
I am quite well, my little Agatha, spite of vagaries both
of body and soul, and am infinitely thankful for what I
here learn and experience, and for these good, cordial
friends ! That which I want is to hear good news both
from you and from mamma. I hope to hear by this day's
post, hope and long. I must now send off this letter, and
set to work on many others. Kiss mamma for me, and
greet all who wish for greetings From your Fredrika.

LETTER V.
Rose Cottage, November 12th, 1849.J)
At length, at length I have received letters from home,
letters from mamma, and from you, my sweet Agatha !
I kissed the letter for joy when it was put into my hand.
But ah ! how it grieved me to hear that you are again ill,
and that without either rhyme or reason, so soon after
leaving the baths of Marstrand, where I last saw you so
well. I can now merely endeavor to console myself with
the belief that by this indisposition you will get rid of all
further indisposition for the year, and that you, therefore,
will be in all the better health for the winter. Will you
not ? yes, we must next winter remove with you to some

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 75
warmer climate, to your beautiful Italy, to Rome, or to
Palermo, and next summer you can make good use of sea
bathing again at .Marstrand. And I will be with you, my
dear heart, and talk and write beautiful things for you,
because I shall be rich in such things, and we will inhale
a new and beautiful life together. I have not yet received
your letter to London, but I shall have it yet, or else E. L.
deserves to — lose his head, if he have not already lost it,
for he took it upon himself to receive this letter and send
it on to me. But yet once more, thanks for the beautiful
letters. I must now tell you about our expedition to the Phal
anstery. It was a charming morning when we set out.
The air felt quite young — scarcely five years old. It was
not a boy, it was a girl, full of animation, but shy — a
veiled beauty. The sun was concealed by light clouds,
the winds were still. As Marcus, Rebecca, and I were
standing for a short time by the ferry at Brooklyn, wait
ing for the boat to take us over to New York, a Quaker
ess was also standing there, with a Roman nose, and a
frank but grave countenance. I looked at her, and she
looked at me. AU at once her countenance brightened as
if by a sunbeam. She came up to me, " Thou art Miss
Bremer," said she. " Yes," said I, "and thou art  "
She mentioned her name, and we shook hands cordially.
The inward light had illumined her in more than one
way, and on such a morning I felt myself on the sweetly
familiar terms of " thee and thou" with the whole world.
We crossed the river, Marcus, Rebecca, and I. The
morning wind awoke, and the clouds began to move ;
sailing craft and steam-boats passed one another in the
bay, and young lads sat in their boats fishing up large
casks and planks which the current bore with it out to
sea. The shores shone out green and gold. An hour
afterward, and we were on board the steam-boat which
would convey us to New Jersey. Bergfalk had joined us

76 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
full of life and good-humor. Channing had come with
his pure glance, clear as the light of a diamond, and with
him Mr. H., a lover of flowers and of Channing. We
steamed along amid sunshine and conversation on subjects
of interest, the dialogue being principally between Chan
ning and myself, the others putting in now and then a
word, every one rather opposed to "me, and I a little op
posed to all, with the exception of Marcus, whose reason
accorded with my views. By this time the clouds began
to gather over us, and it soon began to rain.
We arrived in New Jersey amid rain, and in rain we
reached the little town of Redbank. Here a wagon from
the Phalanstery met us, which had been sent for the
guests, as well as for potatoes, and in it we stowed our
selves, beneath a tilted cover of yellow oil-clpth, which
sheltered us from the rain. A handsome young man, one
of the people of the Phalanstery, drove the pair of fat horses
which drew us, and after we had plowed the sand for a
couple of hours, we arrived at the Phalanstery, a couple
of large houses, with several lesser ones standing around"
them, without any thing remarkable in their style of arch
itecture. The landscape around had a pleasant, park
like appearance ; the fields and the trees were yet quite
green. New Jersey is celebrated for its mild climate and
its fine fruits. We were conducted into a hall and regaled
with a dinner which could not have been better if it had
been in Arcadia ; it would have been impossible to have
produced better milk, bread, or cheese. They had also
meat here.
I here met with the family which had first invited me
. to the Phalanstery, and found them to be the sister and
brother-in-law of Marcus, two earnest, spiritual-minded
people, who have a profound faith in and love for the prin
ciple of association. He is the president of the institution
at this place. Mr. A., who has not alone enthusiasm, but
who is evidently a clever and straight-forward man of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 77
business, gifted with the power of organization, was orig
inally a^ministerTjand devoted himself for a long time most
beneficially as a {missionary of the poor,1 "a minister at
large," as they are called in this country; after which he
lived for ten years as a farmer in one of the Western States,
in the valley of the Mississippi, cultivating maize and
fruit, and finding himself well off amid the affluent soli
tudes of nature. As his children, however, grew up, it
appeared to him too solitary for them ; the house became
too small, and, for the sake of their education, and their
moral and intellectual development, he removed again,
and came nearer to the great world of man. But in so
doing he resolved to unite himself with that portion of it
which, as it appeared to him, came the nearest to his idea
of aJjhristMnjsommunity. He, and his wife and children,
therefore, joined this association, which was established
eight years before by a few married couples, all enthusi
asts for this idea, and which now calls itself "the North
American Phalanstery." Each member advanced the sum
of one thousand dollars ; land was purchased, and they
began to labor together, according to laws which the soci
ety had laid down beforehand. ' Great difficulties .met
them in the commencement, in particular from their want
of means to build, for the purchase of implements, and so
on. It was beautiful and affecting to hear what fatigue
and labor the women subjected themselves to — women
who had been but little accustomed to any thing of this
kind ; how steadfastly and with what noble courage they
endured it ; and how the men, in the spirit of brother
hood, did their part in any kind of work as well as the
women, merely looking at the honor and the necessity of
the work, and never asking whether it was the fit em
ployment for man or for woman. They had suffered much
from calumny, but through it all they had become a
stronger and more numerous body.
They had now overcome the worst, and the institution

78 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
was evidently improving. It was in contemplation at this
time to build a new Aiouse, in particular a large eating-
hall and place for social meeting, together with a cooking
and wash house, provided with such machinery as should
dispense with the most onerous hand-labor. The number
of members was at this time somewhat above seventy ._
The establishment has its own peculiar income fromjnills_
and from tillage, as well as from its orchards. They cul
tivate peaches, melons, and tomatoes. In the mills they
prepare hominy (ground maize), which is boiled into a sort
of pudding, and eaten universally, especially for breakfast.
One evening a great portion of the members of the
Phalanstery assembled in one of the sitting-rooms. Va
rious individuals were introduced to me, and I saw a great
number of very handsome young people ; in particular, I
remarked the niece and nephew of Marcus, Abby and her
brother, as being beautiful according to one's ideal stand
ard. Many among the men wore coarse clothes ; but all
were neat, and had a something of great earnestness and
kindness in their whole demeanor.
Needle-work was brought in and laid upon a table.
This was the making of small linen bags for containing
hominy, and which, when filled and stamped with the
name of the Phalanstery, are sent for sale to New York.
I sewed one bag; Channing, also, made another, and
maintained that he sewed quicker than I did ; my opinion,
however, is that my sewing was the best. After this I
played Swedish dances and ballads for the young people,
which excited them in a remarkable manner, especially
the Nec's polka. I related also to them the legend, of
the Neck and the Priest, and the Wand which became
verdant, a legend which shows that even the spirits of
nature might be saved. This struck them very much,
and the tears came into many eyes.
I had a little room to myself for the night, which some
of the young girls had vacated for me. It was as small

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 79
as a prison cell ; had four bare, white walls, but was neat
and clean, and had a large window with a fine and beau
tiful prospect ; and I was exceedingly comfortable in that
little chamber, and slept well upon a good sofa-bed to the
sound of the plashing rain, and in the mild atmosphere
which entered through the half opened window. The bed-
making sisters, two handsome, kind young girls, were the
last which I saw in my room. I was awoke in the morn
ing by the sound of labor throughout the house ; people
were going and coming, all full of business ; it sounded
earnest and industrious. I thought the " Essenes and the
Pythagoreans began the day with a song, a consecration
of the day's work to the service of the holy powers," and
I sighed to think that the associations of the West were
so far behind those of the East. I dressed myself and
went down.
As there is always an impulse within mc. to. enter body
and soul into the life which at that time exists around me,
so would I_nowJiye here as a true and earnest member
oithe^^halanstery, and therefore I entered as a worker
into one of the bands of workers. I selected that in which
cooking was going forward, because I consider that my
genius has a bent in that direction. I was soon standing,
therefore, by the fire with the excellent Mrs. A., who had
the management of this department ; and I baked a whole
pile of buckwheat cakes, just as we bake cakes in Sweden,
but upon a large iron plate, until breakfast, and had then
the pleasure of serving Marcus and Channing with some of
them quite hot for breakfast. I myself thought that I had
been remarkably fortunate with my cakes. In my fervor
of association, I labored also with hands and arms up to
my very elbows in a great kneading-trough, but had very
nearly stuck fast in the dough. It was quite too heavy
for me, though I would not confess it ; but they were kind
enough to release me from the operation in the politest
manner, and place it in abler hands.

80 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The rain had ceased, and the sun began to find his way
through the clouds. I now, therefore, went out to look
abdut me, accompanied by Mrs. A. and the lady of the
president, the latter of whom wore a short dress and pan
taloons, which were very becoming to her fine and pictur
esque figure, and besides which, were well calculated for
walking through the wet fields and woods. We first paid
a visit to the mills. Two handsome young girls, also in
short dresses or blouses, girt with leathern bands, and
with jaunty little caps on their heads, which were remark
ably becoming, went, or rather danced along the foot-path
before us, over hill and dale, as light and merrily as birds.
They were going to assist at the hominy mills. I went
through the mills, where every thing seemed excellent and
well arranged, and where the little millers were already
at their work.
Thence we went across the meadows to the potato-fields,
where I shook hands with the chief^ who, in his shirt
sleeves, was digging up potatoes among his senators. Both
the chief and the other members looked clever and excel
lent people ; and the potato crop promised this year to be
remarkably rich. The land in New Jersey appears to_be_
very good and fruitful. The sun shone pleasantly over
the potato-field, the chief, and his laborers, among whom
were many men of education and intelligence.
In my conversation with the two sensible women, my
conductresses, I learned various particulars regarding the
laws and life of the Phalanstery ; among others, that they
are wise enough not to, allow theL.public.to- absorb private^
property. JEach_ individual may invest as much_as_he^
lij^sjn_ih.e__association, and retain as much of his own
property asjie-jsishes. For that which he so invests he
receives, interest. The time required for labor is ten
hours a day. All who work over hours are paid for such
overwork. The women participate in all rights equally
with the men ; vote, and share in the administration of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 81
law and justice. "But," said Mrs. A., "we have had so
much to do with our domestic affairs, that we have hith
erto troubled ourselves very little about these things."
Any one who makes known his desire to become a
member may be received as such after ajDrobation^of Lone
^ear_jn_ti^Ph^danstery, during which time he must have
shown himself to be unwearied in labor, and steadfast in
brotherly love and good- will. As regards his religion,!
rank, or his former mode of life, no questions are asked. |
The association makes a new experiment in social and
economic life ; it regards the active principle of love as
the ruling power of life, and wishes to place every thing
within the sphere of its influence ; it will, so to say, begin
life anew, and makes experimental researches into its
laws ; like those plants called exogens, it grows from the
exterior inward, but has, it appears to me, its principle
much less determinate than the vegetable.
Being asked in the evening my opinion of this commu
nity, I candidly confessed in what it appeared to be de
ficient ; in particular, as regarded a profession of religion
and public divine service — its being based merely upon a
moral principle, the validity of which might be easily call
ed in question, as they did not recognize a connection with
a life existing eternally beyond earth and time with any
eternally binding law, nor even with a divine Lawgiver.
" The serpent may one day enter your paradise, and
then — how can you expel it ?"
I told them also how I had felt that morning; how
empty and dead a life of labor seemed to me which was
not allied to the service of the Supreme, which did not
admit of space for the holy and the beautiful.
An elderly gentleman who sat near me, with a very
good and honest countenance, but who had a horrible
trick of incessant spitting, was the person who, in partic
ular, replied to my objections. But his reply and that of
the others merely served to strengthen my impression of
D2

82 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the cloudy state in which the intellect here is at present.
I therefore remained silent after I had given my opinion.
But I and many others hoped that Channing would have
spoken. He, however, did not, but sat listening, with his
beautiful, speaking head, and his beaming glance turned
toward the disputants. After that, Bergfalk and I began
to talk with each other in Swedish, in order that they
might hear that extraordinary foreign tongue. We placed
ourselves opposite each other in the midst of the compa
ny, and conversed in Swedish for the edification of our
very attentive audience.
I was again requested to play for the young people.
The following day at noon we were to leave. In the
morning, about half a dozen beautiful young girls seized
upon me, and conducted me from one house to another,
and I played to all the mothers and grandmothers in the
Phalanstery, and upon every piano which was to be found
there, six or seven in number ; and the young creatures
were so charmed and so excited with the marches, and
the polkas, and the songs which I played to them, that
they both laughed and cried. N.B. — Music as yet iruthe.
Phalanstery is merely a babe in swaddling-clothes; thex
regard at present their work as their play. It is true, nev
ertheless, that the children there are unusually cheerful ;
the very little ones were, in particular, most charming.
Magnificent lads were the lads of the association, and not
in the least bashful before the stranger. One saw in them
the dawning spirit of the co-operatist.
I became, however, horribly weary of my part as" asso
ciate sister, and was glad to sit down and play for the
Phalanstery, and to kiss all the young girls (and glorious,
warm-hearted girls they are), and shake hands with the
associate brothers and sisters, and, leaving the Phalanstery
with my friends, seat myself again quietly in the steam
boat on my way back to New York.
Much delighted were they, f
But preferred the old way. )

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 83
I was like the fishes in St. Anthony's sermon, not a mor
sel more converted than they were. Because, although I
should lose all regard for myself if I did not believe that
I was inwardly associated with the interests of humanity
in every various sentiment of my being, in my prayers as
well as in my work — did not feel myself to be a worker
in the great Phalanstery of the human race — yet is my
nature altogether opposed to association when brought into
too near a proximity, or in outward life. And I would
rather live in a cottage on the bleakest granite mountain
of Sweden, alone by myself, and live on bread, and water,
and potatoes (wliich I would boil for myself), than in a
Phalanstery on the most fertile soil, in the midst of asso
ciated brethren and sisters, even if they were as agree
able as they are at this place. But that belongs to my
individual character ; I can not live perfectly excepting
in solitude. For the greater number of people, however,
even the outward life of association is the happiest and
the best. Association,_in that form which it assumes, for
example, inJthi^JPhalanstery, , is ^evidently doing a.justice
to many individuals which would never be. done- to.ib.em
in jhe great social system as- it is usually""Con"Structed.
Thus, for example, there was here a man who was pos
sessed of considerable knowledge and a cultivated mind,
but, in consequence of the weakness of his eyes, was in
capacitated for maintaining himself by any means which
required much eyesight. This man was poor, and without
near connections. In the ordinary state of society he must
either have taken refuge in some asylum for indigence,
where his life, physical and spiritual, would have been
scantily supplied, or he must have sunk into the coarse
working class, who merely labor for the life of the body.
As a member of the Phalanstery, this man gave his bodily
labor ten hours in the day, and on the other hand was
entitled to all the nobler enjoyments of cultivated life,
intercourse with superior and educated people, good meals

84 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
partaken in cheerful company, always a kind welcome,
and every evening, when the work of the day was over,
if he were so inclined, rest and refreshment in society, in
a large, light room, with agreeable women, handsome chil
dren, music, books, opportunities for conversation on the
highest interests of life in connection with the interests of
the association. After all, I believe that I begin to love
this association while I write about it, and while I think
upon the noble justice which it does to this individual, and
to many others like him. Is there not something great
and beautiful when a community thus receives into its
bosom even the meanest human being, who will not be
useless, and which allows him to become participant of
its enlightened life, so long as he takes part in its life of
labor? And that it is which Christian Socialism aims at.
And well may it, in the consciousness thereof, courageously
bear the derision and contempt which the world at large
casts upon it, and with its countenance turned toward the
eternal light say consolingly, as Mr. A. (the preacher and
the farmer) said to me at our departure, "We know. that
we have not trodden any man under foot."
But my doubt as to the waiiiof^LcLcp.nsiruction in this
particular case returned nevertheless ; and on the steam
boat, in quiet conversation with my friends, we examined
the question still further. I repeated my objections against
this building without foundation. Channing was certain
about it, in the belief that the more profound laws of rea
son and of life necessarily become developed from human
nature when it is left to test and to experimentize itself.
" That which I require in the Phalanstery," said Channing,
"will yet come, and come in a new way, and with deeper
conviction." I believe, as Channing does, that it must
come, because human nature possesses these seeds of eter
nal ideas within its own breast, and has developed them
in all ages. All historical religions and modes of philoso
phy, religious associations, and so on, bear witness to this

HOMES OF THE NEW. WORLD. 85
truth. But I continue to demand from the Socialists,
why not take up that work whioh is already begun and
continue it ? Why not acoept the consciousness which
the human race universally possesses of itself, its life, and
its aims ? Why attempt to undertake a work which has
already been given up ? That is to waste time and strength
which might be turned to better account. But perhaps
there maj be something new here which I have not clearly
seen — the principle of a new beginning. It is evident to
me, however, in the mean time, that neither do the others
see it very clearly. They go en t&tonnement; but they
are perhaps guided by an instinct which is clairvoyant.
I shall return to this institution and to these subjects.
Thig_ Phalanstery is for the present the. only one ouihis.
plaji. existing in .ihe United__States,r Many others have
been founded, but all have failed and gone to pieces from
the difficulty of winning the interest of the members and
their steadfast co-operation for the principle of the insti
tution and for the common weal. The enthusiasts have
done the work, the sluggish-spirited have lived upon them ;
the former have done every thing, the latter nothing.
Fourier's theory about the attraction of labor has been
effectually refuted by many sluggish natures. The advo
cates of the theory maintain, indeed, that it has never yet
been fully proved, because mankind has not been educated
to consider labor attractive. But we shall see.
At home at Rose Cottage, in the quiet, affectionate fam
ily circle there, how pleasant was rest after the Phalans
tery expedition ! There, also, my most beautiful hours are
passed in the society of the husband and wife, in conver
sation with them, and in reading together the poets of
America. Here, also, is Lowell a favorite, and it is a
pleasure to hear Rebecca read him and other poets, be
cause she reads remarkably well. Marcus leaves the
house generally immediately after breakfast, but during
that meal he often finds time to read us something import-

86 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ant either in the newspaper or from books for the most part
having reference to social questions and improvement. He
is now busied with a scheme for the erection of baths and
wash-houses on a large scale, for the benefit of the poor
of New York, and with collecting subscriptions for that
purpose. I must now tell you something about W. H. Channing,
because he is one of the most intimate friends <ff the fam
ily, and is connected with them and with the spiritual
life of the country in a remarkable manner. He was
some years ago the minister of a Unitarian congregation
in Cincinnati, but the room, that is to say, Unitarianism,
became too small for him ; he could not breathe freely
forth heart and soul in it, and " he therefore resigned an
office which he could no longer hold with an easy con
science," although his congregation, which was very much
attached to him, did all they could to induce him to re
main, and although he knew not how henceforth he was
to maintain himself, his wife, and his two children. But
he thought like the old patriarch, strong in faith, when he
obeyed the summons of the Supreme, " the Lord indeed
regards sacrifice !" And the Lord did so. Some of his
friends took the subject under consideration, and wrote a
letter to Channing, the contents of which were, " Come
to us ; become our friend and spiritual shepherd ; but in
perfect freedom ; follow your own inspiration : preach,
talk to us how and when it appears best to you. We un
dertake to provide for your pecuniary wants. Live free
from anxiety, and happy how and where you will ; teach
us how we should live and work ; our homes and our
hearts are open to you."
Channing's answer to this letter proved the nobility and
the earnestness of his heart. He came. And since that
time he has lived conformably with the invitation which
enabled him to visit prisons, to become one in religious
and social festivals and societies, or to lecture on social

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 87
questions in New York, Boston, and other towns ; follow
ing the dictates of his inspiration, and by his genial and
beautifully-gifted character awakening the soul and warm
ing the heart ; producing " revivals" of a higher life, scat
tering the seed of eternal life, and fanning up the feeble
flames of the true life wherever he came.
He visits his friends whenever he likes, often unexpect
edly, but he is always wished for and warmly welcomed ;
always finds in every house a room prepared for W. H.
Channing. The good Marcus has such respect for intel
lectual and spiritual gifts, and in particular such devotion
to Channing, that he has a peculiar pleasure in serving
him. He and Rebecca, and some other friends, entertain
the thought of building him a house near the Phalanstery.
The thought of this and of Channing's satisfaction, made
Rebecca quite happy. Ah, Agatha ! to live among such
people ! It is worth the fatigue of crossing the world's
sea merely to become acquainted with them.
Next Sunday Channing will deliver a lecture in New
York, and I, as well as my friends, shall go to hear him.
I am well off here in Brooklyn, in this home, with this
married pair and their beautiful children. Here, too, it is
quiet and beautiful. I can wander about alone and in si
lence, take long walks by myself in the neighborhood. I
observe among the trees here splendid weeping-willows,
actually colossal trees. They are still quite green. The
grapes ripen in the open air. Marcus has only to put his
hand outside the garden porch, around which the vine-
branches form a leafy bower, to gather whole handfuls of
beautiful bunches, with which he comes in and regales
us. And I often walk in a long, pleached alley covered
with vines, where I gather and eat. The grapes are of a
pale lilac color, small, very sweet and agreeable, but have
always a little lump inside which is rather sour and un
ripe. This may be peculiar to grapes in this country.
The veranda which ornaments the front of the house is

gg HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
now splendid with the most beautiful chrysanthemums.
In summer, they tell me, numbers of humming-birds hov
er around the roses. New York, Ninth Street.
Thursday, November 15th. Again an interruption of
several days. My dear child ! life is to me like a rushing
river, and I must be borne on with it, taking only care that
I don't lose life. The more detailed account of the career
and its adventures I must leave till we meet.
Last Sunday morning I went to church with my friends
— to a beautiful church with painted windows, which give
a somewhat gloomy appearance to the church; people
here are so afraid of sunshine. The building was fine,
but the sermon, by a Unitarian preacher, was of the most
meagre description. In the afternoon we drove to New
York to hear Channing. There is always such a crowd
and such a bustle on the New York side of the East River,
that I always feel as if one must there fight for life and
limb. Yet it is very seldom that any accident occurs. I
was glad to be able to hear Channing, of whose extraor
dinary ability as an extempore speaker I had heard so
much. The room in which the lecture was to be deliver
ed, and which might hold about five hundred persons, was
quite full. It was built as an amphitheatre, in an oval
half circle. Channing entered , and commenced by prayer,
standing the while with his face turned to the assembly.
After this he addressed them, but with downcast eyes,
and in a careless and almost indifferent manner. The
subject which he besought the audience, as well as him
self, to consider, was " the assembly of the saints." Some
beautiful observations there were, but the whole was so
devoid of any deep coherence, so undeveloped and without
application, so wanting in life and warmth, that I was
amazed in the highest degree. "Is this," thought I,
" American eloquence ? Is this the richly-gifted orator of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 89
whom I have heard so much praise ? And those downcast
looks, that immovability — how can it be ?" But now I
heard Rebecca whisper to her husband, " What is amiss
with Channing ? He must be ill ! He is not like him
self!" This consoled me, because I now perceived that this
was an unusual state with Channing. He was actually
not like himself. That inspired expression of countenance
which I had so often seen in him had vanished. Several
times he stopped and seemed endeavoring to collect him
self. But the discourse could not proceed. It was pain
ful to see that it could not, and at length Channing brought
it to a sudden close. And then, with a fine, almost hec
tic flush mantling his cheek, he advanced a step or two,
and said,
" I feel it to be necessary to offer an excuse to the as
sembly for the unsatisfactory manner in which I have treat
ed my subject, and which has arisen from a total want of
spiritual life in myself this evening, and of which I was
unconscious when I entered the hall."
The undisguised and noble candor with which this ex
planation was given refreshed my spirit, as did also the
manner in which his friends bore the disappointment of
the evening. One could see that they thought, "it is of
no importance, for Channing will make it up to us another
time. No matter."
A little circle of his friends surrounded him, while the
rest of the numerous assembly quietly left the hall. Aft
erward he told Marcus and Rebecca that he could not ex
plain the weight which seemed, like a bewitchment, to
have enchained his powers of mind that evening. He had
come to New York from his house on the Hudson full of
life, excited by the beautiful, star-bright evening, and full
of a desire to speak. But when he entered the hall, he
had become like a person deprived of the use of his limbs,
and he could not shake off the heavy, cramping fetters,

90 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
which he was disposed to ascribe to the magic mfluence
of some opposing evil spirit.
When, however, I see at times the glance of Channing's
eye, the fine, clear crimson of his cheek, I can not help
asking myself whether these times of exaltation are not
the contents of a dangerous chalice which, while they en
hance life, bring death all the nearer: the Prometheus
spirit which steals the fire of heaven is compelled to pay
for it with days of imprisonment and sorrow. But who
could or who would prevent the bird from seeking the
mountain even though he become the prey of the fowler,
or the silk- worm from spinning, although she spins her
own tomb ? From the very threads that she spins, the hu
man race, after all, make their holiday attire.
On Monday my good hosts took me to Miss Lynch, who
lives in one of the quiet and fashionable quarters of New
York. And for a little time I took leave of this couple,
so pure-hearted, so happy in each other, so infinitely kind
to me. But I shall return to them ; with them I shall
have my headquarters, and my home whenever I return
into this neighborhood ; such was the agreement between
us before we parted.
On Tuesday I dined with Mrs. Kirkland, the author of
that excellent and amusing book, "A New Home in the
West," and saw in the evening from sixty to seventy of
her friends. Among these was a remarkably agreeable
gentleman from Illinois, who invited me to his house there,
and who promised to be my cicerone in that part of the
Great West. Mrs. Kirkland is one of the strong women
of the country, with much u plomb, but with also much
womanliness both of heart and soul, kind as a mother, a
friend, andfellow-citizen; one whom I like, and of a
character to which I feel myself attracted ; her beautiful
smile, and the flash of her brown eye when she becomes
animated, betray the spirit which lives in her book of the
" New Home," but over which the misfortunes and bur
den of life seem afterward to have cast a veil.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 91
On Wednesday I was taken to a lady's academy, called
" Rutger's Institute," from the name of the founder, and
here I saw four hundred and sixty young girls, and some
excellent arrangements for their instruction and cultiva
tion. I also heard and read several compositions by the
young girls, both in prose and verse ; and I could not but
admire the perspicuity of thought, the perfection of the
language, and, above all, the living and beautiful feeling
for life which these productions displayed. Genius, prop
erly so called, I did not find in them ; and I question the
wisdom of that publicity which is given to such youthful
efforts. I fear that it may awaken ambition and an in
clination to give importance to literary activity, which
befools many young minds, while so few are possessed of
the divine gift of genius which alone makes literature, as
well as authors, good for any thing. I fear that it causes
them to forget, for a mere show of life, the beauty of that
life of which Byron speaks in these glorious lines :
Many are poets, but without the name ;
Many are poets who have never penned
Their inspirations, and perchance the best ;
They felt, and loved, and died. * * *
They compressed
The god within them, and regained the stars,
Unlaurelled npon earth, but far more blessed
Than those who are degraded by the jars
Of passion and their frailties linked to fame,
Conquerors of high renown, but full of scars.
I have also taken the liberty of expressing this in a lit
tle preface which I have been asked to write for these
productions, which are about being published. And in
any case, these words of Goethe, in "Faust," apply to all
writers : First we should live ; we afterward may write.
These young girls may be said as yet scarcely to have
lived, known, thought enough to write of their own ex
perience, their own faith and conviction. They write, as

92 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
people sing, by the ear. It is good, it is excellent that
every one should early learn to disentangle their thoughts,
to express themselves well and clearly, and for this pur
pose are these trials of authorship commendable. But
the publicity, the having them printed, the trumpeting
them abroad, the rewarding them, and so on, can that also
be good for the young, for any one, or for any thing? ,
True genius will, in its own way and its own time,
make for itself a path to praise and renown,
For it is a god ;
Its own course it knoweth,
And the paths through the clouds.
After having gone through the Institute, and taken
breakfast with the family whose name it bears, and which
seems to belong to the wealthy and fashionable class of
the City, I dined with the N.'s, whom you may remem
ber were with us at Aersta, and who had now kindly in
vited me to their house. They wished, also, to take me to
the opera this evening, but Miss Lynch was going to have
a large party, where I was to be introduced to people, and
people were to be introduced to me, and I drove, therefore,
to the house to act the parrot in a great crowd of people
till toward midnight. These introductions are very wea
risome ; because I must for a hundred times reply to the
same questions, and these for the most part of an unmean
ing and trivial character, just as people would put to a
parrot, whose answers are known beforehand ; for exam
ple : Had you a good passage from England ? How do
you like New York? How do yon like America? How
long have you been here ? How long do you think of re
maining? Where are you going to from here? and such
like. It is true that numbers of really kind and good-hearted
people come to see me, and I am not mistaken in the feel
ing which brings many others ; but there are too many.
It is an actual whirl of presentations and scraps of con-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 93
versation, which serves no other purpose than to make the
soul empty and the body weary. A good earnest conver
sation with an earnest person would be a refreshment.
But scarcely could I have begun such an one before I must
turn round my head again to reply to the question, Had you
a good passage ? or What do you think of New York ?
or How do you like America?
Such fetes as these are one's ruin ! And, in the mean
time, I am taken up with visits, letters, and notes, invita
tions, autographs, so that I have no time for myself. I
had this morning a charming visit from a little lady doc
tor, that is to say, a lady who practices the healing art, a
Miss H. H., " female physician," as she calls herself, from
Boston, who invited me to her house there, insisted upon
it that I must come, would not let me escape till I had
promised, and was all the time so full of animation, and
so irresistibly merry, that we, she, and I, and the whole
company, burst into one peal of laughter after another.
There was besides so much that was excellent and really
sensible in what she said, and I felt that there was so much
heart in the zealous little creature, that I could not help
liking her, and made her the promise as she wished. With
her was another lady, as quiet as she was active, a female
professorln^pln-enology, who wished to get hold of my head.
But my poor head has now enough to do to hold itself up
in the whirl of company life.
I have passed the forenoon in making visits with Mrs.
Kirkland, and at six o'clock I went to dine with Consul
Habicht, our Swedish consul in New York, who is very
agreeable and polite, but who dines so horribly late. In
the morning I shall be taken by a lively lady, Mrs. L., to
her country seat on the Hudson, and on Saturday I return
to see a great number of people at Miss Lynch's. And
thus is every day occupied for the whole time.
Sunday the 18th. And now, for a short time before
going to church, let me converse a little with my Agatha.

94 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Do you know that it is really remarkable what I have
gone through, both as regards people and things. I am
beginning to have an esteem for myself. But it is really
necessary to be strong as a stranger and a guest in this
country. The day before yesterday, Mrs. L. (an excellent type of
the exuberantly youthful life of the people of the New
World) fetched me and Miss Lynch to her villa on the
Hudson. But firstly, we had to pay a morning visit to
a rich lady, who had a morning reception, then to a little
Quaker lady eighty-four years old, the handsomest little
old woman I ever saw, and who, in her delicate, white
Quaker garments and muslin, seemed to me like a living
holiday. I made a sketch of her head in my album, to
Mrs. L.'s great delight, who desired people to come and
look at the old lady, and at me as I sketched her.
After this we drove to a great lunatic asylum, Bloom-
ingdale, as it is called. And here I was delighted — de
lighted by the affectionate consideration for the patient
which is shown in every thing, and which treats these,
the earth's most unfortunate beings, as the children of the
family. Music is heard in many of the rooms, for there
are a considerable number of pianos in the establishment ;
and the feeble mind seemed especially to enjoy the relax
ation it thus obtained. Without, flowers were cultivated
and planted in garden beds (within, the ladies also made
flowers.) There was also a museum of minerals, shells,
stuffed birds, and other animals, besides a library and
other things : all calculated to awaken an interest in the
diseased mind, and to turn it from its morbid self-observ
ation to the observation of other objects, and to occupy it
therewith. The park which surrounds the house is large
and beautiful ; and the patients may wander undisturbed
in its many alleys, enjoy the beauty of the country, and
rest on the benches under the trees. The flowers were a
real luxury here, and on all hands one met with agreeable

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 95
objects, with the exception, of course, of the poor lunatics
themselves. Nay, even in them also, for in them one
sees objects of much mercy — mercy which produces the
most beautiful results, because the method which is uni
versally adopted in the United States for the treatment of
the insane operates so beneficially that their recovery be
longs to the rule, incurable insanity forming the excep
tion ; that is to say, if on the commencement of the disease
the patient has been immediately placed in one of these
excellent asylums.
From this asylum we continued our way into the coun
try ; our hostess continually, as we drove along, spring
ing out of the carriage, now to fetch a basket with cakes
and other things for her housekeeping, now for bouquets
for Miss Lynch and myself. At length we came to the
beautiful villa on the Hudson, where we found a large fam
ily party assembled, and where Mr. L., a kind old gentleman
and a Quaker, just as quiet in body and mind as his wife
was restless, was waiting dinner for us — a substantial
and delicious dinner, as were all the dinners I saw in this
country. In the evening we had a party of about sixty
persons. It was more agreeable than I expected, and fa
tigued me less. But ah ! how these Americans, and in
particular these lady Americans, do ask question upon
question ! My gay hostess — a sort of Amelia A., but with
yet higher " spirits" — refreshed and amused me. She was
so full of unaffectedly fresh life. Thus, for example, she
sung, and very well too ; but there was a part of the song
which was evidently too high for her voice, and when she
came to this a second time, she stopped short, just as if
the notes had stuck fast in her throat, rose up and left the
piano, as much untroubled as if she had been singing
alone to herself, and went and chatted and laughed with
various people in the company. This was all very sweet
and fresh. Mr. L. is a handsome, fatherly old gentleman,
whom I like much. He is his wife's second husband ;

96 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and beneath this family life there is a romantic love-story,
more beautiful and noble than one generally finds in writ
ten romances.
I slept well, and aWoke by seeing a strong red light
shining through the Venetian shutters of my window. I
thought of fire, and sprang up. But it was the crimson
light of sunrise which glowed with pale red flames in the
eastern heavens, above the green heights, above the calm
mirror-like river, and the white sails quietly sleeping, and
which now, as it were, shook off sleep, aWoke by its
splendor. It' was enchantingly beautiful. I, too, shook
off sleep, both of body and mind, at this glorious spectacle ;
this Aurora which kissed and transfigured every thing,
living or dead ! For such sights and such scenes is King
David's song of praise alone available. " Sing to the Lord
a new song ! Sing to the Lord all the earth !"
That beautiful morning hour passed by, and I went
down to breakfast. Then began the torment of the day,
with company both in doors and out, and the eternal ques
tions, which did not leave me a moment's peace, and which
interrupted every dawning sentiment of delight in the
lovely landscape. Some handsome young girls, in par
ticular, drove me almost to desperation by their " Miss
Bremer, have you seen the telegraph there, on the other
side of the river ?" " Miss Bremer, do you see the rail
way down there ?" " Miss Bremer, do you see the splen
did foliage on the river banks ?" And " Miss Bremer,
have you such in Sweden ?"
To hear and to have to answer such questions as these
two or three times, is quite too much ; but if they are
repeated six or seven times, and one does not see any
end to it! At length, quite worn out by it, I told Mrs. L.
that I could not bear company in the morning, but that
during this time I must be a little alone ; she took it well
and kindly — mentioned it to the young girls, who also
were very amiable about it, and left me in peace. But

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD, 97
I fear that the young have lived with Nature as if they
heard her not, and forgot her for rail-roads and outward,
glittering things, and see not in her an instructress and a
friend. If it Were not so, they would talk less and listen
more, or have a little more reflection. But it is not their
fault. In the forenoon I drove round in the carriage with my
hostess, Bancroft the historian, and Anne Lynch, to call
on several of the neighbors. I saw in their beautiful
villas a vast amount of comfort, and even the exquisite
luxury of pictures and statues ; met in one place with a
horrible lion-hunter, who tormented us with talk, albums,
the desire for autographs and subscriptions, and so on, and
persecuted us even to our carriage, whither we had betaken
ourselves, calling after Mr. Bancroft to know where he lived.
" Drive, drive !" cried we, laughing, and so drove as fast
as we could to the so-called "High Bridge," where a glo
rious natural scene met our eyes. Yes, the scenery of this
New World seems to me rich and beautiful, if one could
only see it in peace, and with time for reflection ! But
here, in the neighborhood of New York, people seem obliged
every moment to turn their heads or their attention to the
Croton Aqueduct, which conveys water from Croton to New
York, a magnificent and excellent work, invaluable to the
great city, but which gave me a deal of trouble! But
now to proceed on our drive. Our hostess talked, and
laughed, and joked* the whole time, in her overflowing
animation and merriment. The carriage jumped over
stock and stone along the bad road, like a leaping calf. I
sat silent and patient, out of sheer fatigue. Thus drove
we round the country and shore, and at length back to
dinner, to see company, write autographs, and so on ; then
drove at full gallop to New York, where the Downings
were to meet me and a great party at Miss Lynch's. To
this house on the Hudson, also, and to this lady, did I
promise to return next summer, to go with her to her fa-
E

98 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ther's large farm, where she was brought up, and where
her father and sisters still lived. Yes, we were to do a
deal together. But ah ! the exuberantly ardent lady, who
I think might prevent the Hudson from "freezing, I feel
myself like a feeble fly beside her, and can not but remem
ber the story of "Le pot de fer et le pot de terre."
The Downings were already in Miss Lynch's parlor
when I arrived. I was so glad to see them, and to be
able to pour out my heart to them in full freedom, that
all at once I felt myself rested. And if you had seen me
a few hours later in a company of about a hundred people,
you would not have imagined that a few hours before I
had been weary and completely knocked up. Only to see
the Downings revived me, to say nothing of various beau
tiful acts of kindness on their part. Mr. Downing looked
so well this evening, that he attracted the attention of
many people by his remarkable and distinguished appear
ance, as he wandered among the crowd with his reserved
demeanor, his deep and speaking eye, his half shy, half
proud expression. The company at Miss Lynch's this
evening was remarkably handsome : I saw some splendid
toilets and some splendid figures among the ladies. The
men, in a general way, are not handsome ; but they have
a manly appearance — have good foreheads, bright eyes, a
cheerful and determined manner. The hostess herself, in
an elegant white dress, exactly suited to her slender and
well-made figure, and with a white 'flower in her hair,.
ornamenting that simply beautiful and graceful head, was
one of the most agreeable forms in the company, moving
about lightly and freely as a bird, introducing people to
one another, mingling them in conversation in such a man
ner as always gave pleasure, with those happy words and
expressions which some people can never hit upon, let
them seek ever so much, but which others can hit upon
without seeking for ; and Anne Lynch is one of these.
I distinguished myself peculiarly as a fiower-distribu-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 99
ter. I had received a great number of flowers to-day, and
I was thus enabled to give, a little bouquet of flowers to
one and another lady in company. This flower-distribu
tion pleased me greatly, because it furnished me with an
opportunity of saying, or, at all events, of looking a little
kindness to many a one. And this is nearly the only thing
I can return for all the kindness which I receive here.
Among the guests of the evening I remember, in par
ticular, an agreeable Mrs. Osgood, one of the best poetess
es of the United States, not only for her beautiful, speak
ing eyes, her manner and style of expression, both so full
of soul, but also because she placed in my hands her fan,
saying that it must remind me of " Fanny." All the la
dies in this country use fans, and flutter and maneuver a
great deal with them ; but I as yet had not furnished my
self with one. I remember also, in particular, a gentle
man with splendid eyes, and frank, cordial manner, whom
I wished I could have had more conversation with, for
there was evidently both genius and heart in him. He
is one of the most celebrated preachers of the Episcopal
Church of New York, and is named Hawks. This was
as yet the most entertaining evening party I had been to
in this country.
Later. I have now been to church with Mrs. Kirkland,
and have heard one of the best sermons I ever heard : no
narrow-minded sectarian view of religion and life, but one
in which the church- — a regular cathedral church — arch
ed itself over life, as the dome of heaven arches itself over
earth and all its creatures ; a large-minded sermon, such
' as properly befits the New World, that great new home
for all the people, and all the races of the world. Bergfalk
was also among the audience, and was as much struck
as I was with the sermon and the preacher, Mr. Bellows.
I am now going to dine with my friends, the Down
ings, at the Astor House ; and the evening I spend with
a family of the name of S. To-morrow I go to a grand
dinner, and in the evening to the opera.

100 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Thursday. Is there in this world any thing more wea
risome, more dismal, more intolerable, more indigestible,
more stupefying, more unbearable, any thing more calcu
lated to kill both soul and body, than a great dinner at
New York ? For my part, I do not believe there is. Peo
ple sit down to table at half-past five or six o'clock ; they
are sitting at table at nine o'clock, sitting and being served
with the one course after another, with the one indigest
ible dish after another, eating and being silent. I have
never heard such a silence as at these great dinners. In
order not to go to sleep, I am obliged to eat, to eat with
out being hungry, and dishes, too, which do not agree
with me. And all the while I feel such an emotion of
impatience and wrath at this mode of wasting time and
God's good gifts, and that in so stupidly wearisome a
manner, that I am just ready to fling dish and plate on
the floor, and repay hospitality by a sermon of rebuke, if
I only had courage enough. But I am silent, and suffer,
and grumble, and scold in silence. Not quite beautiful
this ; but I can not help it ! I was yesterday at one of
these great dinners — a horrible feast ! Two elderly gen
tlemen, lawyers, sat opposite me, sat and dozed while
they opened their mouths to put in the delicacies which
were offered to them. At our peasant- weddings, where
people also sit three hours at table, there are, neverthe
less, talk and toasts, and gifts for the bride and bride
groom, and fiddlers to play in every dish ; but here one
has nothing but the meat. And the dinners in Denmark!
I can not but think of them, with their few but excellent
dishes, and animated, cheerful guests, who merely were
sometimes too loud in their zeal for talking, and making
themselves heard ; the wit, the joke, the stories, the toasts,
the conversations, that merry, free, lively laisser aller,
which distinguishes Danish social life ; in truth, it was
Champagne — Champagne for soul and body at the enter
tainments there ! — the last at which I was present in Eu-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 101
rope before I came hither. But these entertainments here !
they are destined to hell, as Heiberg says, in "A Soul aft
er Death," and they are called " the tiresome}'1 And they
ought to be introduced into the Litany. On this occasion,
however, Fortune was kind to me, and placed by my side
the interesting clergyman, Dr. Hawks, who during dinner
explained to me, with his beautiful voice, and in his lucid
and excellent manner, his ideas regarding the remains in
Central America, and his hypothesis of the union of the
two continents of America and Asia in a very remote age.
It was interesting to hear him, and interesting would it
be to me to see and hear more of this man, whose charac
ter and manner attract me. He also is among those who
have invited me to his house and home, but whose invita
tion I am obliged to decline, and in this case I feel that
it is a renunciation and loss.
As he led me from the dinner-table, I proposed to him
to preach against such dinners. But he shook his head,
and said, with a smile, " Not against dinners, Miss Bre
mer !"
Gentlemen, even the best of them, are decidedly too
fond of eating.
When at night I went home with Anne Lynch, the air
was delicious, and the walk through this night air and
in the quiet streets — the oauseways here are broad, and as
smooth as a house floor — very agreeable. The starry heav
ens — God's town — stood with streets and groups of glitter
ing dwellings in quiet grandeur and silence above us. And
here, in that quiet, starlight night, Anne Lynch unfolded
all her soul to me, and I saw an earnest and profound
depth, bright with stars, such as I soarcely expected in this
gay being, who, butterfly-like, flutters through the life of
society as in its proper element. I had always thought
her uncommonly agreeable, had admired the ability with
which she, without affluence, and who, alone by her tal
ents and personal endowments, had made for herself and

102 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
for her estimable mother, an independence, and by which
she had become the gathering point for the literary and
the most cultivated society of New York, who assembled
once a week in her drawing-room. I had admired also her
inoffensive wit, her child-like gayety and good humor, and
especially liked a certain expression in her eye, as if it
were seeking for something, " something a long, long way
off," even in her apparently dissipated, worldly hfe ; in a
word, I had liked her, had a deep interest in her — now -I
loved her. She is one of the birds of Paradise which skims
over the world without soiling its wings with its dust.
Anne Lynch, with her individuality, and her position in
society, is one of the peculiar figures of the New World.
The evening and night parties which I see here, are,
for the rest, not to compare with the most beautiful of the
kind which I have seen in Sweden and Denmark. Here
there is not space, nor yet flowers enough, nor air enough.
Above every thing, I lack costume, character in dress.
The ladies are handsome, are well and tastefully dressed,
but they are too much like one another. The gentlemen
are all dressed alike. This can not here be otherwise, and
it is good and right at the bottom. But it is not good for
picturesque effect. Nor does it seem to me that the men
tal individuality is sufficiently marked to produce an out
ward impression. But to this subject I must return.
At the opera this evening, I saw a large and handsome
building ; splendid toilets in the boxes, and on the stage
a prima donna, as Desdemona, against whom I have noth
ing to object, excepting that she could love such a disa
greeable Othello. The music, the singing, and the scen
ery all tolerably good (with the exception of Othello), but
nothing very good. One might say, Ce n'est pas ca ! but
there was nothing which would make one think Oest ga !
like a tone, a glance, a gesture of Jenny Lind.
A lecture was delivered last Sunday evening, in the
same hall where I had heard Channing, on Christian So-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 103
cialism, by Mr. Henry James, a wealthy, and, as it is said,
a good man. His doctrine was that which recognizes no
right but that of involuntary attraction, no law of duty
but that of the artist's worship of beauty, no God but that
of the pantheist, every where and yet nowhere — a doctrine
of which there is no lack of preachers either in Sweden.
After the conclusion of the discourse, which was given ex
tempore, with accordant life and flashing vivacity, Chan
ning arose and said, that " if the doctrine which we had
just heard enunciated were Christian Socialism, then he
did not agree with it ; that the subject ought to be search
ed to the bottom ; that he considered the views of the
speaker to be erroneous, and that on the following Sunday
he would take up the question in that place, and show
them in what the errors of these views consisted."
The thing has excited attention, because both speakers
are fellow-laborers in a newspaper called " The Spirit of
the Age," and both are men of distinguished talent. I
am glad, as I shall thus have an opportunity of hearing
Channing before I leave New York, and that on one of the
most interesting subjects of the day and period.
The next letter which you will receive from me will be
from the homes of New England. Next Monday I set off
with the S.'s. One of the first homes in which I shall rest
after the festival of Thanksgiving-day, will be that of the
excellent and noble poet Lowell. The invitation came
to me from himself and his wife, while I was with the
Downings. As yet I have scarcely done any thing but
go from one house to another, interesting, but troublesome,
for one must always be charged, if not exactly with genius,
at least with good-humor and strength to see company,
and to be agreeable, when one often feels one's self so weary
as not to be good for any thing else than to sit in a corner
and be silent — or spin. But, thank God for all that is
good and joy-giving ! And how much more joyfully
should I spin this life of festivals and living impressions

104 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
if I did but know that you, my little Agatha, were joyful
and a little better. We can not, however, expect very
much at this time of the year. I kiss mamma's hand,
and thank her for that dear letter, and embrace you across
the great waters.

LETTER VI.
Westborough, December 2d, 1849.
My dear little Agatha, — I now write to you from a
little town near Boston, while waiting for the rail-way
train, which at five o'clock will take us, that is to say,
myself, Mr. and Mrs. S., their little son Eddy, and Pro
fessor Bergfalk, whom I induced to come with us. He
must not begin here to bury himself among books as he
did in Sweden : he must go abroad, and see a little of life
and mankind here to begin with, and celebrate the festi
val of Thanksgiving — one of the really national festivals
of the Americans — in the heart of the state where it arose,
and where it still is cordially maintained. When winter
comes, he may read to his heart's content in his beloved
books. The truth is, Bergfalk was not hard to persuade,
but came willingly and with pleasure.
I wrote to you last in New York during my warfare
there. It was very troublesome to me, and did not mend
at Brooklyn. Strangers came from morning to evening,
and, though many amiable people were among them, I
longed many a time merely to lie down and sleep. I
must, however, tell you of the occasions when the interest
of the moment chased away all drowsiness and fatigue,
and made me more awake than ever. Among these stands
foremost the evening of Channing's improvised lecture.
Last Sunday evening Channing was fully himself, and
his discourse poured forth like a clear, rushing river, logi
cal, perspicuous, glorious in subject and in elaboration:

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 105
It was to me a spiritual feast. He started with the idea
of a personal God in opposition to that of the pantheist,
every where and nowhere ; developing from that divine
personality the thence derived doctrine of duty, of social
law, of beauty, of immortality as applicable to every man,
to every human society, and proved how merely upon this
ground Christian Socialism, or Christian community,
could become stable, could advance humanity to its high
est purpose. Channing did not this time interrupt him
self once ; he did not replace a single word, carried along
by a continued inspiration, sustained by an enthusiasm
without extravagance, without passion, never violating
the law of beauty, and with a polemical creed which nev
er wounded the divine law. He merely once said, in a
somewhat sharper tone, that the " person who did not in
his own breast become conscious of the duality of human
nature, who did not combat with a lower self, is either
without humanity, or is deeply to be pitied."
The hall was quite full of people, and the profoundest
attention prevailed. At the close of the oration a circle
of congratulating friends gathered around Channing. I
saw even the speaker of the former evening, Mr. H. James,
go forward to Channing, lay his hand upon his shoulder,
as if caressingly, as he said " You have done me an in
justice ; you have misunderstood me !" He seemed pale
and agitated, but perfectly kind.
I went in a little carriage alone with Channing from
Brooklyn to New York this evening, and remarked how
desirous he seemed of dissipating his thoughts and occu
pying them with subjects foreign to that of the lecture.
Now, as he took me back to the carriage, and we were
about to separate (he was to remain in New York, and I
was returning to Brooklyn), I could not avoid saying to
him, " How happy you must have felt this evening !"
"Yes, oh yes!" he replied, with a half sigh; "but
then I have wounded Mr. James !"
E2

106 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Afterward he extended to me his hand, with his beam
ing smile, and said,
" We shall meet in the morning !"
But when comes that morning ? We have now parted
for a long time. But it is true, that if one ever meets a
spirit like that of Channing, it must be felt like a meet
ing in the morning.
I recollect one evening party at the S.'s with especial
pleasure. There were a sufficiency of space, air, flowers,
and some remarkably agreeable people. A noble, hand
some Miss S. recited a poem with much pathos of voice,
but otherwise altogether quietly. She and her handsome
sister wore real chrysanthemums in their hair. One most
charming young girl played on the piano one of her own
compositions, full of sweet feeling. Young C. sang. They
danced also. It was a gay, agreeable party, where each
performed some social duty, and where all seemed to en
joy life, and each other's society.
On Monday morning we set off, taking our way through
Connecticut. I left New York and Brooklyn with many
an unanswered letter of invitation, many unvisited schools
and institutions coming speeding after me, as if to lay
hold upon me ! I had a bad conscience. I actually ran
away from the battle of people. I could not do otherwise.
If I had been two people, I could not have answered all
the invitations, calls, etc., and I am only one ! But I shall
return to New York. I must yet see something more of its
best and of its worst ; among the latter, that portion of
the city which is called " Five Points," from five streets
coming together at one place, and where the lowest an'd
the most dangerous population of the city has its abode.
I asked Mr. D., in joke, whether he would go through the
" Five Points" with me. He answered decidedly, " No."
Ah ! II bello e il buono is not there to be met with.
But beyond the beautiful and the good seek I for truth
and for reality in every thing and every where. I must

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 107
also make myself somewhat better acquainted with the
five points in the refined life of New York ; for I know
that there, as in all great cities, is also to be found in the
life of the higher class the five ugly and dangerous points.
As the first point, I reckon the long and tiresome dinners.
New York appears to me outwardly a plodding and
busy city, without beauty and interest. There are beau
tiful and quiet parts, with beautiful streets and dwellings ;
but there the life in the streets is dead. On Broadway,
again, there is an endless tumult and stir, crowd and bus
tle, and in the city proper people crowd as if for dear life,
and the most detestable fumes poison the air. New York
is the last city in the world in which I would live. But
it is also to be regarded merely as a vast hotel, a caravan
serai both for America and Europe. Besides, it is true
that I always felt myself there in such a state of combat
and so fatigued, that I had not time to look around for
any thing beautiful. But, thank Heaven ! I know Brook
lyn, and there I could both Hve and sleep.
And now let us proceed on our way through the valleys
of Connecticut to the small homes of New England, the
home-land of the earliest pilgrims.
In the afternoon we reached Hartford. We were in
vited for the evening to Mrs. Sigourney's, the author of
" Pleasant Memories from Pleasant Lands ;" and here I
shook hands with the whole town, I believe — from the
bishop, a handsome old prelate, to the school-girl, and
played my usual part in society. Mrs. Sigourney, a very
kind little sentimentalist, but a very agreeable lady,
dressed in green, about fifty years old, with a good mother
ly demeanor, would perforce keep me with her all night,
and I could not go back to my excellent chamber at the
hotel, which I would so gladly have done, where I might
rest and have been silent. In the morning, however, I
forgot the little annoyance in breakfast and conversation
with my kind hostess and her agreeable, only daughter.

108 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The sun shone into the room, and the whole had the char
acter of a good home made warm by love. In such homes
I always do well, and I should have liked to have stayed
longer with Mrs. Sigourney had it been possible. At part
ing, she presented me with a handsome volume of her col
lected poetical works, and therein I read a poem called
" Our Country," for which I could have kissed her hand,
so beautiful was it, and so noble and so truly feminine is
the spirit it breathes. As coming from a woman and a
mother, there is great beauty in the following address to
her native land :
Ah, beautiful and glorious ! thou dost wrap
The robes of Liberty around thy breast,
And as a matron watch thy little ones
Who from their cradle seek the village school,
Bearing the baptism on their infant brow
Of Christian faith and knowledge ; like the bud
That, at the bursting of its sheath, doth feel
Pure dews, and heavenward turn.
There is thy strength,
In thy young children, and in those who lead
Their souls to righteousness. The mother's prayer
With her sweet lisper ere it sinks to rest —
The faithful teacher 'mid a plastic group —
The classic halls, the hamlet's slender spire,
From whence, as from the solemn gothic pile
That crowns the city's pomp, ascendeth sweet
Jehovah's praise ; these are thy strength, my land !
These are thy hope. Oh, lonely ark, that rid'st
A tossing deluge, dark with history's wrecks,
And paved with dead that made not heaven their help,
God keep thee perfect in thy many parts,
Bound in one living whole.
After those pleasant morning hours I was obliged again
to see people, and was therefore taken out by my hostess
in a carriage to see the town, which appears to me to be
well built and well situated. The public buildings are
the largest and the most ornamented of any in the town.
.But every thing, both within and without, testifies of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 109
affluence and prosperity. About noon I took \eave of my
friends at Hartford, and promised to come back.
It was rather late when we reached Worcester, where
we had an invitation from the mayor, and who this even
ing kept open house in our honor. As soon, therefore, as
we had arrived, we were obliged to dress ourselves and
go to a grand party. As there was a great gathering in
the town of the schools and the teachers of the district,
the house was so crowded that we could scarcely move in
the rooms, and my host himself did not know the names
of many persons whom he presented to me. But it was
all the same to me, because it is very seldom that those
foreign names fix themselves in my memory ; and kind
people are all alike welcome to a friendly hand-shaking
with me. We were received, also, with beautiful and
cordial songs of welcome, and with gifts of flowers from
handsome girls and young men. I played the Neck's
polka to them, and Rebecca S. related to them, in my
stead, the legend of the Neck and the Priest, the profound
sentiment of which never fails to impress the mind of the
hearer, and which is an excellent specimen of the popular
poetry of Scandinavia.
Among the guests in company was the celebrated black
smith and linguist, Elihu Burrit, a very tall and strong-
limbed man, with an unusually lofty forehead, large,
beautiful eyes, and, above all, handsome and strong feat
ures — a man who would excite attention in any company
whatever, as well for his appearance as for the expression
of singular mildness and human love which marks his
countenance. He had lately arrived here from the Peace
Congress, I believe in Paris, and talked about peace prin
ciples, of which much is said and taught in these the old
est lands of the Pilgrim Fathers. I declared myself to be
a friend of war, of a good, righteous war, when, at least,
peace can not have a great and prolonged life on earth.
But what is now the state of the world during a long

HO HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
peace ? Do not thousands of little dwarfs stick up their
heads and fight with pins or pen-points, sticking and
scratching from right to left, calling up petty-mindedness,
selfishness, bitterness, causing petty affronts, wretched
gratification, idle tales, and endless vexation in every
quarter ? Is not society broken up into a thousand little
quarrels and little contentions ? If now a serious, honor
able war occurred, like the giants who crush the dwarfs,
people would then forget their petty contentions for great
common interests. In these they would again become
brothers; and after the giants come the gods, and with
them the renovation of life.* Mankind must evidently
grow in heart and in intelligence ; and the community
must perfect its work before they talk about universal
peace. This must proceed from within.
Among the questions which were this evening put to
me was this : " What do you think of so many people
coming to see you?" " I wish that I were handsomer !"
replied I, simply, and with truth.
Our host was a man of agreeable person, frank and
kind as a true American ; his wife, was a graceful, agree
able woman, with the stamp of peacefulness and refine
ment, which I have frequently observed in the Quaker
women, and which makes them particularly charming to
me. She had lost an only child, and had now adopted as
her own a little boy, who loved her as a mother, and who
scarcely could be happy when away from her.
We spent the forenoon of the following day in visiting
several small homes, many of them belonging to families
of Quakers, which were all distinguished by their order
and neatness ; but also, at the same time, I fancied by a
something of stiffness and emptiness which would, be op
pressive to me. After this, we continued our way to Ux
bridge, where we were to keep the Thanksgiving festival.
* As translator, I beg to dissent considerably from these views of Miss
Bremer. — M. H.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. HI
I saw from the rail-road the paternal home of Marcus
S., that country house and home where he had been
brought up with many brothers and sisters, and to which
his looks were now directed with affection. The moon
arose and shone upon the waters of the Blackstone River,
along which the rail-road runs. Lights glimmered from
the factories on the other side of the river. I saw this
landscape, as in a dream, hour after hour, and rather saw
than felt its beauty, because the motion and the rattle of
the rail-way carriage produced a fatiguing and deafening
effect. We took up our quarters with a newly-married couple,
a physician and his little wife, the eldest niece of Marcus
S. They had built their house according to one of Mr.
Downing's designs, and laid out their garden also after
his plan ; and here they lived without a servant, the wife
herself performing all the in-doors work. This is very
much the custom in the small homes of the New England
States, partly from economic causes, and partly from the
difficulty there is in getting good servants. I slept in a
little chamber without a fire-place, according to the cus
tom of the country ; but the night was so very cold that
I could not sleep a wink ; besides which, I was visited
during the long night by some not very pleasing doubts
as to how, in the long run, I should be able to get on in
this country, where there is so much that I am unaccus
tomed to. When the sun, however, rose, it shone upon a
little white church, which, with its taper spire rising out
of a pine wood upon a height just before my window, and
the whole landscape lit up by the morning sun, presented
so fresh, so Northern, so Swedish an aspect, that it warm
ed my very heart, and I saluted Thanksgiving-day with
right thankful feelings. The whole scene, with its hills
and its valleys now brightened by the morning sun, actu
ally resembled the scenery around us, and I thought of
the Christmas morning at our church, with its burning

112 • HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
candles ; the pine wood, and the lit-up cottages within it,
the peasants, the sledges with their little bells, and all the
cheerful life of the sacred Christmas time ! But our little
red-painted cottages were changed into small white houses,
which looked much more affluent.
My hands were so benumbed with cold, that I had dif
ficulty in dressing, and was all in a shiver when I went
down to breakfast in that little room, where, on the con
trary, it was stiflingly hot from an iron stove. The break
fast, as is usual in the country, was abundant and excel
lent; but I can not believe that these abundant, hot
breakfasts are wholesome.
After breakfast we went to church, for this day is re
garded as sacred throughout the country. The preacher
enumerated all the causes for thankfulness which his
community had had, as well publicly as privately, all the
good which they had experienced since the Thanksgiving
festival of the foregoing year ; and although he was evi
dently not of a practical mind, and the history of the year
was given rather in the style of a chronicle, " on this sol
emn and interesting occasion," yet, from its subject and
purpose, it was calculated to engage the mind. Why
have not we— why have not all people such a festival in
the year ? It has grown out of the necessities of the no
bler popular heart; it is the ascribing of our highest
earthly blessings to their heavenly Giver. We have
many publicly appointed days for prayer, but none for
thanksgiving : it is not right and noble.
I have inquired from many persons here the origin of
this festival in America; but it is remarkable how little
people are. able to throw light upon its historical com
mencement. They know merely that it arose in the
" earliest times of the Pilgrim Fathers in America," and
that it has since established itself in the Church as the
expression of the higher popular feeling. I have, never*
theless, heard it said— and it does not seem to me improb-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 113
able — that it arose at the commencement of the colony,
when, at a time of great scarcity; and in the prospect of
approaching famine, five ships laden with wheat arrived
from England ; that, therefore, it was for a long time
the custom in Massachusetts to lay, at this festival, five
grains of corn upon the dinner-plate of each guest, which
custom is retained to this day in certain of the parts of
the state.
The weather was splendid, but cold, as after church we
walked through the rural city, with its small houses and
gardens, and saw the well-dressed inhabitants returning
home from church. Every thing testified of order and of
easy circumstances, without show and luxury. We dined
in a large company, the dinner being at once abundant
yet frugal, at the house of one of Marcus S.'s relations.
We spent the evening with his sister and her family, who
own and cultivate a large farm near Uxbridge, the moth
er of our doctor's little wife ; and here all the relations
. were assembled. The mistress of the house, a quiet,
agreeable, motherly woman, "lady-like" in her manners,
as was her sister at the Phalanstery, and that from nobil
ity and refinement of soul, pleased me extremely, as did
all the simple, cordial people of this neighborhood ; they
were much more hearty, and much less given to asking
questions than the people I had met with in the great
city parties. We had a great supper, with the two in
dispensable Thanksgiving-day dishes, roast turkey and
pumpkin pudding. It is asserted that the turkeys in the
states of New England always look dejected as the time
of Thanksgiving approaches, because then there is a great
slaughter among them. The clergyman who had preach
ed in the morning asked a blessing, which would have
appeared too long had it not been for its excellence.
After supper the young people danced. I taught them
the Swedish dance called " Vafa Wallmar," and played
the music for them, which excited general applause. To-

114 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ward midnight we returned to our little home, Marcus
and Rebecca occupying my former cold chamber, and a
bed being made up for me in the pretty parlor, where I
had a bright coal fire and a letter from the Downings,
which made me still warmer than the fire — it was almost
too many good things ! Marcus and Rebecca said that
they liked a cold sleeping-room, and that they were ac
customed to it ; and it may be so ; but yet it was very
kind ! In the morning my little hostess brought me a
cup of coffee, which she herself had made, and waited
upon me in the most sweet and kind manner. I was
thankful, but rather ashamed ; nor would I have permit
ted it had I been younger and stronger than I am.
Bergfalk had also suffered much from the cold, although
lodged in excellent quarters with Marcus's sister.
Friday forenoon we drove to Hopedale Community, a
little Socialist settlement a few miles from Uxbridge,
where also my friends have relatives and acquaintances.
The day was mild and the air soft, and the drive through
the yet verdant meadows agreeable. One of Marcus's
nephews drove us.
Hopedale Community is a small settlement altogether
founded upon Christian principles, and with a patriarchal
basis. The patriarch and head of the establishment, Adin
Ballou, a handsome old gentleman, received us, surround
ed by a numerous family. Each family has here its sep
arate house and garden. The greater number of the peo
ple are handcraftsmen and agriculturists. Here, also,
were we received with songs of welcome and flowers.
Here, also, I remarked in the young people a singularly
joyous and fresh life, and it was delightful to see the
happy groups passing to and fro in the sunshine from one
comfortable home to another. The church of the little
community, as well as its school-house, struck me as re
markably unchurch-like. Various moral aphorisms, such
as " Hope on, hope ever ;" " Try again," and such like,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 115
might be read upon the naked walls. For the rest, it was
evident that the poetic element had much more vitality
here than among the community of New Jersey. The
moral element constituted, nevertheless, the kernel even
here, the poetic was merely an addition — the sugar in the
moral cake.
We dined in an excellent little home. They asked no
questions of the guests, merely entertained them well and
kindly. A negro and his wife came hither wishing to be
received as members of the community. Hopedale Com
munity would suit me better than the North American
Phalanstery, partly from the separate dwellings, and part
ly from the recognition of the Christian faith, as well as
for the sake of the patriarch, who has the appearance of
a man in whom one might place the most heartful confi
dence. The little community has been in existence about
seven years, and consists of about thirty families, com
prising in all one hundred and seventy souls. Every
member pledges himself to " the Christian faith, non-re
sistance, and temperance." Adin Ballou has published a
work on the right understanding of these subjects, which
he gave me.
Taking one thing with another, it seemed to me as if
life in this home, and in this community, was deficient in
gayety, had but few enjoyments for the intellect, or the
sense of the beautiful ; but it was at the same time most
truly estimable, earnest, God-fearing, industrious ; upon
the whole, an excellent foundation for a strong popular
life. From these small homes must proceed earnest men
and women, people who take life seriously, and have early
learned to labor and to pray. Hopedale Community sim
ply describes its object to be, " a beginning upon a small
scale of those industrial armies which shall go forth to
subdue, to render fruitful and to beautify the barren fields
of the earth, and to make of them worthy dwelling-places
for practical Christian communities, arid the wider exten-

116 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
sion of general improvement for the best interests of man
kind." Practical Christianity is the watch-word of these
peaceful conquerors. " Blessed are the peace-makers, for
they shall inherit the earth."
I shall for the present write no more about my cam
paign. Although often amused and interested, I wonder
continually whether I shall ever again have any rest.
There seems no prospect of it, however. The cold is now
also come here, and it is a hard master to strive against.
To-day it is a regular tempest. I wonder how it is with
you, my darling, and whether you find yourself warm and
comfortable in our quiet home in Stockholm. May you
be so, my beloved Agatha, and may the winter not be too
severe for you ! Boston, December 2d.
Here I am now, my dear child, in the midst of severe
cold, but in a warm and handsome room in Revere House,
with a glowing fire to bear me company. Here I am in
stalled by Marcus and Rebecca, who merely exhorted me
to be comfortable, and not to want for any thing.
In the forenoon I went with them to church, and heard
a singular kind of sermon from Theodore Parker, a man
of powerful character, and richly gifted as a speaker, who,
with a strong and fearless spirit, applies the morality of
Christianity to the political and social questions of the day
and the country. He has a Socratic head, large, well-
formed hands, and his whole being, expression, gestures,
struck me as purely original — the expression of a determ
ined and powerful nature.
I shall go in the evening to a Socialist meeting; that
is to say, if I do not prefer remaining in my own room,
and enjoying an evening's peace ; and if I had requested
this of my friends, I should have done so. But I allow
myself to be borne along with the stream as long as I am
able. In the morning we go to Emerson's, who lives in a

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. H7
little city called Concord, at about an hour's distance by
rail-way from Boston; and the next day, or the day fol
lowing that, I go to the Lowells, at the University of Cam
bridge, a few miles from this place, where I remain some
days, and where I shall more exactly determine my stay
in Boston. I have had various invitations to different
families, but as yet have not accepted any. It will be a
painful thing to me to part from these excellent people,
Marcus and Rebecca. They belong to the best kind of
people, and are infinitely agreeable to live with.
My dear Agatha ! I write very imperfectly to you about
both things and people here ; but neither things nor people
here allow me any time in which to write about them.
So much the more, however, shall we have to talk about,
and so much the more shall I sometime have to write
about ; for people and circumstances affect me powerfully,
and in a manner which astonishes and excites me greatly.
I feel every day how altogether necessary for my whole
life, and for the development of my moral and intellectual
being, is this American journey.
Tuesday, December 4th. Just returned from my little
journey with the S  s and Bergfalk to Concord, the
oldest town in Massachusetts, and the residence of Ralph
Waldo Emerson. We drove there, and arrived in the
midst of a regular snow-storm. But the rail-way car
riages are well warmed, and one sits there in beautiful
ease and comfort, excepting that one gets well shook, for
the rail-roads here are much more uneven than those on
which I have traveled in Europe.
• Emerson came to meet us, walking down the little av
enue of spruce firs which leads from his house bare-head
ed amid the falling snow. He is a quiet, nobly grave
figure, his complexion pale, with strongly marked feat
ures, and dark hair. He seemed to me a younger man,
but not so handsome as I had imagined him; his exterior
less fascinating, but more significant. He occupied him-

118 THOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
self with us, however, and with me in particular, as a lady
arid a foreigner, kindly and agreeably. He is a very pe
culiar character, but too cold and hypercritical to please
me entirely ; a strong, clear eye, always looking out for
an ideal, which he never finds realized on earth ; discov
ering wants, short-comings, imperfections ; and too strong
and healthy himself to understand other people's, weak
nesses and sufferings, for he even despises suffering as a
weakness unworthy of higher natures. This singularity
of character leads one to suppose that he has never been
ill : sorrows, however, he has had, and has felt them deep
ly, as some of his most beautiful poems prove ; neverthe
less, he has only allowed himself to be bowed for a short
time by these griefs — the deaths of two beautiful and be
loved brothers, as well as that of a beautiful little boy, his
eldest son. He has also lost his first wife, after having
been married scarcely a year.
Ernerspnjs now married for the second time, and has
three children. His pretty little boy, the youngest of his
children, seems to be, in particular, dear to him. Mrs.
Emerson has beautiful eyes, full of feeling, but she ap
pears delicate, and is in character very different to her
husband. He interested me without warming me. That
critical, crystalline, and cold nature may be very estima
ble, quite healthy, and, in its way, beneficial for those-
who possess it, and also for others who allow themselves
to be measured and criticised by it; but — for me — Da
vid's heart with David's songs !
I shall return to this home in consequence of a very
kind invitation to do so from Emerson and his wife, and
in order that I may see more of this sphinx-like indi
vidual. From the worshiper of nature, Emerson — who does not
belong to any church, and who will not permit his chil
dren to be baptized, because he considers the nature of a
child purer than is commonly that of a full-grown, sinful

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. H9
man — we went to sleep at the house of a stern old Puri
tan, where we had long prayers, kneeling with our faces
to the wall. Elizabeth H., the only daughter of the fam
ily, is still beautiful, although no longer young, and a very
noble and agreeable woman. She was engaged to be
married to Emerson's best-beloved brother, and, after his
death, declined all other matrimonial offers. She is evi
dently a noble creature, gifted with fine and estimable
qualities, and her friendship for Emerson seems to me
something very pure and perfect. I also hope to see her
again in the course of the winter.
It looked like a true Swedish winter morning, in the
pretty little Idyllian city of Concord. Miss H. went out
with me, and we visited the monument erected oyer the
first victim who fell in the American war of Independence,
for here he fell when the first bloody contest occurred. It
was now nearly snowed up, and ice and snow covered,
also, the little river which beautifies the city, and which
was called by the Indians Musketaquid, " the Grassy
River." Emerson has given that name to one of the
freshest and sweetest of his poems. Wandering in that
pure winter atmosphere, beneath trees covered with glit
tering snow, and by the side of Elizabeth H., whose at
mosphere is to me as inspiriting as the pure, sunny air,
made me cheerful, both soul and body. On we rambled ;
we met Bergfalk, who came quite warm in heart and joy
ful from a ladies' school in the city, where he had heard
the young girls solve mathematical problems, which he
had been requested to give them — and solve them easily
and well too. He was quite charmed with the young
girls and their teacher, a lady in the highest degree gen
tlewoman-like, as he described her. Bergfalk had made
a little speech to express his pleasure, and the estimable
and agreeable clergyman, who had accompanied Bergfalk,
was no less warm in his praise, declaring that every girls'
school would be delighted in the highest degree with "the

120 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Professor," as he was called here, and every where during
our journey, for people scarcely attempted to pronounce
his name, as if they considered it quite impossible.
I visited, also, several of those small homes, which arc
very comfortable, although the family waits upon itself,
and does all the business of the house without a servant.
This is a thing to be esteemed, but not to be loved, and
I am not comfortable with it.
We left Concord in the afternoon, without having again
seen Emerson.
As to the Socialist meeting this evening, I must tell
you that I saw there a great number of respectable-look
ing people, and heard theories for the future, as to how
human beings — instead of going to heaven, as now, by
the thorny path — will wander thither on roses, and more
of the same kind. I heard, also, various beautiful plans
for the accomplishing of this, but they all were remark
able for their want of basis in possibility and in human
nature, such as it really is. In general, it seems to me
that the Socialists fail by not taking into consideration
the dualism of human nature. They do not see the evil,
and they believe that every thing can become right in
this world by outward institutions. I have during their
discussions a feeling of wandering among the clouds, or
of being lost in a great wood. The humane side of their
theories, of their endeavors for the best interests of human
ity, can not be doubted.
The Swedish consul in Boston, Mr. Benzon, who was
with us, made me, through Rebecca, an offer of his house,
as my home during the winter, which was agreeable to
me, although I do not know whether I shall be able to
accept it. But I have received many kind and beautiful
invitations. And now, my dear heart, I must tell you that I am
losing all patience with the incessant knocking at my
door, and with visiting cards and letters, and am quite

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 121
annoyed at being continually obliged to say " Come in,"
when I would say "Go away!" Ah! ah! I am quite
fatigued by the welcome here, which will not leave me
at peace ! I have, in the mean time, not yet received
any one, but say I shall be at home in the evening.
In the morning I leave for Cambridge. A horrible mur
der has just been committed here by one professor on an
other, and the whole university and city are in a state
of excitement about it. It is an unheard-of occurrence,
and as the accused has many acquaintances and friends,
and has been known as a good husband, and in particular
as a good father, many maintain his innocence. He is, in
the mean time, conveyed to prison. People talk now about
scarcely any thing else.
I must yet add that I am perfectly well amid all my
vagaries, and shall so manage during my stay in Boston
as to have more repose. I shall have one or two recep
tion-days during the week, and arrange so that I may
have time for myself ; I know that I require it. Bergfalk
is well and lively, and liked by every one ; and he sends
cordial greetings to mamma and to you. Greet cordially
from me Hagbeg, Maria, and Christine, our servants and
friends. P.S. — I must yet tell you that I am not sure that I have
judged rightly of Emerson. I confess that I was a little
staggered by the depreciating manner in which he expressed
himself about things and persons whom I admired. I am
not certain whether a steadfastness and pride so little akin
to my own did not tempt me to act the fox and the grapes.
Certain it is that Emerson's behavior and manner made
upon me an impression unlike that which other haughty
natures produce, and which it is easy for me to condemn
as such, or as such to despise. Not so with Emerson;
he ought not to be acquitted so easily. He may be unjust
or unreasonable, but it certainly is not from selfish motives :
there is a higher nature in this man ; and I must see mora
Vol. I.— F

122 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of him, and understand him better. For the rest, this
acquaintance may end as it will ; I shall be calm. "If
we are kindred, we shall meet !" and if not — the time is
long since past when I wished very much to please men.
I have passed through the desert of life ; I have by my
own efforts fought, through much difficulty, my way up
to that Horeb from whose summit I behold the promised
land ; and this long-suffering and this great joy have made,
for all time, the splendid figures of this world, its crowns,
its laurels, and its roses, pale before my eyes. I may be
fascinated or charmed by them for a moment, but it is soon
over ; that which they give makes me no richer ; that which
they take away no poorer ; and many a time can I say to
them as Diogenes to Alexander — "Go out of my sun
shine !" I should not even desire to come to this proud ma
gi, Emerson, and to see the stars in his heaven, if I had
notmy own heaven and stars, and sun, the glory of which
he can scarcely understand.

LETTER VII.
Harvard College, Cambridge, December 15th.
I can now, my beloved child, have a little talk with
you in peace. By this time mamma and you must know
of my arrival in this country — of my first experience in
it, and how well all goes on with me ; but I again have
such a craving for letters from home, and am so grieved
to have had but one since I came hither, and to have no
knowledge of how you have recovered from your illness,
and how mamma is, and all the rest at home. I must,
however, soon hear, and God grant that all may be well.
1 wrote lately to you from Boston. I remained there
several days with my friends, the S  s, amid an inces
sant shower both of visits and engagements, which some
times amused me, and sometimes drove me half to des-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 123
peration, and left me scarcely time to breathe. A few of
these days and hours I shall always remember with pleas
ure. Among the foremost of these, is a morning when I
saw around me the most noble men of Massachusetts :
Alcott, the Platonic idealist, with a remarkably beautiful
silver-haired head ; the brothers Clarke ; the philanthro
pist, Mr. Barnard ; the poet, Longfellow ; the young, true
American poet, Lowell (a perfect Apollo in appearance),
and many others. Emerson came also, with a sunbeam
in his strong countenance ; and people more beautiful,
more perfect in form (almost all tall and well-proportioned),
it would not be easy to find.
Another forenoon I saw the distinguished lawyer,
Wendell Phillips, and Charles Sumner, a young giant in
person ; Garrison, one of the principal champions of the
Abolitionist cause, and who, therefore, at a time of excite
ment, was dragged by the mob through the streets — of
Boston, I believe — with a halter round his neck as a male
factor. One sees in his beautiful countenance and clear,
eagle-eye, that resolute spirit which makes the martyr.
Speaking with him, I told him candidly that I thought
the extravagance in the proceedings of the Abolitionists,
their want of moderation, and the violent tone of their
attacks could not benefit, but rather must damage their
cause. He replied, with good temper, "We must demand
the whole loaf, if we would hope to get one half of it !"
He expressed himself mildly regarding the Southern
slaveholders, said that he valued many of them person
ally, but that he hated slavery, and would continue to
combat with it as with the greatest enemy of America.
And a man who had endured the maltreatment of a mob
— who had borne the halter and disgrace, and has still
stood firmly as before, combating fearlessly as before ; the
resolution and character of such a man deserve esteem.
This gentleman brought to us two lately escaped slaves,
William and Ellen Craft. She was almost white ; her

124 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
countenance, which was rather sallow, had the features
of the white, and though not handsome, a very intelligent
expression. They had escaped by means of her being
dressed as a man ; he acting as her servant. In order to
avoid the necessity of signing her name in the travelers'
books, for she could not write, she carried her right arm
in a sling, under the plea of having injured it. Thus they
had succeeded in traveling by rail- way from the South to
the Free States of the North. They appeared to be sin
cerely happy.
" Why did you escape from your masters ?" I asked ;
" did they treat you with severity ?"
"No," replied she; "they always treated me well;
but I fled from them because they would not give me my
rights as a human being. I could never learn any thing,
neither to read nor to write."
I remarked in her the desire for learning peculiar to
the white race.
" How is it," said some one in company to the negro,
"that the assertions of the anti-slavery party regarding
the treatment of the slaves, that they are often flogged
and severely beaten, are declared to be false ? Travelers
come to the North who have long resided among the plan
tations of the South, and have never seen any thing of the
kind." William smiled, and said, with a keen expression, " Nor
are children whipped in the presence of strangers ; this is
done when they do not see."
Neither of these escaped slaves complained of their
masters. And though, like every other thinking Christian,
I must condemn slavery as a system and institution, I
wait to pass judgment on American slaveholders and
slavery in America until I have seen it nearer. I am,
from experience, suspicious of party spirit and its blind
ness, and whenever I see this in activity I can not accede
to it, but, on the contrary, feel myself inclined to opposi-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 125
tion. I will, at all events, see and hear for and against
the question before I join either party. Justice and mod
eration before every thing !
I was two evenings at the theatre, and saw Miss Char
lotte Cushman — the principal actress in the United States
— in two characters, in which she produced a great effect,
both here and in England, namely, Meg Merrilies and
Lady Macbeth. Miss Cushman, immediately on my ar
rival in New York, had written very kindly to me, offer
ing to be any use to me in her power. Here, in Boston,
she placed a box at the theatre at my service, which was
very agreeable to me, as I could thus invite my friends to
accompany me. Miss Cushman is a powerful actress ;
she possesses great energy, but is deficient in Jemiftine
grace, and wants more color in her acting, especially of
the softer tone. This has reference principally to her Meg
Merrilies, which is a fearful creation. Miss Cushman has
represented in her merely the witch, merely the horrible
in nature. But even the most horrible nature has mo
ments and traits of beauty ; it has sun, repose, dew, and
the song of birds. Her Meg Merrilies is a wild rock in
the sea, around which tempests are incessantly roaring,
and which unceasingly contend with clouds and waves.
She was also too hard and masculine for Lady Macbeth.
It was merely in the night scene that her acting struck
me as beautiful, and that deploring cry so full of anguish
which she utters when she can not wash the blood from
her hands, that — I feel I shall never forget. It thrilled
through my whole being, and I can still hear it ; I can
hear it in gloomy moments and scenes.
.. I like MijtsJJushman personally very much. One sees
evidently in her an honest, earnest, and_powerful soul,
which regards life and her vocation with a noble earnest
ness. She has, through great difficulties, made her own
way to the position which, by universal recognition and
with universal esteem, she now occupies. She belongs to

126 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
an old Puritanic family, and after her father's misfortune,
she supported by her talent, for some years, her mother
and her younger sister. She looks almost better in private
than on the stage ; the frank blue eye, the strong, clever
forehead, and the honest, sensible expression of her whole
demeanor and conversation make one like to be with her.
I experienced much kindness and warm good-will in
Boston, of which I can not now speak. Ah ! there is no
want of warm-heartedness here, my little Agatha, and the
youthful spirit of the people makes it very perceptible.
But the misfortune is, that I am but one against many,
and that I have not the strength nor the disposition to
struggle with and against that kindness which I feel to
be so beautiful and so genial to my heart. The only quiet
hours which I had in Boston were when I was driving
along the streets in a carriage to visit institutions or to pay
visits ; these days were also agreeable from many things
in themselves, and from intercourse with my friends, the
estimable S  s ; they too enjoyed them, and were gay.
Agreeable things occurred, and agreeable people came daily
and hourly, with fresh plans for fresh pleasures, and from
day to day was deferred their return to New York and
my separation from them. My little female physician,
Miss H, had a chase after me every day, to catch me and
take me home with her. The Lowells came to fetch me
to Cambridge, but we, my friends and myself, were grown
reckless, setting at naught all principles of ordinary prom
ise-keeping and propriety, and had, just out of merriment
and a little innocent fpolhardiness, determined to persevere
in our unprincipled conduct, and still remain together a
few days longer in Boston under our pleasant devil-may-
care system, when two telegraphic dispatches came one
after the other, first to Marcus, then to Rebecca, contain
ing the words, " Your baby is very sick."
With this was an end to all " frolic." Rebecca, bathed
in tears of anguish, Marcus with trouble in his good counte-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 127
nance, immediately got every thing ready for their depart
ure, so that they might set off by rail-way a few hours aft
erward, and early the following morning reach their home,
where Rebecca expected to find their little boy dead.
At the same time that they left, I was to take up my
quarters at the house of the Swedish consul, Benzon. I
could not part with them without shedding tears ; I had
been so happy with them. They are such excellent peo
ple, and I was now so sorry for them, although it was im
possible for any one to bear a sorrow more beautifully than
they did this. And besides, they had been so inexpressi
bly kind to me ! I can not describe it in a letter, and
neither can I think of it without emotion. To the last I
had to strive with them, but in vain, that I might be al
lowed to pay my expenses in Boston. They maintained
that I was their guest, and thus I paid not the slightest
sum for my expensive and splendid living at the Revere
House for three several days. And their manner of do
ing me this kindness, as "an honor and a pleasure to them
selves" — nay, my Agatha, I have never seen its equal be
fore !
I took it almost as a certainty that my friends would
find their little boy — " the baby" — dead, so violent had
been the convulsions into which he had been thrown, for
he was teething ; and Rebecca expected to hear at the
door of her home the words, " He is not here ! he has
arisen !" The day after their arrival, however, came to
me a telegraphic message, with the words,
" Dear Friend ! Rejoice with us. Baby better. Dan
ger nearly over. Marcus."
What heartfelt pleasure this afforded me !
In the evening I went with Benzon and Bergfalk, to
gether with a young Mr. K., an agreeable and witty man,
a friend of the S^  s, to a concert given by the " Musical
Fund Society," and was admitted by a free ticket, which

128 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
would admit myself and my friends during the whole of
the winter. And there I heard Beethoven's Fourth Sym
phony excellently performed by a numerous orchestra.
The second adagio in this seized upon me with extraor
dinary power. Ah ! who taught this man thus to under
stand the inmost life of the heart, its strivings upward,
its depressions and reascendings, its final conflict, resolute
endeavor, and ultimate victory ! No instrumental music
makes upon me a more profound impression than this glo
rious adagio. Its tones were to me like the history of my
own soul.
On Sunday I again heard Theodore Parker preach. He
made a full and free confession of his faith, and I was re
joiced to see his honesty and courage, although I could
not rejoice at the confession of faith in itself, which was
a very imperfect recognition of the Christian revelation,
and which acknowledged in Christ merely a human and
moral teacher, although, as such, the model and the ideal
of humanity. Parker belongs to the Unitarian body, and
to that section of it which denies miracles, and every thing
that requires supernatural agency in the sacred history.
That which really displeased me was, that Parker assert
ed that he regarded Christ as standing in no other rela
tionship to God than did all mankind, and that he merely
was mentioned in history as " a modest young man from
Galilee." How can a lover of truth read the sacred his
tory, and expressions such as these, " He who has seen
me has seen the Father ;" " The Father is in me, and I
in Him," and many others of a similar kind, and yet
make such an assertion?
After the sermon, some ladies, who were unknown to
me, came up, and, accosting me with much warmth and
kindness, said they hoped that I was pleased — that I was
satisfied, &c. I replied, that I was not wholly so! and
declined to be introduced to the preacher, as, according to
custom here, immediately after service introductions take

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 129
place in the churches, and conversation is carried on,
which is not only unpleasant, but quite out of place.
In the afternoon, Benzon read aloud to Mr. K., Berg
falk, and myself, an " Essay on the American Mind," by
a Mr. Whipple ; it is written in a lively manner, takes
broad views, and is not without marks of genius. It has
been very much talked about, and furnished us also with
matter for conversation.
In the evening I had a visit from Theodore Parker. I
am so great a lover of courage in all forms, and of every
unreserved expression of opinion and belief, that I extend
ed my hand to Parker, thanking him cordially for his can
dor. But I, nevertheless, told him frankly my objections
to his Christology, and we had a good deal of quiet con
troversy. I found Parker extremely agreeable to converse
with, willing to listen, gentle, earnest, and cordial. I
stated to him, also, my objections against the Unitarian
point of view in general, because from it many of the
greatest and most important questions as regards God,
humanity, and life must be left unsolved, and never can
be solved. Parker heard me with much kindness and se
riousness, and conceded various things ; conceded, among
others, the reasonableness of miracles, when regarded as
produced by a power in nature, but not out of it — the law
of nature on a larger scale.
As I said before, Parker has a Socratic head ; he has a
pure and strongly moral mind ; he is, like Emerson, cap
tivated by the moral ideal ; and this he places before his
hearers in words full of a strong vitality, and produces
by them a higher love for truth and justice in the human
breast. Parker, however, as a theologist, is not powerful ;
nor can he talk well upon the most sublime and most holy
doctrines of revelation, because he does not understand
them. In his outbursts against the petrified orthodoxy
and the petrified church, he is often happy and true. But
I think that people may say of him as somebody said
F2

130 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
about a greater man, Luther, " II a bien critique mais
pauvrement doctrine." Parker, however, investigates
earnestly, and speaks out his thoughts honestly, and that
is always a great merit. More we can hardly desire of a
man. Beyond this he teaches to be very good, to do much
good ; and I believe that from his kind and beautiful eyes.
In short, I like the man.
The next day Benzon accompanied me to Cambridge
to the Lowells, from whom, as I have already said, I had
received an invitation through Mr. Downing, who had writ
ten to the poet of the pleasure which his writings had giv
en me.
There I have now been a week, and shall remain yet a
week longer ; they will have me stay, and I am quite will
ing to stay, because I am well off to my heart's content
in this excellent and agreeable home. The house, and a
small quantity of land which surrounds it, belong to the
father of the poet, old Dr. Lowell, a handsome old man,
universally beloved and respected, and the oldest minister
in Massachusetts, He planted all the trees round the
house, among which are many beautiful Northern pines.
The whole family assembles every day for morning and
evening prayer around the venerable old man ; and he it
is who blesses every meal. His prayers, which are always
extempore, are full of the true and inward life, and I felt
them as a pleasant, refreshing dew upon my head, and
seldom arose from my knees with dry eyes. With him
live his youngest son, the poet, and his wife ; such aTiahd-
some and happy young couple as one can hardly imagine.
He is full of life and youthful ardor, she as gentle, as deli
cate, and as fair as a lily, and one of the most lovable
women that I have seen in this country, because her beauty
is full of soul and grace, as is every thing which she does
or says. This young couple belong to the class of those
of whom one can be quite sure ; one could not for an hour,
nay, not for half an hour, be doubtful about them. She,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 13]
like him, has a poetical tendency, and has also written
anonymously some poems, remarkable for their deep and
tender feeling, especially maternal, but her mind has more
philosophical depth than his. Singularly enough, I did
not discern in him that deeply earnest spirit which charmed
me in many of his poems. He seems to me occasionally
to be brilliant, witty, gay, especially in the evening, when
he has what he calls his " evening fever," and his talk is
then like an incessant play of fire- works. I find him very
agreeable and amiable : he seems to have many friends,
mostly young men. Among his poems, the witty and
satirical are the most popular ; as, for example, his " Fable
for Critics," in which, in a good-humored way, he has
made himself merry with the poets and poetesses of New,
England, only one of whom, Margaret Fuller, is severely
handled. His satirical, political, fugitive pieces have been
very successful. As one of his merits, I reckon his being
so fascinated by Jiis little wife, because I am so myself.
There is a trace of beauty and taste in every thing she
touches, whether of mind or body ; and, above all, she
beautifies life. Among other beautiful things which she
has created around her in her home, I have remarked a
little basin full of beautiful stones and shells, which she
herself collected ; they lie glittering in water clear as
crystal, and round them is a border of coral. Pity it is
that this much-loved young wife seems to have delicate
lungs. Her low, weak voice tells of this. Two lovely
little girls, Mabel and Rose, the latter yet at the mother's
breast, and an elder sister of the poet, one of the worthy
and the good, constitute the remainder of the family.
I saw here some gentlemen of the university who in
terested me ; among them Mr. Everett, a man of learning
and of rank, formerly embassador to the British court ;
the natural historian, Professor Agassiz, who has an un
usually agreeable appearance and manner (and who pre
sented his betrothed to me, a tall, blonde young American

132 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
lady) ; as well as the astronomer, Professor Holmes (I
believe that is his name), whose head is singularly beau
tiful, and who brought with him two handsome daughters.
I have also paid some visits.
The general topic of conversation for the time is the
murder of Professor Parkman by Mr. Webster, the Pro
fessor of Chemistry. People talk for and against. One
friend of the accused, a lawyer of high standing, Judge
T., says that he is perfectly persuaded of his innocence.
So also a pleasant and sensible woman, Mrs. F., who saw
a good deal of him, and for the last time a few days after
the supposed murder, when he spent an evening at her
house, played at whist, and was more cheerful and agree
able than usual. Young Lowell, on the contrary, believes
Webster to be guilty, from various things which he late
ly heard of his character and associates as a young
man. He has for a long time lived beyond his means,
and the occasion of the murder was a small sum of money,
a few hundred dollars which he had borrowed from Pro
fessor Parkman, who let him have no peace, so urgent
was he for their repayment. This Parkman must havo
been a very singular man. Rich though he was, he
would literally persecute and torment poor people to whom
he had lent money, until it was repaid by them, or they
allowed him interest. Yet would he the very next day
send money to these same people as a gift, or under some
pretense or other, never, however, as from himself, but as
from some one else. He wished before men to appear as
an unsparing judge.
In this way he not long since persecuted Webster, un
til the latter, under pretense of settling with him, decoy
ed him into the chemical laboratory in Boston, where he
made an end of him, in what manner is not yet known.
They have merely found fragments of the body, which
Webster had endeavored partly to burn and partly to con
ceal. Webster boldly denies the deed, but having made

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 133
an attempt to poison himself in prison, tne suspicion
against him is greatly increased.
At the end of next week I shall leave the Lowells,
and remain for a few days with my little lady physician ;
after that, I remain at Benzon's house, probably until I
leave Boston. Benzon arranged with Rebecca that she
was to persuade me to this ; and as they proposed to set
tle the whole thing, it is both advisable and agreeable to
me. Benzon himself is unmarried ; but,as the wife of his
associate, Mr. K, superintends his house, I can be board
ed with her after Benzon has left for Europe, which will
be about the beginning of January. This is highly agree
able to me, also, in an economic point of view. Benzon is
a very good man, of a noble mind and refined education,
refined and delicate in his manners, so that one can ac
cept such a kindness at his hands, and besides that have
pleasure in his society. And, moreover, I can be more
free in his house, and have much more quiet than I could
any where else, at least in any of those families which
have kindly been opened to me ; for there the duties of
society would be incumbent upon me, which they will
not be here. So that I believe it could not be better ar
ranged for me than it now is.
December 16th. Good-morning, my little Agatha ; this
bright, rather windy and cold day, I saw the sun rise
in the morning and shine into my bed through the fir-trees
before my window; and Sweden and my beloved ones
were so near to me in this salutation of the sun through
the pine-trees, that I saluted that new sun for them as
well as for myself, and saluted this New World, which
gave and gives me so much of life and interest.
I have now spent some^quiet days in Cambridge, the
quietest days which I have spent since I came into this
country. I now see company and receive visits only in
the evenings. Bergfalk is now also in Cambridge, and
happy in the company of a library of 14,000 volumes, and

134 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of various lawyers, who embrace him warmly. With him
and my young host, I one day lately visited the several
buildings of the university and the library. In the latter
I was surprised to find one portion of the Swedish litera
ture not badly represented here. This is owing to the poet,
Professor Longfellow, who having himself traveled in Swe
den, sent hither these books. He has also written about
Sweden, and has translated several of Tegner's poems. I
found also the Eddas among the Swedish books. Bergfalk
laid his hands on the Westgbtha laws, which he treated
as an old friend, and in which he showed some of the gen
tlemen who accompanied us, an example of that allitera
tion which was so much in vogue in the writings of our
forefathers, and about which the gentlemen found much
to say. I saw also Audubon's large and really magnifi
cent work on the American birds, a work of genius, besides.
Among the visitors whom I have seen and who have in
terested me, are a Mrs. R. and her daughter Ida. Ida
was born in Sweden, where her father was charge d'af
faires many years ago, and although she left the country
as a child, she has retained an affection for Sweden and
the Swedes. She is a handsome and agreeable young
lady. Her mother looks like goodness itself.
" I can not promise you much that is entertaining,"
said she, in inviting me to her house, "but I will nurse
you !"
I could not but embrace her for this motherly good-will ;
but ah ! that which I need is not continually ranging and
flitting about from house to house, but to be quiet for a
while. I promised, nevertheless, to go to them (they live
in the country, some miles on the other side of Boston) on
Christmas-eve, which they will keep in a Northern fashion,
with Christmas pine-twigs, Christmas-candles, and Christ
mas-boxes, and, as I perceive, great ceremony. But more
than all the Christmas-candles and the Christmas-boxes
do I need — a little rest.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 135
23rf. I have been this week to several dinner parties —
one very excellent at the house of Professor Longfellow
and his handsome and agreeable wife. Their house is
handsome, and there we met Miss Charlotte Cushman and
Miss Hays, a young English lady of interesting appearance,
very quiet and of noble deportment, who travels with her
and is her friend, Charles Sumner, and a couple of other
gentlemen. Longfellow is an agreeable host, and gave us
American wines, sherry and Champagne. The latter I
thought especially good ; it is made from the Catawba
grape at Cincinnati. We dined also at the house of the
pleasing and lively Mrs. F., whose husband is a martyr to
neuralgia, which makes many martyrs in this country.
I could scarcely avoid shedding tears when I saw him, he
looked so suffering, yet so perfectly patient, as he sat there
quite lame in his wheeled chair.
Farther, we dined at Professor P.'s, a Swedenborgian,
who showed me much kindness ; and, farther still, I have
been at a — Bee! And if you would know what the
creature is in the life of society here — then, behold! Is
a family reduced to poverty by sickness or fire, and the
children are in want of clothes, or whatever else it may
be, immediately a number of ladies of the neighborhood,
who are in good circumstances, meet together at one place
to sew for them. Such a sewing assembly as this is call
ed a Bee!
And now there was a Bee at the house of Mrs. S., the
lady of the president of the university, to sew for a fam
ily who had lost all their clothing by fire, and I was in
vited to be present at it. The bee-hive was excellent,
and busy, and cheerful, and had — if not honey — remark
ably good milk and cake to offer the working bees, among
whom I took my place, but not to do very much myself.
A merry little man, Professor K., a Dane by birth, and
a true Dane in naivete and loquacity, has visited and
amused us many times. He has associated himself with

136 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a Polish professor, one as large and stately as the Dane is
little and lively, and the two are always together disput
ing and making speeches — singing each his own songs in
so amazingly contrasting a manner, that Maria Lowell
and myself kept this evening continually bursting into fits
of laughter.
Professor Desor, a Swiss and naturalist, has interested
me greatly by his anecdotes of natural history and his
friendly attentions.
In the evenings, when I and my young friends are alone,
we read; Maria reads her husband's. poetry charmingly
well, or I relate to them some little romantic passage, or a
Swedish love or ghost story, or I beg of them to relate such
to me. In this way I soon become at home in a family.
But the New World is too young, and has too few old
houses and old rubbish for ghosts to thrive there ; and as
to love-stories, they do not seem to be remarkable enough
to become historical, except in the homes and the hearts
where they live in silence. But still, every home in which
I have yet lived gives me its love-history, as its best flow
er, before I have left it ; it always amuses me very much,
and I am filled with manifold admiration of the blind, or,
rather, the clairvoyant god's devices for making one out
of two.
I go out every day, either with my young friends or
alone. With them I visited, to-day, Mount Auburn, the
great burial-place of Boston, a romantic, park-like district,
with hills, and valleys, and beautiful trees. Elms seem
to be the favorite trees of Massachusetts. I never saw
such large and beautiful elms as here. They shoot aloft,
palm-like, with branching trunks, and spread forth their
crowns, bending down their branches in the most pliant
and graceful manner. In their branches, now leafless, I
often see a little, well-built bird's-nest hang, swinging in
the wind. It is a small and very delicate bird, called the
oriole, which- thus builds a cradle for its young, and its

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 137
bed must be very pleasant. It has thus built in the
branches of an immense elm at Cambridge, called Wash
ington's elm.
The weather is for the most part beautiful and sunny,
and the color of the sky wonderfully clear and bright. Its
beauty and the transparency of the atmosphere charms
me. The weather was enchanting yesterday ; it was like
a spring day. I frequently go alone to a tract of land
where the road soon ceases, but where the view is extens
ive over the grassy fields ; the ridge of the lofty horizon
is clothed with pine woods, and every where, both near
and afar off, are seen small clusters of white houses and
churches. The grass is now withered and yellow, but
when the wind sweeps over it, it bears with it — I know
not what extraordinarily agreeable odor, which produces
a wonderful effect upon me — memories, pleasant and af
fecting, beloved countenances, glances, voices come to me
in it ; a thousand feelings, thoughts, presentiments ; life
becomes too full ; the heart overflows, and my eyes swim
with tears : how is it ? I feel myself less strong than
formerly, and I often have a sensation of fever. I need
rest. Many also say the same, but not many wish it for
me. We shall see — we shall see whether I am able to go
to Milton Hill (to the R.'s), and keep Christmas. I wish
it, intend it, but —
December 25th. Ah ! no, my child. The journey has
not taken place. I had already begun to pack my port
manteau, but I could not manage it, and my courage
failed. I wrote to say it was impossible (by a young gen
tleman who was going to the festivity), and thus I passed
Christmas-eve quite alone with Maria Lowell. I sewed,
and she read aloud to me her husband's new work which
had been published the day before. Thus we conversed
quietly and inwardly from the open heart and soul — even
as we may converse in heaven. All the rest of the fam
ily were gone to an entertainment at Boston.

138 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The Christmas-eve of the year before I had spent in
Denmark with the beautiful and excellent Queen Caroline
Amalia. The year before that with you at Aersta, with
Christmas branches, and cheer, and dance for our coun
try children, a merry- company ! then to the Christmas
matins the next morning. And now this evening in an
other hemisphere, alone with a beloved young wife — beau
tiful, dissimilar pictures of life !
In the morning I shall leave this family and Cambridge.
I have visited many homes in this neighborhood ; all are
alike in the internal construction, neatness, arrangement,
and comfort; in some there is a little more, in others a
little less beauty ; in that lies the principal difference.
Longfellow's is among the most beautiful and the most
artistic homes I have seen here. One beautiful decora
tion which I have seen in the homes here, as well as in the
other small houses of New England which I have visited,
is a large bouquet, a regularly gigantic bouquet of the
beautiful grasses of the country, and which, if we are to
judge by these specimens, are of gigantic growth. These
are placed as decorations in vases in the parlor, and used
also in other ways. One often sees little humming-birds,
not, of course, alive, fluttering among the grasses. I have
seen also groups of the beautiful birds of the country, and
shells, used for the decoration of rooms, and these seem to
me excellent and in the best taste. We, even in Sweden,
might have such, if we would set more store on that
which is our own — through the gift and favor of God.
I can not tell you how kind the Lowells were and are
to me. I have sketches of them in my album and in
my heart, and you shall see them in both.
I must now say farewell, and kiss you and mamma in
spirit. I always fancy myself writing to both at once.
May I only soon receive good letters from my dear ones !
That would be the best Christmas-box that I could re
ceive.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 139
I had almost forgotten — and that I ought not to do —
to tell you of a visit I have had this evening from the
Quaker and poet Whittier, one of the purest and most
gifted of the poetical minds of the Northern States, glow
ing for freedom, truth, and justice, combating for them
in his songs, arid against their enemies in the social life
of the New World — one of those Puritans who will not
bend to or endure injustice in any form. He has a good
exterior, in figure is slender and tall, a beautiful head
with refined features, black eyes full of fire, dark com
plexion, a fine smile, and lively, but very nervous man
ner. Both soul and spirit have overstrained the nervous
chords and wasted the body. He belongs to those na
tures who would advance with firmness and joy to mar
tyrdom in a good cause, and yet who are never comfort
able in society, and who look as if they would run out
of the door every moment. He lives with his mother
and sister in a country-house, to which I have promised
to go. I feel that I should enjoy myself with Whittier,
and could make him feel at ease with me. I know from
my own experience what this nervous bashfulness, caused
by the over-exertion of the brain, requires, and how per
sons who suffer therefrom ought to be met and treated.
I have had a little botanic conversation with the dis
tinguished professor of botany here, Asa Gray, who came
and presented me with a bouquet of fragrant violets. He
gave me also out of his herbarium some specimens of the
American Linnea borealis, which resembles our Swedish,
but is considerably less, and has somewhat different leaves.
I thought that I should botanize a great deal in this coun
try, but God knows how it is ! The good Downing sent
me to-day a large basket, a gigantic basketful of the most
magnificent apples, alike splendid as excellent, and I had
the pleasure of being able to treat my young friends with
them. The Downings and the S  s are incomparably
kind to me.

140 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Among the curiosities of my stay in Cambridge, I set
down an invitation I had one evening to go and take a
walk in Paradise with Adam and Eve. The gentleman
from whom it came, first in writing, and then by word
of mouth (I fancy he exhibits some sort of a wax- work
show), gave me a hint that several gentlemen of the
Academic State would avail themselves of this oppor
tunity of making my acquaintance — in Paradise — in
company with Adam and Eve. You may very well im
agine what was my answer. Beautiful company !
In conclusion, I ought, indeed, to say a word or two
about Cambridge, an excellent little city of small white
houses, with small courts and gardens, and beautiful, lofty
trees, regular and ornamental, but monotonous. I should,
in the end, be tempted to sing here, " The same and same
always would make our lives sour !" Variety beautifies
the whole of nature.
Here, also, was I shown several very handsome houses,
belonging, the one to a bricklayer, the other to a carpen
ter, a third to a cabinet-maker, and so on : thus univers
ally do common handcraft trades lead to honor and to prop
erty in this country.
The university is attended by about five hundred stu
dents yearly. It is wholly a Unitarian establishment, and
belongs to the Unitarian Church. All branches of natural
history are much studied here. Now, however, people
say that the example of the chemical professor, Webster,
proves that they do not produce much sanctity. The his
tory of this murder continues to be the topic of general
conversation, and proofs of Webster's guilt accumulate
more and more. He, however, continues to deny it. An
event of this kind is without parallel in this community,
and seems to every one almost incredible.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 141

LETTER VIII.
Boston, January 1st, 1850.
A good New Year to all the beloved ones at home !
Thanks, my dearest little Agatha, for your letter ! It
was a heart-felt joy and refreshment to me ; for although
there was here and there a joyless shadow in it, yet a
cheerful spirit breathed through the letter, which told me
that you were sound, both soul and body. And how amus
ing it was to see you go out to dine with the relations
right and left ! And all the little news of home ; of the
new servant, for instance, who stands so assiduously, so
riveted, to the back of your chair, and then darts in the
way before you, out of sheer respect and zeal to open the
doors ; ah, how amusing is all this to read about, and how
amusing it seems at several thousand miles' distance !
And that mamma should be looking so well, and Char
lotte so much better, and Hagbert be so pleased amid his
activity in the country, is very inspiriting.
I now again write to you in the house of Benzon, sit
ting in a handsome little parlor furnished with green vel
vet, and with beautiful pictures and engravings on the
walls ; and I can not tell you how glad I am to be here
at rest for a time, a month at least, because I require re
pose both for soul and body, and I can not possibly have
more quiet, freedom, and comfort than I have here. I
have not been so well for some time ; for all that moving
about, and that life of visiting, with its incessant demands
both on soul and body, were too much for me ; and all
the time I was losing sleep and freshness of mind. But,
thank God ! both one and the other promises to return with
giant strides after a few days' rest, and the benefit of a
sort of Chinese decoction, given me by my little lady phy
sician, and — "Hakon Jarl is still alive!" But people live
quite differently here to what they do in Europe. Climate

142 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and food are different, and I do not believe that the latter
is suitable to the climate.
It was not without pain that I left the Lowells. They
are extremely estimable people, and I have really a sister
ly affection for them. Miss H. seized upon me with all
her might. I had not much inclination for the visit, but
it turned out mueh better than I expected. In the first
place, it was amusing to become more nearly acquainted
with this very peculiar individual. People may have
better manners, more tact, and so on, but it would be
impossible to have a better heart ; one more warm for the
best interests of mankind, and, upon the whole, more
practical sagacity. She is of a Quaker family, and with
that determined will and energy which belongs to the
Quaker temperament, she early resolved to open both for
herself and her sex a path which she conceived it import
ant that women should pursue, and toward which she felt
herself drawn in an especial manner. She therefore, to
gether with a younger sister, took private instruction from
a clever and well-disposed physician ; and she has now,
for her sister is married, been in practice twelve years as
a physician of women and children, acquiring the public
confidence, and laying up property (as, for instance, the
house in which she lives, a frugally furnished, but excel
lent house, is her own), and aiding, as I heard from many,
great numbers of ladies in sickness, and^ in diseases pe
culiar to their sex. In especial has she been a benefactor
to the women of the lower working classes, delivering to
them also lectures on physiology, which have been attend
ed by hundreds of women. She read them to me ; and
the first I heard, or rather the introductory lecture, gave
me a high opinion of the little doctor and her powers of
mind. I was really delighted with her, and now for the
first time fully saw the importance of women devoting
themselves to the medical profession. The view she took
of the human body, and of its value, had a thoroughly re-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD 143
ligious tendency, and when she laid it upon the woman's
heart to value her own and her child's physical frame, to
understand them aright, and to estimate them aright, it
was because their destination was lofty, because they
are the habitations of the soul and the temples of God.
There was an earnestness, a simplicity, and an honesty in
her representations, integrity and purity in every word ;
the style was of the highest class, and these lectures could
not but operate powerfully upon every poor human heart,
and in particular on the heart of every mother. And
when one reflects how important for future generations is
the proper estimation of the woman and the child, how
much depends upon diet, upon that fostering which lies
beyond the sphere of the physician and his oversight, and
which women alone can rightly understand, who can
doubt of the importance of the female physician, in whose .
case science steps in to aid the natural sense, and to con
stitute her the best helper and counselor of women and
children ? That women have a natural feeling and talent
for the vocation of physician, is proved by innumerable
instances, from the experience of all ages and people ;
and it is a shame and a pity that men have not hitherto
permitted these to be developed by science. How much
good, for instance, might be done, especially in the country
among the peasantry, if the midwife, besides the knowl
edge which is requisite to bring a child into the world,
united also to this the requisite knowledge for helping the
mother and child to a life of health. But man has neg
lected this, and still neglects it, and it avenges itself upon
thousands of sickly mothers and sickly children. If, then,
woman possesses naturally a religious tendency of mind,
and the disposition to regard life and all things from a
central, sanctifying point of view inclines her to treat
even the smallest thing as of importance looked at from
this point of view ; if she is gifted by nature with the
mother's heart and the mother's love, how well it suits

144 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
her to become a priestess of the temple in which the child
should be sanctified to God — to the God of health and ho
liness ! How sacred is her right to be there consecrated !
In the old times the physician was also the priest,
and consecrated to holy mysteries. The descendants of
iEsculapius were a holy race, and among them were
also women; the daughter of iEsculapius, Hygeia, one
of them, was called the goddess of Health. Of this race
came Hippocrates. We now talk about Hygeia, but we
only talk. She must be recalled to earth ; she must have
room given to her, and justice done to her, if she is to
present the earth with a new Hippocrates, i
But to return to my little human doctoress, who is not
without those sparks of the divine life which prove her to
belong to the family of iEsculapius. One sees this in
her eye and hears it in her words. But the round, short
figure has wholly and entirely an earthly character, and
nothing in it indicates the higher ideal of life, excepting
a pair of small, beautiful, and white hands, as soft as silk
— almost too soft, and, as I already said, a glance pecul
iarly sagacious and penetrating.
With her I saw several of the "emancipated ladies,"
as they are called ; such, for instance, as deliver public
lectures, speak in public at anti-slavery meetings,- etc.
One of these struck me from the picturesque beauty of
her figure and head, her pale noble countenance and rich
golden hair, together with the perfect gentleness and wom
anliness of her whole demeanor and conversation, united
to manly force of will and conviction. She is a Mrs.
Paulina Davis, from Providence, and has for many years
delivered, with great success, lectures on physiology, which
are much attended by the working classes. She and my
little doctoress are warm friends. I saw also her husband,
Mr. Davis ; he seems to be a sensible man, and perfect:
ly approves his wife's views and activity. I promised to
visit this couple in Providence.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 145
I heard here many things about the Shakers and their
community, as my little doctor is physician of some of
them ; I also read several letters of some of their elders,
in which occurred beautiful, pious thoughts and feelings,
but in a very narrow sphere. I received an invitation to
visit the Shaker establishment at Harvard, near Boston,
and where there is a garden of medicinal plants. I shall
be glad to become better acquainted with these extraor
dinary people. I saw here various new kinds of people
and strangers, because my little doctor has a large circle
of acquaintances. Every evening, at the close of the day,
she read her Bible aloud, and we had prayers in the old
Puritanio style.
My visit, and the new pictures of life which I saw here,
were really refreshing to me ; but I was glad, neverthe
less, to return to the repose of Mr. Benzon's house, where
Mrs. K. does not say three words during the day, and yet
is kind and agreeable, and where a respectable, good-tem
pered German, Christine, takes care both of the house and
of me, and where I can be alone a great portion of the
day, because Benzon is occupied at his office out of the
house. When he returns in the evening, he is an ex
tremely pleasant companion, reading to me, or conversing
in an entertaining manner. I have, hitherto neither re
ceived visits nor accepted invitations, but have so ar
ranged that Mondays are my reception days. Thus I
shall now begin to breathe in peace, and to read and write
a little. To-day, however, Benzon will accompany me to
the Lowells, whom I wish to surprise with a few little
matters, which I hope will give them pleasure. One feels
one's self so poor if always receiving kindness.
December 8th. And now, my dear child, I have re
ceived your second letter. And your letters — do you
hear? — you are not to despise. To be able to see by
them exactly how things are at home, that is my wish,
whether it be cloudy or bright, and your letters can give
Vol. I.— G

14(3 HOMES OF THE NEW WQRLD.
me nothing more precious than the simple truth — than
the reality as it is. And my little Agatha, bear in mind,
as much as possible, that spring and summer will return
— that the sun is behind the cloud, and will come forth in
his due time. That is an old song, but I have often ex
perienced its truth, and I do so now.
We have here a perfectly Swedish winter, and to-day
it is as gray and cold as we ever could have it at Stock
holm. And it is a little satisfaction to me not to have
it better than my friends in Sweden. I am most excel
lently well off at Benzon's house, and it is a satisfaction
to pay something toward my living, though that is not
done till Mr. Benzon leaves for Europe, which he will do
on Wednesday. He will not, however, reach Stockholm
before May or June. He will then call on mamma and
you, and convey greetings from me.
Yesterday forenoon I had my reception, between twelve
and four o'clock, and sa-w a whole crowd of people, and
received a great number of invitations. Among these
was one from a lady, with whom I would gladly become
more intimate : this was a Mrs... R-, a young and affluent
widow with one child, a splendid little girl. She looked
so good, so very much like a gentlewoman, was so agree
able, and so unspeakably amiable toward me ; she wish
ed merely, she said, that I should be benefited by her,
that she might drive me out, and endeavor to give me all
the pleasure she could in the most delicate and agreea
ble manner. I should like it : in her nothing repels, but
much pleases me. We could sit side by side in the car
riage and be silent, and of that I am very fond.
I have also been present at one of the " Conversations"
of Alcott, the Transcendentalist, and have even taken
some part in the conversation. There were present from
forty to fifty people, all seated on benches. Alcott sits in
a pulpit, with his face toward the people, and begins the
conversation by reading something aloud. On this occa-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 147
sion, it was from the writings of Pythagoras. He is a
handsome man, of gentle manners, but a dreamer, whose
Pythagorean wisdom will hardly make people wiser now
adays. He himself has lived for many years only on
bread, fruits, vegetables, and water ; and this is what he
wishes all other people to do ; and, thus fed, they would
become, according to his theory, beautiful, good, and hap
py beings. Sin is to be driven out by diet ; and the sa
cred flood of enthusiasm would constantly flow in the hu
man being purified and beautified by diet. Both the prop
osition and the conversation were in the clouds, although
I made a few attempts to draw them forth. Alcott drank
water, and we drank — fog. He has paid me a few visits,
and has interested me as a study. He passed last even
ing with me and Benzon, and entertained us with various
portions of his doctrine. Every bland and blue-eyed per
son, according to him, belongs -to the nations of light, to
the realm of light and goodness. I should think Lowell
would be Alcott' s ideal of a son of light ; all persons, how
ever, with dark eyes and hair are of the night and evil.
I mentioned Wilberforce, and other champions of the light
with dark hair. But the good Alcott hears an objection
as if he heard it not, and his conversations consist in his
talking and teaching himself. We drank tea, and I en
deavored to persuade Alcott to drink at least a glass of
milk. But that was too much akin to animal food. He
would not take any thing but a glass of water and a piece
of bread. He is, at all events, a Transcendentalist who
lives as he teaches.
I have accepted some invitations for this week. I am
to dine on Sunday with Laura Bridgeman at the house
of her second creator, the director of the Deaf and Dumb
Institution in Boston, Dr. Howe. His agreeable wife came
here herself with the invitation.
9th. I shall now close my letter, because Benzon is
about to set out on his journey. I shall miss him, for

148 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
he has been indescribably kind and agreeable to me, and
has arranged every thing beforehand so admirably, that
it could not be better or more convenient.
To-day I shall dine and spend the evening out. So also
to-morrow ; and to-morrow in the forenoon I shall visit
several public institutions in company with Charles Sum
ner, the young giant and lawyer. I begin now to rattle
about again. If one could only do it in moderation. But
there are difficulties here in this country.
Bergfalk is again in New York. We shall probably
hardly meet again, as his ways are not my ways, except
ing in our common goal and object — Sweden.

LETTER IX.
Boston, January 22d.
I shall now, my sweet child, have a little chat with
you, and this chat I shall send by post. I can hardly con
ceive that I have not written to you for all these fourteen
days ; but one engagement succeeded another, and people,
and letter-writing, and many things occupied the time,
and the days went on — I know not how.
I have also been a little out of sorts again, and not able
to do much. The good allopathists here — and I have had
one of the first physicians in Boston — did not understand
my malady, and prescribed merely for the stomach. I
therefore took refuge with homeopathy.
But I must tell you how it happened. I went one day
— although I felt very miserably unwell — to visit several
public institutions, accompanied, or rather taken there by
Charles Sumner. First to the House of Correction for
women, where I admired the order and arrangement of
every thing ; after that, we went to the Lunatic Asylum
for the poor. It was clean and well-ordered ; but, ah ! it
was deficient in all the comfort and beauty which had

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 149
distinguished the Asylum for the wealthy insane at Bloom-
ingdale. One woman conceived a violent friendship for
me, embraced and blessed me continually, and desired
the others to bless me also.
"Say, 'Bless her!'" said she to Mr. Sumner. He was
engaged in conversation with the superintendent, and did
not attend to her request. She repeated it, and said, finally,
in a wild, threatening voice, "Say, 'Bless her!'"
"Yes, God bless her!" said Sumner, now kindly, in his
deep, beautiful voice; and with this my friend laughed,
and was very much pleased.
Among the men were two with whom Sumner was ac
quainted ; they were two of his college companions ; men
with good heads, and who had been before him in mathe
matics. Now their high-arched foreheads appeared not to
harbor a sensible thought. One of them recognized his
former comrade, but the recognition seemed to grieve and
embarrass him.
From this asylum I was obliged to go out to dine, and
after that to a Swedenborgian meeting at the Swedenbor-
gian church, where I shook hands with about one hundred
Swedenborgians. It was half past ten when at length I reached home,
and for the first time in the day I experienced a feeling
of comfort and satisfaction. Every feeling of annoyance
had vanished, and I enjoyed half an hour of rest with a
female friend who had accompanied me home. But at
this moment came my physician, and would of necessity
take me with him to a large party.
I prayed to be excused; I said, "Now for the first time
am I enjoying rest to-day; for the first time to-day am I
feeling pretty well. You are doing now what so many
others do ; you say I must have rest, and yet you at the
same time compel me to go into company !"
It was of no use. I could not gainsay my physician ;
go I must, and that to a party given by one of the "most

150 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
elegant ladies of Boston, at about twelve o'clock at night.
It was too much ! And that is the way they kill strangers
in this country. They, have no mercy on the poor lion,
who must make a show and whisk his tail about as long
as there is any life left in him. One must really be down
right obstinate and stern, if one would be at peace here.
And I feel as if I should become so. It is said that Spurz-
heim was regularly killed with kindness by the Bostonians.
But to return to my evening. That nervous depression
again returned, and I passed two distressing hours, and
envied the Indians and all free people who lived in the
open, wild woods. When again at home, I was seized by
the dread of one of my sleepless nights, and of the wretched
day which was certain to succeed it, when life would seem
to be the heaviest of burdens, although I might not be
otherwise ill. When, therefore, I now felt my hands burn
ing as in fover, I recollected some homeopathic globules
which my friend Downing, who is himself a homeopath-
ist, had given me when I was very much excited, and
which had calmed me wonderfully. Of these I took a
few, and — I slept better that night than I had done for
many weeks. As early, therefore, as possible the follow
ing day I went out among my acquaintance in Boston,
inquiring after a homeopathic physician. A kind, hand
some, elderly lady, Mrs. C. (the mother of three tall sons),
promised to send her physician to me. Accordingly, when
about noon, having returned from a walk, I entered my
sitting-room, I beheld there a tall old gentleman, with a
pale and strongly-marked countenance, high forehead, bald
temples, silver-gray hair, and a pair of deep-set, blue eyes,
full of feeling and fervor. He stood there silent and dressed
in black, in the middle of the room, with the appearance
almost of a clergyman, and with his penetrating, earnest
eyes riveted upon me. I do not know how it was, but it
was so, that from the first moment I saw him I felt con
fidence in and affection toward him. I advanced toward

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 151
him, took his hand between both mine, looked up in his
pale, grave countenance, and said, "Help me!" Thus
helpless, feeble, and poor, had I now for some time felt
myself to be, under the power, as it were, of a strange
suffering, which crippled me both in soul and body, and
alone, too, in a strange land, without any other support
than the powers of my own soul and body to sustain me
through the work which I had undertaken !
He replied in a deep bass voice, speaking slowly, as if
with difficulty — but, ah ! my child, it seems like vanity
in me to say what he replied ; but let me seem vain for
this once — he said, " Miss Bremer, no one can have read
your Neighbors, and not wish to help you ! And I hope
to be able to help you !"
I wept ; I kissed the thin, bony hands which I held
as I would have kissed those of a fatherly benefactor ; I
felt myself also like a child.
He gave me a little white powder, which looked like
nothing, and which I was to take before I went to bed.
I took it ; slept excellently, and the next day — ah ! what
feelings. All malady was gone. I felt myself as if sus
tained by spirit- wings ; a nameless sensation of peace and
health pervaded my whole being. I went out. I did not
feel my body. I rejoiced in the blueness of heaven, in
the leaping of the billows. I could see that the world was
beautiful. I had not felt thus for a long time, and the
certainty that I had now a remedy which would support
my still vigorous power and will made me unspeakably
happy. I thanked God ; and not merely for my own
sake, but for yours, because I am convinced that nothing
would suit you and your weakness so well as these airy,
light, almost spiritual, and wonderfully effective medi
cines. These little white nothings of powders and glob
ules, which taste like nothing, look like nothing, operate
powerfully and quickly, often within half or a quarter of
an hour. And, finally, I beg of you to make the trial of

152 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
them, if this winter, as is generally the case with you in
the winter, you find yourself out of health, both body and
mind ; make the trial pf them, and throw all other medi
cine out of the window. Pay attention also to diet, and
that you do not eat any thing which disagrees with you.
My doctor maintains that my disorder proceeds from the
stomach, and is of the kind very common in this country,
and which is called dyspepsy. He has prescribed for me
a very exact diet ; that I am not to eat fat or greasy meat,
nor roast meat, nor highly seasoned, no preserves, nor many
other things. I was for a long time obstinate, and insist
ed upon it that my stomach was the best part about me.
I have, however, since then remarked, to my astonishment,
that certain food operates upon my condition ; that, for in
stance, I wake in the morning with a sensation of misery
if I eat preserves in the evening ; and that, on the con
trary, I am quite well in the morning when I eat nothing
sweet or fat in the evening. The difficulty is for me,
here in this country, to adhere to any fixed regimen; but
I am becoming more and more convinced that the diet
here is unwholesome, and is not suited to the climate,
which is hot and stimulating. They eat hot bread for
breakfast, as well as many fat and heating dishes, besides
roast pork, sausages, omelets, and such like. In the even
ing, especially at all suppers, they eat oysters stewed, or
as salad, and peach-preserve or peach-ice. Oysters, cooked
in every possible way, are very much eaten by all, and
precisely these, and the other articles which I have men
tioned, are difficult of digestion, and highly injurious to
weak stomachs.
And now adieu to this food, physic, and stomach chap
ter, but which has a great interest for me and many others,
and which ought to be seriously taken into consideration
here. As to my doctor, I must tell you that his name is David
Osgood, that he visits me every day, and treats me with

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

153

the greatest tenderness, and that he has promised to make
me quite cheerful and strong before I leave Boston. He
is of an old Puritan family, and is himself a real original ;
he has a rough exterior, but the most gentle and the best
of hearts, as may be seen by his eyes. There are certain
eyes which certainly can never die. They must remain
in heaven as they are on earth. That which I remember
most clearly about my friends, is always their eyes, their
glance. I am sure that at the resurrection I shall recog
nize my friends by their eyes.
I must now tell you about Concord, and the sphinx in
Concord, Waldo Emerson, because I went to Concord five
days ago, attended by — " himself." I was wretchedly un
well ; I do not know what it was that I had eaten the day
before, or whether it was merely the removal and the jour
ney to a new home which had caused me to have no sleep
the preceding night. Whatever the cause might be, I sat,
weak with fever and dejected in mind, by the side pf the
strong man, silent and without being able to say a single
word, merely mechanically turning my head as he point
ed out to me a few remarkable places which we passed.
And he perfectly understood what was amiss with me,
and let me be silent. I was weak with fever, and op
pressed with a feeling as if I should fall to pieces during
the first four-and-twenty hours that I was in Emerson's
house ; but after that, whether it was the little white noth
ing-powder, or the pure snow-refreshed atmosphere (we had
a regularly beautiful Swedish winter at Concord), or wheth
er it was the presence of that strong and strength-giving
spirit in whose home I found myself, or whether it was
all these together, I can not. say, but I became quite right
again, and felt myself light and well.
And during the four days that I remained in Emerson's
house, I had a real enjoyment in the study of this strong,
noble, eagle-like nature. Any near approximation was,
as it were, imperfect, because our characters and views
G2

154 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
are fundamentally dissimilar, and that secret antagonism
which exists in me toward him, spite of my admiration,
would at times awake, and this easily called forth his icy-
alp nature, repulsive and chilling. But this is not the
original nature of the man ; he does not rightly thrive in
it, and he gladly throws it off, if he can, and is much hap-
pier, as one can see, in a mild and sunny atmosphere,
where the natural beauty of his being may breathe freely
and expand into blossom, touched by that of others as by
a living breeze. I enjoyed the contemplation of him, in
his demeanor, his expression, his mode of talking, and hia
every-day life, as I enjoy contemplating the calm flow of
a river bearing along, and between flowery shores, large
and small vessels — as I love to see the eagle circling in
the clouds, resting upon them and its pinions. In this
calm elevation Emerson allows nothing to reach him, nei
ther great nor small ; neither prosperity nor adversity.
Pantheistic as Emerson is in his philosophy, in the
moral view with which he regards the World and life, he
is in a high degree pure, noble, and severe, demanding as
much from himself as he demands from others. His words
are severe, his judgment often keen and merciless, but his
demeanor is alike noble and pleasing, and his voice beau
tiful. One may quarrel with Emerson's thoughts, with
his judgment, but not with himself. That which struck
me most, as distinguishing him from most other human
beings, is nobility. He is a born nobleman. I have seen
before two other men born with this stamp Upon them.
His Excellency W  r, in Sweden, and  is the sec
ond, Emerson the third, which has it, and perhaps in a
yet higher degree. And added thereto that deep intona
tion of voice, that expression, so mild, yet so elevated at
the same time. I could not but think of Maria Lowell's
words, " If he merely mentions my name I feel myself en
nobled." I enjoyed Emerson's conversation, which flowed as calm-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 155
ly and easily as a deep and placid river. It was anima
ting to me both when I agreed and when I dissented ;
there is always a something important in what he says,
and he listens well and comprehends, and replies well also.
But whether it was the weariness of the spirit, or wheth
er a feeling of esteem for his peace and freedom, I know
nof, but I did not invite his conversation. When it came,
it was good ; when it did not come, it was good also, espe
cially if he were in the room. His presence was agreea
ble to me. He was amiable in his attention to me, and
in his mode of entertaining me as a stranger and guest in
his house.
He read to me one afternoon some portions of his Ob
servations on England (in manuscript), and scraps from
his conversations with Thomas Carlyle (the only man of
whom I heard Emerson speak with any thing like admi
ration), about " the young America," as well as the nar
rative of his journey with him to Stonehenge. There are
some of these things which I can never forget. In pro
portion as the critical bent of Emerson's mind is strong,
and as he finds a great want in human beings, and in
things generally — measuring them by his ideal standard,
is his faith strong in the power of 'good, and its ultimate
triumph in the arrangement of the world. And he under
stands perfectly what constitutes noble republicanism and
Americanism, and what a nobly-framed community and
social intercourse. But the principle, the vitalizing, the
strengthening source — yes, that Emerson sees merely in
the pure consciousness of man himself ! He believes in the
original purity and glory of this source, and will cleanse
away every thing which impedes or sullies it — all conven
tionality, untruth, and paltriness.
I said to an amiable woman, a sincere friend of Emer
son's, and one who, at the same time, is possessed of a
deeply religious mind, " How can you love him so deeply
when he does not love nor put faith in the Highest, which
we love ?"

156 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" He is so faultless," replied she; " and then he is love
ly!" Lovable he is, also, as one sees him in his home and
amid his domestic relations. But you shall hear more
about him when we meet, and you shall see his strong,
beautiful head in my album, among many American ac
quaintance. I feel that my intercourse with him will
leave a deep trace in my soul. I could desire in him
warmer sympathies, larger interest in such social ques
tions as touch upon the well-being of mankind, and more
feeling for the suffering and the sorrow of earth. But
what right, indeed, has the flower, which vibrates with
every breath of wind, to quarrel with the granite rock be
cause it is differently made. In the breast of such lie
strong metals. Let the brook be silent, and rejoice that
it can reflect the rock, the flowers, the firmament, and the
stars, and grow and be strengthened by the invisible fount
ains, which are nourished by the mountain tops.
But I must give you a specimen or two of Emerson's
style, and of his manner of seeing and feeling, which most
please me. I will make two extracts from his " Essays,"
which are applicable to all mankind, to all countries, and
to all times, and which are portions of, or drops from that
vein of iron ore which runs through every thing that Em
erson says or writes, because it is the life of his life.
In his lecture on self-reliance, he says :
" To believe your own thought — to believe that which
is true for you in your private heart is true for all men —
that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall
be the universal sense ; for always the inmost becomes
the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us
by the trumpets of the last judgment. The highest mer
it which we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is that
which every man recognizes as the voice of his own soul,
is that they set books and traditions at naught, and spoke
not what men. but what they thought. A man should

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 157
learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flash
es across his mind from within, more than the lustre of
the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses with
out notice his thought, because it is his. In every work
of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts ; they
come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great
works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than
this. They teach us to abide by our own spontaneous
impression with good-humored inflexibility, then most
when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else,
to-morrow, a stranger will say, with masterly good sense,
precisely what we have thought and felt the whole time,
and we shall be forced to take our own opinion from
another. •K" Tf *Jv
" Trust thyself; everyfteart vibrates to that iron string.
Accept the place which the Divine Providence has found
for you ; the society of your contemporaries, the connec
tion of events. Great men have always done so, and con
fided themselves, childlike, to the genius of their age, be
traying their perception that the Eternal was stirring at
their heart, working through their hands, predominating
in all their being. And we are now men, and must ac
cept in the highesj; mind the same transcendent destiny ;
and, not pinched in a corner, not cowards fleeing before a
revolution, but redeemers and benefactors, pious aspirants
to be noble clay, plastic under the Almighty effort, let us
advance and advance on Chaos the Dark.
"JS* tF tp
" Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist.
He who would gather immortal palms must not be hin
dered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be
goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of
your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall
have the suffrage of the world.
W W 'JF ^

158 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, and philosophers, and divines.
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.
Speak out what you think to-day in words as hard as
cannon-balls, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks
in hard words again, though it contradict every thing yPu
said to-day. Ah ! then, exclaim the aged ladies, you shall
be sure to be misunderstood. Misunderstood? It is a
right fool's word. Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood ?
Pythagoras was misunderstood; and Socrates, and Jesus,
and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and NeWton,
and every pure and Wise spirit that ever took flesh. To
be great is to be misunderstood.
" I suppose no man can violate his nature. All the
sallies of his will are rounded in by the law of his being,
as the inequalities of Andes and Himalaya are insignifi
cant in the curve of the sphere. We pass for what we are.
T? TP TP
" Fear never but you shall be consistent in whatever
variety of actions, so they be each honest and natural in
their hour.
" One tendency unites them all.
* * # #
" Perception is not whimsical, but ^atal. If I see a
trait, my children will see it after me, and in course of
time all mankind — although it may chance that no one
has seen it before me. My perception of it is as much a
fact as the sun.
" The relations of the soul to the Divine Spirit are so
pure that it is profane to seek to interpose helps. It must
be, that when God speaketh, He should communicate not
one thing, but all things, and new-create the whole.
Whenever a mind is simple, and receives a divine wis
dom, then old things pass away — means, teachers, texts,
temples fall ; all things are made sacred by relation to it
— one thing as much as another.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. igg
3r* tF tP *7F
" Yet see what strong intellects dare not yet hear God
himself, unless He speak the phraseology of I know not
what David, or Jeremiah, or Paul.
# # * #
" If we live truly, we shall see truly. When we have
new perceptions, we shall gladly disburden the memory
of its inward treasures as old rubbish. When a man lives
with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of
the brook and the rustle of the corn.
# # # #
" This is the ultimate fact which we so quickly reach
on this as on every- topic, the resolution of all mto the
Ever-blessed One. Virtue is the governor, the creator,
the reality. All things real are so by so much of virtue
as they contain. ^F- tP tt
" Let us not rove ; let us sit at home with the cause.
Let us shun and astonish the intruding rabble of men,
and books, and institutions by a simple declaration of
the divine fact. Bid them take the shoes off their feet,
for God is here within. Let our simplicity judge them,
and our docility to our own law demonstrate the poverty
of nature and fortune, beside our native rulers.
"7f -JF -JF
" We must go alone. I like the silent church before
the service begins better than any preaching. How far
off, how cool, how chaste the persons look, begirt each
one with a precinct or sanctuary. So let us always sit.
* * But your isolation must not be mechanical, but
spiritual, that is, must be devotion. * * The power
which men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak
curiosity. No man can come near me but through my
own act. What we desire, that we have ; but by desire
we bereave ourselves of the love.
" If we can not at once rise to the sanctities of obedience

160 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and faith, let us at least resist our temptations ; let us
enter into the state of war, and wake Thor and Wodin,
courage and constancy, in our breast. This is to be done
in our smooth times by speaking the truth. Check this
lying hospitality and lying affection. Live no longer to
the expectation of those deceived and deceiving people
with whom we converse. Say to them, 0 father ! 0
mother ! 0 wife ! 0 brother ! 0 friend ! I have lived with
you after appearances hitherto. Be it known unto you
that henceforward I obey no law less than the eternal
law. I shall endeavor to nourish my parents, to support
my family, to be the chaste husband of one wife ; but
these relations I must fill after a new and unprecedented
way. I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I
can not break myself any longer for you, or you. If you
can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If
you can not, I will still seek to deserve that you should.
I must be myself. I will not hide my tastes or aversions.
I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do
strongly before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices
me and my heart appoints. If you are noble, I will love
you ; if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by
hypocritical attentions. If you are true, but not in the
same truth with me, cleave to your companions ; I will
seek my own. I do this not selfishly, but humbly and
truly. It is alike your interest, and mine, and all men's,
however long we have dwelt in lies, to live in truth.
Does this sound harsh to say ? You will soon love what
is dictated by your nature as well as mine ; and if we
follow the truth it will bring us out safe at last. But so
you may give these friends pain. Yes ; but I can not sell
my liberty to save their sensibility. Besides, all persons
have their moments of reason, when they look out into
the region of absolute truth ; then will they justify me,
and do the same thing.
" The populace think that your rejection of popular

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 161
standards is a rejection of all standard, and the bold sens
ualist will use the same philosophy to gild his crimes.
But the law of consciousness abides. There are two con
fessionals, in one or the other of which we must be shriven.
You may fulfill your round of duties by clearing yourself
in the direct or in the reflex way. Consider whether you
have satisfied your relations to father, cousin, neighbor,
town, cat, and dog, and whether any of these can upbraid
you. But I may also neglect this reflex standard, and
absolve me to myself. I have my own stern claims and
perfect will. It denies the name of duty to many offices
that are called duties. But if I can discharge its debts,
it enables me to dispense with the popular code. If any
body imagines that this law is lax, let him keep its com
mandment for one day.
"And truly it demands something godlike in him who
has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has
ventured to trust himself for a task-master. High be his
heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in
good earnest be doctrine, society, law to himself, that a
simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity
to others.
" If any man consider the present aspects of what is
called, by distinction, society, he will see the need of these
ethics." I must remark, that if any one will seriously observe
human nature as it commonly is, he will easily see. that
a moral code such as Emerson's would produce conceited
and selfish beings, and that it is merely calculated for na
tures as pure and beautiful as his own, and which form
the exception to the general rule. That which he in all
cases mistakes is the radical duality of human nature.
Yet with what freshness, invigoration, does not this ex
clamation come to our souls, " Be true; be yourself!"
Especially when coming from a man who has given proofs
that in this truth a human bemg may fulfill all his hu-

162 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
man duties as son, brother, husband, father, friend, citizen.
But — a true Christian does all this, and — something more.
I must give you two examples of Emerson's doctrines,
as relates to the relationship of friend with friend, and on
friendship; because they accord with my own feelings,
and act as an impulse in the path which for some time I
have chosen for myself.
"Friendship requires that rare mean between likeness
and unlikeness that piques each with the presence of
power and of consent in the other party. Let me be alone
to the end of the world, rather than that my friend should
overstep by a word or a look his real sympathy. I am
equally balked by antagonism and by compliance. Let
him not cease an instant to be himself. The only joy I
have in his being mine is that the not mine is mine. It
turns the stomach, it blots the daylight---when I looked
for a manly furtherance, or, at least, a manly resistance
— to find a mush of concession. Better be a nettle in the
side of your friend than his echo. The condition which
high friendship demands is, ability, to do without it. To
be capable of that high office requires great and sublime
parts. There must be my two before there can be my
one. Let it be an alliance of two large, formidable na
tures, mutually beheld, mutually feared, before yet they
recognize the deep identity which beneath their dispari
ties unites them.
" He is only fit for this society who is magnanimous.
He must be so to know its laW. He must be one who
is sure that greatness and goodness are always economy.
He must be one who is not swift to intermeddle with his
fortunes. Let him not dare to intermeddle with this.
Leave to the diamond its ages to grow, nor expect to ac
celerate the births of the eternal. Friendship demands a
religious treatment. We must not be willful, we must
not provide. We talk of choosing our friends, but our
friends are self-elected. Reverence is a great part of it.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. ig3
Treat your friend as a spectacle. Of course, if he be a
man, he has merits that are not yours, and that you can
not honor. If you must needs hold him close to your
person, stand aside — give those merits room — let them
mount and expand. Be not so much his friend that you
can never know his peculiar energies, like fond mammas
who shut up their boy in the house until he has almost
grown a girl. Are you the friend of your friend's buttons
or of his thought? To a great heart he will still be a
stranger in a thousand particulars, that he may come near
in the holiest ground. Leave it to boys and girls to re
gard a friend as a property, and to suck a short and all-
confounding pleasure instead of the pure nectar of God.
*M JL 41.
TF tF tF
"A friend is a person with wriom I may be sincere.
Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in
the presence of a man so real, so equal, that I may drop
even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy,
and second thought, which men never put off, and may
deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with
which one chemical atom meets another.
tP *t? -JF* *JF
" Let us buy our entrance to this guild by. a long pro
bation. Why should we desecrate noble and beautiful
souls by intruding on them ? Why insist on rash per
sonal relations with your friend ? Why go to his house,
and know his mother, and brother, and sisters ? Why be
visited by him at your own ? Are these things material
to our covenant? Leave this touching and clawing. Let
him be to me as a spirit. A message, a thought, a sin.
cerity, a glance from him I want ; but not news nor pot
tage. I can get politics, and chat, and neighborly con
veniences from cheaper companions. Should not the so
ciety of my friend be to me poetic, pure, universal, and
quiet as Nature herself? Ought I to feel that our tie is
profane in comparison with yonder bar of cloud that sleeps

164 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
on the horizon, or that clump of waving grass that di
vides the brook? Let us not vilify, but raise it to that
standard. ^F J?F 3F *JF
"Worship his superiorities. Wish him not less by a
thought, but hoard and tell him all. Guard him as thy
great counterpart ; have a princedom to thy friend. Let
him be to thee forever a sort of beautiful enemy, untama
ble, devoutly revered, and not a trivial conveniency to be
soon outgrown and cast aside.
-JF iF -JF tF
" What is so great as friendship, let us carry with what
grandeur of spirit we can. Let us be silent, so we may
hear the whisper of the gods. Let us not interfere. Who
set you to cast about what you should say to the select
souls, or to say any thing to such ? No matter how in
genious, no matter how graceful and bland. There are
innumerable degrees of folly and wisdom, and for you to
say aught is to be frivolous. Wait, and thy soul shall
speak. Wait until the necessary and everlasting over
powers you, until day and night avail themselves of your
lips. *JF -Jr -fr ^F
"Vain to hope to come nearer to a man by getting mto
his house. If unlike, his soul only flies the faster from
you, and you shall catch never a true glance of his eye.
We see the noble afar off, and they repel us ; why should
we intrude ? Late — very late — we perceive that no an
tagonism, no introduction, no consuetudes, or habits of so
ciety, should be of any avail to establish us in such rela
tions with them as we desire — but solely the uprise of na
ture in us to the same degree it is in them, then shall we
meet as water with water ; and if we should not meet
them then, we shall not want them, for we are already
they.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 165
" Only be admonished by what you already see not to
strike leagues of friendship with cheap persons where no
friendship can be. Our impatience betrays us into rash
and foolish alliances which no God attends. By persist
ing in your path, though you forfeit the little, you gain
the great. You become pronounced. You demonstrate
yourself so as to put yourself out of the reach of false re
lations, and you draw to you the first-born of the world —
those rare pilgrims whereof only one or two wander in na
ture at once, and before whom the vulgar great show as
spectres and shadows merely.
* # # #
"It has seemed to me lately more possible than I knew
to carry a friendship greatly on one side, without the cor
respondence of the other. Why should I cumber myself
with the poor fact that the receiver is not capacious ? It
never troubles the sun that some of his rays fall wide and
vain into ungrateful space, and only a small part on the
reflecting planet. Let your greatness educate the crude
and cold companion. If he is unequal, he will presently
pass away; but thou art enlarged by thy own shining,
and, no longer a mate for frogs and worms, dost soar and
burn with the gods of the empyrean. It is thought a dis
grace to love unrequited. True love transcends instantly
the unworthy object, and dwells and broods on the Eter
nal ; and when the poor, interposed mask crumbles, it is
not sad, but feels rid of so much earth, and feels its in
dependency the surer. * * * * The essence of friend
ship is entireness, a total magnanimity and trust. It must
not surmise or provide for infirmity. It treats its object
as a god, that it may deify both!"
"Very magnificent and noble !" you will say, " and very
one-sided at the same time !" Yes, it is so, my little Ag
atha, but there is something in it which is good and great,
and something which I like. But it is, nevertheless, very
difficult to give by extracts any correct idea of Emer-

166. HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
son's mode of thought. His Essays are chains of brilliant
aphorisms which often contradict one another. But that
which permeates them — the marrow of all, the metallic
vein which runs through them all — is the cry, "Be gen
uine — be thyself! then wilt thou become original, and cre
ate that which is new and perfect !" Thus says he to the
individual ; thus says he to the public. And the force and
beauty which he gives to this watch-word is indeed his
peculiar power over the American mind ; his peculiarly
beneficial work on the people of the New World, only too
much disposed to bend themselves to mere imitation, and
walk in the footsteps of the Old World.
Emerson is, however, very far from regarding himself
as a model of that perfect man whom he wishes to call
forth in the New World, excepting possibly in his upright
ness. I said to him something abou^; his poems and their
American character: " Oh," said he, earnestly, "you must
not be too good-natured. No, we have not yet any poetry
which can be said to represent the mind of our world.
The poet of America is not yet come. When he comes he
will sing quite differently !"
A critic who stands so high that he can look down upon
himself — yes, that is excellent ! One is glad to be criti
cised by such an one.
Emerson is at this moment regarded as the head of the
Transcendentalists in this portion of America. A kind of
people are they who are found principally in the States of
New England, and who seem to me like its White Mount
ains, or Alps ; that is to say, they aim at being so. But
as far as I have yet heard and seen, I recognize only one
actual Alp, and that is Waldo Emerson. The others seem
to me to stretch themselves out, and to powder themselves,
merely to look lofty and snow-crowned ; but that does not
help them. They have more pretension than power. Their
brows are in the clouds instead of towering above them.
A  has lived for fifteen years on bread and fruit, and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 167
has worn linen clothes, because he would not appropriate
to himself the property of the sheep — the wool — and has
suffered very much in acting up to his faith and love.
0  built himself a hut on the Western prairies, and
lived there as a hermit for two years ; he has, however,
returned to every-day life and every-day people. F 
went out into the wild woods and built himself a hut and
lived there — I know not on what. He also has returned
to common life, is employed in a handcraft trade, and
writes books which have in them something of the fresh
ness and life of the woods — but which are sold for money.
Ah ! I wonder not at these attempts by unusual ways to
esoape from the torment of common life. I have myself
made my attempts by these ways, and should have car
ried them out still more had I not been fettered. But they,
and Emerson himself, make too much of these attempts,
because in themselves they are nothing uncommon, nor
have they produced results which are so. The aim — the
intention, is the best part of them.
Emerson says in his characteristics of Transcendental
ism : "If there is any thing grand and daring in human
thought or virtue ; any reliance on the vast, the unknown ;
any presentiment — an extravagance of faith — the spirit
ualist adopts it as highest in nature.
¦JF 2ff 3JP ^p
" These youths bring us a rough but effectual aid. By
their unconcealed dissatisfaction, they expose our poverty
and the insignificance of man to man.
* # * *
"These exacting children advertise us of our wants.
There is no compliment, no smooth speech with them;
they pay you only this one compliment of insatiable, ex
pectation ; they aspire, they severely exact ; and if they
stand fast in this watch-tower, and persist in demanding
to the end, and without end, then are they terrible friends.,
whereof poet and priest can not choose but stand in awe ;

168 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and what if they eat clouds and drink wind, they have
not been without service to the race of man.
yfe ^f * tF
" When every voice is raised for a new road or another
statute ; or a subscription of stock ; for an improvement
in dress or in dentistry ; for a new house or a large busi
ness ; for a political party or a division of an estate — will
you not tolerate one or two solitary voices in the land,
speaking for thoughts and principles not marketable or
perishable ? Soon these improvements and mechanical in
ventions will be superseded ; these modes of living lost out
of memory ; these cities rotted, ruined by war — by new
inventions — by new seats of trade, or the geologic changes ;
all gone, like the shells which sprinkle the sea-beach with
a white colony to-day — forever renewed, to be forever de
stroyed. But the thoughts which these few hermits strove
to proclaim by silence, as well as by speech, not only by
what they did, but by what they forbore to do, shall abide
in beauty and strength, to reorganize themselves in na
ture, to invest themselves anew in other, perhaps higher-
endowed and happier-mixed clay than ours, in fuller union
with the surrounding system."
Thus says the noble idealist ; and perhaps I have quoted
too much from him, when I can not, at the same time,
show you what he is — because this is the most remarka
ble thing in him. I have nothing against his children —
the Transcendentalists ; it is a refreshment both to hear
and to see them, and they utter many a forgotten truth
with new life. They are the element of youth in life,
and always produce a renovating effect, and they behold
many a beauty which older eyes are no longer clear
enough to perceive. I remember to have heard that
Schelling would not take as pupils young men above five-
and-twenty years of age. He considered them after that
age not to be so capable, not to be possessed of immediate
perception and insight. But when these young pagan

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 169
Alp-natures say, "We have reached to the highest !" then,
I say, " Nonsense ! you have done nothing of the kind !
You say, ' We are gods.' I say, ' Descend from your ele
vation to the divinely-made world, then will I believe
you.' You satisfy yourselves with your lofty, isolated po
sition, believing that you do enough by showing the ideal.
Ah ! the ideal has never been unknown ! You are poor,
sinful, imperfect human creatures like the rest, and your
bravery does not come up to the heart of Christianity,
which does not merely exhibit the ideal, but helps to at
tain it ; not merely suffers all, but overcomes all ; does
not sit still and look grandly forth, but combats with its
followers, admonishing them to overcome evil with good !"
If the Transcendentalists will really create a new, a
transcendental state, then they must create a something
beyond that ; they must, in their ideal man, present a
more beautiful figure than that which has already been
presented on earth and for earth — the powerful, and, at
the same time, humble son of heaven and earth, uniting
both in one new creation. But — they can not even un
derstand the beauty of this.
But enough of the Transcendentalists. I must, how
ever, say a few words about a lady who belongs to this
sect, and whose name I have frequently heard since I
came to America, partly with blame, partly with praise,
but always with a certain degree of distinction, namely,
Margaret Fuller. Although devoid of beauty, and rather
disagreeable than agreeable iri her manners, she seems
to be gifted with singular talents, and to have an actual
genius for conversation. Emerson, speaking with admi
ration of her powers, said, " Conviction sits upon Jier
lips." Certain it is that I have never heard of a woman
in this country possessed of such ability for awakening
enthusiasm in the minds of her friends. Emerson said
of her, with his usual almost alarming candor, " She has
many great qualities ; many great faults also."
Vol. I.— H

170 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Among these latter appear to be her arrogance and her
contemptuous manner toward others less gifted than her
self. I have also heard that she could repent of and ask
pardon for severe words. In haughtiness and independ
ence of temper, in pride and honesty, and in critical as
perity, she was perfectly a Transcendentalist ! The " Con
versations," which she at one time gave in a select circle
at Boston, are spoken of as of the highest interest. Mrs.
Emerson can not sufficiently praise her fervent eloquence
and the extraordinary affluence of her mind, and — I be
lieve — half reproaches me for not being like her.
Margaret Fuller went to Italy with my friends, the
S  s, about two^sesffs since, and remained there when
they left. A report has now reached this country that
she has connected herself with a young man (she herself
is no longer young, being upward of forty), and a Fou-
rierist or Socialist marriage, without the external cere
mony, is spoken of; certain it is that the marriage re
mained secret, and that she has a child, a boy. She her
self has written about it, and about her maternal joy, but
not any thing about her marriage, merely that she shall
relate what further concerns her when she returns to
America, which will be next year. All this has furnish
ed subject for much conversation among her friends and
her enemies. They who loved neither herself nor her
turn of mind, believe the worst ; but I shall never forget
with what zeal one of her friends, Mr. W. R., defended
her on one occasion in company, and that merely on the
ground that her character repelled every suspicion of any
action which might cast a stain upon it. Her friends at
Concord — among these the Emersons, Elizabeth H., and
a younger sister of Margaret Fuller, married in Concord
— seemed perfectly easy with regard to her conduct, and
convinced that it will justify itself in the open light of
day. This is beautiful.
Margaret Fuller has in her writings asserted the right

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 171
of woman to her own free development, and to liberty in
many cases where, although conformable to the strictest
moral code, it would yet be offensive to many even in
this so-called free country. Her friends, and among these
the excellent, pure-hearted S  s, wish me to become
acquainted with her.
"Ah! you must see Mrs. Ripley," said Emerson, on
one occasion, with his fine smiley "she is one of the most
remarkable persons in Concord."
And I saw a handsome, elderly lady, with silver-white
hair, clear, deep blue eyes, as of > the freshest youth, a very
womanly demeanor, from which nobody could surmise that
she reads Greek and Latin, and understands mathematics
like any professor, and helps young students who can not
pass their examination in these branches of knowledge, by
her extraordinary talent as a teacher, and by her motherly
influence. Many a youth blesses the work she has done
in him. One of these related of her, " She examined me
in Euclid while she shelled peas, and with one foot rocked
the cradle of her little grandson."
I spent, with the Emersons, an evening with Mrs. Rip-
'ley. Neither were there any servants kept in her house.
These ladies of New England are clever ladies, true
daughters of those pilgrim women who endured hardships
so manfully, and labored equally with their husbands,
and established with them that kingdom which now ex
tends over a hemisphere.
An ancestor of Elizabeth H. was one of the first pilgrims
which that little ship, the " Mayflower," conveyed to the
shore of Massachusetts. He related many times how, when
these men were about to frame laws for the new colony,
they liked to talk them over before their wives, their sis
ters, and daughters, and to hear their thoughts upon them.
This was beautiful and sensible. Of a certainty, that
chivalric sentiment and love which generally prevail in
America for the female sex had their origin in the dignity

172 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and the noble conduct of those early women ; of a certainty,
from that early equality, that equality in rule and in rights
which prevails here in domestic and social life, although
not as yet politically.
I liked to talk with Elizabeth H. There is something
very profound and great in this young woman ; and her
Words frequently are as brilliant as diamonds in sunshine.
Among the persons whom I saw at the Emersons, and
who interested me, was Professor Sherbe, a Swiss, a man
of a noble and grave exterior, with something, also, of
ultra-idealism in his philosophy. He has fought against
the Jesuits in Switzerland, and is now a teacher and lec
turer in America. Lastly, I made the acquaintance of a
Doctor Jackson, the discoverer of the somnific effects of
ether on the human frame and consciousness, and for
which he received a medal from our King Oscar, which
was shoWn to me. He made the discovery entirely by
accident, as he has described. I congratulated him on
having thus become the means of an infinite blessing to
millions of suffering beings.
I left Concord accompanied by this gentleman, who is
brother to Mrs. Emerson. But Concord did not leave my
memory ; its snow-covered scenery ; its blue, clear sky ;
its liuman beings ; its Transcendentalists : all that I had
experienced, heard, and seen in Concord, and most of all,
its sphinx (as Maria Lowell calls Emerson), these all form
a sort of Alpine region in my mind which has a power of
fascination for me, and to which I shall long to return as
to the scenes and sights of my native land.
When I reached home last evening I found Marcus S.,
who had come hither on business. It was a heart-felt
joy to me to see once more that excellent, good friend.
After I had spent an hour in conversing -with him and
Mr. Sumner, I went with Marcus to Alcott's concluding
" Conversation," where several pre-arranged topics with
regard_ to diet and its importance to humanity were dis-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 173
cussed. Alcott maintained that all high and holy teach
ers of the human race had paid great attention to diet,
and in particular had abstained from flesh. Some one
said that Christ had eaten flesh. Another said that that
could not be proved. A third said that he, at all events,
had eaten fish. I said that that stood written in the Gos
pels. A second agreed. "No matter," said Alcott, "I
know better than to eat fish."
The man is incorrigible. He drinks too much water,
and brings forth merely hazy and cloudy shapes. He
should drink wine and eat meat, or at least fish, so that
there might be marrow and substance in his ideas. Mar
cus, too, was amused at the Conversation, but in his quiet
way. Among the audience were some ladies with splen
did, intelligent foreheads, and beautiful forms. But I did
not hear them say a word : I wonder how they could sit
still and listen in silence ; for my part, I could not do it.
And although the company were invited to a new series
of Conversations, this of a certainty will be the last at
which I shall be present.
January 26th. Alcott came to me yesterday afternoon ;
we conversed for two hours ; he explained himself better
during our dialogue than in his public Conversation, and
I understood better than hitherto that there was really at
the bottom of his reform movement a true and excellent
thought. This thought is the importance of an earnest
and holy disposition of mind in those who enter into the
bonds of wedlock, so that the union may be noble, and
its offspring good and beautiful. His plans for bringing
about these beautiful and holy marriages between good
and beautiful people (for none other are to enter into mat
rimony — oh ! oh ! for the many !) may be right for aught
I know. They are better, and more accordant to human
nature, than those of Plato for the same purpose. But
who will deny that it would be better for the world if they
who cause human beings to be born mto the world did it

174 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
with a higher consciousness, with a deeper sentiment of
responsibility. Marriage, looked at with reference to this
subject, stands in general very low. A man and woman
marry to be happy, selfishly happy, and beyond that the
thought seldom extends ; does not elevate itself to the
higher thought — " We shall give life to immortal beings !"
And yet this is the highest purport of marriage. Married
couples who have not offspring of their own may fulfill its
duties by adopting orphan children.
" But why do you not enunciate these views fully ?"
inquired I from Alcott: "they are of higher importance
than any I have heard during your Conversations, and
are really of the highest importance to society."
Alcott excused himself by • the difficulty of treating
such a subject in public Conversation, and spoke of the
intention he had of realizing his views in the formation
of a little society, in which, I presume, he would act as
high-priest. Again a dream. But the dreamer has risen
considerably in my estimation by the reality and the
nobility of his views on this subject. I will even ex
cuse his whim about diet, with the exception of its exclu-
siveness. I adhere to that system, which, without the
one-sidedness of this and the continued use of wine and
all other of God's good gifts, yet still cries aloud to man
kind — " Take heed ye be not overtaken by gluttony and
drunkenness." Alcott gave me two books. They contain conversations
which took place between him and various children dur
ing a period when he had a school — which was intended
to be "the School" par excellence. Alcott's main point
in the education of children is to awaken their higher
nature, and to give them a high esteem for it, so that
they may love it and always act in accordance with it.
He, therefore, early places before their eyes the human-
ideal, or the ideal-human being in Jesus Christ. On
every occasion of the children's assembling, Alcott began

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 175
his instruction by reading aloud a chapter from the Holy
Scriptures. When this was ended, he asked the children,
"What was in your thoughts, or in your soul, while you
heard this ?" Many of the replies were very naive.
After this Alcott led them to consider what virtue had
been exhibited in the narrative or the incident which they
had just heard, and also to name its opposite, and to
think whether they discovered it in themselves, and so on.
Much that was excellent and worthy of reflection was
thus brought forward, and the whole was calculated for
the child's development. Many a word of dewy, prime
val freshness proceeded from those childish lips, but also
much that was childish and unsatisfactory both from
child and teacher. In any case, this is a method which,
though it would not answer in schools of any extent, is
one which every mother ought to reflect upon.
" What was there in your soul, in your heart ?" What
might not loving lips call forth in the child's conscious
ness, to the child's memory, by these words, spoken in the
evening after the day's schooling, work, play, sorrow, and
When Alcott was gone, Emerson came and remained
a good hour with me. He is iron, even as the other is
water. And yet, nevertheless, his world floats in an ele
ment of disintegration, and has no firm, unwavering shapes.
Wonderful is it how so powerful and concrete a nature as
his can be satisfied with such disintegrated views. I can
find fault with Emerson's mode of thought, but I must
bow before his spirit and his nature. He was now on his
way to New York, where he was invited to give a course
of lectures. He has promised, when he returns again, to
visit me. I must sometime have a more thorough conver
sation with him, as well on religious subjects as on the
future prospects of America. I feel also a little desire for
combat with him ; for I never see a lion in human form
without feeling my lion-heart beat. And a combat with

176 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a spirit like that is always a pleasure even if one wins no
victory. As regards Alcott, I do not know what spirit of contra
diction makes me continually excited by him, as well as
to amuse myself with him. I sincerely appreciate, how
ever, the beautiful aims of the excellent idealist, and I
like, when I say any thing against him, to hear Emer
son's deep voice saying, reproachfully, " Amid all the
noise and stir of the present day for outward and material
aims, can not you bear to hear one or two individual
voices speaking for thoughts and principles which are
neither salable nor yet transitory ?"
Ah, yes ! If they were but a little more rational.
I was this evening at a large party of the Boston fash
ionables at Mrs. B.'s. I felt quite well; the company
was handsome, elegant, very polite, and the evening was
agreeable to me. Another evening I was at another great
fashionable party in another house. I did not feel well,
and the company seemed to me rather splendid and aris
tocratic than agreeable. I saw here a couple of figures
such as I did not look for in the drawing-rooms of the
New World, and least of all among jthajyomen of New
England, so puffed up with pride, so unlovely — one read
the "money-stamp," both in glance and figure. I was
told that Mrs.  and her sister had spent a year in
Paris ; they ought to have brought thence a little Paris
ian grace and common sense, as well as fashion. People
who are arrogant on account of their wealth, are about
equal in civilization with our Laplanders, who measure a
man's worth by the number of his reindeer. A man with
one thousand reindeer is a very great man. The aris
tocracy of wealth is the lowest and commonest possible.
Pity is it that it is met with in the New World more than
it ought to be. One can even, in walking through the
streets, hear the expression, "He is worth so many dol
lars !" But the best people here despise such expressions.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 177
They would never defile the lips of Marcus S., Channing,
or Mr. Downing. And as regards the fashionable circles,
it must be acknowledged that they are not considered the
highest here. One hears people spoken of here as being
" above fashion," and by this is meant people of the high
est class. It is clear to me that there is here an aristoc
racy forming itself by degrees which is much higher than
that of birth, property, or position in society ; it is really
the aristocracy of merit, of amiability, and of character.
But it is not yet general. It is merely as yet a little
handful. But it grows, and the feeling on the subject
grows also.
I have been to a charming little dinner at Professor
Howe's, where I met Laura Bridgeman. She is now
twenty ; has a good, well-developed figure, and a coun
tenance which may be called pretty. She wears a green
bandage over her eyes. When she took my hand, she
made a sign that she regarded me to be a child. One of
the first questions which she asked me was, " How much
money I got for my books ?" A regular Yankee question,
which greatly delighted my companions, who, neverthe
less, prevented its being pressed any further. I asked
Laura, through the lady who always attends her, if she
were happy. She replied with vivacity, and an attempt
at a sound which proved that she could not sufficiently
express how happy she was. She appears, indeed,. to be
almost always gay and happy; the unceasing kindness
and attention of which she is the object prevents her from
having any mistrust of mankind, and enables her to live
a life of affection and confidence. DliJiowe, one of those
dark figures whom Alcott would regard as offspring of the
night — that is to say, with dark complexion, dark eyes,
black hair, and a splendid energetic countenance, but
with a sallow complexion— is universally known for his
ardent human love, which induced him to fight for the
freedom of the Greeks and Poles, and, finally, to devote
H 2

178 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
himself to those whose physical senses are in bonds. His
acquaintance is valuable to me, for his own sake, though
I shall not be able to enjoy much of his society. He ap
pears, like me, to suffer from the climate, and from the
over-exciting nature of the food of the country. His wife
is a most charming lady, with great natural gifts, fine
education, and great freshness of character. Two lovely
little girls, red and white as milk and cherries,. as" soft as
silk, fresh and fair as dew-drops, even in their dress, came
in at the end of dinner, and clung caressingly around the
dark, energetic father. It was a picture that I wished
Alcott could have seen.
I think of remaining here about fourteen days longer, to
allow the homeopathic remedies time to effect their work
in me. My good doctor comes to me every day, and it is
a joy to me merely to see him. I am indescribably thank
ful for the good which I experience and have experienced
from homeopathy, and am thinking continually how good
it would be for you.
Rich I certainly shall not become here, my sweet child,
because I have here neither time nor inclination to write
any thing. But my journey, thanks to American hospi
tality, will not cost me nearly so much as I expected.
And if some of my friends might rule, it would not cost
me any thing — I should live and travel at the expense of
the American people ; but that would be too much.
It is horrible weather to-day — pouring rain and strong
wind. I was rejoicing in the hope of being left at peace
in consequence of the weather, but I was not able to say
no to a couple of visitors, one of whom had called with
the intention of taking me to an evening party, the other
to ask me to sit for my portrait. But they both received a
negative. I have just received the most beautiful bouquet from
a young lady friend — a great number of beautiful small
flowers arranged in the cup of a large snow-white Calla

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 179
Ethiopica; and but few days pass without my receiving
beautiful bouquets of flowers from kno-wn or unknown
friends. This is very sweet and beautiful toward a strang
er ; and to such I never say no, but am right thankful both
for the flowers and the good-will.
Now adieu to this long, chatty epistle, and a hearty d
Dieu to my little friend.

LETTER X.
Boston, February 1st.
Most hearty thanks, my dear little heart, for your letter
of the 15th of December : it is so inexpressibly dear to me
to hear and see how things are at home, as well in the lit
tle as the great. If you only had not your usual winter
complaint. Ah that winter! but I am glad, nevertheless,
that you feel a little better in December than in November,
and assure myself that in January you will be better still.
And then comes the prospect of summer and the baths
of Marstrand. Mamma writes that you were evidently
stronger for your summer visit to Marstrand. And you
will be yet stronger still after your next summer's visit.
But your ideal — that farm-yard servant girl, who took the
bull by the horns, when will you come up to that?
My strength has increased considerably for some time,
thanks to my excellent Dr. Osgood and his little nothing-
powders and globules. And when I feel myself well my
soul is cheerful and well, and then my mind is full of
thoughts wliich make me happy ; then I am glad to be on
the Pilgrims' soil — that soil which the Pilgrim Fathers, as
they are here called, first trod, first consecrated as the
home of religious and civil liberty, and from which little
band the intellectual cultivation of this part of the world
proceeds and has proceeded.
It was in the month of December, 1620, when the little

180 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ship, the "Mayflower," anchored on the shore of Massa
chusetts with the first Pilgrims, one hundred in number.
They were of that party which in England was called
Puritan, which had arisen after the Reformation and in
consequence of it, and which required a more perfect Ref
ormation than that which Luther had brought about.
But they desired more ; to give full activity to the truth
which Luther promulgated when he asserted man's direct
relationship to God through Jesus Christ, denying any
right of the Church or of tradition to interfere in the de
termination of that which should be believed or taught,
and demanding liberty for every human being to examine
and judge for himself in matters of faith, acknowledging
no other law or authority than God's word in the Bible.
The Puritans demanded on these grounds their right to
reject the old ceremonial of the Established Church, and
in the place of those empty forms, the right to choose their
own mmister ; the right to worship God in spirit and in
truth, and the right of deciding for themselves their form
of church government. Puritanism was the rising of that
old divine leaven which Christ had foretold should one day
"leaven the whole lump" of the spiritual life of liberty in
Jesus Christ. The charter of freedom given by him was
the watch- word of the Puritans. With this in their hand
and on their lips they dared to enter into combat with the
dominant Episcopal Church; refused to unite themselves
with it, called themselves Non-conformists, and held sep
arate assemblies or religious conventicles. The State
Church and the government rose in opposition, and passed
an act against conventicles.
But the Puritans and the conventicles increased year
by year in England. Noble priests, such as Wickliff, and
many of the respectable of the land, became their adher
ents. Queen Elizabeth treated them, however, with cau
tion and respect. Her successor, King James, raved blindly
against them, saying, " I will make them conform, or I will

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 181
harry them out of the land ; or worse, only hang them — that
is all!" And the choice was given them, either to return
to the State Church or imprisonment and death. This only
strengthened the opposition; "for," says Thomas Carlyle,
otherwise tolerably bitter in his criticism on human nature,
"people do human nature an injustice when they believe
that the instigation to great actions is selftinterest, worldly
profit, or pleasure. No ; that which instigates to great
undertakings, and produces great things, is the prospect of
conflict, persecution, suffering, martyrdom, for the truth's
sake." In one of the Northern counties of England, a little
company of men and women, inhabitants of small towns
and villages, united in the resolve to risk all for the open
acknowledgment of their pure faith, conformably with the
teachings of which they determined to live. They were
people of the lowest condition, principally artisans or till
ers of the soil ; men who lived by the hard labor of their
hands, and who were accustomed to combat with the
severe circumstances of life. Holland at this time offered
to them, as it did to all the oppressed combatants for the
truth, a place of refuge; and to Holland the little knot of
Puritans resolved to flee. They escaped from their vigilant
persecutors through great dangers, and Leyden, in Holland,
became their city of refuge. But they did not prosper
there ; they felt that it was not the place for them ; they
knew that they were to be pilgrims on the earth seeking
a father-land ; and amid their struggles with the hard
circumstances of daily life, the belief existed in their souls
that they were called upon to accomplish a higher work
for humanity than that which consisted with their present
lot. "They felt themselves moved by zeal and by hope
to make known the Gospel, and extend the kingdom of
Christ in the far distant land of the New World ; yes, if
they even should be merely as stepping-stones for others
to carry forth so great a work."

182 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
They asked, and, after great difficulty, obtained the
consent of the English government to emigrate to North
America, where they might endeavor to labor for the glory
of God and the advantage of England.
They chartered two ships, the " Mayflower" and " Speed
well," to bear them across the sea. Only the youngest
and strongest of the little band, who voluntarily offered
themselves, were selected to go out first on the perilous
voyage, and that after they had publicly prepared them
selves by fasting and prayer. " Let us," said they, "be
seech of God to open a right way for us and our little
ones, and for all our substance !"
Only a portion of those who had gone out to Holland
found room in the two vessels. Among those who re
mained was also their noble teacher and leader, John
Robinson. But from the shores of the Old World he ut
tered, as a parting address, these glorious words : " I
charge you, before God and his blessed angels, that you
follow me no further than you have seen me follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has yet more truth to
break forth out of his holy word. I can not sufficiently
bewail the condition of the Reformed Churches, who are
come to a period in religion, and will go no further at
present than the instruments of their reformation. Luther
and Calvin were great and shining lights in their times,
yet they .penetrated not into the whole counsel of God. I
beseech you remember it — 'tis an article of your Church
covenant — that you be ready to receive whatever truth
shall be made known to you from the written word of
God." "When our vessels Were ready to receive us on board,"
writes one of the party, " the brethren who had fasted
and prayed with us gave us a parting feast at the house
of our minister, which was roomy ; and then, after shed
ding many tears, we refreshed ourselves with the singing
of hymns, making joyful musio in our hearts as well as

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 193
with our voices, for many of our community were very
skillful in music. After this, they accompanied us to
Dreft Harbor, where we were to go on board, and there
we were entertained anew. And after our minister had
prayed with us, and floods of tears had been shed, they
accompanied us on board. But we were in no condition
to talk one with another of the exceeding great grief of
parting. From our vessel, however, we gave them a sal
utation ; and then extending our hands to each other, and
lifting up our hearts for each other to the Lord our God,
and so set sail."
A prosperous wind quickly conveyed the Pilgrims to
the English shore ; and then the smallest of the vessels,
the " Speedwell," was compelled to lie to for repairs. But
scarcely had they again left the English coast with sails
unfurled for the Atlantic, when the captain of the "Speed
well" and his company lost courage in the prospect of the
greatness of the undertaking and all its perils, and desired
to return to England. The people of the " Mayflower"
agreed that " it Was very grievous and discouraging."
And now the little band of resolute men and women, sev
eral of the latter far advanced in pregnancy, persevered in
their undertaking, and with their children and their house
hold stuff, an entire floating village, they sailed onward
in the " Mayflower" across the great sea toward the New
World, and at the most rigorous season of the year. After
a stormy voyage of sixty-three days, the Pilgrims beheld
the shores of the New World, and in two more days the
" Mayflower" cast anchor in the harbor of Cape Cod, on
the coast of Massachusetts.
Yet, before they land, and while the " Mayflower" yet
rests upon the waves of the deep, they assemble to delib
erate on some constituted form of government ; and, draw
ing up the following compact, they formed themselves into
a voluntary body politic.
" In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are

184 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign
King James, having undertaken, for the glory of God and
advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king
and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the
northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly
and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another,
covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body
politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and fur
therance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof, to
enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws,
ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to
time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general
good of the colony. Unto which we promise all due sub
mission and obedience."
This instrument was signed by all the men in company,
forty-one in number. Thus was framed, in the cabin of
the "Mayflower," the most truly democratic Constitution
which the world had yet seen. That democratic, self-
governing community came forth in a state of complete
organization from the "Mayflower" to the shore of the
New World.
Like Abraham, the pilgrim band went forth, obedient
to the voice of God, into a land to them unknown, and
not themselves fully cognizant of the work they were
called to do.
They went forth to seek a free virgin soil on which to
found their pure Church, for the glory of God's kingdom,
and unconsciously to themselves, likewise, to found, in so
doing, a new civil community which should be a home
and a community for all people of the earth. The " May
flower" gave birth to popular constitutional liberty at the
same time that it established the pure vitality of religion;
and that was but natural, the latter included the former.
The Pilgrims conveyed with them the new life of the New
World without being themselves conscious of it.
They landed on a rock, since called "Plymouth Rock,"

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 185
or, also, " The Pilgrims' Rock." It was a young girl who
was first permitted to spring from the boat on shore. It
was her light foot which first touched the rock. It was
at the commencement of winter when the Pilgrims reached
the new land ; and they were met by cold, and storm, and
adverse circumstances. They made an excursion of dis
covery inland, and found in one place a little corn, but
no habitations, only Indian graves.
They had been but a few days on shore, and were be
ginning to build habitations as a defense against the storms
and the snow, when the Sunday occurred, and it is char
acteristic of that first Puritan community that, under their
circumstances, they rested from all labor, and kept the
Sabbath uninterruptedly and with all solemnity.
I have lately read a narrative, or, more properly speak
ing, a chronicle, kept as a diary of the life of the first col
onists, their wars and labors during the first year of their
settlement. It is a simple chronicle, without any wordi
ness or parade, without any attempt at makingit roman
tic or beautiful, but which affected me more, and went
more directly to the depths of the heart, than many a
touching novel ; and which seemed to me grander than
many a heroic poem. For how great in all its unpretend-
ingness was this life, this labor ! What courage, what
perseverance, what steadfastness, what unwavering trust
in that little band ! How they aided one another, these
men and women ; how they persevered through all sorrow
and adversity, in life and in death. They lived surround
ed by dangers, in warfare with the natives ; -they suffered
from climate, from the want of habitations and conven
iences, from the want of food ; they lay sick ; they saw
their beloved die ; they suffered hunger and cold ; but
still they persevered. They saw the habitations they had
built destroyed, and they built afresh. Amid their strug
gles with want and adversity, amid the Indian's rain
of arrows, they founded their commonwealth and their

186 HOMES OF THE "NEW WORLD.
Church ; they formed laws, established schools, and all
that could give stability and strength to a human com
munity. They wielded the sword with one hand and guid
ed the plow with the other. Amid increasing jeopardy of
life, they, in particular, reflected on the welfare of their suc
cessors, and framed laws which every one must admire for
their sagacity, purity, and humanity. Even the animal
creation was placed under the protection of these laws, and
punishment ordained for the mistreatment of the beast.
During the first year their sufferings and hardships were
extreme. " I have seen men," writes an eye-witness,
" stagger by reason of faintness for want of food."
The harvest of the third year was abundant, and now,
instead of, as hitherto, each one laboring for the common
benefit, each colonist worked alone for his own family and
his own advantage. This gave an impulse to labor and
to good management. And when they had lived through
the time of want, a time of prosperity commenced, and the
colony increased rapidly in power and extent. In a few
years it was said of it, " that you might live there from
one year's end to another without seeing a drunkard, hear
ing an oath, or meeting with a beggar." They who sur
vived the first period of suffering lived to be extremely old.
It is not to be wondered at, that from a parentage strong
as this should be derived a race destined to become a great
people. Other colonies more to the south, whose morals
were more lax, and whose purpose of life was of a lower
range, had either died out, or maintained merely a feeble
existence amid warfare with the natives, suffering from
the climate and encompassed with difficulties. The Pu
ritans, on the contrary, with their lofty aims of life, their
steadfast faith and pure manners, became the conquerors
of the desert, and the lawgivers of the New World, Nor
do I know of any nation which ever had a nobler founda
tion or nobler founders. The whole of humanity had tak
en a step onward with the Pilgrim Fathers in the New

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 187
World. The work which they had to do concerned the
whole human race.
And when from the land of the Pilgrims I look abroad
over the United States, I see every where, in the South as
well as in the North and the West, the country populated,
the empire founded by a people composed of all peoples,
who suffered persecution for their faith, who sought free
dom of conscience and peace on a new free soil. I see
the Huguenot and the Herrnhutter in the South, and
along the Mississippi, in the West, Protestants and Cath
olics, who, from all the countries of Europe, seek for and
find there those most precious treasures of mankind ; and
who, in that affluent soil, establish flourishing communities
under the social and free laws instituted by the oldest Pil
grims. To them belongs the honor of that new creation, and
from them, even to this day, proceed the creative ideas in
the social life of the New World ; and whether willingly
or unwillingly, widely differing people, and religious sects
have received the impression of their spirit. Domestic
manners, social intercourse, form themselves by it ; the
life and church-government of all religious bodies recog
nize the influence of the Puritan standard, " Live con
formably to conscience ; let thy whole behavior bear wit
ness to thy religious confession." And that form of gov
ernment which wasorganized by the little community of
the " Mayflower" has become the vital principle in all
the United States of America, and is the same which now,
on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, controls and directs with
quiet power the wild, free spirits of California, educating
them to self-government and obedience to law.
The old colonies have sent out to all parts of the Union
crowds of Pilgrims, sons and daughters, and they consti
tute at this time more than one third of the population of
the United States of North America. They were, never
theless, most numerous in the North, and there they have
left the strongest impression of their spirit.

188 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
When I contemplate that Puritan community as it ex
ists in our time, about two centuries after its first estab
lishment, it seems to me that there are two main-springs
within its impulsive heart ; the one is a tendency toward
the ideal of moral life, the other impels it to conquer the
earth, that is to say, the material power and products of
life. The men of the New World, and pre-eminently the
men of New England (humorously called Yankees), have
a passion for acquisition, and for this object think nothing
of labor — even the hardest — and nothing of trouble ; nay,
to travel half over the world to do a good stroke of busi
ness, is a very little thing. The Viking element in the
Yankee's nature, and which he, perhaps, originally inher
ited from the Scandinavian Vikings, compels him inces
santly to work, to undertake, to accomplish something
which tends either to his own improvement or that of
others ; for when he has improved himself, he thinks, if
not before, of employing his pound for the public good.
He gets money, but only to spend. He puts it by, but
not for selfish purposes. Public spirit is the animating
principle of his life, and he prefers to leave behind him
the name of an esteemed and beloved citizen rather than
a large property. He likes to leave that which he has
acquired to some institution or benevolent establishment,
which thenceforth commonly bears his name. And I
know those whose benevolence is so pure that they slight
even this reward.
The moral ideal of man and of society seems to be
clearly understood here, and all the more clearly in those
Northern States which have derived their population from
the old colonies. From conversation with sensible ideal
ists among my friends, as well as from the attention I have
given to the spirit of public life here, I have acquainted
myself with the demands made by man and by society,
and for which young America combats as for its true pur
pose and mission, and they appear to be as follows :

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 189
i Every human being must be strictly true to his own
individuality — must stand alone with God, and from this
innermost point of view must act alone conformably to
his own conscientious convictions.
There is no virtue peculiar to the one sex which is not
also a virtue in the other. Man must in morals and con
duct come up to the purity of woman.
Woman must possess the means of the highest develop
ment of which her nature is capable. She must equally
with man have the opportunity of cultivating and develop
ing her intellect. She must possess the same rights in
her endeavors after freedom and happiness as man.
The honor of labor and the rewards of labor ought to be
equal to all. All labor is in itself honorable, and must be
regarded as such. Every honest laborer must be honored.
The principle of equality must govern in society.
Man must become just and good through a just and
good mode of treatment. Good must call forth good.
(This reminds me of that beautiful Swedish legend of
the Middle Ages, about the youth who was changed by a
witch into a wher-wolf, but who, at the sound of his
Christian name, spoken by a loving voice, would recover
his original shape.)
The community must give to every one of its members
the best possible chance of developing his human abilities,
so that he may come into possession of his human rights.
This must be done in part by legislation, which must re
move all hinderances and impediments ; in part by public
educational institutions, which shall give to all alike the
opportunity of the full development of the human facul
ties, until they reach the age when they may be consid
ered as capable of caring for and determining for them-

The ideal of society is attained in part by the individual
coming up to his own ideal ; in part by those free institu
tions and associations in which mankind is brought into a

190 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
brotherly relation with each other, and by mutual respons
ibility. Every thing for all is the true object of society.
Every one must be able to enjoy all the good things of
earth, as well temporal as spiritual, every one according
to his own capacity of enjoyment. None must be excluded
who does not exclude himself. The chance of regaining
his place in society must be given to every one. For this
cause the prison must be an institution for improvement,
a second school for those who need it. Society must, in
its many-sided development, so organize itself that all may
be able to attain every thing: Every thing for all.
The ideal of the man of America seems to me to be,
jrarity of intention, decision in will, energy in action, sim
plicity and gentleness in manner and demeanor. HericTe
it is that there is a something tender and chivalric in his
behavior to woman which is infinitely becoming to him.
In every woman he respects his own mother.
In the same way it appeared to me that the ideal of the
woman of America, of the woman of the New World, is,
independence in character, gentleness of demeanor and
manner. The 4j^fica.n's.ideal of happiness seems to me. to be,
marriage and home, combined with public activity. To
have a wife, his own house and home, his own little piece
of land ; to take care of these, and to beautify them, at
the same time doing some good to the state or to the city
— this seems to me to be the object of human life with
mojtjggjL,; a journey to Europe to see perfected cities,
and — ruins belong to it, as a desirable episode.
Of the American home I have seen enough and heard
enough for me to be able to say that the women have,
in general, all the rule there which they wish to have.
Woman is the centre and the lawgiver in the home of the
New World, and the American man loves that it should
be so. He wishes that his wife should have her own will

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 191
at home, and he loves to obey it. In proof of this, I have
heard the words of a young man quoted : " I hope that
my wife will have her own will in the house, and if she
has not, I'll make her have it !" I must, however, say,
that in the happy homes in which I lived 1 saw the wife
equally careful to guide herself by the wishes of her hus
band as he was to indulge hers. Affection and sound
reason make all things equal.
The educational institutions for woman are, in general,
much superior to those of Europe ^ and perhaps the most
important work which America is doing fpjL.the future"
of humanity consists in her treatment and education of
woman. Woman's increasing value as a teacher, and the
employment of her as such in public schools, even in those
for boys, is a public fact in these states which greatly
delights me. Seminaries have been established to educate
her for this vocation (I hope to be able to visit that at West
Newton, in the neighborhood of Boston, and which was
originated by Horace Mann). It even seems as if the
daughters of New England had a peculiar faculty and
love for this employment. Young girls of fortune devote
themselves to it. The daughters of poor farmers go to
work in the manufactories a sufficient time to earn the
necessary sum to put themselves to school, and thus to
become teachers in due course. Whole crowds of school
teachers go hence to the Western and Southern States,
where schools are daily being established and placed
under their direction. The young daughters of New
England are universally commended for their character
and ability. Even Waldo Emerson, who does not easily
praise, spoke in commendation of them. They learn in
the schools the classics, mathematics, physics, algebra,
with great ease, and pass their examinations like young
men. Not long since a young lady in Nantucket, not far
from Boston, distinguished herself in astronomy, discovered
a new planet, and received, in consequence, a medal from
the King of PriWa.

192 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The literature of Germany has for some years taken a
great hold in the Northern States, and has had a remark
able influence on the minds of the youthful student in
particular, as awakening the mind to the ideal of life.
The public speakers and lecturers, who attract multitudes
to hear them, are the advocates and promulgators of the
human ideal. Peace, liberty, genuineness of character,
temperance, purity, and the ennobling of every phase and
condition of life, the diffusion of the benefits of life and
cultivation to all men, are the subjects which animate
the eloquence of the speaker and attract thousands of list
eners. All questions are treated and worked out with
reference to " the benefit of all, the ennobling of all."
It is said of a tree that it grows when it raises itself
nearer to heaven ; and we may, in this sense, say of this
community that it grows. It labors not merely to ex
tend, but to elevate itself.
Since I last wrote, I have spent an amusing evening at
an anti-slavery meeting in Faneuil Hall (a large hall for
public assemblies), which was very animated. Mr. Charles
Sumner, who wished me to see one of the popular assem
blies here, accompanied me. Some runaway slaves were
to be introduced to the public, and the talking was about
them. The hall and the galleries were quite full. One
of the best, and certainly most original, speaker of the
evening, was a great negro, who had lately succeeded in
escaping from slavery with his wife and child, and who
related the history of his escape. There was a freshness,
a life, an individuality in this man's eloquence and ges
tures Which, together with the great interest of the nar
rative, were infinitely delightful. Sometimes he made
use of such extraordinary similes and expressions, that the
whole assembly burst into peals of laughter; but John
Brown, that was his name, did not join in it; he did not
allow himself to be moved, but went on only the more
earnestly with his story.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. ( yj
I remember, in particular, when he described crossing
a river while pursued by the men employed to catch him.
" There sit I now," said he, "in a boat with merely one
pair of oars, and row and row with all my might to reach
the other, the free shore, where my wife and my child
await me. And there I see the pursuers coming after me,
rowing with three pair of oars. They have nearly caught
me ; but above us sits the great God and looks at us, and
he gave me the start. I reach the shore; I am upon free
ground ! And now, this evening, I am with my wife and
my child !"
The assembly clapped their hands in tumultuous ap
plause. After this speaker a group came forward, which
was also saluted with much clapping of hands ; a young
fair lady, in a simple white dress, and hair without any
ornament, stepped forward, leading a dark mulatto wom
an by the hand. She had been a slave, and had lately
escaped from slavery on board a vessel, where she had
been concealed. Her owners, who suspected her place of
concealment, obtained a warrant for searching the vessel,
which they did thoroughly, burning brimstone in order
to compel her to come forth. But she endured it all,
and succeeded in making her esoape. It was a beautiful
sight, when the young white woman, Miss Lucy S., one
of the ladies whom I had seen at my little doctress's,
placed her hand upon the head of the black woman, call
ing her sister, and introducing her as such to the assem
bled crowd. It looked well and beautiful, and it was
certainly felt by all that the white woman stood here as
the friend and protector of the black. Miss Lucy per
formed her part very well, in a perfectly womanly, quiet,
and beautiful manner. She then related the history of
the late slave, and talked about slavery for a full hour
with perfect self-possession, perspicuity, and propriety of
tone and gesture. But instead of speaking, as she might
and ought to have done, from her own womanly feeling
Vol. I.— I

194 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of life — instead of awakening sympathy for those wrongs
Which woman especially suffers in slavery, inasmuch as
her very children do not belong to her ; that the beings
whom she brings forth in sorrow are the property of her
master, and may be taken from her and sold whenever
he will — instead of laying stress upon this and many other
circumstances repulsive to the heart and to every sense
of justice, and which especially befall the female slave —
Miss Lucy struck into the common track of so-much hack
neyed abuse of the pro-slavery men of the North, and against
Daniel Webster and his warm zeal for Hungarian freedom,
while he saw with indifference three millions of native
Americans held in slavery. She repeated merely what the
men had already said, and said better and more power
fully than she had done ; she entirely mistook her own
mission as a female speaker. When will women perceive
that, if they would worthily take a place in the forum,
they must come forth with the dignity and power of the
being who has new and mighty truths to enunciate and
represent? They must feel and speak from the centre of
the sphere of woman. Not all the good nature and court
esy of man will enable them to maintain their place on
the public platform, if they do not take possession of it on
their own positive ground. There is no want of this in
itself; it lies near to the heart of woman ; it is within her,
around her, if she will but see it. But she must yet ob
tain a more profound knowledge both of herself and of life.
The women who in all ages have stood forward as the
priestesses of the inner life, as prophetesses and interpret-
esses of the most sublime and the most holy, and who
were listened to as such by people and by kings, Deborah,
Wala, Sybilla, merely naming in them some of the old
est types — these might point out to the women of the
New World the path to public power and public influence.
And if they do not feel this higher power in themselves,
how much better to remain in quietness and silence ! How

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 195
powerful might they be even then ! What power is might
ier than that of love, than that of rational goodness ? The
eagle and the dove, as I have heard it said, are, of all
birds, those which fly farthest and most rapidly to their
object. Miss Lucy Stone's audience were good-natured, listen
ing attentively, and applauding at the close of the speech,
but not much. People praise her clearness of delivery,
her becoming manner, and the perspicuity of her mind :
that was all; more could not be said — and that was not
much. The gentlemen who followed her brought with them
more life and interest. But they offended me by their
want of moderation and justice ; by their style of decla
mation; by their endeavoring to point out, even in the gal
leries of the hall, individuals who did not agree with them
in their anti-slavery labors ; it offended me to hear family
life desecrated by making known dissensions; for exam
ple, between the father and the daughter on these ques
tions; thus overlooking the divine moral law of "Judge
not !" These tirades were carried to an extreme, and with
much personality. But all was animated and amusing,
and the best understanding seemed to exist between the
speaker and his audience. Wendell Phillips, the young
lawyer, seemed to possess the greatest share of public fa
vor ; and he is really an unusually gifted and agreeable
speaker, carrying the public along with him, and seem
ing to know his own power of moving and electrifying
them. A Mr. Quincy, a young man, of one of the highest
families in Boston, spoke violently against anti-slavery
people, and among others against his own eldest brother,
now mayor of Boston. But the public did not like his out
break, especially against the mayor, and hissed and clam
ored terrifically. Mr. Quincy proceeded with still more
violence, walking up and down the platform, his hands in
the pockets of his coat skirts, which he fluttered about as

196 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
if he enjoyed himself, and was fanned by the most agree
able of zephyrs.
At length the tumult and the cry of " Phillips !" "Wen
dell Phillips!" was so overpowering, that Mr. Quincy could
not be heard. He paused, and beckoned with a smile to
Wendell Phillips that he should take his place.
Phillips, a fair-complexioned young man, of a pleasing
figure and very easy deportment, stepped forth, and was
greeted with a salvo of clapping, after which a profound
silence prevailed. Wendell Phillips spoke with the calm
ness and self-possession of a speaker who perfectly under
stands both himself and his hearers, and he took up that
subject which Miss Lucy had passed over; he spoke for
the female slave, for the mother whose new-born child
belongs not to her, but to the slaveholder and to slavery.
He spoke of this with the low voice of suppressed emotion,
and a simplicity of language, yet powerful enough to ex
cite to the utmost the human heart against the circum
stances and the mode of treatment which he described.
It was masterly. The assembly hung on his lips and
took in every word. Once, during an argument, he ad
dressed my companion, Mr. Sumner, saying, "Is it not so,
brother Sumner?" Sumner smiled, and nodded an affirm
ative. At the close of this speech an excited gentleman leapt
upon the platform and began to declaim at the side of
Phillips. Phillips laughed, and prayed the assembly not
to listen to this "incapable gentleman." The assembly
were thrown into a state of fermentation, yet in perfect
good-humor ; they smiled, they whistled, they shouted,
they clapped, and hissed all together. During this com
motion the people began to leave the galleries with the
utmost calmness and composure. Plates were sent round
through the hall to receive a collection for the mulatto
woman, after which we left the hall, together with many
others ; and I could not but admire the quietness, the me

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 197
thodic manner in which this was done. There was no
crushing nor confusion ; each one followed silently in his
turn, and thus the assembly flowed away like a quiet
river. I was glad to have been at a popular assembly where
so much license prevailed, but which was yet under the
control of order and good temper.
I visited the Senate House one day in company with
Mr. Sumner. Saw the Senate sitting sleepily over a
question of shoe-leather, and heard in the House of Rep
resentatives a good deal of very animated but somewhat
plebeian eloquence in a debate on the question of "Plu
rality and Majority," as well as voting. But of this I
shall say no more. The Americans speak extempore with
great ease and fluency : their speeches here were like a
rushing torrent; the gestures energetic, but monotonous,
and without elegance.
The president, the speaker, and several of the members
of both Houses, came and shook hands with me, and bade
me welcome. I mention this because it seems to me
beautiful and kind thus to welcome a foreigner and a wom
an, without importance in political life, but who properly
belongs to the quiet world of home. Does not this show
that the men of the New World regard the home as the
maternal life of the state ?
I was pleased by this visit to the State House of Bos
ton, which is also, in its exterior, a magnificent building.
Two immense fountains cast up their waters in front of
its facade, and from the flight of steps outside the house
the view is splendid. Below lies the extensive green
called " Boston Common," in the middle of which is also
a beautiful fountain, which throws up its water to a great
height. Round it, on three sides, run three remarkably
beautiful streets, each street planted through its whole
length with lofty trees, mostly the elm, the favorite tree
of Massachusetts, and some of the same kind beautify

198 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
also the park-like Common. On the fourth side is an
open view of the ocean creek.
Here, on the broad causeways, beneath the beautiful
elms, I am fond of walking when the weather is mild, to
behold through the branches of the trees the bright blue
heaven of Massachusetts, and to see in the park the little
republicans coming out of school, running and leaping
about. In this neighborhood are various beautiful, well-
built streets, among which " Mount Auburn Street," with
its view of the sea, and along which I walk on my way
to the Common from my home at Mr. Benzon's. Below
the hill on the other side lies the market-place, " Louis-
berg Square," where I also often take a walk ; but less
for its little inclosure of trees and shrubs, and the there
inclosed wretched statue of Aristides, but because Mrs.
B. lives there ; and with her I always feel myself quiet
and happy, and am willing now and then to take an ex
cellent little dinner in company with her mother, Mrs. L.,
a clever, cordial and splendid old lady, and one or two
other guests. Mrs. B. is one of the genus fashionable,
who has her clothes ready-made from Paris, and who lives
as a rich lady, but whose heart is nevertheless open to
life's modest works of love, and who endeavors to make
all around her, even animals, happy. A magnificent gray
greyhound, called Princess, has its home in the house, and
is the most excellent house-dog I ever made acquaintance
with. Mrs. B.'s little daughter, Julia, is remarkably like her
grandmother in her turn of mind, her liveliness, and even
her wit. This charming little girl makes the most amus
ing puns without being at all aware of it.
One day when there was good sledging, Mrs. B. took
me to see a sledge-drive on the Neck, a narrow promon
tory which is the scene of action for the sledging of the
Boston fashionables. The young gentlemen in their light,
elegant carriages, with their spirited horses, flew like the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 199
wind. It looked charming and animated. I once saw
one of the giant sledges, in which were seated from fifty
to a hundred persons. This was drawn by four horses,
and certainly above fifty young ladies in white, and with
pink silk bonnets and fluttering ribbons, filled the body
of the carriage. It looked like an immense basket of flow
ers, and had also a splendid and beautiful appearance.
But I am not fond of seeing people in a crowd, not even
as a crowd of flowers ; a crowd nullifies individuality.
More beautiful sledging than that of the Swedish " Rack-
en," where a gentleman and lady sit side by side, on bear
or leopard skins, drawn by a pair of spirited horses cov
ered with swinging white nets — more beautiful carriages
and driving than these have I never seen.
There has been this winter no good sledging in Boston ;
nor has the winter been severe. Yet, nevertheless, it is
with difficulty that I can bear the air as soon as it be
comes cold. I, who have such a love of the Swedish win
ter, and who breathe easily in our severest weather, have
really difficulty in breathing here when the atmosphere
is as cold as it is just now — it feels so keen and severe.
It seems to me as if the old Puritanic, austere spirit had
entered, or rather gone forth into the air and penetrated
it ; and such an atmosphere does not suit me. Of a cer
tainty the atmosphere of America is essentially different
to that of Europe. It seems thin and dry, wonderfully
fine and penetrating, and it certainly operates upon the
constitutions of the people. How seldom one sees fat
people or plump forms here. The women appear delicate
and not strong. The men strong and full of muscular
elasticity, but they are generally thin, and grow more in
height than otherwise. The cheeks become sunk in the
man even while he is but a youth, and the countenance
assimilates to the Indian type. The climate of Boston is,
for the rest, not considered good on account of the cold
sea- winds.

200 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. •
Of Boston I shall not say much, because I have not
seen much, and am not in the best state of mind to judge.
The city itself does not seem to possess any thing remark!
ably beautiful, excepting that of which I have spoken.
The neighborhood of Boston, on the contrary, I have heard
described as very beautiful, and in many cases bearing a
resemblance to that of Stockholm. As yet I have only
seen it in a covered carriage and in its winter aspect. I
have observed a great number of charming country houses
or villas.
My most agreeable hours in Boston have been spent at
Mrs. Kemble's readings from Shakspeare. She is a real
genius, and her power of expression, and the flexibility of
her voice, so that she at the moment can change it for the
character she represents, are most wonderful. None can
ever forget that which he has once heard her read ; she
carries her hearer completely into the world and the scene
which she represents. Even Jenny Lind's power of per
sonation is nothing in comparison with hers. She is ex
cellent, and most so in heroic parts. I shall never forget
her glowing, splendid countenance, when she as Henry V.
incited the army to heroic deeds. And she gave the scene
between the enamored warrior-king and the bashful, ele
gant, and yet naive French princess in such a manner as
made one both laugh and cry ; that is to say, one laughed
with tears of sheer joy in one's eyes. When she steps for
ward before her audience, one immediately sees in her a
powerful and proud nature, which bows before the public
in the consciousness that she will soon have them at her
feet. And then — while she reads, yes, then she forgets
the public and Fanny Kemble ; and the public forget them
selves and Fanny Kemble too ; and both live and breathe
and are thrilled with horror, and bewitched by the great
dramatic scenes of life which she with magic power calls
forth. Her figure is strong, although not large, and of En
glish plumpness ; a countenance which, without being

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 201
beautiful, is yet fine, and particularly rich and magnifi
cent in expression. "In her smile there are fifty smiles,"
said Maria Lowell, who always says things beautifully.
Fanny Kemble was extremely amiable and kind to me,
and sent me a free admission for myself and a friend to
her Readings. She has read to-day my favorite of all the
Shakspeare dramas, Julius Caesar, and she read it so that
it was almost more than I could bear. In comparison
with these glorious heroic characters and their life, that
which at present existed around me, and I myself in the
midst of it, seemed so poor, so trivial, so colorless, that it
was painful to me. And that which made it still more
so was, that I was obliged between every act, and while
wholly excited by the reading, to turn to the right hand
and to the left to reply to introductions and to shake hands
— very possibly with the best people in the world, but I
wished them altogether, for the time, in the moon. Be
sides which, a lady, a stranger to me, who sat by me,
gave me, every time any thing remarkable occurred, ei
ther in the piece or in its delivery, a friendly jog with her
elbow. As regards the people around me, I may divide them
into two, or rather into three classes. The first is worthy
of being loved, full of kindness, refinement, and a beauti
ful sense of propriety ; in truth, more amiable and agree
able people I have never met with ; the second are thought
less, mean well, but often give me a deal of vexation,
leave me no peace either at home, in church, or at any
other public place, and have no idea that any body can
desire or need to be left at peace. Much curiosity pre
vails certainly in this class, but much real good-nature
and heartfelt kindness also, although it often expresses it
self in a peculiar manner. But then I should not, perhaps,
feel this so keenly if I had my usual strength of body and
mind. The third— yes, the third, is altogether — but I will
only say of it, that it is not a numerous class, and belongs
12

202 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
to a genus which is found in all countries alike, and which
I place in the Litany.
I receive invitations through the whole week, but I ac
cept only one, and another invitation to dinner, that is to
say, to small dinner-parties. These are for the most part
very agreeable, and I thus am able to see happy family
groups on their own charming and excellent hearths.
One recognizes the English taste and arrangement in ev
ery thing. For the most part, I decline all invitations for
the evening. Evening parties do not agree with me ; the
heat produced by the gas-lights of the drawing-rooms
makes me feverish. On the contrary, I have greatly en
joyed my quiet evenings at home since I had a young
friend to read aloud to me, that I could not wish for any
thing better. Mr. V., an agreeable young man, son of
Benzon's companion, and who also lives in the house, of
fered to read aloud to me in the evening, although he did
not know, he said, whether he could do it to please me,
as he had never before read aloud. He read rather stum-
blingly at first, but softly, and with the most gentle of
manly voices. It was like music to my soul and my
senses ; it calmed me delioiously. Before long he lost all
his stumbling, and his reading became continuous and
melodious as a softly purling stream. And thus has he
afforded me many good, quiet evenings in the reading of
the biography of Washington, of the President of Cam
bridge, Jared Sparks', Emerson's Essays, or other works.
Mr. Charles Sumner has also enabled me to spend some
most agreeable hours, while he has read to me various
things, in particular some of Longfellow's poems. One
day he read a story to me, in itself a poem in prose, by
Nathaniel Hawthorne, which gave me so much pleasure
that I beg leave to tell it you with the greatest possible
brevity. N.B. — Hawthorne is one of the latest of the
prose writers of North America, and has acquired a great
reputation. His works have been sent to me by some

HOMES OE THE NEW WORLD. 203
anonymous female friend, whom I hope yet to be able to
discover, that I may thank her. He treats national sub
jects with great earnestness and freshness; and that mys
tical, gloomy sentiment, which forms, as it were, the back
ground of this picture, like a nocturnal sky, from which
the stars shine forth, exercises a magical influence on the
mind of the New World, perhaps because it is so unlike
their every-day life. The piece which Sumner read to
me is called " The Great Stone Face," and the idea seems
to be taken from the actual large rock countenance, which
it is said may be seen at one place among the mountains
of New Hampshire — the White Mountains, as they are
called — and which is known under the name of "the Old
Man of the Mountain."
" In one of the valleys of New Hampshire," says Haw
thorne, "there lived in a mean cottage a young lad, the
child of poor parents. From his home and from the whole
valley might be seen, in one of the lofty, distant mount
ains, a large human profile, as if hewn out in the rock,
and this was known under the name of ' the Great Stone
Face.' There was an old tradition in the valley, that
there should some day come a man to the valley whose
countenance should resemble that of the great stone face ;
that he should be the noblest of men, and should introduce
a golden age into the valley. The young lad grew up in
the full view of that great stone face, which seemed to
hold dominion over the dale, and in the constant thought
of the expected stranger, who would one day come and
make the dale's people so happy. For hours he would
gaze at the large stone countenance, filling his whole soul
with the sublime beauty and nobility of its features.
Thus time passed; he went to school, grew up a young
man, became a schoolmaster and clergyman; but he al
ways kept looking at the lofty, pure countenance in the
rock, and more and more grew his love of its beauty, and
more and more deeply he longed after the man who had

204 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
been foretold and promised, and whose countenance should
resemble this.
"All at once a great cry rang through the dale, ' He is
coming ! he is coming !' And every body went out to
meet and to welcome the great man, and the young min
ister among the rest. The great man came in a great
carriage, drawn by four horses, surrounded by the shout
ing and exulting crowd ; and every body exclaimed, as
they looked at him, ' How like he is to the great stone
face !'
" But the young clergyman saw at the first glance that
it was not so, and that he could not be the foretold and
promised stranger, and the people also, after he had con
tinued some time in the valley, discovered the same thing.
" The young man went quietly on his way as before, do
ing all the good he could, and waiting for the expected
stranger, gazing continually on the large countenance,
and fancying that he was living and acting forever in its
sight. " Once more the cry went abroad, ' He is coming ! he is
coming ! the great man !' And again the people stream
ed forth to meet him, and again he came with all the pomp
of the former, and again the people cried out, ' How like
he is to the great stone face !' The youth looked and saw
a sallow countenance with really some resemblance to the
large features of the face ; but for all that, it was very un
like. And after a while he began to remark that the re
semblance became still more and more unlike, nor was it
long before every body found out that their great man was
not a great man at all, and that he had no similarity to
the large stone face. After this he disappeared from the
dale. These expectations and these disappointments were
repeated yet several times.
" At length, although the good clergyman gave up almost
entirely his sanguine expectations, he still hoped silently,
and continued silently to work in his vocation, but with

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 20S
more and more earnestness, extending yet more and more
the sphere of his operations — forever glancing upward tc
that large stone countenance, and, as it were, impressing
yet deeper and deeper its features upon his soul. Thus
time went on, and the young man had advanced toward
middle life ; his hair had begun to grow gray, and his
countenance to be plowed by the furrows of advancing
years, but the great long-expected stranger had not ap
peared. But he yet hoped on.
" In the mean time, the influence of his life and his labors
had ennobled the dale's people, and given beauty to the
dale itself. Universal peace and universal prosperity pre
vailed there during a long course of years. And by this
time the locks of the clergyman were of a silvery white
ness ; his face had become pale and his features rigid, yet
was his countenance beaming with human love. About
this time, the people began to whisper among themselves,
' Does not there seem to be a remarkable resemblance be
tween him and the great stone face ?'
"One evening a stranger came to the clergyman's cot
tage and was hospitably entertained there. He had come
to the dale to see the great stone countenance, of which
he had heard, and to see the man also of whom report said
that he bore the same features, not merely in the outward
face, but in the beauty of the spirit.
"In the calmness of evening, in presence of the Eternal,
in presence of that large stone countenance of the rock,
they conversed of the profound and beautiful mysteries
of the spiritual life, and while so doing, they themselves
became bright and beautiful before each other.
" ' May not this be the long-expected, the long-desired
one,' thought the clergyman, and gazed at the transfigured
countenance of his guest. As he thus thought, a deep
feeling of peace stole over him. It was that of death.
" He bowed his head, closed his eyes ; and in those rigid
but noble features, in that pure, pale countenanoe, the

206 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
stranger recognized with amazement him whom thoy had
sought for — him who bore the features of the great stone
face." Hawthorne is essentially a poet and idealist by nature.
He is, for profound, contemplative life, that which N. P.
Willis, with his witty, lively pen, is for the real and the
outward. The former seeks to penetrate into the interior
of the earth, the latter makes pen and ink sketches by
the way ; the former is a solitary student, the latter a man
of the world. Hawthorne's latest work, " The Scarlet
Letter," is making just now a great sensation, and is
praised as a work of genius. I, however, have not yet
read it, and there is a something in its title which does
not tempt me. Hawthorne himself is said to be a hand
some man, but belongs to the retiring class of poetical
natures. I know his charming wife and sister-in-law.
Both are intellectual women, and the former remarkably
pretty and agreeable, like a lovely and fragrant flower.
The Hawthornes are thinking of removing to the beauti
ful lake district in the west of Massachusetts, to Lenox,
where also Miss Sedgwick resides. They have kindly in
vited me to their house, and I shall be glad to become better
acquainted with the author of "The Great Stone Face."
Cooper and Washington Irving (the former lives on his
own property west of New York) have already, by their
works, introduced us to a nearer acquaintance with a part
of the world of which we before knew little more than the
names, Niagara and Washington. After these poets in
prose, several ladies of the Northern States have distin
guished themselves as the authors of novels and tales.
Foremost and best of these are, Miss Catharine Sedgwick,
whose excellent characteristic descriptions and delineations
of American scenes even we in Sweden are acquainted
with, in her "Redwood" and "Hope Leslie;" Mrs. Lydia
Maria Child, who, in her pictures of the life of antiquity, as
well as that of the present time, expresses her love for the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 207
ideal beauty of life, for every thing which is good, noble,
and harmonious, and who in all objects, in mankind, in
flowers, stars, institutions, the sciences, art, and in human
events, endeavors to find the point or the tone wherein they
respond to the eternal harmonies — a restless seeking after
eternal repose in the music of the spheres, a Christian
Platonic thinker, a Christian in heart and deed ; — Mrs.
Caroline Kirkland, witty, humorous, and sarcastic, but
based upon a large heart and a fine understanding, as we
also saw by her delicious book, "A New Home in the
West ;" Miss Maria M'Intosh, whom we also know by
her novel, " To Seem or to Be," and whose every-day life
is her most beautiful novel. (But that one might also
say of the others.) Of Mrs. Sigourney I have already
spoken. Mrs. L. Hall, the author of a great dramatic
poem called "Miriam," I know as yet merely by report.
Of the lesser authoresses and poetesses I say nothing, for
they are legion. The latter sing like birds in spring time.
There are a great many siskins, bullfinches, sparrows ;
here and there a thrush, with its deep and eloquent notes,
beautiful though few ; but I have not as yet heard among
these minstrels either the rich, inspiriting song of the lark,
or the full inspiration of the nightingale ; and I do not
know whether this rich artistic inspiration belongs to the
womanly nature. I have not, in general, much belief in
the ability of woman as a creative artist. Unwritten
lyrics, as Emerson once said when we spoke on this sub
ject, should be her forte.
The young Lowells are in affliction. Their youngest
child, the pretty little Rose, is dead. James Lowell has
just informed me of this in a few words. I must go to
them ; I have not seen them for a long time now, not
since that little child's illness.
February 10th. Now, my little Agatha, I will for a
moment take up the pen and —

208 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
February 15th. Down went the pen, just as I had
taken hold of it.
A visitor came whom, I was obliged to receive, and
then— and then— Ah ! how little of life's enjoyment can
one have in this hurrying life, although it may be, and,
indeed, is honorable. I will rest for one day from open
ing notes of invitation, requests for autographs, verses,
packets and parcels, containing presents of books and
flowers, and so on. I can not, or, to speak more properly,
I am not able to read all the notes and letters which come
to me in the course of the day, and merely to think of
answering them puts me in a fever, and then — people,
people, people ! ! !
In the mean time, I am heartily thankful to God and
my good physician that my health is so much better, be
cause it will now enable me to accept more adequately
the good- will which is shown toward me, and for which I
feel grateful, and also to complete my campaign in the
country. I can not sufficiently thank Mr. B. for the com*
fort which he has afforded me in Boston, neither Mr. and
Mrs. K., my kind host and hostess since Mr. B. left. As
regards my convenience and comfort, I have been treated
like a princess. But I long for the South, long for a mild
er climate, and for life with nature. I long also for freer,
more expansive views, for the immeasurable prairies, for
the wonderful West, the Ohio and the Mississippi. There
for the first time they tell me that I shall see and under
stand what America will become. But this much I do
understand of what I hear about the fertility and afflu
ence of this region — that if the millennium is ever to take
place on this earth, it must be in the valley of the Missis
sippi, which is said to be ten times more extensive than
the valley of the Nile, and capable of containing a popu
lation of two hundred and fifty millions of souls.
And now, my little heart, I will give you a bulletin of
the manner in which the last days have been spent.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 209
I went to Cambridge, accompanied by the estimable
Professor P. Little Rose lay shrouded in her coffin, love
ly still, but much older in appearance ; the father sat at
her head, and wept like a child ; Maria wept too, so qui
etly, and I wept with them, as you may well believe.
The affectionate young couple could weep without bitter-
,ness. They are two, they are one in love. They can
bow down together and rest. They have both very sus
ceptible feelings, and sorrow, therefore, takes a deep hold
on them. Maria told me that little Mabel — she is three
years old — came early in the morning to her bed, and
said, "Are you lonely now, mamma?" (little Rose had
hitherto always slept in her mother's bed) ; " shall I com
fort you ?"
I dined with Professor P., but I was distressed in mind,
not well, and not very amiable either ; I, therefore, ex
cused myself from an evening party, and went home. If
people could but know how much I suffer from this nerv
ous indisposition they would excuse an apparent unfriend
liness, which exists neither in my disposition nor my heart.
In the evening I composed myself by listening to the me
lodious reading of young Mr. V.
One day I visited the celebrated manufactory of Lowell,
accompanied by a young, agreeable countryman of mine,
Mr. Wachenfelt, who has been resident here for several
years. I would willingly have declined the journey, be
cause it was so cold, and I was not well, but they had in
vited strangers to meet me, got up an entertainment, and
therefore I was obliged to go. And I did not regret it. I
had a glorious view from the top of Drewcroft Hill, in
that star-light, cold winter evening, of the manufactories
of Lowell, lying below in a half circle, glittering with a
thousand lights, like a magic castle on the snow-covered
earth. And then, to think and to know that these lights
were not ignes fatui, not merely pomp and show, but that
they were actually symbols of a healthful and hopeful life

210 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
in the persons whose labor they lighted ; to know that
within every heart in this palace of labor burned a bright
little light, illumining a future of comfort and prosperity
which every day and every turn of the wheel of the ma
chinery only brought the nearer. In truth, there was a
deep purpose in these brilliant lights, and I beheld this il
lumination with a joy which made the winter's night feel ,
warm to me.
Afterward I shook hands with a whole crowd of people
in a great assembly, and the party was kept up till late in
the night. The following morning I visited the manufac
tories, and saw "the young ladies" at their work and at
their dinner; saw their boarding-houses, sleeping-rooms,
etc. All was comfortable and nice as we had heard it de
scribed. Only I noticed that some of "the young ladies"
were about fifty, and some of them not so very well clad,
while others, again, were too fine. I was most struck by
the relationship between the human being and the machin
ery. Thus, for example, I saw the young girls standing
— each one between four busily- working spinning jennies:
they walked among them, looked at them, watched over
and guarded them much as a mother would watch over
and tend her children. The machinery was like an obe
dient child under the eye of an intelligent mother.
The procession of the operatives, two and two, in shawls,
bonnets, and green veils, as they went to their dinner, pro
duced a fine and imposing effect. And the dinners which
I saw at a couple of tables (they take their meals at small
tables, five or six together) appeared to be both good and
sufficient. I observed that, besides meat and potatoes,
there were fruit tarts.
Several young women of the educated class at Lowell
were introduced to me, and among these some who were
remarkably pretty. After this my companions drove me
out in a covered carriage over the crunching snow (there
were seventeen degrees of cold this day), that I might see

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

211

the town and its environs. The situation is beautiful, on
the banks of the cheerfully, rushing Merrimac River (the
Laughing River) ; and the views from the higher parts of
the town as far as the White Mountains of New Hamp
shire, which raise their snowy crowns above every other
object, are extensive and magnificent. The town was laid
out somewhat above thirty years ago by the great-uncle
of James Lowell, and has increased from a population at
that time amounting to a few hundred persons, to thirty
thousand, and the houses have increased in proportion.
Much stress is laid upon the good character of the
young female operatives at the time of their entering the
manufactories, and upon their behavior during the period
of their remaining there. One or two elopements I heard
spoken of. But the life of labor here is more powerful
than the life of romance, although that too lives in the
hearts and heads of the young girls, and it would be bad
were it otherwise.
The industrious and skillful can earn from six to eight
dollars per week, never less than three, and so much is
requisite for their board each week, as I was told. The
greater number lay by money, and in a few years are able
to leave the manufactory and undertake less laborious
work. In the evening I returned by rail-way to Boston, ac
companied by the agreeable Wachenfelt, who seemed to
be very much taken with the inhabitants of Lowell. I
lost one thing by my visit to Lowell, which I regret hav
ing lost ; that was the being present at Fanny Kemble's
reading of " Macbeth" the same evening. The newspaper
had published the same day a full account of the judicial
examination into the Parkman murder, and its melancholy
details had so affected Fanny Kemble's imagination, as
she herself said, that it gave to her reading of the Shaks-
pearian drama a horrible reality, and to the night-scene
with the witches, as well as to the whole piece, an almost

212 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
supernatural power, as I have been told by several per
sons who were present.
I went last Sunday with Miss Sedgwick, who is come
to the city for a few days, and two gentlemen, to the sail
ors' church to hear Father Taylor, a celebrated preacher.
He is a real genius, and delighted me. What warmth,
what originality, what affluence in new turns of thought
and in poetical painting ! He ought of a truth to be able
to awaken the spiritually dead. On one occasion, when
he had been speaking of the wicked and sinful man and
his condition, he suddenly broke off and began to describe
a spring morning in the country ; the beauty of the sur
rounding scene, the calmness, the odor, the dew upon grass
and leaf, the uprising of the sun ; then again he broke off,
and returning to the wicked man, placed him amid this
glorious scene of nature — but, "the unfortunate one ! He
can not enjoy it !" Another time, as I was told, he entered
his church with an expression of profound sorrow, with
bowed head, and without looking to the right and the left
as is his custom (N.B. — He must pass through the church
in order to reach the pulpit), and without nodding kindly
to friends and acquaintances. All wondered what could
have come to Father Taylor. He mounted the pulpit,
and then bowing down, as if in the deepest affliction, ex
claimed, " Lord have mercy upon us because we are a
widow !" And so saying, he pointed down to a coffin
which he had had placed in the aisle below the pulpit.
One of the sailors belonging to the congregation had just
died, leaving a widow and many small children without
any means of support. Father Taylor now placed him
self and the congregation in the position of the widow, and
described so forcibly their grief, their mournful counte
nances, and their desolate condition, that at the close of
the sermon the congregation rose as one man, and so con
siderable was the contribution which was made for the
widow, that she was raised at once above want. In fact,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

213

our ooldly moralizing clergy who read their written ser
mons ought to come hither and learn how they may touch
and win souls.
After the service I was introduced to Father Taylor and
his agreeable wife, who in disposition is as warm-hearted
as himself. The old man (he is about sixty) has a re
markably lively and expressive countenance, full of deep
furrows. When we thanked him for the pleasure which
his sermon had afforded us, he replied, "Oh! there's an
end, an end of me ! I am quite broken down ! I am
obliged to screw myself up to get up a little steam. It's
all over with me now !"
While he was thus speaking, he looked up, and ex
claimed, with a beaming countenance, "What do I see ?
Oh my son! my son !" And extending his arms, he went
forward to meet a gigantically-tall young man, who, with
joy beaming on his fresh, good-tempered countenance,
was coming through the church, and now threw himself
with great fervor into Father Taylor's arms, and then into
those of his wife.
" Is all right here, my son ?" asked Taylor, laying his
hand on his breast ; " has all been well kept here ? Has
the heart not become hardened- by the gold? But I see
it, I see it ! All right ! all right !" said he, as he saw
large tears in the young man's eyes. " Thank God ! God
bless thee, my son !" And with that there was again a
fresh embracing.
The young man was a sailor, no way related to Father
Taylor, except spiritually ; who, having been seized by
the Californian fever, had set off to get gold, and now had
returned after an interval of a year, but whether with or
without gold, I know not. But it was evident that the
heart had not lost its health. I have heard a great deal
about the kindness and liberality of Father Taylor and his
wife, in particular to poor sailors of all nations.
In the afternoon of the same day I attended divine

214 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
service in the chapel of Mr. Barnard, as I had been in-
vited to do, and I saw in his house proofs of this man's
admirable activity in the aid of the poor 2nd the unfor
tunate by means of education and work. There were
present in the chapel about five hundred children, and
after the service I shook hands with the whole five hund
red little republicans, male and female, and with some of
them twice over ; the boys were especially zealous, and
noble, merry lads they were. The earnest and effective
means which are in operation throughout this state for
the education of the rising generation are the most certain
and beautiful signs of its own fresh vitality, and an augury
of a great future.
Mr. Barnard is a missionary of the Unitarian commu
nity, and one of its most zealous members in its labors of
human kindness. N.B. — Most of the larger sects in this
country have their missionaries, or, as they are also called
here, " ministers at large," whom they send forth to preach
the Word, establish schools, or perform works of mercy,
and who are maintained by the community to which they
belong, and whose influence they thus extend.
I have, during my stay in Boston, visited different
churches, and it has so happened that the greatest num
ber of them have belonged to the Unitarian body. So
great, indeed, is the predominance of this sect in Boston,
that it is generally called "the Unitarian city." And as
it has also happened that many of my most intimate ac
quaintances here are of this faith, it has been believed by
many that I also am of it. You know how far I am oth
erwise, and how insufficient and how unsatisfying to my
mind were those religious views which I held during a few
months of my life, and which I abandoned for others more
cornprehensive. Here in this country, however, it is more
consistent with my feelings not to follow my own sympa
thies, but to make myself acquainted with every import
ant phase of feeling or intellect in its fullest individuality.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 215
I therefore endeavor to see and to study in every place
that which is its characteristic. Hence I shall, in Amer
ica, visit the churches of every sect, and hear, if possible,
the most remarkable teachers of all. The differences of
these, however important they may be for the speculative
understanding of the entire system of life, are of much
less importance to practical Christianity and to the in
ward life. And therefore, in reality, they trouble me but
very little. All Christian sects acknowledge, after all, the
same God ; the same divine mediator and teacher; the
same duty ; the same love ; the same eternal hope. The
various churches are various families, who, having gone
forth from the same Father, are advancing toward eternal
mansions in the house of the Eternal Father. Every one
has his separate mission to accomplish in the kingdom, of
4nind. God has given different gifts of understanding, and
thence different forms of comprehension and expression of
truth. By this means, truth in its many-sidedness is a
gainer. And the full discussion even of the highest sub
jects, which takes place in the different churches of this
country, as well as in the pages of their public organs (for
every one of the more considerable religious sects has its
own publication, which diffuses its own doctrines as well
as reports the transactions of its body), are of infinite im
portance for the development of the religious mind of the
people. Besides this, it must tend to an increasingly clear
knowledge of the essential points of resemblance in all
Christian communities, to the knowledge of the positive
in Christianity, and must prepare the way by degrees for
a church universal in character and with a oneness of
view, even in dogmas.
The two great divisions of the Church in the United
States appear to be those of the Trinitarian and Unita
rian. The Unitarians arose in opposition to the doctrine of
a mechanical Trinity, and the petrified old State Church
(the Episcopalian) which held it. The latter lays most

216 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
stress upon faith, the former on works. Both acknowl
edge Christ (the one as God, the other as divine human
ity), and regard him as the highest object for the imita
tion of man. Both have individuals within their pale who
prove that in either it is possible to advance as far, and
to deserve in as high a degree the name of a Christian.
I have heard two good sermons from the clergy of the
old State Church in this country. It seems to me that this
Church is regarded as the peculiarly aristocratic Church
here, and that the fashionable portion of society generally
belongs to it ; it belongs to people of good ton. But the
speculative mind in the Church appears to me not yet to
have come forth from its cave of the Middle Ages ; they
still oppose faith to reason, and there appears not yet to
be within the realm of theology an enlightened mind like
that of our H. Martinsen in the North. I say this, how
ever, without being fully certain on the subject. I have
not yet heard or read sufficiently the theological literature
of this country.
The most distinguished leader and champion of Unitari
anism in this country, Dr. Ellery Channing, called also the
Unitarian Saint, from the remarkable beauty of his char
acter and demeanor, showed how far a human being might
go in his imitation of Christ. I have heard many instances
related by his friends of the deep earnestness, of the heart
felt sincerity with which this noble man sought after the
just and the pure mode of action in every case, even in
the most trifling. One may see in his portrait a glance
which is not of this world, which neither seeks for nor
asks any thing here, but which seeks for and inquires
from a higher friend and counselor. One may see it also
in his biography, and in the detached letters lately pub
lished by his nephew, H. W. Channing, and which the
latter has had the kindness to send to me. I read them
occasionally, and can not but think of your favorite text,
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 217
' How pure and beautiful, for instance, is the sentiment
which is contained in these words, which I now take at
random from the volume before me :
" Reflect how unjust you are toward yourself if you
allow any human being to hinder the growth of a soul
such as yours. Bear in mind that you were created to
love infinitely, to love eternally, and do not allow an un
requited affection to close this divine spring.
# # # #
" I can not reprove your wish to die. I know no ad
vantage greater than that of death, but it is an advantage
for those in whom evil has been more and more subdued,
and who have been continually gaining an ascendency over
self. I should be glad to awaken that disinterested self-
sacrificing human love, both in you and in myself, as well
as a more profound consciousness of our own spiritual na
ture, reliance on the divine principle within us, the inner
most work of our loving, and on God's infinite love to that
divine life. Nothing can harm Us but infidelity to our
selves, but want of reverence for our own sublime spirit.
Through failure in this respect we become slaves to cir
cumstances and to our fellow-men."
Every where, and on all occasions, one sees Channing
turning to that divine teacher in the human breast, which
is one with the divine spirit of God for the fulfilling of
the law, and it is from this inward point of view that he
regulated his outward conduct.
And never, indeed, has God's blessing more visibly rest
ed upon a human being. How fresh, how full are the ex
pressions of his joy and gratitude as he became older ;
how he seemed to become younger and happier with each
passing year ! He reproached himself with having en
joyed too much, with being too happy in a world where
so many suffered. But he could not help it. Friends,
nature, the invisible fountains of love and gratitude in his
soul — all united themselves to beautify his life. All only
Vol. I.— K

218 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the more enlarged his sphere of vision ; all the more, dur
ing declining health, increased his faith and hope in God
and man ; all the more his love for life, that great, glorious
life! It was during his old age that he wrote :
"Our natural affections become more and more beauti
ful to me. I sometimes feel as if I had known nothing
of human life until lately — but so it will be forever. We
shall wake up to the wonderful and beautiful in what we
have seen with undiscerning eyes, and find a new creation
without moving a step from our old haunts."
He often spoke of his enjoyment of life in advancing
years. Somebody asked him one day what age he con
sidered as the happiest. He replied with a smile, that he
considered it to be about sixty.
During the illness which, gradually wasting him away,
ended his days, his inward life seemed to increase in fer
vor and strength. He inquired with the most cordial in
terest about the circumstances of those who came to visit
him. Every human being seemed to have become more
important and dearer to him, and yet all the while his
brain kept ceaselessly laboring with great thoughts and
objects. " Can you help me," said he to his friends during his
last days, "to draw down my soul to every-day things
from these crowds of images, these scenes of infinitude,
this torrent of thought ?"
Once, when some one was reading to him, he said,
" Leave that; let me hear about people and their affairs !"
He was often heard, during his last painless struggle,
to say, "Heavenly Father!" His last words were, "I do
not know when my heart was ever so overflowed with a
grateful sense of the goodness of God!" And his last
feeble whisper was, " I have received many messages from
the Spirit !"
"As the day declined," adds his biographer, "his coun-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 219
tenance fell, he became weaker and weaker. With our
aid he turned himself toward the window, which looked
out over the valleys and wooded heights to the east. We
drew aside the curtains and the light fell on his face. The
sun had just gone down, and the clouds and sky were
brilliant with crimson and gold. He breathed more and
more softly, and without a sigh the body, fell asleep. We
knew not when the spirit departed."
Thus only can sink a sun-like human being; thus only
can die a man whom God loves, and in whose heart His
Spirit abides.
How great a power this true Christian exercised upon
others I can judge from the following little occurrence :
One day I was walking with Mr. B. through.the streets
of Boston, and as we passed one house he bowed his head
reverentially as he said, " That is a house which for sev
eral years I never approached without feelings of the most
heartfelt reverence and love. There dwelt Dr. Channing !"
As regards my own private friends, I do not trouble my
self in the least to what religious sect they belong — Trin
itarians or Unitarians, Calvinists or Baptists, or whatever
it may be — but merely that they are noble and worthy to
be loved. Here, also, are many people who, without be
longing to any distinct church, attend any one where
there is a good preacher, and for the rest, live according
to the great truths which Christianity utters, and which
they receive into their hearts. Some of my best friends
in this country belong to the invisible Church of God.
February 19th. What beautiful days ! Three days of
the most delicious spring weather. And this luxurious
blue heaven, and this air, so pure, so spiritually full of
life, and, as it were, so intoxicating. I have not felt any
thing like it! I become, as it were, permeated by it. I
have been so well these last days, have felt such a flood
of fresh life in me, that it has made me quite happy, and
childish enough to feel a desire to tell every body so, and

220 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
to bid them rejoice with me. I know that many would
do so ; and I know that I myself should be glad to know
some one who, having suffered as I have done, now feel
as I do. In my joy, I compelled my little allopathic doc
tor, Miss H., to thank God for the progress which I and
the homeopathic doctor had made. And she did so with
all her heart. She has a heart as good as gold.
I have, these beautiful days, enjoyed the weather and
my walks, and the company of agreeable people, and —
the whole world. One day Mr. Longfellow came and took
me to dine with them at his — father-in-law's, I believe
(you know that my strength never lay in genealogy), Mr.
A.'s. This was on the first of the beautiful days, and as
soon as I same out of my gate, I stood quite amazed at
the beauty of the sky and the deliciousness of the air. I
told the amiable poet that I thought it must have been
himself that had enchanted them.
The A.'s is one of the most beautiful homes I have yet
seen in Boston ; the elderly couple are both handsome ;
he an invalid, but with the most kind and amiable tem
per ; she cheerful, both body and soul, and very agree
able. With them and the Longfellows I had a charming
little dinner.
On Monday the Longfellows had a cast taken of my
hand in plaster of Paris ; for here, as elsewhere, it is a
prevailing error that my hands are beautiful, whereas they
are only delicate and small. When I returned, I found
my room full of people. N.B. — It was my reception-day,
and I had stayed out beyond my time. But I was all
the more polite, and I fancy that no one was displeased.
I felt myself this day to be a regular philanthrope ; thus
the people stayed till past three o'clock.
When my visitors were gone, the young Lowells came
for the first time since their loss, and Maria set down
upon the floor a basket full of the most beautiful mosses
and lichens, which she and James had gathered on the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 221
hill for me, as they knew I was fond of them. This af
fected me sincerely ; and it affected me, also, to see again
the same kind of plants which I myself had gathered on
the hill in the park at Aersta, and I could not help it — I
watered them with tears ; my soul is like a heaving sea,
the waves of which flow and ebb alternately. But they
are swayed in both cases by the same element.
Yesterday afternoon Waldo Emerson called on me, and
we had a very serious conversation together. I was afraid
that the admiration and the delight with which he had
inspired me had caused me to withhold my own confession
of faith — had caused me apparently to pay homage to his,
and thereby to be unfaithful to my own higher love. This
I could not be. And exactly because I regarded him as
being so noble and magnanimous, I wished to become clear
before him as well as before my own conscience. I wished
also to hear what objection he could bring forward against
a world as viewed from the Christian point of view, which
in concrete life and reality stands so infinitely above that
of the pantheist, which resolves all concrete life into the
elemental. I fancied that he, solely from the interest of
a speculative question, would have been led out of the
universal into the inward. Because, when all is said which
the wisdom of antiquity and of the noblest stoicism can
say about the Supreme Being, about the " superior soul"
as an infinite, lawgiving, impersonal power, which brings
forth, and then, regardless of any individual fate, absorbs
into itself all beings, who must all blindly submit them
selves as to an eternally unjust and unsympathetic law
of the world — how great and perfect is the doctrine that
God is more than this law of the world ; that he is a Fa
ther who regards every human being as His child, arid
has prepared for each, according to their kind, an eternal
inheritance in His house, in His light; that He beholds
even the falling sparrow : this is a doctrine which satisfies
the soul ! And when all is said which the noblest stoi-

222 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
cism can say to man about his duty and his highest no
bility, if it made Epictetes and Socrates, and set Simeon
Stylites on his pillar, how incomparably high and aston
ishing is this command to mankind :
" Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect !"
A command, a purpose which it requires an eternity to
attain to ! And when all is said which all the wise men of
the Old World, and all the Transcendentalists of the New
World can say about the original nobility of the soul, and
her ability to keep herself noble by constantly having her
regards fixed on the ideal, and by avoiding the rabble and
the trash of the earth; and when the endeavors of the
Transcendentalists — when the divinely aspiring spark
within us makes us acknowledge the poverty of this mere
ly negative point of view, and our inability to attain to the
highest requirement of our better nature ; then how great
and consolatory, how conclusive is the doctrine which says
that the divine Spirit will put itself in connection with
our spirit, and satisfy all our wants by the inflowing of
its life !
This most extreme vitalizing process, this "new birth"
and new development, which the Scriptures often speak
of as a marriage, as the coming of the bridegroom to the
bride, as a new birth, which we may see every day ex
hibited in natural life — as, for instance, by the grafting of
a noble fruit tree upon a wild stock — is, finally, the only
explanation of human life and its yearning endeavors.
This is what I wished to say to Emerson — what I en
deavored to say, but I know not how I did it. I can not
usually express myself either easily or successfully until I
become warm, and get beyond or through the first thoughts ;
and Emerson's cool, and as it were, circumspect manner,
prevented me from getting into my own natural region.
I like to be with him, but when with him I am never fully
myself. I do not believe that I now expressed myself in
telligibly to him. He listened calmly and said nothing

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 223
decidedly against it, nor yet seemed inclined to give his
views as definite. He seemed to me principally to be op
posed to blind or hypocritical faith.
" I do not wish," said he, " that people should pretend
to know or to believe more than they really do know and
believe. The resurrection, the continuance of our being
is granted," said he also ; " we carry the pledge of this in
our own breast ; I maintain merely that we can not say
in what form or in what manner our existence will be
continued." If my conversation with Emerson did not lead to any
thing very satisfactory, it led nevertheless to my still more
firm conviction of his nobility and love of truth. He is
faithful to the law in his own breast, and speaks out the
truth which he inwardly recognizes. He does right. By
this means he will prepare the way for a more true com
prehension of religion and of life. For when once this
keen glance, seeing into the innermost of every thing —
once becomes aware of the concealed human form in the
tree of life — like Napoleon's in the tree at St. Helena —
then will he teach others to see it too, will point it out by
such strong, new, and glorious words, that a fresh light
will spring up before many, and people will believe be
cause they see.
At the conclusion of our conversation I had the pleas
ure of giving Emerson " Geijer's History of Sweden,"
translated into English, which he accepted in the most
graceful manner. I have never seen a more beautiful
smile than Emerson's ; the eyes cast a light upon it. Mr.
Downing's is the only smile which resembles it ; it is less
brilliant, but has a more romantic grace about it.
Later in the evening I heard Emerson deliver a public
lecture on "The Spirit of the Times." He praised the
ideas of the Liberals as beautiful, but castigated with
great severity the popular leaders and their want of no
bility of character. The perversity and want of upright-

224 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ness in party spirit prevented the upright from uniting
with any party. Emerson advised them to wait for and
look for the time when a man might work for the public
without having to forego his faith and his character.
Emerson is much celebrated both here and in England
as a lecturer. I do not, for my part, think him more re
markable as such than during a private conversation on
some subject of deep interest. There is the same deep,
strong, and at the same time melodious, as it were metal
lic tones ; the same plastic turns of expression, the same
happy phraseology, naturally brilliant ; the same calm
and reposing strength. But his glance is beautiful as he
casts it over his audience, and his voice seems more pow
erful as he sways them. The weather, however, was this
evening horrible ; the wind was very high, and the rain
fell in torrents (for it never rains here softly or in moder
ation), and very few people were present at the lecture.
Emerson took it all very coolly, and merely said to some
one, " One can not fire off one's great guns for so few peo
ple." I have visited to-day the Navy Yard of Boston and Mas
sachusetts, and have shaken hands with the officers of the
fleet and their ladies at a collation given at the house of
the commodore, during the whole of which we were re
galed with fine instrumental music. It is a magnificent
Navy Yard, and the whole thing was beautiful and kind,
and afforded me pleasure.
I have this week also visited, in company with the dis
tinguished school-teacher, G. B. Emerson (the uncle of
Waldo), some of the common schools, and could not but be
pleased with the excellent manner in which the children
read, the girls in particular, that is to say, with so much
life and expression, that one saw they fully understood
both the words and the meaning; they also answered
questions in natural history extremely well. Mr. E. has
himself a large private school which is much celebrated.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 225
In the evening I am going to Fanny Kemble's reading
of Shakspeare's " Midsummer Night's Dream," and after
that with Emerson to a musical soiree at the house of a
wealthy merchant, his friend Mr. A., whom he greatly es
teems for his practical abilities, as well as for his honest
decided character.
And now, my little Agatha, I am preparing to set off to
the South, first to New York, then to Philadelphia, then
to Washington, then to Charleston, in South Carolina;
from which place I shall further decide on my course.
Thank God ! I now feel strong and capable of the journey.
I have invitations and offers of homes from all quarters,
nearly from every one of the States. From Philadelphia
alone I have above half a dozen. Some of them I can not
accept ; others I can accept with pleasure ; but in any case
it is good to experience so much warm and ready hospi
tality. My good physician continues daily to visit and watch
over me, I might almost say with fatherly tenderness.
He brought with him to-day an allopathic physician, Dr.
W.,whom he wished to introduce to me, "Because," said
he, " I have a high esteem for him." Dr. W. has for several
weeks together, with two other allopathic physicians, at
tended a gentleman who has been ill of typhus fever, and
who lives not far from Mr. B., one of the brothers C, and
one of the most celebrated preachers of Boston. The crisis
of the fever had happily passed ; the patient lived, but
continued to be ill with a great number of important symp
toms, which defied, week after week, all the skill and ex
perience of the physicians. One of them, Dr. W., said,
"We have done all that is in our power as allopathists.
We will call in a homeopathist and let him try his skill."
My doctor was called in. He immediately began by ap
plying specifics against the symptoms Which caused the
chaotic state of the disease, and got rid of them within
six-and-thirty hours or less. The patient was brought into
K2

226 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a calm state, when, after an examination of homeopathic
accuracy, it was discovered that a tumor had begun to
form in his left side, which had naturally kept up his fe
verish state. This was operated upon, and the sick man
is now in a perfectly convalescent state, to the great joy
of his family and his many friends. See now what ho
meopathy can do !
I lately heard a little boy spoken of, who, in consequence
of having taken cold, had an attack of acute rheumatism,
and lay in a state of such horrible suffering that he could
not bear any one to come near him, and he became almost
free from pain through homeopathic treatment within
twelve hours. My good doctor was an allopathist in hi8
younger days, and from over-exertion in his profession,
suffered to that degree from neuralgia that the physicians
gave him up, and as a last resource sent him over to Eu
rope. There he met with Hannemann, who did not con
vince him by his teaching, but induced him to make trial
of his means of cure. These immediately produced the
most favorable results in his condition, and in so doing
changed his medical theory. When he returned to Amer
ica he was quite well, and a homeopathist. And I too
praise homeopathy. But I believe, at the same time,
that allopathy has its own sphere, and that it ought to
go hand in hand with homeopathy, even as the excellent
Dr. W. and Dr. 0. came to visit me.
My good doctor has one trouble with me. The little
globules which Mr. Downing gave me, and which caused
me to sleep so well, have maintained their magic power
over me, and cause me to sleep even when O.'s medicine
will not do it. Downing will not tell me the name of this
remedy, but carries on a merry little joke about it, saying
that it is not the medicine, but the conjuration which he
says over it, which makes it so efficacious, and when I
ask for the name he merely sends me some more globules.
My good doctor smiles, and says, " I don't like this Down-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 227
ing medicine, which excels mine. I do not like it, be
cause it is not I who give it you." But I laugh (and he
smiles too), and I always have my Downing medicine
standing every night on a table by my bed. With it I
lay myself down in confidence. There is a good spirit in
the little vial.
February 25th. Where did I leave you last, my child ?
Yes, I know ! I was going to hear Fanny Kemble. She
read the " Midsummer Night's Dream." But this dream
I have never quite understood, nor thought much of, nor
do I yet, spite of Fanny Kemble's masterly reading. The
evening at the A.'s was pleasant to me. Miss A. is a good
and charming young girl, with sense and sterling charac
ter, and really a musical talent for the piano. Besides
this, Emerson was kind and conversable. He is much
struck with Fanny Kemble's appearance and talent. He
now had seen her for the first time, and said, in speaking
of her, " What an abundance there is in her ! She is Mi
randa, Queen Catharine, and many more at the same time !"
He likes strongly-expressed individuality. And so do
I. But Emerson sees human beings too much merely as
individuals. He says of one person, "That is an actress!"
of another, " That is a saint!" of a third, " That is a man
of business !" and so on, and sets them away each one in
his corner, after he has clapped his ticket upon them.
And so, mdeed, has every planet its own axis on which it
turns ; but its greatest importance seems to me to consist
in its relationship to the sun, that centre around which it
revolves, and which determines its life and its course.
I shall not now write any more to you from Boston, be
cause I must get ready for my journey, and I have much
to do in the way of visits and letter- writing before I can
creditably leave the city and neighborhood. But ah ! that
will hardly be possible. I can not bear much; the least
exertion brings on fever. The air is again cold and keen,
and I am again not well — I know not whether from the

228 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
air or the food, or whether from people and all one's social
duties. But this I know, that I shall soon again be well.
The climate, and I myself, here in this country, are alike
variable; and when people ask me one of the standing
questions here, "What similarity is therebetween the cli
mate of your country and that of ours ?" my answer is
equally a standing one, "That between a staid married
man and a changeable lover."
Last evening I spent very agreeably with Miss Sedg
wick and her adopted daughter, a pleasing young wife,
Mrs. M. Fanny Kemble was there, and her cheerful,
strongly-marked character is always refreshing; as is also
Miss Sedgwick's kindness and fine understanding.
Fanny Kemble asked me across the room a question
about Lindblad.
"What do you know about our Lindblad ?" replied I.
"Do I not know Lindblad?" replied she, with the air
and pride of a queen. "Do I not know this beautiful
singer?" And she mentioned several of Lindblad's bal
lads which she said she sang.
It delighted me to hear that Lindblad's songs are known
and beloved in England and America.
I shall write no more this time. I shall now make my
courtesy to Boston and Bunker Hill, the monument on
which it is said was completed by the work of women
(that is to say its top), that of the men not being sufficient.
And now — to the South ! to the South !

LETTER XI.
New York, March 2d, 1850.
What a shabby trick, or rather how negligent of fate,
my sweet Agatha, to let a little creature fall who has no
superabundance of strength, and yet so much patience!
It grieves me to the heart! That treacherous ice which

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 229
let you slip so sadly when you were on so good an errand !
And what were the good angels about to permit it? I
can hardly forgive them !
Thank God, however, that you are now getting better,
and that spring is approaching, and the time for the Mar-
stand baths, and that you can have the benefit of them.
And our poor Marie stands in need of them also. I do not
thank Charlotte and all our friends for being so attentive
to you, because that is quite natural, but I like them all
the more for it, and think better of them than of the neg
ligent good angels. And my little Agatha, if the heart
and the will could have wings, then I should be now in
your chamber, and by your bed ; or if, as I hope, you
have said good-by to bed, by your side, as your stick or
crutch, or your waiting-maid ; and that you know.
Thanks be to homeopathy and my good watchful doc
tor, I am now again in better health, though not yet
quite recovered, and have now and then relapses ; but
they are of short continuance, and as I now understand
my complaint better, and how it ought to be treated, I
hope to be myself again shortly. I have not been so dur
ing these winter months. My sun has been darkened,
and at times so totally that I have feared being obliged to
return to Europe with my errand in America uncompleted.
I feared that it was not possible for me to stand the cli
mate. And that has not a little astonished me, as I con
sidered myself so strong or so elastic that I could bear
and get through as much as any Yankee. But the mala
dy which I have endured, and still endure, is like the old
witch who could trip up even Thor.
It is a disagreeable, poisonous, insidiously serpent-like
disease— a vampire which approaches man in the dark,
and sucks away the pith and marrow of body, nerves, and
even of soul. Half or two thirds of the people in this
country suffer, or have suffered, in some way from this
malady ; and I with them. The fault lies in the articles

__230 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of food, in their mode of life, in the manner of warming
their rooms, all of which would be injurious in any cli
mate, but which, in one so hot and exciting as this, is
downright murder. The great quantity of flesh meat and
fat, the hot bread, the highly-spiced dishes, preserves in
an evening, oysters, made dishes — we could not bear
these in Sweden (we, indeed, will never roast our meat
with any thing but good butter !), and here they ought to
be put in the Litany — that they ought ! and so ought
also the " furnaces," as they are called, that is, a sort of
pipe which conveys hot air into a room through an open
ing in the floor or the wall, and by which means the room
becomes warm, or, as it were, boiling, in five or ten min
utes, but with a dry, close, unwholesome heat, which al
ways gives me a sensation of pain as well as drowsiness
in the head. The small iron stoves which are in use here
are not good either : they are too heating and too ex
treme in their heat ; but yet they are infinitely better
than these furnaces, which I am sure have some secret
relationship with the fiery furnace of hell. They seem to
me made on purpose to destroy the human nerves and
lungs. Besides these, they have in their drawing-rooms
the heat of the gas-lights ; and when we add to this the
keenness and the changeableness of the atmosphere out
of doors, it is easy to explain why the women, who in
particular are, in this country, so thoughtless in their
clothing, should be delicate and out of health, and why
consumption should be greatly on the increase in these
Northeastern States. Besides this, many often suffer from
dyspepsia as a consequence. I am, in the mean time, in
describably thankful to have been rescued from the claws
of the monster ; for I consider myself to have been so, aa
I understand how to defend myself with regard to food,
and I take with me my physician's globules and prescrip
tions. And my good old physician, with his somewhat
rugged exterior and his heart warm with human love, I

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 231
am really so much attached to him ! For seven weeks
has he now attended me with the greatest care, coming
every day, sometimes two or three times in the day, when
he thought I was in a more sufforing state, giving me the
most fatherly advice, and finally furnishing me with med
icines, and rules and regulations as regards diet, for the
whole of my journey ; and when I offered to pay him for
the trouble he had taken, he would not hear of such a
thing, shaking his head, and saying, in his deep, serious
voice, that it was one of the happiest circumstances of his
life that he could in any measure contribute to the re-
establishment of my health. " One thing, however, I beg
of you," wrote he, in his fatherly farewell letter, " and
that is that you will sometimes write to me, and tell me
about your health, and what you are doing and enjoying ;
because I hear a great deal about human suffering and
sorrow, but very seldom about human happiness."
Yes, my sweet Agatha, I can not tell whether I rightly
know the American character, but of this I am certain,
that what I do know of it is more beautiful and more
worthy to be loved than any other that I am acquainted
with in the world. Their hospitality and warm-hearted
ness, when their hearts are once warmed, are really over
flowing, and know no bounds. And as some travelers see
and make a noise about their failings, it is very well that
there should be somebody who, before any thing else, be
comes acquainted with their virtues. And these failings
of theirs, as far as I can yet see their national failings,
may all be attributed principally to the youthful life of the
people. In many cases I recognize precisely the faults of
my own youth — the asking questions, want of reflection,
want of observation of themselves and others, a boastful
spirit, and so on. And how free from these failings, and
how critically alive to them are the best people in this
country ! America's best judges and censors of manners
are Americans themselves.

232 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
March 5th. You thank me for my letters, my sweet
Agatha ; but to me they seem so wretched and so few. I
meant to have written you better letters ; but partly I
have been so indisposed, and so depressed in mind, that I
have not been able to write ; and in part the daily desire
to see people and things, the receiving of visits and letters,
and such like, have so wholly occupied me, that my let
ters home have suffered in consequence. This also can
be merely the slightest summa summarum of the last fort
night's occurrences, for they have come on like a torrent,
and I can scarcely remember their detail.
I was present at two other Conversations of Alcott's be
fore I left Boston. They attracted me by Emerson's pres
ence, and the part he took in them. Many interesting
persons, and persons of talent, were present, and the bench
es were crowded. The conversation was to bear upon the
principal tendencies of the age.
First one, then another clever speaker rose, but it was
most difficult to centralize. The subjects had a strong
inclination to go about through space like wandering stars,
without sun or gravitation. But the presence of Emerson
never fails to produce a more profound and more earnest
state of feeling, and by degrees the conversation arranged
itself into something like observation and reply ; in par
ticular, through Emerson's good sense in calling upon cer
tain persons to express their sentiments on certain ques
tions. A somewhat unpolished person in the crowd sud
denly called upon Emerson, with a rude voice, to stand
forth and give a reason for what he meant by "the moral
right of victory on earth, and justice of Providence, and
many more absurd phrases which he makes use of in his
writings, and which were totally opposed to the doctrines
of Christianity, the testimony of the martyrs, and which
would make all martyrs to be fools or cheats ?" The tone
in which this inquiry was made was harsh, and in the
spirit of an accusation. The whole assembly directed their

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 233
eyes to Emerson. I could perceive that he breathed some
what quicker, but when, after a few moments' reflection,
he replied, his manner was as calm, and his voice, if pos
sible, more gentle and melodious than common, forming
a strong contrast to that of the questioner. "Assuredly,"
replied he, " I consider that every one who combats and
suffers for any truth and right will, in the end, obtain the
victory ; if not in his first appearance, then certainly in his
second." The inquirer was silenced by this reply, but looked
angry and irresolute.
By degrees, however, the conversation, through the in
fluence of Emerson, divided itself, as it were, into two
streams, and which in fact might be called the two prin
cipal tendencies of the age ; the one was Socialism, which
seeks to perfect man and human nature by means of so
cial institutions, and which seemed to have many adher
ents in the assembly ; the second, under the guidance of
Emerson, who would perfect society by means of each
separate human being perfecting himself. The former
begin with society, the latter with the individual. One
of the company, who was called upon by Emerson to ex
press his opinion, said " that he held the same views as
Emerson, inasmuch as man must first begin the work of
perfection in himself. He must adorn himself as a bride
to make himself fit for a union with the divine Spirit. It
was by means of this union that the most perfected hu
manity would be attained to !" To these remarks Emer
son replied by a beautiful, grateful smile. " You see that
1,1'. continued the speaker, " like my great countrymen,
Swedenborg and Linnaeus, lay great stress upon mar
riage" (you may guess certainly who the speaker is now).
"You then regard marriage as of the highest importance
in life?" said Alcott, very much pleased.
" Yes, the spiritual marriage ; it is the only one which
is necessary."

234 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
With this reply Alcott seemed less pleased. For the
rest, Alcott would do without us, and without children al
together, except a few select ones, an elite corps, of which
he would himself be the teacher, and who would be the
new-born generation.
When the conversation had pretty fully developed the
wisdom and the folly of the assembly, Theodore Parker
took up the word, and gave an excellent, but covertly sar
castic statement of that which had been said during the
evening, in particular of Alcott's philanthropic views with
regard to the present human generation. When he had
ended, an involuntary smile played upon all countenances,
upon Emerson's as well as the rest; but, however, turn
ing his eagle-like head — eagle-like in expression, if not in
features — toward the speaker, he said, " That is quite right,
and would be still more so if we came here to examine a
speech from the chair, and not a free, unreserved conver
sation. But here might avail a maxim which I saw ap
plied by one of my friends in England, who used to as
semble his friends for the discussion of interesting topics.
He had inscribed above the door of the room used for their
discussions some words — which I am sorry I do not accu
rately remember — but the substance of which was, that
every body was welcome to say what he thought right,
but that it was forbidden to any one to make remarks on
that which was said."
On this a new smile was on every face, and evidently
at Parker's expense. Parker seemed a little hurt, red
dened, but said — after a moment's pause — "that he
thought it was better to make some remarks on that
which had been said, than to come together and talk,
without knowing distinctly what they were talking about."
And now again all laughed, and Emerson also with
Parker, and the assembly broke up cheerfully ; and I
drove home more amused and edified than I expected
ever to have been at one of Alcott's " Conversations."

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 235
I was present, again, at two more of Fanny Kemble's
Readings, and was greatly delighted. My acquaintance
with her has also afforded me great pleasure and interest.
She is full of genius, and is in every respect a richly-
gifted woman, with a warm heart and noble mind, and
with life and with " spirit" enough to ride a horse to
death every day, and to master every man or woman who
might attempt to master her. Proud one moment as the
proudest queen, she can yet, toward an unpretending be
ing, be the next as humble and as amiable as an amiable
young girl. Loving splendor, and expensive in her way
of life and her habits, she can yet be simple as a simple
countryman or a peasant maiden ; thus she often, in the
country, dressed in man's attire, goes ranging about through
wood and field, and on one occasion she herself drove a
cow home to Miss Sedgwick, who had lost hers, and who
now received this as a present from her " sublime" Fanny.
(N.B. — She lives in Miss Sedgwick's neighborhood, and
the two are very fond of each other.) She utters the no
blest thoughts, yet she is deficient in the more refined
womanliness, and seems to me not to understand the true
dignity of her own sex. But she understands Shakspeare,
and reads incomparably. Her Henry V., Brutus, Cleopatra
(in the death-scene), I shall never forget.
Maria Lowell accompanied me to the forenoon readings
last Saturday. She read Shakspeare's enchanting "As
You Like It," and she read it enchantingly well. After
the reading, I invited her to take luncheon with me, to
gether with the young Lowells.'
She came, brimful of life, warm from the reading, and
warm from the increased warmth of her hearers ; her eye
seemed to comprehend the whole world, and the dilated
nostrils seemed to inhale all the affluent life of the world.
By chance it so happened that Laura Bridgeman, with
her attendant, had come to call on me at the same time,
and was seated in my room as Fanny Kemble entered.

236 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Fanny Kemble had never before seen the blind, deaf, and
dumb Laura, and she was so struck by the sight of this
poor, imprisoned being, that she sat certainly above a
quarter of an hour lost in the contemplation of her, while
large tears streamed unceasingly down her cheeks. Lau
ra was not quite well, and she was therefore more than
usually pale and quiet. One can hardly imagine a great
er contrast than these two beings, these two lives. Fan
ny Kemble, with all her senses awake to life, powerful
enough to take possession of life in all its manifold phases
and its fullness ; Laura Bridgeman, shut out from life, her
noblest senses closed, dead, without light, without hearing,
without the power of speech ! — and yet, perhaps, Laura
was now the happier of the two, at least in her own sense
of existence. She even made intelligible her lively sense
of happiness, in reply to the question which was put to her.
Fanny Kemble wept, wept bitterly. Was it for Laura,
for herself, or merely from the contrast between them ?
I went up to her several times to offer her some re
freshment, but she merely answered " By-and-by," and
continued to gaze at Laura, and tears continued to fall.
In a while she became composed, and we had an hour's
cheerful and amusing conversation with the Lowells. Aft
er which I took a little sketch of Laura.
Fanny Kemble, as you know, has been married to a
wealthy American and slaveholder, Mr. Butler, and is
now separated from him. This marriage and its conse
quences seem to have embittered her life, especially the
separation of herself and her two children. I have heard
her lament over this in the most heart-rending manner,
and I can not conceive how the social spirit of America,
in general so favorable to woman and to mothers, can per
mit so great an injustice, when. the fault which occasions
the marriage separation is on the man's side. To sep
arate a mother from her children ! That ought never to
take place if she does not openly forfeit her right to them !

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 237
In this tragedy of marriage, the two principal persons
have each their friends and adherents, but the general
voice seems to be in her favor. I can very well believe
that Fanny Kemble would not be the most excellent nor
the most tractable of wives. But why, then, did he so res
olutely endeavor to win her ? He knew beforehand her
temper and her anti-slavery sympathies, for she is too truth
ful to have concealed any thing. Extraordinary, in the
mean time, is that sort of magnetic power which this wom
an, so unfeminine in many respects, exercises upon a great
number of men. For my part — to use the words of one of
her friends — I am glad that there is one Fanny Kemble in
the world, but I do not wish that there should be two.
The last evening party at which I was present at Bos
ton was at the mayor's, Mr. Q., who belongs to one of the
oldest families in Massachusetts. The last few days be
fore my departure were full of occupation ; and the last of
all, on which I had to pack, to write many letters, to make
calls and to receive visits at the latest moment, threw me
again into my wretched and feverish state. But when it
was over, that last day of my stay in Boston, with its va
rious scenes, its fatigues, and its queerness, and with it a
section — and one heavy enough — of my life in the New
World, and when late in the evening young V. read to me
some chapters in the Gospel of St. John, then was it good,
then was it beautiful and pleasant. And if even at that
time the fountain of tears was unsealed, it was from a
deep sense of gratitude. For was not that season of sick
ness and depression over ; and had I not, through it, learn
ed to know and to love one of the best and the noblest of
men, my good physician and friend, Dr. 0., and had be
come acquainted with a glorious remedy both for you and
for myself? And I now also understood the* sufferings of
nervous patients. I had never had experience of such my
self, and had been inclined to be impatient toward them.
I shall now do better.

238 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Young V. is a complete Englishman in appearance, char
acter, and prejudices, and in a certain solidity of manner
and demeanor, which is not American. But with all this
he is very agreeable and polite, and I have to thank him
for many friendly attentions, most of all for his evening
readings. These were the delicious outpouring of the
Spirit of Peace after the restless hours and the fatigues of
the day.
I left Boston on the last of February at eight in the
morning. I was accompanied to the rail-way station by
Mr. K. and young V., and at the station who should I see
but my good doctor, who had come thither to bid me fare
well, and the amiable Professor H., who presented me with
a large and beautiful bouquet. With this in my hand,
away I sped in the comfortable rail-way carriage, on the
wings of steam, in splendid sunshine, on that brigh* cold
morning, cheerful both in soul and body, and with a cer
tain peace of conscience at having so far fulfilled my so
cial duties in Boston. I, however, it is true, glanced with
envy at a hen which, at one of the cottages which we
passed, lay in the dust, basking in the sunshine, and I
thought it was much better to be a hen than a lion.
I was invited at Springfield to dine at the Union Hotel,
and there to receive visits from various ladies and gentle
men, as well as to write autographs. And then forward
on my flying career. The sky, had in the mean time, be
come cloudy ; it grew darker and darker, and I arrived at
New York in a regular tempest of wind and snow. At
the station, however, I was met by a servant and carriage,
sent for me by Marcus S. And half an hour afterward I
was at Rose Cottage, Brooklyn, drinking tea with my ex
cellent friends, who received me in the kindest manner,
and with whom I sat up talking till late.
And I am now with them, and able to hide myself
from the world for a few days. This is enchanting; I
hope here perfectly to regain my strength before I betake

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 239
myself to the South. Here I have the peace of freedom
which I desire, and my friends' mode of living is alto
gether simple and healthful ; and they themselves, and
the children, and Rose Cottage, with its peaceful spirit-
yes, with many such homes, the New World would be also
the Better World!
It is, however, very cold still, and I long for the South
and for a milder air. I am not very fond of the climate
of Massachusetts. Yet I have to thank Massachusetts
for some glorious spring days during the winter, for its
beautiful, deep blue, beaming sky, for its magnificent
elms, in the long sweeping branches of which the oriole
builds in full security its little nest which sways in the
wind ; I thank it for its rural homes, where the fear of
God, and industry, family affections, and purity of life
have their home. Its educational system has my esteem,
and many excellent people have my love. To the good
city of Boston I give my blessing, and am glad to be leav
ing it — for the present ; but hope to return, because I
must again see my friends there when the elm-trees are
in leaf; above all, my good doctor and the young Lowells.
And we have agreed to meet next summer. We shall
together visit Niagara, which Maria Lowell as yet has
never seen. When she was last with me in Boston, I saw
upon the floor of my bed-room a flower which had fallen
from her bonnet, a white rose with two little pale pink
buds, and which had touched her light curls — they lay
upon the carpet like a remembrance of her, and I picked
them up, and shall keep them always as a remembrance
of that lovely young woman. I thank- the land of the
Pilgrims, above all, for its ideal, for its conception of a
higher law in society, a law of God, which ought to be
obeyed rather than human law ; for its conception of a
standard of morality higher than that which is current in
the world, and which demands the highest purity of life
in man as in woman, and which admits of no lax conces-

240 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
sion ; lor its noble feeling as regards the rights of woman
and her development as fellow-citizen ; for its sense of the
honor of labor, and its demanding for every good laborer
honorable wages as such. I thank it for its magnanimous
wish and endeavor to give every thing to all ; for those
little settlements in which the children of the New World
endeavor to bring into operation the divine teaching. Peo
ple say that such ideas are impractical. It is by such
impractical ideas that society approaches nearer to heaven,
nearer to the kingdom of God, and the very things which
are insecure root themselves firmly in those which are
secure. Sunday. I am just returned from a Presbyterian church,
where I have heard a young preacher from the West
preach " on the Positive in Christianity," one of the best
extempore Christian discourses which I ever heard in any
country. The preacher, Henry Beecher, is" full of life and
energy, and preaches from that experience of Christian
life which gives a riveting effect to his words ; besides
which he appears to me to be singularly free from secta
rian spirit, and attaches himself with decision and clear
ness to the common light and life of every Christian Church.
He has also considerable wit, and does not object to en
liven his discourse with humorous sallies, so that more
than once the whole audience of the crowded church
burst into a general laugh, which, however, did not prevent
them from soon shedding joyful tears of devotion. That
was the case at the prayer of the young preacher over the
bread and wine at the administration of the sacrament,
and tears also streamed down his own cheeks as he bowed
in silent, rapt contemplation of the splendid mystery of
the sacrament, of that humanity which, through the life
of Christ, is now born and transfigured. When we stand
at the communion-table with our nearest kindred or our
family, We ought to have this thought livingly present to
our minds, that we should behold them as transformed by

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 241
the spirit of Christ ; we should think, how beautiful will
my husband, my friend, my brother, become when this
his failing or that his short-coming is done away with,
when he stands forth transfigured^through the divine life !
Oh how patient, how gentle, how affectionate, how hope
ful are we not capable of becoming ! Such was the sub
stance of the young minister's- discourse, but how earn
estly and convincingly he spoke is not for me to describe.
I also partook of the sacrament, to which he invited all
Christians present, of whatever name or sect they might
be, as well as strangers from other lands. The bread
(small square pieces of bread upon a plate) and the wine
were carried to the benches and passed on from hand to
hand, which took considerably from the solemnity of the
ceremony. How beautiful is our procession to the altar,
and after that the halleluiah song of the assembly !
The ritual of our Swedish Church, as expressive of the
religious feeling of the assembly, seems to me, also, to be
better and more perfect than that of any other Church
with which I am acquainted, yet nevertheless even that
might be better still. But the sermons and the hymns are
better in this country; the former have considerably more
reality, and are more applicable to actual life ; and the
latter have more life and beauty also, and would have still
more if they were really sung by the congregation. This,
however, I have to object against the hymns of the United
States, that they are sung by a trained choir in the gal
lery, and all the rest of the congregation sit silently and
listen, just as they would sit in a concert-room. Some ac
company them, reading from their hymn-books, but others
never open theirs. When I have occasionally lifted up
my voice with the singers, I have seen my neighbors look
at me with some surprise. And then the hymns and
psalms here are so full of rhythm, have such vitalizing
tunes, and such vitalizing, beautiful words, that I feel as
if people ought to sing them with heart and soul. Our
Vol. I.— L

242 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
long, heavy Swedish psalms, full of self-observation and
repetition,* are not met with here ; neither have I here met
with those monotonous, feeble, poor tunes which destroy
all life in the soul, and which made me, every time a hymn
was begun, glance with a certain fear at its length; for if
it were very long, I never reached the end of it without
being weary and sleepy, though I might have begun with
fervency of feeling. And was it different with others ? I
have often looked around me during the singing in Swed
ish churches, and have seen many a dull, sleepy eye ;
many a half-opened mouth which did not utter a word,
and had forgotten to close itself — in short, a sort of idiotio
expression which told me that the soul was away, and
while I thus looked at others, I found it was the same with
myself. The prayers, it seems to me, are better with us
than with the congregations here ; but still they might be
improved even with us. In the Episcopal churches of this
country the prayers are according to the printed form in
the book, and it frequently happens that the soul has no
part in these. It is a mere prating with the lips. In
the Unitarian churches the preacher prays for the congre
gation, and in its name, prays an infinitely long pray
er, which has the inconvenience of saying altogether too
much, of using too many words, and yet of not saying that
which any single individual ought to say. How often
have I thought during these long prayers, how much more
perfect it would be if the minister merely said, " Lord,
help us!" or "Lord, let thy countenance shine upon us!"
Better than all would it be, as Jean Paul proposed, that
the minister should merely say, " Let us pray !" And
then that some beautiful soul-touching music should play,
during which all should pray in silence, according to the
wants and the inspirations of their souls. Of a truth, then
* I am not speaking here of those glorious Swedish psalms, which are
capable of a comparison with the most beautiful hymns of any Christian
people.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 243
would prayers ascend more pure and fervent than any
prescribed by human tongues and forms. A worship of
God in spirit and in truth, a vital expression of the life
and truth of Christianity — should we then have on earth.
But I must yet say a few words about that young
disciple of Calvin, Henry Beecher, but who has left far
behind him whatever is hard and petrified in the ortho
doxy of Calvin, and, breaking away from that, has attached
himself to the true Christian doctrine of mercy to all. He
was with us last evening, and told us how, as a mission
ary, he had preached in the West, beneath the open sky, to
the people of the wilderness, and how, during his solitary
journeys amid those grand primeval scenes, and during
his daily experience of that most vitalizing influence of
Christianity upon the fresh human soul, he had, by degrees,
introduced order into his own inward world, had solved
hitherto difficult religious questions, and had come forth
from the old dead Church into one more comprehensive
and more full of light. He described also, in the most
picturesque manner, the nocturnal camp-meeting of the
West ; the scenes of baptism there on the banks of rivers
and streams, as well in their poetical as in their frequent
ly comic aspects. There is somewhat of the power of
growth peculiar to the great Western wilds in this young
man, but somewhat of its rudeness also. He is a bold,
ardent young champion of that young America, too richly
endowed, and too much acknowledged as such, for them
not to be quite conscious of their own I. And even in his
sermon this I was somewhat too prominent. But only
more and more do I feel how great an interest I shall take
in visiting that great West, where " growth" seems to be
the only available watch- word ; where, in the immeasura
ble valley of the Mississippi, between the Alleghanies and
the Rocky Mountains, it is said there is room for a larger
population than that of the whole of Europe ; and where
a great and new people are developing themselves, through

244 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a union of all races of people, in the lap of a grand and
powerful natural scenery, which, like a strong mother,
will train them up into a more vigorous and higher hu
man life. Many a thinking man here in the Eastern
States has said to me, " You will not see what the Amer
ican people are becoming, not see the Young American,
until you reach the West."
I had intended to set off from New York to Philadelphia
in company with Mrs. Kirkland, according to her proposal,
and thence go forward with Anne Lynch to Washington,
to attend some of the sittings of Congress, and to see its
lions ; but I am so afraid of all the fatigue and excitement
which mixing in society involves, and I am so anxious to
go to the South, because this season of the year is best
for that purpose, as in May the heat is already too great
in the Southern States, that, after consultation with my
friends, I have determined to go on Saturday by steamer
to Charleston, in South Carolina. Within seventy-two
hours I shall be there, and probably in full summer, while
here the ground is covered with snow.
From Charleston I shall travel to the different places to
which I am invited, and spend in Carolina and Georgia,
that paradise of North America, the months of March and
April. In May I shall go to Washington, and after a stay
of a fortnight there, return here, and so go westward to
Cincinnati (Ohio), on to Illinois and Wisconsin, where I
shall visit my countrymen, the Swedes and Norwegians,
and see how they are getting on. From this point I shall
travel by the great inland lakes to Niagara, where, about
the end of June, I have agreed to meet the Downings and
the Lowells.
Thus, my sweet Agatha, you see my tour made out;
and I am certain to have the eye of a good spirit from my
Swedish home upon me during my journey. It may so
happen that after this I may not be able to write to you
as often as heretofore; but once a month, at least, you

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 245
shall have a letter, and I will try to write better letters
than I have yet done. Ah ! if I could only continue to be
as well as I am now beginning to feel, then I should live,
and think, and write so much! I sometimes, also, feel as
if a book on America would come forth from me ; but then
it would be very different to any other of my works.
The sun and the light now come in upon me in my
charming room at Rose Cottage. If they would but only
shine now in upon you, my sweet child, and speak of
spring and warm breezes, and the sea-baths and good
health! March 15th. I could not accomplish my journey as I
had arranged. The vessel by which I thought of sailing
has been sold to the Californian trade, and the next steam
er which goes to Charleston will not leave till Saturday
fortnight, and I had neither time nor inclination to defer
my going South so long. I have therefore determined to
go by a sailing vessel, and Marcus S. has arranged for me
to go by a good and safe packet. If the wind is favorable,
I shall be there in from four to five days ; and I fancy
that the voyage will be amusing. If the wind is contrary
and the weather stormy, it will still be well. I do not
object to being tossed a little by wind and wave.
I have packed my things to-day and got ready for the
journey, and although there is a tempest of wind and
snow, yet I feel cheerful and impatient to be off. The
spirit of the Vikings is again awake within mek and
" Pleasant to me is the song of the billows,
Which heave on the tempested sea !"
I shall be better off amid them than in the gas-lighted
drawing-rooms of Boston and New York.
I have now spent a week with Mrs. Kirkland in New ^
York. She is not the gay and vivacious being which her
book, " A New Home in the West," led us to imagine.
Hers is a character of greater depth. That playful spirit,
with its feeling for the comic in life, has been depressed

246 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
by sorrow and misfortune ; but it flashes forth sometimes,
and then reveals the depth of the soul's earnestness. She
is an ardent and strong woman, and a true fellow-citizen,
and has sustained herself amid great trials by religion,
and by the necessity to work for her four children, two
sons and two daughters : the youngest son, Willie, and
the youngest daughter, Cordelia, are especially my favor
ites. Friendship with the noble and distinguished preach
er, Mr. Bellows, as well as her -literary occupation, make
her life any thing but poor. She is one of those natures
in which the feminine and the manly attributes are har
moniously blended, and which, therefore, is well balanced,
and is capable of taking the lead of those around her.
I saw at her house a Miss Haynes, who has been a
missionary in China, and who, still young and handsome,
conducts a large girls' boarding-school in New York. She
interested me by her individuality, and by the interesting
stories which she related of Miss Dorothea Dix (the Mrs.
Fry of the New World), and her uncommon force of char
acter and activity. I hope yet to meet this angel of pris
ons and hospitals, and to kiss her hand for that which she
is and that which she does.
At Mrs. Kirkland's I also saw the young traveler, Bay
ard Taylor, who had just returned from California, and I
was glad to hear his stories from the land of gold ; in par
ticular, of the character of the scenery, its climate, vege
table productions, and animals. Apropos of him. I must
beg leave to tell you a little about what I think a Yankee
is, or what he seems to me to be ; and by Yankee is prop
erly understood one of the boys of New England ; the
type of the "go ahead America" — of Young America,
He is a young man — it is all the same if he is old — who
makes his own way in the world in full reliance on his
own power, stops at nothing, turns his back on nothing,
finds nothing impossible, goes through every thing, and
comes out of every thing— always the same. If he falls,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 247
he immediately gets up again, and says " No matter !"
If he is unsuccessful, he says " Try again!" " Go ahead ;"
and he begins again, or undertakes something else, and
never stops till it succeeds. Nay, he does not stop then.
His work and will is to be always working, building, be
ginning afresh, or beginning something new — always de
veloping, extending himself or his country ; and somebody
has said, with truth, that all the enjoyments of heaven
would not be able to keep an American in one place, if
he was sure of finding another still further west, for then
he must be off there to cultivate and to build. It is the
Viking spirit again ; not the old Pagan, however, but the
Christian, which does not conquer to destroy, but to en
noble. And he does not do it with difficulty and with
sighs, but cheerfully and with good courage. He can
sing " Yankee Doodle" even in his mishaps ; for if a
thing will not go this way, then it will go that. He is
at home on the earth, and he can turn every thing to his
own account. He has, before he reaches middle life,
been a schoolmaster, farmer, lawyer, soldier, author, states
man — has tried every kind of profession, and been at
home in them all ; and besides all this, he has traveled
over half, or over the whole of the world. Wherever he
comes on the face of the earth, or in whatever circum
stances, he is sustained by a two-fold consciousness which
makes him strong and tranquil ; that is to say, that he is
a man who can rely upon himself; and that he is the
citizen of a great nation designed to be the greatest on the
face of the earth. He thus feels himself to be the lord of
the earth, and bows himself before none save to the Lord
of lords. To Him, however, he looks upward, with the
faith and confidence of a child. . A character of this kind
is calculated to exhibit at times its laughable side, but it
has undeniably a fresh, peculiar greatness about it, and
is capable of accomplishing great things. And in the at
tainment of the most important object in the solution of

248 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the highest problem of humanity— a fraternal people, I
believe that the Father of all people laid his hand upon
the head of his youngest son, as our Charles the Ninth
did, saying, " He shall do it ! he shall do it !"
As an example of those amusing and characteristic in
stances of Yankee spirit, which I have often heard related,
take the following : A young man, brother to Charles
Sumner, traveled to St. Petersburg to present an acorn to
the Emperor Nicholas. But I must tell you the story as
Maria Child tells it, in her entertaining letters from New
York. " One day a lad, apparently about nineteen, presented
himself before our embassador at St. Petersburg. He was
a pure specimen of the genus Yankee ; with sleeves too
short for his bony arms, trowsers half way up to his knees,
and hands playing with coppers and tenpenny nails in his
pocket. He introduced himself by saying, ' I've just come
out here to trade, with a few Yankee notions, and I want
to get a sight of the emperor.'
" ' Why do you wish to see him T
" ' I've brought him a present all the way from Amer-
icky. I respect him considerable, and I want to get at
him, to give it to him with my own hands.'
" Mr. Dallas smiled as he answered, ' It is such a com
mon thing, my lad, to make crowned heads a present, ex
pecting something handsome in return, that I am afraid
the emperor will consider this only a Yankee trick. What
have you brought?'
" ' An acorn !'
" ' An acorn ! What under the sun induced you to
bring the Emperor of Russia an acorn ?'
" ' Why, just before I jailed, mother and I went on to
Washington to see about a pension ; and when we was
there, we thought we'd just step over to Mount Vernon.
I picked up this acorn there ; and I thought to myself I'd
bring it to the emperor. Thinks, says I, he must have

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 249
heard a considerable deal about our General Washington,
and I expect he must admire our institutions. So now
you see I've brought it, and I want to get at him.'
" ' My lad, it's not an easy matter for a stranger to ap
proach the emperor ; and I am afraid he will take no no
tice of your present. You had better keep it.'
" ' I tell you I want to have a talk with him. I expect
I can tell him a thing or two about Americky. I guess
he'd like mighty well to hear about our rail-roads and
about our free-schools, and what a big swell our steamers
cut. And when he hears how well our people are getting
on, may be it will put him up to doing something. The
long and the short on't is, I sha'n't be easy till I get a talk
with the emperor ; and I should like to see his wife and
children. I want to see how such folks bring up a family !'
" ' Well, sir, since you are determined upon it, I will
do what I can for you ; but you must expect to be disap
pointed. Though it will be rather an unusual proceed
ing, I would advise you to call on the vice-chancellor and
state your wishes. He may possibly assist you !'
" ' Well, that's all I want of you. I will call again,
and let you know how I get on.'
" In two or three days he again appeared, and said,
'Well, I've seen the emperor and had a talk with him.
He's a real gentleman, I can tell you. When I gave him
the acorn, he said he should set a great store by it ; that
there was no character in ancient or modern history he
admired so much as he did our Washington. He said
he'd plant it in his palace garden with his own hand, and
he did do it — for I see him with my own eyes. He want
ed to ask me so much about our schools and rail-roads,
and one thing or another, that he invited me to come
again, and see his daughters ; for he said his wife could
speak better English than he could. So I went again
yesterday ; and she's a fine, knowing woman, I tell you ;
and his daughters are nioe gals.'
L2

250 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" ' What did the empress say to you?'
" ' Oh, she asked me a sight o' questions. Don't you
think, she thought we had no servants in Americky ! I
told her poor folks did their own work, but rich folks had
plenty of servants. " But then you don't call 'em serv
ants," said she ; " you call 'em help." * I guess, ma'am,
you've been reading Mrs. Trollope ?' says I. ' We had
that ere book aboard our ship.' The emperor clapped his
hands, and laughed as if he'd kill himself. "You're right,
sir," said he, "you're right. We sent for an English copy,
and she's been reading it this very morning !" Then I
told all I knew about our country, and he was mightily
pleased. He wanted to know how long I expected to
stay in these parts. I told him I'd sold all the notions I
brought over, and guessed I should go back in the same
ship. I bid 'em good-by all round, and went about my
business. Hav'n't I had a glorious time ? I expect you
did not calculate to see me run such a rig?'
" ' No, indeed I did not, my lad. You may very well
consider yourself lucky ; for it's a very uncommon thing
for crowned heads to treat a stranger with so much dis
tinction.' " A few days after he called again, and said, ' I guess
I shall stay here a spell longer, I'm treated so well.
T'other day a grand officer come to my room, and told
me that the emperor had sent him to show me all the
curiosities ; and I dressed myself, and he took me into a
mighty fine carriage with four horses ; and I've been to
the theatre and the museum ; and I expect I've seen
about all there is to be seen in St. Petersburg ! What
do you think of that, Mr. Dallas?'
" It seemed so incredible that a poor, ungainly Yankee
lad should be thus loaded with attentions, that the embas
sador scarcely knew what to think or say.
"In a short time his visitor reappeared. 'Well,' said
he, ' I made up my mind to go home ; so I went to thank

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 251
the emperor and bid him good-by. I thought I could
not do less, he'd been so civil. Says he, " Is there any
thing else you'd like to see before you go back to Americ
ky !" I told him I should like to have a peep at Moscow ;
for I had heard considerable about their setting fire to the
Kremlin, and I'd read a deal about General Bonaparte ;
but it would cost a sight o' money to go there, and I want
ed to carry my earnings to my mother. So I bid him good-
by, and eome off. Now what do you guess he did next
morning ? I vow he sent the same man in regimentals,
to carry me to Moscow in one of his own carriages, and
bring me back again when I've seen all I want to see !
And we're going to-morrow morning, Mr. Dallas. What
do you think now ?'
"And, sure enough, the next morning the Yankee boy
passed the embassador's house in a splendid coach and four,
waving his pocket-handkerchief, and shouting ' Good-by !
Good-by !'
" Mr. Dallas afterward learned from the emperor that
all the particulars related by this adventurous youth were
strictly true. He again heard from him at Moscow, wait
ed upon by the public officers, and treated with as much
attention as is usually bestowed on embassadors.
" The last tidings of him reported that he was traveling
in Circassia, and writing a journal, which he intended to
publish. " Now who but a Yankee could have done all that?"
adds Mrs. Child.
Between this young Yankee and the American states
man and gentleman, Henry Clay, there is a great distance,
and I do pot know why he just now presented himself to
my memory out of the great number of persons that I saw
in New York this week. I saw him at the house of Anne
Lynch, who is one of his especial lady friends, and some
times acts as his secretary. He is a very tall and thin
old gentleman, with an unusually lofty, bald brow, an

252 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ugly but expressive countenance, an awkwark figure, but
with real grace of manner, and a pleasing, sonorous voice.
He has, when he likes — and he always likes to have it
with ladies — a remarkably obliging, I might say heart-felt,
expression and manner. He is likewise surrounded by
female worshipers, and he himself seems to be a great
worshiper of woman. He has been some few days in
New York, and overwhelmed by friends and invitations.
He seemed, however, to me to bask himself in the sun
shine of his popularity more than I should have thought
an old man would have done. I should not have thought
that he could have endured that horrible fine life of day
labor ! The Americans have more enthusiasm for their
great statesmen than the Europeans for their kings. Clay,
though from one of their Slave States (Kentucky), is, I be
lieve, a liberal-minded man, who understands and who
desires the true greatness of his country. Although not
properly of the Yankee race — for the Southern States were
peopled by that political party known in England under
the name of Cavaliers, and opposed to the Puritans in man
ners, life, and temper — he has, nevertheless, some of that
Viking spirit which distinguishes the sons of the New
World. He is what is here designated " a self-made man ;"
his father was a poor farmer, and his life has been a rest
less combat on the stormy sea of politics ; he has fought
several duels, and as a senator has combated, by word
and by influence in the Congress of the United States, for
the well-being of the Union at home and for its power
abroad, during a long course of years, both bravely and
honorably. Yet another figure glances distinctly .forth from these
days so rich in people — a lovely, captivating female fig
ure; the perfect gentlewoman — Mrs. Bancroft, the wife of
the historian of that name. After several years' residence
in Europe, and acquaintance with the high life of the
highest circles in England, she has returned to America

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 253
with a definite understanding and a warm sense of the
advantages of her native land, and of its mission to hu
manity. Mrs. Kirkland took me back to the S.'s. Ah ! Agatha,
if I could only show to you how amiable is this married
couple, how good, how pure, how delicate-minded ! Mar
cus is certainly one of the best and most warm-hearted
"beings that beautify this earth. And Rebecca is good also,
unusually endowed, amusing, and most charming. To
do good, and to help others, is their greatest joy — their
continual thought. And besides that, they are so cheer
ful, have such a good, and beautiful, and excellent way
of taking any thing, that even that which is vexatious
changes itself into something good and agreeable in their
hands. And if people could only communicate such things
by teaching, I should learn much from them. Happier
human beings I have never seen. And they themselves
are so filled with gratitude for the happiness which they
have experienced and still experience, that they are pre
pared to receive whatever blow may come in the feeling
that they have had so much of this world's good fortune.
But misfortune seems not to have the heart to strike these
gentle and grateful beings, who look at it with glances
of submissive love ; it approaches and threatens, but then
passes by. Thus was it with regard to their baby, which
long hovered on the brink of the grave, but which now
becomes daily stronger and livelier. How kind they have
been and are to me I have not words to tell ! They think
for me, arrange every thing for me, and look after me as
if I were their sister ; and they do every thing so nicely
and so well. I can not be sufficiently grateful for these
friends. The Downings also — those amiable people and kind
friends — are to me invaluable. They came to New York
to see me, and brought me the most beautiful flowers.
His dark eyes, and her gentle, bright blue ones, as blue

254 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
as our Swedish violets, will accompany me on my journey
— will remain in my heart.
March 16th. But I do not know how rightly 1 am to
get away, there is so much difficulty both as regards the
vessels and the captains. The captain, that is to say him
of the sailing-vessel, when he learned the name of the
lady-passenger who wished to sail in his vessel — refused
to receive her on board ; and when Marcus insisted upon
knowing his reason why, he replied that he did not wish
to have any authors on board his ship who would laugh
to scorn his accommodations, and who would put him in
a book. Marcus laughed, and wanted to persuade him to
run the risk, assuring him that I was not dangerous, and
so on. But the man was immovable. He would not take
me on board ; and I have now to wait till the next steam
boat goes, which is eight days later. And for this I have
to thank Mrs. Trollope and Dickens. But I am happy at
Rose Cottage with my amiable friends, and this delay has
afforded me the pleasure of hearing Emerson's lectures at
various times, both here and in New York. It is a pecul
iar pleasure to hear that deep, sonorous voice uttering
words which give the impression of jewels and real pearls
as they fall from his lips. I heard him yesterday, in his
lecture on Eloquence, severely chastise the senseless ex
aggeration and inflation of expression made use of by some
of his countrymen, and which he compared with the nat
ural and poetically beautiful, yet destructive hyperbole of
the East. He produced examples of both, and the assem
bly, in the best possible, humor with their lecturer, gave
the most lively demonstrations of approval and pleasure.
Marcus S. and some other gentlemen of Brooklyn invited
Emerson to give these lectures, and I thus saw him there
several times. Perhaps we may never meet agam. But
I am glad to have seen him.
20th. We have had two quiet beautiful evenings, for I
do not this time either receive visits or accept invitations,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 255
unless exceptionally ; I must rest. My friends and I have,
therefore, been alone, and we have spent the evenings in
reading and conversation. I have read a letter which
they have received from Margaret Fuller, now the Mar
chioness Ossoli, for her marriage is now divulged, and her
advocate, Mr. W. R., was perfectly right. Madame Ossoli
is now, with her husband and child, on her way to Amer
ica, where she will take up her residence. And on board
the same vessel is also that young man who traveled to
St. Petersburg, and gave the Emperor of Russia the acorn.
Her last letter is from Gibraltar, and describes the affect-
ingly beautiful evening when the body of the captain —
he had died of small-pox — was lowered into the sea, above
which the evening sun descended brilliantly, and small
craft lay with white sails outspread like the wings of an
gels. A certain melancholy breathes through the letter,
and a thoroughly noble tone of mind, with no trace what
ever of that insolent and proud spirit which various things-
had led me to expect in her. In her letter to Rebecca she
spoke of her joy as a mother, and of her beautiful child,
in the most touching manner. " I can hardly understand
my own happiness," she says in one place; "I am the
mother of an immortal being — ' God be merciful to me a
sinner!'" That does not sound much like pride! She
has sent home a box of presents and souvenirs for her
friends, "in case I should not again see my father-land,"
says she. She has commenced the voyage with joyless
presentiments ; and now that the good captain of the ves
sel is dead, during the voyage they seem to increase. Yet
all has gone well hitherto, and her mother, three brothers,
and her only sister, the young, amiable lady at Concord,
and many of her friends, expect her with longing and
with joy.
22d. Yesterday I visited the Female Academy at Brook
lyn, an educational institute for five. hundred young girls,
where they study and graduate as young men do. I ad-

256 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
mired the arrangement of the establishment, its museum,
library, &c, and was especially pleased with the deport
ment of the young girls ; heard their compositions both in
prose and verse, liked them and the young ladies who
read them. I also heard here a song, with which, to my
shame I say it, I have been greeted two Or three times in
this country, because the words, in which I can not dis
cover a grain of sense or connection, have been dedicated
to me (they begin, "I dream, I dream of my father-land"),
and the music to — Jenny Lind ! Cest imprimee! These
finishing schools for young girls give unquestionably a deal
of finish, various kinds of knowledge, demeanor in society,
self-possession, &c. But are they calculated to develop
that which is best in woman ? I doubt it ; and I have
heard sensible women in this country, even among the
young, doubt also, or rather deny that they are. They
may be good as a temporary means of leading women into
those spheres of knowledge from which they have hither
to been excluded. Thus these young ladies are univers
ally commended for the progress which they make, and
for their skill in mathematical studies, in algebra, and
physics. But it is clear to me that the pursuit of these
scholastic studies must involve the neglect of much do
mestic virtue and pleasure. The young girl, in her zeal
to prepare her lessons, snubs her mother, and looks cross
at her father, if they venture to interrupt her. They call
forth her ambition at the expense of her heart. They lay
too much stress upon school learning. The highest object
of schools should be to prepare people to do without them.
At all events, the life of the young girl ought to be divided
between the school and home, so that the school may
have but a small part of it. The good home is the true
high school.
But I almost reproach myself for saying so much against
an institution where I experienced so much of the young
heart's warmth as I did here. Certain it is that I em-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 257
braced and was embraced, that I kissed and was kissed,
by daughters, and nieces, and mammas, and aunts, so that
there was almost too much of it. But the warm-heart
edness there warmed my own heart, and I bore away with
me many lively memories of it.
I am now preparing for my departure, and in the mean
time have taken the portraits of my friends and their chil
dren, " the rose-colored family," in a httle group of heads,
which I leave with them as a memorial of me. I was
very sorry to part with it. I should like to have had it
always with me. But I shall see them again, for I am
returning here. Great part of my books and clothes, as
well as my one chest, I shall leave at their house. When
I look at the former, and see the thick volumes of Hegel's
Philosophy and Scandinavian Mythology, which I intend
ed to. have studied during my visit to this country, I can
not but smile. I have not once thought of opening them.
March 24th. Yesterday Channing was here, the amia
ble W. H. Channing ! He came in the morning, fresh
and dewy as a morning in May. We had, during the
winter, exchanged a couple of letters, and in them had
got a little atwist. Emerson was the apple of discord be
tween us. Channing set up Emerson, and I set up — my
self. And thus we both became silent. When we now
met, he was most cordial and beaming, gave me a volume
of Wordsworth's, the " Excursion," and was perfectly kind
and amiable. With such men one breathes the air of
spring. There was a little party in the evening. Channing
among the rest. After he had said good-night and left
the house, he came hastily back, and calling me out, led
me into the piazza, where, pointing up to the starry heav
ens, which shone forth in beaming splendor above us, he
smiled, pressed my hand, and — was gone.
But I must not talk only of myself and my own affairs;
I must say a little about the affairs of the public. The

258 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
question of universal interest, and which now occupies
every one, regards the incorporation of California and
Texas with the Union as independent States. The whole
country may be said to be divided into two parties — Pro-
slavery and Anti-slavery. California — rapidly populated,
and that principally from the Northeastern States, the
enterprising sons of the Pilgrims- — has addressed to Con
gress a petition to be freed from slavery, and to be ac
knowledged as a Free State. To this the Southern Slave
States will not consent, as California, by its position, be
longs to the Southern States, and its freedom from slavery
would lessen their weight in Congress. They contend
desperately for the maintenance of what they call their
rights. The Northern Free States contend just as despe
rately, in part to prevent the extension of slavery to Cal
ifornia and Texas, and in part to bring about the aboli
tion of that which they with reason regard as a mis
fortune and a plague-spot to their father-land. And the
contest is carried on with a good deal of bitterness on both
sides, both in and out of Congress.
Abolitionists are here of all shades. Various of my ac
quaintance belong to the ultras ; the S.'s to the moderates,
and to these last I attach myself. I think the others un
reasonable. The continually increasing emigration of the poorest
classes of Europe, principally from Ireland and Germany,
has given rise to great exertions, not to oppose it, but to
deal with it, and to make it not merely uninjurious, but
as beneficial as possible, both for the country and the peo
ple themselves.
The Irish become here the best laborers which America
possesses, in particular for the making of roads and canals.
The Germans are assisted for the most part to the West,
to the great German colonies in the valley of the Missis
sippi, and where all hands and all kinds of human qualifi
cations are in demand. There begin to be in the Eastern

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 259
States, as in Europe, more laborers than labor ; but these,
also, are moving off in great numbers westward. That
great West, as far as the Pacific Ocean, is the future, and
the hope of North America, the free space and boundless
prospect of which give to its people a freer respiration, a
fresher life than any other nation enjoys.
On all questions of general interest in the separate
States, meetings are held, resolutions taken, and motions
or petitions sent up to Congress, where the carrying them
out comes within its administration. And it is a pleasure
to hear how they all, at least in the Northern States,
march onward for the advancement of popular education,
and for the development of popular power, and all such
public measures as tend to the general advantage.
In the midst of all the agitation of these great questions
there comes at this moment the news of Jenny Lind's ex
pected arrival, which has gone like wild-fire through the
country, electrifying every body, and causing every coun
tenance to clear up. It is as if a melodious major key
echoed in every breast.
Thanks, my sweet child, for what you write about our
friends and acquaintance at home. Greet them for me,
and tell Mrs. L. that I think of her as tenderly and as
faithfully as in Sweden. One of the happiest days of my
life will be when I hear that she has recovered from her
illness. I must have mentioned to you, as among my kindest
acquaintance in Boston, the Longfellows, both man and
wife, and Professor and Mrs. Howe. I always felt ani
mated, both heart and soul, when I was with them. Mrs.
Howe, a most charming little creature, fresh and frank in
character, and endowed with a delicate sense of the beau
tiful, I could really get very fond of.
I have declined the offers of several portrait-painters,
but I could not help sitting to one in Boston, a Mr. Fur-
niss, an agreeable young man ; and he has taken a pleas-

260 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ing likeness of me. People say it is very like, and it ia
to be engraved.
I now bid you farewell ; embrace and kiss mamma's
hand in spirit. May you be able soon to tell me that you
are quite well ! I salute every spring day that comes, on
your account. And we have had here some beautiful,
vernally mild days ; but the weather is now again cold,
and as severe, and keen, and snowy as it ever is at this
season in Sweden. But it will soon change again. And
how I long for the South !
I have rested now thoroughly for some days, and I feel
myself stronger each day. May my dear Agatha only
feel the same !
P.S. — Mrs. W. H., of 'Charleston, has written to me and
kindly invited me to her house there. But I must see
her first to know whether we can get on well together.
I shall therefore, in the first instance, go to an hotel in
the city, and remain there for a few days in the most per
fect quiet, and in the enjoyment of freedom and solitude.
Then we shall see !

LETTER XII.
Charleston, South Carolina, March 22d, 1850.
Ah ! that I could but fly away and cast a glance into
my home, and see how it is with my Agatha and mam
ma ! But ah ! " that can not be, Your Grace !" said the
duck, and therefore I must sit dull and silent as a duck,
and enjoy myself by hoping and trusting that you are ad
vancing with great strides on the path of improvement,
and that you are becoming more and more like Taglioni
in agility and grace. May it be so, my little heart! and
may every thing be well at home !
Things have gone splendidly with me. I arrived this
morning, after a voyage of three days and nights, expect-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 261
ing to have found here full summer, and somewhat an
noyed, instead of that, to find the weather cold and gray,
and to be obliged to go about in winter clothing. But it
can not last long. The trees — for all the streets are plant
ed with trees — are already clothed in tender green ; roses,
lilies, and orange-blossoms beckon from terraces and gar
dens, and the sun begins to break through the clouds.
Probably, in the morning, it will be real summer again.
The weather during the last days of my stay at Brook
lyn was wild and winterly, and the day I went on board
was icy-cold; one saw ice and icicles every where; the
sharp wind was full of icicles. The good, amiable Mar
cus and Rebecca, with their two eldest children, the an
gelic Eddie and the merry little Jenny, accompanied me
on board. Marcus carried my luggage, spoke to the cap
tain and to the stewardess for me, and arranged every
thing. I was so overwhelmed by introductions to strange peo
ple that I was obliged to take refuge in my room, that I
might say a few words and take leave of my friends.
I really sat down and grieved for an hour after the
S.'s had left me, and I was borne upon the waves further
and further from them. At night I dreamed that they
were with me, and I thought, then, they are not gone,
and we are not parted ; it was merely a bad dream ! But
the dream was true enough.
The whole of the first day of the voyage was cold, gray,
and cheerless. I avoided every body excepting a couple of
Quakers — Friends, as they are commonly called — a man
and his wife, with whom I became a little acquainted, and
who pleased me, as Friends generally do, by their quiet
ness, and their peaceful, silent demeanor. Their earliest
youth was past ; she had one of those pure, beautiful coun
tenances which one so often meets with among Quaker
women ; he seemed to be out of health, and they were
traveling to the South on his account. The next day

262 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
we had splendid sunshine, but still cold, till toward noon,
when we seemed all at once to come into really warm
spring. It was like magic. Sky and sea were bathed in
light ; the air was full of life and delicious influence. It
was enchantingly beautiful, divine ! My whole being was
suffused with this glory. I avoided the catechising con
versation and sat down on the upper deck, and saw the
sun go down and the full moon ascend in mild splendor ;
saw the North Star shining at yet greater distance from
me, and Orion and Sirius ascend to the zenith. Hour
after hour went by, and I was unconscious of every thing,
excepting that the New World was beautiful, and its
Creator great and good. I feared nothing, excepting that
somebody might come and talk to me, and thus interrupt
the glorious silence, the repose and gladness of my spirit.
I saw, on the lower deck, young men and their wives
come out into the clear moonlight, pair after pair, cooing
affectionately like doves ; saw the Friends, my friends,
sitting side by side, gazing upward at the moon, which
shone upon their mild and calm countenances; saw the
moonbeams dancing upon the dancing billows while we
were borne onward along the calm sea toward Cape Hat-
teras, the light-house of which shone toward us, like a
huge star on the south horizon.
At Cape Hatteras we were to enter the Gulf Stream,
and this point is one of danger to the mariner. Violent
gusts of wind and storm are generally encountered there ;
and many a fearful shipwreck has occurred at Cape Hat
teras ; but tempest and disaster came not near us. The
moon shone, the billows danced, the wind was still, the
pairs of turtle-doves caoed, and the Friends slumbered.
We passed Cape Hatteras at midnight, and I hoped now
to be in the region of steady summer warmth. But pshaw !
Nothing of the kind.
Next morning it was again gray, and cold and cheerless,
and not at all like summer. One portion of the company

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 263
lay in their berths suffering from sea-sickness ; another
portion sat down to a merry game of cards under an awn
ing on deck. I sat apart with the Friends, who were si
lent, and at last went to sleep. But I was full of life, and
wide awake all day ; felt remarkably well, and spent a
rich forenoon in company with the sea and with Bancroft's
" History of the United States," which interests me ex
tremely, as well from its truly philosophical spirit as for
its excellent narrative style. In the former he resembles
our Geijer ; in the latter, D'Aubigne. I read also on the
voyage a little pamphlet on " Special Providence," by a
sort of renowned clairvoyant of New York, named Davis ;
but a production which more clearly testified to the blind
ness of the spirit I never saw, and I knew not whether to
be more astonished at its pretension or at its poverty.
On the morning of the fourth day we were before Charles
ton. The morning was gray and cheerless, and not agree
able. But the shores around the bay covered with dark
cedar woods, and pale-green broad-leaved trees, had a sin
gular but attractive appearance. Every thing was novel
to my eyes, even the exterior of the city, which rather re
sembled a city of the European continent, at least in tho
style of its houses, than either Boston or New York. A
young gentleman with whom I had had some excellent
conversation on board, and whom I liked — excepting that
he would make a show with his French, which, after all,
was nothing to make any show with — now stood with me
on deck observing the country, where he was at home, and
crying up the happiness of the negro-slaves, which did
not much enhance his own worth ; for remarks of this
kind only show want of judgment or of politeness. A
young lady who had shared my cabin, and been silent and"
sea-sick the whole time, now lifted up her head and in
stantly asked me " How I liked America ?"
Mrs. W. H. sent her brother, a handsome, middle-aged
gentleman, to take me in a carriage to her house, but I

264 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
preferred my own freedom, and to accompany the Friends
to the hotel which they had decided upon for themselves.
And there am I now, in a little room with four bare, white
washed walls.
I have been out wandering about the town for two good
hours, pleased with my solitude, and by the great number
of new objects which meet my eye every where ; by the
appearance of the town, with its numerous gardens (for it
is like a great assemblage of country houses, each one
with its veranda or piazza ornamented with foliage and
flowers) ; by the many- kinds of trees, all strange to me,
and which are now in flower or in leaf (I only saw one
without leaves, but with its stem and tops covered with
pink blossoms) ; by the dark-green orange groves in the
gardens, and which whisper and diffuse their fragrance on
the breeze. Negroes swarm in the streets. Two thirds
of the people whom one sees out in the town are negroes
or mulattoes. They are ugly, but appear for the most part
cheerful and well fed. In particular, oni* sees fat negro
and mulatto women, and their bright colored handker
chiefs, often wound very tastefully round the head, pro
duce a picturesque appearance, a thousand times prefera
ble to the bonnets and caps which they wear in the Free
States, and which are unbecoming to them.
That which struck me most in the streets,- after the
great number of negroes, was the large flocks of turkey-
buzzards, which stalk about here and there, picking up
any offal which they can find to eat. They are so fear
less, that they will scarcely move out of your way. I saw
numbers of them, also, sitting in rows on the roofs and
chimneys, and a very strange appearance they made,
stretching out their heavy wings in the air and the sun
shine. They are regarded in Charleston as a species of
city scavengers, and are therefore welcome to the streets.
It is forbidden to destroy them.
March 29th. Cold, cold, still intolerably cold to-day.

« HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 265
At five o'clock this morning I heard the drum which
calls the negro slaves to work.
Yesterday afternoon I was invited by my acquaintance
from the Northern States, who are here in the hotel, to
drive out with them, and we had a charming drive in the
beautiful sunshine. The country is altogether flat, as
far as one can see. Beautiful forest tracts, plantations
of trees, and water, all contribute a charm to it. The
town itself lies by the sea, upon a peninsula, between two
rivers, the Ashley and Cooper, which discharge themselves
into the sea.
My friends bought oranges and bananas for me, as we
drove along, and I now for the first time tasted this trop
ical fruit, which people here are so fond of. It has a del
icate, sweet, somewhat insipid flavor ; in form it resem
bles our large seed-cucumbers ; in color and in flesh it is
like a melon, but less juicy. I could have fancied I was
biting into soap. I have a notion that we shall not be
come good friends, the banana and I.
My Quaker friends left early this morning to go still
further south, in the hope of reaching summer air. It
was too cold for them here. The month of February was
here very warm, and the yellow jasmine which then flow
ers is now nearly over.
I must now bid you adieu, as I must go out and call
on Mrs. W. H, and see whether I could be happy with
her. If not, I shall remain quietly here, although it is
certainly no El Dorado. The hotel is probably not one of
the best in the city. A chaos of negro lads throng about
the dinner and supper table, pretending to be waiters, but
they do nothing more than spring hither and thither, round
one another, without either dexterity or order, and move
about every thing on the table, without rhyme or reason
which I can discover. I am waited on in my room by a
pretty mulatto girl, very ragged, yet with such a good
and patient look, that it makes me unhappy. I asked
Vol. I.— M

266 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
her how much wages she had ; she looked at me with
astonishment, and replied, " that she belonged to Missis."
But " Missis" is a lady of a stern mien, and keen-eyed,
whose property I would not willingly be, and — poor girl !
Miss D. told me that a young servant girl of the house had
last year been flogged by the gentleman of the house, the
son of the lady.
I could remain here very well a few days longer, and
then proceed further south, to Savannah and to Augusta,
in Georgia, whither I am invited by my fellow-passengers
of the " Canada," the family of the name of B. and Miss
L. I ought to remain there through the month of April,
for there one sees the paradise of the South. And I ought
to take the opportunity of seeing something of the planta
tions there. If the Southerners knew with what an un
prejudiced and honest intention I come to them, merely
seeking for the truth in every thing, and ready to do jus
tice to the good in all, even in slavery, then would they
not meet me with suspicious glances. I have, besides, no
wish to penetrate particularly into the most sorrowful side
of Southern life. That has been penetrated into enough
already. I wish to see nature, life — that which the New
World is becoming here also, and that aspect of life, as a
part of it, which is the result of position and the gifts of
nature. I wish, therefore, to avoid conversations on slav
ery with people in general; and with some individuals in
particular. With sensible and right-minded people, how
ever, many of whom are to be met with here, I will talk
of slavery, will question them, and listen to them, and I
am certain that we shall understand each other and per
fectly agree, if not always in the thing, at all events in
disposition of mind. I am come hither to see and to learn,
not as a spy. I wish to have in the South mild atmos
phere, flowers, repose, health ; and the good that it has
and does will I acknowledge with all my heart. I also
believe that there are few Southerners who do not regard

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 267
slavery as the misfortune of the country, although they
consider it difficult to be rid of it.
From Savannah I shall write again to you. Now mere
ly a kiss, and heartfelt wishes that this may find you once
more active and well.
Later. Yet a few more words to tell you that I have
seen Mrs. W. H. and her children, and that I remove to
morrow to her house and home. The very first view of
her countenance, and its expression, so full of kindness
and sincerity, was sufficient for me. I liked her immedi
ately, and the short conversation I had with her sufficed
to strengthen the impression of the first glance. She is
evidently one of the intelligent, kind, and motherly women
of the earth ; she has, it is true, a little weakness toward
literary endowments and literary people, but I, for my part,
consider this quite amiable in her. She is about my own
age, and might, from her appearance, be a Swede. The
blue eyes, the round, fresh countenance, the plump figure,
as well as the charming good nature in speech and manner,
are so like our Swedish ladies. She is, indeed, of Scandi
navian descent; her father was Danish — by name, Mone-
felt. Of the other members of the family I saw three
pretty girls ; the eldest seventeen, the youngest nine years
old, and a handsome lad of ten. Mr. W. H, two elder
sons, and the eldest daughter of the family, are now from
home. I have seen also another agreeable family, that of Dr.
G., whose wife, son-in-law, and daughters have called on
me, and offered to take me to the islands and the beauti
ful places in the neighborhood.
I have likewise seen to-day Mrs. Hammarskbld (Emilie
Holmberg) and her mother. Tears of longing for Sweden
filled the eyes of the old lady. The younger lady is a
much esteemed teacher of music here.
I can now write no more, the post is leaving.
God bless my sweet Agatha!

268 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

LETTER XIII.

Charleston, April 12th, 1850.
I see a feeble Southern beauty reposing upon a luxuri
ous bed of flowers in a nectarine grove, surrounded by will
ing slaves, who at her nod bring to her the most precious
fruits and ornaments in the world. But all her beauty,
the splendor of her eye, the delicate crimson of her cheek,
the pomp which surrounds her couch, can not conceal the
want of health and vigor, the worm which devours her vi
tals. This, weak luxurious beauty is — South Carolina.
And after all, my Agatha, she is beautiful. I have in
expressibly enjoyed her peculiar charm, so delightful, so
rich, and to me so novel.
I have been fourteen days here, and although the
weather for the most part has been rainy, and is so still,
yet there have been days when I have wished that all
feeble, ailing humanity (and you, my Agatha, above all)
could remove hither, breathe this air, see this exquisite
pomp of heaven and earth, which must invigorate them
like a balsam of life, and enjoy life anew. I can under
stand how the mariners who first approached these shores,
and felt these gentle breezes, this atmosphere, believed
that they were drinking an elixir of life, and hoped to find
here the fountain of perpetual youth.
During these delicious days I have made some excur
sions into the country, round the city, with Mrs. H. and
some kind acquaintance. In all directions, after we had
plowed through an extent of deep sand — but they are
now beginning every where to form wooden roads, which
are very excellent to drive upon — we arrived at a forest.
And the forest here is a sort of paradisaical wilderness, or
abounding with many kinds of trees and plants, which I
never before heard of or saw. Nothing is studied or trim
med, but every thing grows in wild, luxuriant disorder :

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 269
myrtles and fir-trees, magnolias and cypresses, elms and
oaks, and a great many foreign trees, the names of which
I do not know. The most magnificent and the most
abundant of all trees here is the live-oak, an evergreen,
an immense tree, from the branches of which depending
masses of moss, often three or four yards in length (the
Tillandsia Umvides), hung down in heavy draperies.
These pendent gray masses upon the heavy branches pro
duce the most unimaginably picturesque effect ; and when
these trees have been planted with any regularity, they
form the most magnificent natural Gothic churches, with
arcades, and lofty, vaulted aisles. Beneath these long-
branched patriarchs of the forest flourish a number of less
er trees, shrubs, plants, and climbing vegetation, especial
ly the wild vine, which fill the wood with perfume, and
make a beautiful show in the hedges, and up aloft in
the trees, whence they fling down their wild blossoming
branches. Thus with the wild yellow jasmine, which
was here and there yet in flower ; thus with the white
Cherokee rose, which also grows wild, and in the greatest
abundance; thus with many other showy, creeping plants,
which on all sides twine around the boles of the trees, and
many of which are said to be poisonous. (And many pois
onous things, both of vegetable and animal life, are said
to be in these wildernesses.) The magnolia is one of the
most glorious of their trees, a tall, green-leaved laurel,
the white blossoms of which are said to be the most beau
tiful flowers of the South ; but it does, however, not begin
to flower till the end of May.
The city itself is now in full bloom, for the city is like
a great assemblage of villas standing in their gardens,
which are now brilliant with roses of every kind. The
fragrance of the orange blossoms fills the air, and the
mocking-bird, the nightingale of North America (called
by the Indians cenconttatolly, or the hundred-tongued,
from its ability to imitate every kind of sound), sings in

270 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
cages in the open windows, or outside them. I have not
yet heard it sing when free in the woods. The nectarine
and the fig-tree have already set their fruit. I observed
this in Mrs. W. H.'s garden, where also I saw the Carolina
humming-bird flutter, like a little spirit, among the scar
let honeysuckle flowers, sipping their honey as it flew.
That is something particular, and very beautiful, my lit
tle Agatha, and I am fortunate in being here.
I have received many kind visits and invitations, and
first among the former let me mention that which is most
to my taste, and to which I owe some of my most beau
tiful hours in the New World. You know my faculty of
receiving decided impressions as regards persons, and of
my coming into rapport with them almost at the first
moment. This faculty or power, which has never yet de
ceived me, has become more keen since I went abroad on
my Viking expedition, quite alone, and have thereby been
brought into immediate connection with a great number
of persons. I have, of late in particular, acquired a sort
of mercurial sensitiveness to the various temperaments
and natures which approach me, and the barometer of
my feelings rises or falls accordingly. Thus, as I liked
Mrs. W. H. from the first moment, did I like — but in an
other way — Mrs. Holbrook, the wife of the Professor of
Natural History, from the first moment when I saw and
heard her. I became animated, and, as it were, awakened,
by the fresh, intelligent life which spoke in that lovely,
animated woman. There is nothing commonplace, noth
ing conventional in her. Every thing is clear, peculiar,
living, and, above all, good. I felt it like a draught of
the very elixir of life — the very fountain of youth. The
next day I dined with Mrs. W. H., at her beautiful, ele
gant residence, the sea-breezes coming in refreshingly
through the curtains of the windows. Her mother, Mrs.
R., a beautiful old lady, with splendid eyes ; her sister,
Miss Lucas R. ; three ideally lovely and charming young

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 271
girls, her nieces ; and three very agreeable gentlemen, com
posed the party. Mr. Holbrook is, together with Agassiz,
the Swiss, now on a natural history expedition to the great
fens of Florida, called the Everglades.
After an excellent dinner we drove to the Battery, the
fashionable promenade of the city, and which consists of
a bald inclosure along the beach, where people walk round
and round in a circle, so that they see again and again all
those they know, and all those they do not know, who are
promenading there, a thing that I should have nothing to
do with beyond at most once a year, not even to breathe
the very best sea-air. Neither did this sort of promenade
seem particularly to Mrs. Holbrook's taste ; but the people
of the New World, in general, are fond of being in com
pany, are fond of a crowd.
After an excellent tea, Mrs. Holbrook drove me home.
And that was one day of fashionable life at Charleston ;
and it was very good. But better still was another day
spent in the country, alone with her at her country seat,
Belmont, some miles out of town.
She came about noon and fetched me in a little carriage.
We were alone, we two, the whole day ; we wandered in
myrtle-groves — we botanized — we read ; Mrs. H. made
me acquainted with the English poet, Keats ; and, above
all, we talked; and the day passed like a golden dream,
or like the most beautiful reality. You know how easily
I get wearied with talk, how painful to me is the effort
which it requires. But now I talked for a whole day with
the same person, and I was not conscious either of effort
or of fatigue. It was delicious and amusing, amusing,
amusing ! The air itself was a delicious enjoyment. Mrs.
Holbrook was like a perpetually fresh-welling fountain,
and every subject which she touched upon became inter
esting, either from her remarks upon it or from the views
which her conversation unfolded. Thus we flew together
over the whole World, not always agreeing, but always

272 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
maintaining the best understanding; and that day, in the
fragrant myrtle-groves of Belmont, on the banks of the
Ashley River, is one of my most beautiful days in the New
World, and one which I shall never forget. Now I be
came acquainted, for the first time, with the amber-tree,
and several other trees and plants, whose names and prop
erties Mrs. H. mentioned to me. Natural science has ex
tended her glance over the life of the world, without di
verting it from the religious and heavenly life. For her
the earth is a poem, which in its various forms testifies of
its Poet and its Creator ; but the highest evidence of Him
she derives, not from the natural life, but from a still, lofty
figure, which once advanced from the shadows of life be
fore her glance, and made life for her light and great, con
necting time and eternity. Mrs. H. is a Platonic thinker,
who can see (which is rare in this world) system in all
things, and dissimilar radii having all relationship to one
common centre. I spoke freely to her of what I consid
ered the great want in the female education of this coun
try — and of all countries. Women acquire many kinds
of knowledge, but there is no systematizing of it. A deal
of Latin, a deal of mathematics, much knowledge of the
physical sciences, &c. ; but there is no philosophical cen
tralization of this, no application of the life in this to life
itself, and no opportunity afforded, after leaving school, of
applying all this scientific knowledge to a living purpose.
Hence it falls away out of the soul, like flowers that have
no root, or as leaves plucked from the branches of the tree
of knowledge when the young disciple goes from school
into life ; or, if they do remember what they have learned,
it is but merely remembered work, and does not enter as
sap and vegetative power into the life itself. That which
is wanting in school-learning, in the great as in the small,
is a little Platonic philosophy.
On other subjects we did not fully agree ; my imag
ination could not always accompany the flights of my

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 273
friend. But the charm in Mrs.H. is that she has genius,
and she says new and startling things, in particular as
regard the life and correspondence of nature and of the
spirit. When the sun sank in the waters of the river this beau
tiful day came to an end, and we returned to the city.
But I must go again to Belmont, and spend a few days
there with its good genius — so it is said ; but I know not
whether I shall have the time.
Mrs. H. belongs to the aristocratic world of Charleston ;
and to one of its noblest families — the Rutleges — but is
universally acknowledged as one of "the most intellectual
and charming women," and is spoken of as "above fash
ion ;" and how could such a spirit be trammeled by fashion ?
She has, however, one twist, but that is universal here,
and it belongs to the Slave States.
South Carolina is generally called the Palmetto State.
I expected to have seen every where this half-tropical spe
cies of tree. I was quite annoyed not to see, either in or
out of Charleston, any palmettoes. They have been, in a
Vandal-like manner, cut down for piles and for ship-build
ing, because this timber is impenetrable to water. At
length, however, a few days ago, I saw this States-tree of
Carolina (for the state bears a palmetto-tree on its banner)
on Sullivan's Island, a large sand-bank in the sea, outside
Charleston, where the citizens have country houses for the
enjoyment of sea-air and sea-bathing; and there in various
gardens we may yet see clumps of palmettoes. Imagine
to yourself a straight round stem, slightly knotted at the
joints, from the top of which large, green, waving fans,
with finger-like divisions, branch forth on all sides upon
long stalks, and you have an image of the palmetto, the
representative of the palm. I was invited by Mr. and
Mrs. Gilman to a picnic on Sullivan's Island. Picnics are
here the current name for excursions into the country,
where they go to eat, and to enjoy themselves in a merry
M2

274 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
company. These parties are very much liked, especially
by the young people ; and many a tender, serious union
looks back for its commencement to a merry picnic.
That at which I was now present was a large party, nor
was there any lack of young people, nor yet of young en
amored pairs; but the day was cool, and I felt it to be
rather laborious than agreeable, which is often the case
with me on so-called parties of pleasure. But I really did
enjoy a drive with Mrs. Gilman on the beach, along the
firm, fine sands, while the waves came rolling in, thunder
ing and foaming even to the horses' feet. There was a
wild freshness in this scene, while the air was of the mild
est and most delicious character. How romantic is "na
ture," and how rich in picturesque contrasts ! Both Mr.
and Mrs. Gilman are of the poetical temperament ; she
has sung the beauty of quiet and pious life ; he the sub
jects connected with his native land. His splendid song,
" Fathers, have ye bled in vain !"
written from fervent inspiration at a time when the dissolu
tion of the Union was threatened by the bitterness of party
strife, has been sung with rapture throughout the United
States, and perhaps may have contributed more to arouse
the public spirit of fellow-citizenship than any govern
mental measure which is said to have saved "the Union."
Mr. Gilman is a highly-esteemed and beloved minister of
Charleston, a handsome elderly man, whose inward earn
estness and nobility are faithfully reflected in his exterior.
Last evening I was at a wedding, that is to say, I was
invited to witness the marriage ceremony in the church.
It was between a Catholic and a member of the English
Episcopalian Church; and they had agreed to select the
minister of the Unitarian congregation of Charleston, Mr.
Gilman, to unite them. Only the relatives and friends
Df the bridal pair were to be present at the ceremony, which
took place in the evening by lamp-light. The bride was
lovely as a new-blown white rose, small and delicate, dress-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 275
ed in white, and with a very pretty garland and veil. The
bridegroom was a tall and thin gentleman ; not handsome,
but had the look of a good, respectable man, is very rich,
and desperately in love with his white rose-bud. Their
bridal tour is to be a pleasure trip to Europe. After the
marriage ceremony, which was worthily and beautifully
performed by Mr. Gilman, the company rose from their
seats and congratulated the bridal pair. A fat old negro
woman sat, like a horrid spectre, black and silent by the
altar. This was the nurse and foster-mother of the bride,
and who could not bear the thought of parting with her.
This parting, however, is only for the time of their jour
ney, as these black nurses are cared for with great tender
ness as long as they live in the white families, and, gen
erally speaking, they deserve it, from their affection and
fidelity. ,
You may believe that there has not failed to be here
conversations about slavery. I do not originate them, but
when they occur, which they frequently do, I express my
sentiments candidly, but as inoffensively as may be. One
thing, however, which astonishes and annoys me here, and
which I did not expect to find, is, that I scarcely ever meet
with a man, or woman either, who can openly and hon
estly look the thing in the face. They wind and turn
about in all- sorts of ways, and make use of every argu
ment, sometimes the most opposite, to convince me that
the slaves are the happiest people in the world, and do not
wish to be placed in any other condition, or in any other
relationship to their masters than that in which they now
find themselves. This in many cases, and under certain
circumstances, is true ; and it occurs more frequently than
the people of the Northern States have any idea of. But
there is such an abundance of unfortunate cases, and al
ways must be in this system, as to render it detestable.
I have had a few conversations on the subject, some
thing in the following style :

276 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Southerner. "Report says, Miss Bremer, that you be
long to the Abolitionist party ?"
Myself. " Yes, certainly I do ; but so, doubtlessly, do
we both ; you as well as I."
Southerner is silent.
Myself. "I am certain that you, as well as I, wish
freedom and happiness to the human race."
Southerner. "Y — y — ye — e — e — e — s! but — but — "
And now come many buts, which are to prove the diffi
culty and the impossibility of the liberation of the negro
race. That there is difficulty, I am willing to concede,
but not impossibility. This, however, is clear, that there
requires a preparation for freedom, and that this has been
long neglected. There is here, in Charleston, a noble man
who thinks as I do on the matter, and who labors in this,
the only true direction and preparation for this freedom,
namely, the negroes' initiation into Christianity. Former
ly, their instruction was shamefully neglected, or rather
opposed ; the laws of the state forbidding that slaves should
be taught to read and write, and long opposing their in
struction, even in Christianity.' But better times have
come, and seem to be coming. People frequently, in their
own houses, teach their slaves to read ; and missionaries,
generally Methodists, go about the plantations preaching
the Gospel.
But the one-sidedness and the obstinate blindness of
the educated class in this city really astonish and vex
me. And women, women, in whose moral sense of right,
and in whose inborn feeling for the true and the good, I
have so much faith and hope — women grieve me by being
so short-sighted on this subject, and by being still more
irritable and violent than the men. And yet it is women
who ought to be most deeply wounded by the immorality
and the impurity of the institution ! Does it not make a
family a non-entity ? Does it not separate husband and
wife, mother and child ? It strikes me daily with a sort

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 277
of amazement when I see the little negro children and
think, "These children do not belong to their parents;
their mother, who brought them into the world with suf
fering, who nourished them at her breast, who watched
over them, she whose flesh and blood they are, has no right
over them. They are not hers ; they are the property of
her possessor, of the person who bought her, and with her
all the children she may have, with his money ; and who
can sell them away whenever he pleases." Wonderful !
The moral feeling, it is said, is becoming more and
more opposed to the separation of families and of little
children from their mothers by sale ; and that it now no
longer takes place at the public slave auctions. But one
hears in the Northern, as well as in the Southern States,
of circumstances which prove what heart-breaking occur
rences take place in consequence of their separation, which
the effects of the system render unavoidable, and which
the best slaveholders can not always prevent.
The house-slaves here seem, in general, to be very well
treated ; and I have been in houses where their rooms,
and all that appertains to them (for every servant, male
or female, has their own excellent room), are much better
than those which are provided for the free servants of our
country. The relationship between the servant and the
employer seems also, for the most part, to be good and
heart-felt ; the older servants, especially, seem to stand in
that affectionate relationship to the family which charac
terizes a patriarchal condition, and which it is so beautiful
to witness in our good families between servant and em
ployer; at the same time, with this great difference, that
with us the relationship is the free-will attachment of one
rational being to another. Here, also, may often occur
this free-will attachment, but it is then a conquest over
slavery and that slavish relationship, and I fancy that
here nobody knows exactly how it is. True it is, in the
mean time, that the negro race has a strong instinct of

278 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
devotion and veneration, and this may be seen by the
people's eyes, which have a peculiar, kind, faithful, and
affectionate expression, which I like, and which reminds
me of that beautiful expression in the eye of the dog:
true is it, also, that they have a natural tendency to sub
ordination to the white race, and to obey their higher
intelligence ; and white mothers and black nurses prove
continually the exclusive love of the latter for the child
of the white. No better foster-mothers, no better nurses,
can any one have for their children than the black woman ;
and, in general, no better sick nurses than the blacks, either
male or female. They are naturally good-tempered and
attached; and if the white "Massa" and "Missis," as the
negroes call their owners, are kind on their part, the rela
tionship between them and "Daddy" and "Mammy," as
the black servants are called, especially if they are some
what in years, is really good and tender. But neither are
circumstances of quite the opposite kind wanting. The
tribunals of Carolina, and the better class of the commu
nity of Carolina, have yet fresh in their memory deeds of
cruelty done to house-slaves which rival the worst abomin
ations of the old heathen times. Some of the very black
est of these deeds have been done by — women ; by women
in the higher class of society in Charleston ! Just lately,
also, has a rich planter been condemned to two years' im
prisonment in the House of Correction for his barbarous
treatment of a slave. And then it must be borne in mind
that the public tribunal does not take cognizance of any
other cruelties to slaves than those which are too horrible
and too public to be passed over ! When I bring forward
these universally-known circumstances in my arguments
with the patrons and patronesses of slavery, they reply,
"Even in your country, and in all countries, are masters
and mistresses sometimes austere to their servants." To
which I reply, " But then they can leave them !" And to
this they have nothing to say, but look displeased.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 279
Ah ! the curse of slavery, as the common phrase is, has
not merely fallen upon the black, but perhaps, at this
moment, still more upon the white, because it has warp
ed his sense of truth, and has degraded his moral nature.
The position and the treatment of the blacks, however,
really improve from year to year. The whites, neverthe
less, do not seem to advance in enlightenment. But I
will see and hear more before I condemn them. Perhaps
the lover of darkness has established himself principally
in Charleston. " Charleston is an owl's nest !" said a
witty Carolina lady to me one day.
I must now tell you something about the home in
which I am, and in which I find myself so well off, and
so happy, that I would not wish for a better. The house,
with its noble garden, stands alone in one of the most ru
ral streets of the city, Lynch Street, and has on one side
a free view of the country and the river, so that it enjoys
the most delicious air — the freshest breezes. Lovely sprays
of white roses, and of the scarlet honeysuckle, fling them
selves over the piazza, and form the most exquisite veran
da. Here I often walk, especially in the early morning
and in the evening, inhaling the delicious air, and looking
abroad over the country. My room, my pretty airy room,
is in the upper story. The principal apartments, which
are on the first story, open upon the piazza, where people
assemble or walk about in the evening, when there is
generally company.
You are a little acquainted with Mrs. W. H. already,
but no one can rightly know her or value her until they
have seen her in daily life, within her own home. She is
there more like a Swedish lady than any woman I have
met with in this country, for she has that quiet, attentive,
affectionate, motherly demeanor ; always finding some
thing to do, and not being above doing it with her own
hands. (In the Slave States people commonly consider
coarse work as somewhat derogatory, and leave it to be

280 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
done by slaves.) Thus I see her quietly busied from
morning till evening ; now with the children, now with
meals, when she assists her servants to arrange the table ;
or when meals are over and removed, and all is in order
which needs looking after (for the negroes are naturally
careless,) she will be busy cutting out and making clothes
for them, or in dressing and smartening up the little ne
groes of the house ; then she is in the garden, planting
flowers or tying up one that has fallen down, training
and bringing into order the wild shoots of trailing plants ;
or she is receiving guests, sending off messengers, &c,
and all this with that calm comprehension, with that dig
nity which, at the same time, is so full of kindness, and
which is so beautiful in the mistress of a family, which
makes her bear the whole house, and be its stay as well
as its ornament. In the evening, in particular ; but I
will give you a circumstantial history of my day.
Early in the morning comes Lettis, the black-brown
servant, and brings me a cup of coffee. An hour after
ward, little Willie knocks at my door and takes me down
to breakfast, leaning on my little cavalier's shoulder —
sometimes I am conducted both by him and Laura — to
the lowest story, where is the eating-room. There, when
the family is assembled, good Mrs. Howland dispenses
tea and coffee, and many good things, for here, as in the
North, the breakfasts are only too abundant. One of the
principal dishes here is rice (the principal product of Car
olina), boiled in water in such a manner as to swell the
grains considerably, yet still they are soft, and eat very
pulpy. I always eat from this dish of rice at breakfast,
because I know it to be very wholesome. People gener
ally eat it with fresh butter, and many mix with it also
a soft-boiled egg. For the rest, they have boiled meat
and fish ; sweet potatoes, hominy, maize-bread, eggs, milk
cooled with ice, all which are really a superabundance
of good things. During the whole meal-time, one of the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 281
black boys or girls stands with a besom of peacocks' feath
ers to drive away the flies.
After breakfast all go out on the piazza for a little while,
the children leap about and chase one another through the
garden, and it is a delight to see the graceful Sarah, now
thirteen, leap about, brilliant with the freshness of youth
and joy, and light as a young roe, with her plaits of hair
and her ribbons flying in the wind. She is a most charm
ing creature. The elder sister, Illione, is also a pretty girl,
with something excellent, grave, and demure in her de
meanor and manner. Willie has beautiful eyes and brown
curls, and Laura is a little rose-bud. Two little black ne
gro girls, Georgia and Attila, the children of Lettis, jump
and leap about in the house and on the steps, as quick
and dextrous as one might fancy black elves.
After breakfast I go into my own room, and remain
there quite undisturbed the whole forenoon. At twelve
o'clock Mrs. W. H. sends me up a second breakfast, bread
and butter, a glass of iced milk, oranges, and bananas.
You see, my dear heart, I am not likely to suffer from
hunger. At three o'clock they dine, and there may be a
guest or two to dinner. In the afternoon my good host
ess takes me out somewhere, which is in every way agree
able to me.
The evening is, nevertheless, the flower of the day in
this family (ah, in how many families is the evening the
heaviest part of the day !). Then the lamps are lighted in
the beautiful drawing-rooms, and all are summoned to
tea. Then is Mrs. W. H. kind, and fat, and good, seated
on the sofa, with the great tea-table before her loaded with
good things ; then small tea-tables are placed about (I al
ways have my own little table to myself near the sofa),
and the lively little negro boy, Sam (Mrs. W. H.'s great
favorite), carries round the refreshments. Then come in,
almost always, three or four young lads, sons of neighbor
ing friends of the family, and a couple of young girls also,

282 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and the young people dance gayly and gracefully to the
piano, in all simplicity and good faith. The children of
the house are amiable with one another ; they are very
fond of one another, and dance together as we used to do
in the evenings at home. But they are happier than we
were. I generally play an hour for them, either waltzes
or quadrilles. Strangers, in the mean time, call and take
their leave.
Later, people go out on the piazza, where they walk
about, or sit and talk ; but I prefer rather quietly to enjoy
the fragrant night air, and to glance through the open
doors into the room where the handsome children are
skipping about in the joy of youth, Sarah always ideally
lovely and graceful, and — without knowing it.
Mr. M., the brother of Mrs. W. H., and the gentleman
who came to fetch me the first morning, is a guest here
every evening ; he is a man of great conversational pow
ers, and tells a story remarkably well.
But with none of them am I so much at home as with
my good sensible hostess. And I can not describe how
excellently kind she is to me.
April 13th. We had last evening a great storm of
thunder and lightning, such as I have never seen in Eu
rope, although I remember one June night last year, in
Denmark, at Sorb, when the whole atmosphere was as it
were in bright flame. But here the flashes of lightning
were like glowing streams of lava, and the thunder-claps
instantly succeeded them. For the first time in my life
I felt a little frightened at a thunder-storm. And yet I
enjoyed the wild scene.
In a couple of days I shall go hence on a visit to Mr.
Poinsett, the late Minister of War for the United States,
as well as their embassador to Mexico, and who now lives
as a private man on his own plantation. He must be an
unusually interesting and amiable man, has seen a great
deal of life and of the world, and I am therefore glad to

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 283
receive an invitation to his house near Georgetown, a
day's journey from this place. I have to thank Mr.
Downing for this. I shall spend there a few days, and
return hither, whence I shall go to Georgia. I must
make good use of the time, because early in May the heat
becomes great in the South, and then all the planters re
move from their plantations to avoid the dangerous fevers
which then prevail. During the summer months, it is
said that a night spent on one of the rice-plantations
would be certain death to a white man. The negroes, on
the contrary, suffer little or nothing from the climate.
I am now making a sketch, from an oil painting, of
the portrait of a great Indian chief, by name Osconehola,
who, at the head of the Seminole tribe, fought bravely
against the Americans in Florida, who wished to drive
the Indians thence and send them westward to Arkansas.
The country in the southern parts, which was possessed
by the tribes of the Seminole and Creek Indians, and
where they were continually an annoyance to white set
tlers, produces as its more general wood a tree which is
called light- wood, from the gumminess of its timber,
which quickly kindles and burns with a bright flame. It
is not of a large size, and is easy to fell. The Arkansas,
on the western side of the Mississippi, produces for the
most part oak forests, bounded by the wild steppe-land
(Nebraska, the principal resort of the Indians at this time
in North America), and has a severe climate.
Osconehola, therefore, replied to the message and the
threat which was sent by the government of the United
States, in these words :
" My people are accustomed to the warm air of Florida,
to the rivers and the lakes which abound in fish ; to the
light-wood, which is easy to fell, and which burns easily.
They can not live in that cold country where only the
oak-tree grows. The people can not fell the large trees ;
they will perish there for want of the light-wood !"

284 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
And when at last the choice was given him, either open
war with the United States, or that he should sign the
contract which banished himself and his people from
Florida, he struck his spear through it, and said,
" I defy them to conquer us within five years !"
And the war between the Florida Indians and the army
of the United States continued five years ; much blood
was shed on both sides, and still were the Indians in pos
session of the country, and would perhaps have been so
still, had not Osconehola been taken captive through per
fidy and deceit. When under the protection of the white
flag, he came to have a talk with the Spanish general,
Hernandez. The treachery was, indeed, the Spaniards' ;
but still, it appears that the American officers were nei
ther ignorant of it, nor yet averse to it.
Osconehola was taken as prisoner, first to St. Augustin,
then to Charleston, and to Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's
Island. From this moment it appeared as if his spirit was
broken. Persons who visited him in his prison— Mr. M.
was among these — say that he never saw a glance so
melancholy and gloomy. He, however, never uttered any
lamentation, but often spoke with bitterness of the man
ner in which he had been taken prisoner, and of the in
justice which had been done to his people, in forcing them
from their native soil to remove to a northern land where
no light- wood was to be found!
His handsome person, his melodious voice, his large
dark eyes, full of gloomy fire, his bravery and his fate,
awoke a universal interest for him, and the ladies, in par
ticular, felt an enthusiasm for the handsome Seminole chief,
visited him and made him presents. But he seemed in
different to all; grew more and more silent, and from the
moment when he was put in prison, his health declined,
although he did not appear to be ill. He ate but very
little, and would take no medicine. It was evident that
he wished to die. The captive eagle could not live, de
prived of the free life and air of his forest.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 285
Two of his wives— one young and handsome, the other
old and ugly — accompanied him into captivity. The old
one waited on and tended him, and he seemed to love her
most. He was always occupied by but one thought — the
certain ruin of his people in that cold land where there
was no light -wood. Imbittered and silent, he wasted
away by degrees, and died one month after his arrival at
Fort Moultrie — died because he could not live. The light-
wood in his life was consumed. A weeping willow droops
over the white marble stone which covers his grave out
side the wall of the fortress, by the sea-shore.
It is a few years since he died, and his life, combat,
and death are an abbreviated history of the fate of his
nation in this part of the world. For this reason, and also
for the sake of the expression of his handsome counte
nance, have I wished to make a sketch of his portrait, so
that you may see it. I have heard him spoken of here
by many persons. Otherwise, I have not just now a weak
ness for the Indians, notwithstanding their stern virtues
and beautiful characters, and the splendor with which nov
elists have loved to surround them. They are extremely
cruel in their wars between the different tribes, and they
are usually severe to the women, whom they treat as
beasts of burden, and not as equals.
Casa Bianca, April 16th. I now write to you, my
sweet child, from a hermitage on the banks of the little
River Pedee. It is a solitary, quiet abode ; so solitary and
quiet, that it almost astonishes me to find such an one in
this lively, active part of the world, and among those com
pany-loving people.
A fine old couple, Mr. Poinsett and his lady, who re
mind me of Philemon and Baucis, live here quite alone,
in the midst of negro slaves, rice plantations, and wild,
sandy forest land. There is not a single white servant in
the house. The overseer of the slaves, who always lives
near the slave hamlet, is the only white person I have seen

286 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
out of the house. Nevertheless, the old couple seem to me
to live as safely as we do at our Aersta, and to be about
as little careful of fastening the house-door at night. The
house is an old one (N.B., for this young country), with
antique furniture, and rooms testifying of good old-fash
ioned aristocratic taste and comfort.
Round the house is a park or garden, rich in the most
beautiful trees, shrubs, and plants of the country, planted
by Mr. Poinsett himself, according to Mr. Downing's ad
vice, and, as under the snow-covered roof at Concord, had
I the pleasure of hearing the words, "Mr. Downing has
done much for this country," so universal is the influence
of Mr. Downing here in the improvement of taste, and the
awakening a sense of the beautiful, as regards buildings,
the cultivation of gardens, and the laying out of public
grounds. North America has also this peculiarity, that all kinds
of trees and shrubs from other parts of the world may be
removed here, become naturalized and flourish ; in the
grounds around Casa Bianca are a great number from for
eign countries. Of all the trees here, I like best the na
tive large live-oak, with its long, pendant growth of moss
(two magnificent specimens of this tree stand opposite the
house, on the banks of thePedee, and form by their branch
es an immense portico, through which one sees the river
and the landscape beyond), and the sober, lofty, dark-green
magnolias. Outside my window, which is in the upper
story, stands a Cornus Florida, a tree whose crown now
seems to be a mass of snow-white blossom, and early in
the morning I hear and see the thrushes singing their rich
morning song on its topmost branches ; further off is the de
lioiously odoriferous Olea fragram from Peru, and many
beautiful rare trees and shrubs. Among these sing the
thrushes and the mocking-birds, and swarms of black
birds twitter and chatter, and build in the great, live-oaks.
Mrs. Poinsett will not allow them to be disturbed, and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 287
every morning after breakfast come little gray sparrows
and the brilliant cardinal-birds (so called from the splen
dor of their plumage), quite familiarly, and pick up the
rice-grains which she scatters for them in the piazza be
fore the door. On the quiet little River Pedee glides first
one and then another canoe, paddled by negroes, and it is
only by the steam-boats which now and then swing their
tails of smoke over the River Wackamow, beyond the Pe
dee and by the sailing vessels which one sees on their way
down to Cuba or China, that one observes that here also
one lives in this trading and trafficking world.
Mr. Poinsett is a French gentilhomme in his whole ex
terior and demeanor (he is of a French family), and unites
the refinement and natural courtesy of the Frenchman,
with the truthful simplicity and straightforwardness which
I so much like in the true American, the man of the New
World. That fine figure is still slender and agile, although
he suffers from asthma. He has seen much and been
among much, and is an extremely agreeable person to con
verse with, in particular as relates to the internal political
relationship of the United States, which he has assisted
in forming, and the spirit and intention of which he thor
oughly understands, while he has a warm compatriot
heart. I have, in a couple of conversations with him in
the evening after tea, learned more of these relationships,
and those of the individual states to their common govern
ment, than I could have learned from books, because I ac
quire this knowledge in a living manner from the saga
cious old statesman ; I can ask questions, make objections,
and have them at once replied to. He is the first man
that I have met with in the South, with one exception,
who speaks of slavery in a really candid and impartial
spirit. He earnestly desires that his native land should
free itself from this moral obliquity, and he has faith in
its doing so ; but he sees the whole thing at present in
volved in so many ways, and the difficulties attending any

288 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
change so great, that he leaves the question to be solved
by the future. He firmly believes in the onward progress
of America, but he is far from satisfied with many things
in the country, and especially in this very state. He is
one of the New World's wise men, who more and more
withdraw themselves from the world, looking calmly on
from his hermitage, and apparently happy there with his
excellent wife and his rural occupation.
In the morning, after I have eaten, with a good relish,
my breakfast of rice, and egg, and cocoa, I help Mrs. Poin
sett to feed the birds, and am delighted that the beautiful
showy cardinal-birds will condescend to pick up my rice-
grains. And then, if I rush out into the garden, ready to
embrace the air, and the shrubs, and all nature, the good
old lady laughs at me right heartily. Then out comes
Mr. Poinsett, begs me to notice the beautiful Lamarque
rose which Mr. Downing gave him, and which now is full
of large clusters of yellowish- white flowers on the trellised
walls of the house ; and thence he takes me round the
garden, and tells me the names of the plants which I do
not know, and their peculiarities, for the old gentleman is
a skillful botanist. He has also taken me round his rice-
grounds, which are now being sown, after which they will
lie under water. And it is this irrigation, and the exha
lation therefrom, which makes the rice plantations so un
wholesome for the white population during the hot season.
Mr. Poinsett's plantations are not large, and seem not to
have more than sixty negroes upon them. Several other
plantations adjoin these, but neither are they large as it
appeared, and my entertainers seemed not to be intimate
with their proprietors.
I range about in the neighborhood, through the rice-
fields and negro villages, which amuses me greatly. The
slave villages consist of small, whitewashed wooden houses,
for the most part built in two rows, forming a street,
each house standing detached in its little yard or garden,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 289
and generally with two or three trees about it. The
houses are neat and clean, and such a village, with its
peach-trees in blossom, as they are just now, presents a
pleasant appearanoe. The weather is heavenly; "true
Carolina air," say the Carolina people, and it is delicious.
Yesterday — Sunday — there was, in the forenoon, divine
service for the negroes in a wagon-shed, which had been
emptied for that purpose. It was clean and airy, and the
slaves assembled there, well dressed and well behaved.
The sermon and the preacher (a white missionary) were
unusually wooden. But I was astonished at the people's
quick and glad reception of every single expression of
beauty or of feeling. Thus, when the preacher introduced
the words from Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord !" there was
a general movement among the people ; the words were
repeated ; many exclaimed Amen ! amen ! and I saw
many eyes full of tears.
In the evening I wandered out to enjoy the beautiful
evening and to look about me. I have often heard it said
by the friends of slavery, even in the Northern States, as
a proof of the happiness of the slaves, that they dance
and sing in the evening on the plantations. And now, I
thought, perhaps I may chance to see a dance. I reached
the slave village. The little white houses, overshadowed
by the pink blossoming trees, with their little plot of gar
den-ground, looked charmingly ; the little fat, black chil
dren leaped about, eating a large yellow root, the sweet
potatoe, laughing if one only looked at them, and espe
cially inclined to shake hands. But in the village itself
every thing was very still and quiet. A few negro men
and women were standing about, and they looked kind
and well to do. I heard in one house a sound as of pray
er and zealous exhortation. I entered, and saw an assem
blage of negroes, principally women, who were much ed
ified and affected in listening to a negro who was preach-
Vol. I.— N

290 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ing to them with great fervor and great gesticulation,
thumping on the table with his clinched fists. The sum
and substance of his sermon was this : " Let us do as
Christ has commanded us ; let us do as he wishes, let us
love one another. Then he will come to us on our sick
beds, on our death-beds, and he will make us free, and we
shall come to him and sit with him in glory !"
The discourse, spite of its exaggerated pathos and its
circumlocution, could not have been better in its aim and
in its application ; and it delighted me to hear the doc
trine of spiritual freedom promulgated by a slave among
slaves. I have since heard that the Methodist missiona
ries, who are the most influential and effective teachers
and preachers among the negroes, are very angry with
them for their love of dancing and music, and declare them
to be sinful. And whenever the negroes become Christian,
they give up dancing, have preaching meetings instead,
and employ their musical talents merely on psalms and
hymns. This seems to me a very unwise proceeding on
the part of the preachers. Are not all God's gifts good,
and may they not be made use of in His honor ? And
why should not this people, by nature joyous and childlike,
worship God in gladness ? I would, instead, let them have
sacred dances, and let them sing to them joyful songs of
praise in the beautiful air, beneath the blossoming trees.
Did not King David dance and sing in pious rapture be
fore the ark of God ?
I went on still further through wood and meadow, into
the wild, silent country. When it began to grow dusk I
turned back. I repassed the. same slave village. Fires
blazed in the little houses, but every thing was more si
lent and stiller than before. I saw a young negro with a
good and handsome countenance, standing thoughtfully
under a peach-tree, leaning against its bole. I accosted
him, and asked him of one thing and another. Another
slave came up, and then still another, and the conversa
tion with them was as follows :

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 291
" At what time do you get up in the morning ?"
" Before sunrise."
" When do you leave off in the evening ?"
" When the sun sets — when it is dark."
" But when do you get time to look after your gardens ?"
" We must do that on Sundays or at night, for when
we come home we are so tired that we could drop down."
" How do you get your dinners ?"
" We have no dinner ! It is all we can do if, while we
are working, we can throw a bit of bread or some corn
into us."
"But, my friend," said I, now a little mistrustful, "your
appearance contradicts what you say ; for you look in very
good condition, and quite brisk."
"We endeavor to keep ourselves up as well as we can,"
replied the man by the tree ; " what can we do unless we
keep up a good heart. If we were to let it droop, we
should die !"
The others responded to the song of lamentation.
I bade them good-night and went my way, suspecting
that all was not true in the slaves' representation. But
still, it might be true ; it was true, if not here, yet in
other places and under wicked masters ; it might always
be true in an institution which gives such irresponsible
power at will ; and all its actual and possible misery pre
sented itself to me, and made me melancholy. The even
ing was so beautiful, the air so fragrant, the roses were
all in blossom ; nature seemed to be arrayed as a bride ;
the heaven was bright ; the new moon, with the old moon
in her arms, was bright in the firmament, and the stars
came out, clear and brilliant. The glory of the scene, and
that poor, black, enslaved, degraded people — they did not
at all agree ! All my enjoyment was over.
I was glad, however, to have a man like Mr. Poinsett
to talk with. And to him I confided, in the evening, my
conversation and my thoughts. Mr. Poinsett maintains

292 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
that the slaves have told me falsehoods. " One can nev
er believe what they say," said he ; adding, " that also is
one of the evils of slavery. The people are made liars
by it. Children learn from their parents to regard the
white people with fear,- and to deceive them. They are
always suspicious, and endeavor by their complainings to
get some advantage. But you may be sure that they
have been imposing upon you. The slaves round here
have a certain quantity of work set them for the day, and
at this time of the year they have for the most part fin
ished it by four or five o'clock in the afternoon. There
is commonly kept on every plantation a male or female
cook, who prepares the daily dinner at one o'clock. I
have one for my people, and I have no doubt but that
Mr.  also has one for his people. It can not be other
wise. And I am certain that you would find it to be so
if you would examine into the affair."
Mr. Poinsett does not deny but that abuse and mal
treatment of slaves has often occurred and still occurs, but
public opinion becomes more and more sternly opposed to
it. Some years ago extreme cruelty was practiced against
the slaves on a plantation in the neighborhood by an over
seer, during the prolonged absence in England of the
owner of the plantation. The planters in the neighbor
hood united, wrote to him, told him that they could not
bear it, and requested that the overseer should be remov
ed. And this was done. Mr. P. considers that the sys
tem of slavery operates in many cases much more unfa
vorably on women than on men, and makes them not un
frequently the hardest masters.
18th. I am just returned from a solitary ramble into
the plantations, which has done me good, for it has shown
me that the slaves under the peach-tree really did impose
upon me. During my ramble I saw at one place in the
rice-field a number of small copper vessels standing, each
covered with a lid, from twenty-five to thirty in number,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 293
just as with us one sees the laborers' noggins and bask
ets standing together in the grass. I went up, lifted the
lid of one, and saw that the vessel contained warm, steam
ing food, which smelled very good. Some of them were
filled with brown beans, others with maize-pancakes. I
now saw the slaves coming up from a distance, walking
along the headland of the field. I waited till they came
up, and then asked permission to taste their food, and I
must confess that I have seldom tasted better or more
savory viands. The brown beans were like our " prin
cess beans," boiled soft with meat, and seasoned some
what too highly for me. But it ate with a relish, and so
did the maize-cakes and the other viands also. The peo
ple seated themselves upon the grass-sward and ate, some
with spoons, others with splinters of wood, each one out
of his own piggin, as these vessels are called, and which
contained an abundant portion. They seemed contented,
but were very silent. I told them that the poor working
people in the country from which I came seldom had such
good food as they had here. I was not come there to
preach rebellion among the slaves, and the malady which
I could not cure I would alleviate if it was in my power.
Besides which, what I said was quite true. But I did
not tell them that which was also true, that I would rath
er live on bread and water than live as a slave.
On my homeward way I saw an old negro, very well
dressed, who was standing fishing in a little stream. He
belonged to Mr. Poinsett, but had been by him liberated
from all kind of work in consequence of his age. From
this sensible old man I heard various things which also
pleased me. I saw in two other places likewise the peo
ple at their meals, breakfast and dinner, and saw that
here too the food was good and abundant.
I passed by my negroes of the peach-tree yesterday
afternoon, and saw them coming home with a crowd of
others at about six o'clock. One of them sprang over a

294 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
hedge when he saw me, and, grinning with his white
teeth, asked from me half a dollar.
April 20th. Good-day, my sweet child ! I have just
had my second breakfast, at twelve o'clock, of bananas.
I am beginning to like this fruit. It is gentle and agree
able, and has a wholesome effect, as well as the mild air
here, that is to say, when it is mild. But even here the
climate is very changeable. Yesterday the thermometer
fell in one day twenty-four degrees, and it was so cold that
my fingers were stiff as icicles. To-day, again, one is cov
ered with perspiration, even when one sits quietly in the
shade. We have been twice at great dinners with plant
ers some miles from here, but I am so annoyed by great
dinners, and made so ill by the things I eat, that I hope,
with all my heart, not to go to any more. But my good
hostess, who has a youthful soul, in a heavy and some
what lame body, heartily enjoys being invited out.
Yesterday, as we were taking a drive, the carriage,
which has generally to go through heavy sand, made a
stand in a wood for the horses to rest. Deeper down in
the wood I saw a slave village, or houses resembling one,
but which had an unusually irregular and tumble-down
appearance. At my wish, Mr. Poinsett went with me to
it. I found the houses actually in the most decayed and
deplorable condition, and in one house old and sickly ne
groes, men and women. In one room I saw a young lad
very much swollen, as if with dropsy ; the rain and wind
could enter by the roof; every thing was naked in the
room ; neither fire-wood nor fire was there, although the
day was chilly. In another wretched house we saw an
old woman lying among rags as in a dog-kennel. This
was the provision which one of the planters made for the
old and sick among his servants ! What a fate is theirs
who have fallen into such circumstances ! And what pity
ing eye beholds them excepting — God's?
* * # #

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 295
In one slave village, near a great house, I saw remark
ably handsome people, and living in good houses. But I
observed that the glances of the young men were gloomy
and defiant, with no expression of kindness toward their
owners. That did not look well. On our homeward way
we drove through many slave villages. It was a pleasant
sight to see the fire-light flickering in the small houses —
for each family has its own house — and to see the negroes
come so early from their day-labor. This district consists
of a sandy, wood-covered soil. The wood is principally a
kind of yellowish pine — the yellow-pine, or light-wood,
with great tufts of six-inch long leaves, which sometimes
assume the likeness of the palmetto. It is horribly monot
onous ; but splendid, lofty flowers, lupines, and rose-red
azaleas, grow among the trees and light up the woods.
It was late and dark before we reached home, and I sat
and looked at the lights which I saw flash here and there
near the road or in the wood, but which vanished as we
approached. I called Mr. Poinsett's attention to them,
and he said that they must be fire-flies. They make their
appearance about this time. I hope to make a nearer
acquaintance with the shining creatures.
21st. I have to-day wandered about delioiously in wood
and field, and, in so doing, came to a river called the Black
River. I saw slaves at work not far off, under a white
overseer, from whom I requested and obtained an old negro
to take me across the river. The good-humored old man
was more free-spoken and clear-headed in his conversation
than I have commonly found the slaves to be ; and while
he rowed me in a little canoe, made of a hollowed tree
stem, he talked freely about the owners of the plantations
that lay by the river. Of one it was, "Good master!
blessed master, ma'am!" of another, "Bad master, ma'am !
beats his servants. Cuts them to pieces, ma'am !" and
so on.
On the other side of the river I came to a plantation

296 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
where I met with the owner himself, who was a clergy
man. He conducted me through the slave village, and
talked to me about the happiness of the negro slaves, which
convinced me that he himself was a slave of Mammon.
Certain it is that under a good master they are far from
unhappy, and much better provided for than the poor work
ing people in many parts of Europe. But under a wicked
master they have fallen into direful and hopeless misery.
Sophists, who are determined to see only the sunny side
of the picture, deny absolutely that such are ever to be
found. _ But I have already both heard and seen enough
of them. That which the North testifies agamst the
South I will not believe ; but that which the South testi
fies against itself I am compelled to believe. Besides,
the best master is no justification of slavery, for the best
master dies sooner or later, and his slaves are then sold to
the highest bidder, like cattle. The slaves out in the
fields present a joyless, appearance ; their dark color and
their gray dress, without a single white or colored gar
ment to enliven it, give them a gloomy and dull appear
ance. I must, however, mention as an exception the knit
ted cotton caps of the men, which have generally a couple
of red or blue stripes knitted into the gray ground-color.
At work in the field, they look like figures of earth. Quite
different is the appearance of our peasants in their white
linen, their showy, ornamental attire. The slave villages,
on the other hand, as I have already remarked, have rath
er a comfortable appearance, excepting that one very rare
ly sees glass in the windows of their houses. The win
dow generally consists of a square opening, which is closed
with a shutter. But so also are those in the houses of the
poor white people, and in Carolina there are many such
to be met with. In the room one sees, nearly always, a
couple of logs burning on the hearth, and the household
furniture and little provision stores resemble those which
are to be found in the homes of our poorest people in town

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 297
and country. Here and there, however, one sees more at
tention paid to the house ; a little ornament. about it, to
gether with well-supplied beds. Every house has a pig
sty, in which there is generally a very fat pig ; and many
hens and chickens swarm about the garden-plot, in which
they grow Indian corn, beans, and different kinds of roots.
These little plots, however, do not look very well attended
to. The slaves sell eggs and chickens, and every Christ
mas their pig also, and thus obtain a little money to buy
treacle, or molasses (of which they are very fond), biscuits,
and other eatables. They often lay up money ; and I
have heard speak of slaves who possess several hundred
dollars. This money they generally place out to interest
in the hands of their masters, whom, when they are good,
they regard as their best friends, and who really are so.
All the slave villages which I saw perfectly resemble each
other, only that some of the houses are better, and others
worse kept. The slaves are under the management of
one or two overseers, appointed by the master, and under
these there is, for each village, a driver, who wakes the
slaves in the morning, or drives them to work when they
are late. The driver is always a negro, and is often the
most cruel and the most severe man in the whole planta
tion ; for when the negro is unmerciful, he is so in a high
degree, and he is the worst torment of the negroes. Free
negroes who are possessed of slaves — and there are such —
are commonly the worst of masters. So, at least, I have
been told by trustworthy persons.
22d. I dreamed last night so livingly of you, my dar
ling Agatha, and was delighted to see how brisk and well
you looked ; we talked, in my dream, about Marstrand,
and you told me that mamma thought of accompanying
you thither. Now that I am awake, I wonder whether
the dream was a soothsaying. Mamma is always accus
tomed to approve of your bathing and water-cure.
My life passes quietly, as quietly as the little river be-
N2

298 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
fore my window ; but it is well for me. I have not pass-
ed a calmer .time since I have been in this country ; for,
with the exception of a few occasional visits in the fore
noon from neighbors, I live quite alone with my good, old
married pair. Every morning there is laid on the break
fast-table, beside my plate, a bouquet of delioiously fra
grant flowers, generally of the Peruvian Olea fragrans
(and any thing more delicious I do not know), gathered
by Mr. Poinsett. Every evening I sit with him and Mrs.
Poinsett alone, read and talk with him, or tell stories for
the good old lady, or give her riddles to guess, which
very much amuses her. She sits by the fire and takes a
nap, or listens to what Mr. Poinsett and I read by lamp
light at the table. I wished to make him a little acquaint
ed with my friends the Transcendentalists and Idealists
of the North, and I have read to him portions of Emerson's
Essays. But they shoot over the head of the old states
man ; he says it is all " unpractical," and he often criti
cises it unjustly, and we quarrel. Then the good old lady
laughs by the fire, and nods to us, and is amazingly en
tertained. Mr. Poinsett is, nevertheless, struck with Emer
son's brilliant aphorisms, and says that he will buy his
works. It is remakable how very little, or not at all, the
authors of the Northern States, even the best of them, are
known in the South. They are afraid of admitting their
liberal opinions into the Slave States.
Mr. Poinsett has traveled much, as well in Europe as
in America, and he maintains that no scenery, not even
the sublimest scenery of South America, its Andes and its
River Amazon, equals Switzerland in picturesque beauty.
Switzerland is the only country on the face of the earth
which he desires to see again, and there he would like to
spend his last days. He seems weary of statesmanship
and of the life of a statesman. Even Calhoun, the great
and almost idolized statesman of Carolina, is not great in
Mr. Poinsett's opinion, excepting in ambition. His whole

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 299
life seems to have been a warfare in the service of ambi
tion, and his death (for he is just dead, during the sitting
of Congress at Washington) the result of this warfare in
his breast, owing to the political feuds in which he perpe
tually lived.
It is very charming to see my two old friends together
in every-day life. They are heartily attached to each
other. One standing quarrel they have about a horrible
old straw bonnet of Mrs. Poinsett's, which looks like an
ancient up-turned boat, and which Mr. Poinsett can not
bear the sight of, and which he threatens to make an end
of, to burn, every time he sets eyes on it, but which she
obstinately will keep, and which she defends with terror
whenever he makes any hostile demonstration against it.
But it is altogether a love-squabble, and as it has now
lasted for ten years, I suppose it will last on to the days
of their death. They have both of them a cough which
they call "constitutional," and I also cough a little now
and then, as I have always done ; we have now three
constitutional coughs. I contemplate this good feeling
between my old couple with delight, and see how true
love can bloom in and beautify old age. There are at
tentions, pleasing little acts of forethought or compliance,
which are worth many kisses, and have certainly a great
er charm than these as proofs of love.
I spend the greater part of the forenoon in the garden,
among the flowers, birds, and butterflies, all splendid and
strangers to me, and which salute me here as anonymous
beauty. During these hours spent amid this new and
beautiful nature, thoughts visit me which give me great
joy, and which in every way are a great comfort to me.
I will explain : I have for some time felt as if I could
scarcely bear to read, nor yet to write any thing which re
quired the least exertion of mind, as it produces in me a
degree of nervous suffering which is indescribable, and the
effect of which remained long afterward. I have, there-

300 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD,
fore, almost given up the hope of studying, aud of making
myself much acquainted with books during my residence
in this country. This has been painful to me, and I have
long striven against it, because study has always been my
greatest pleasure, and now more than ever was it neces
sary for me to be able to devour books, so that I might be
somewhat at home in the life and literature of this coun
try. Here, however, during these beautiful early morn
ings, in this beautiful, fragrant, silent world of trees and
flowers, there has arisen within me a clearness, a cer
tainty, something like the inner light of the Quakers,
which tells me that it is best for me now to lay aside
books, and altogether to yield myself up to live in that
living life, to live free from care for the moment, and to
take and accept that which the hour and the occasion pre
sent, without troubling myself with many plans or much
thought. I must let things come to me as they may come,
and determine for me as they will determine. A convic
tion has come to my mind that a higher guidance attends
me, and that it will direct every thing for the best ; that
I have nothing to do but to yield myself up to its inspira
tion, so long as I keep my eye firmly directed to the Star
of Bethlehem which led me hither — and I can not turn
my eye from that — the desire to find the truth. Thus
shall I find the child of God!
Therefore, in God's name, farewell to books, to the old
friends and pasture-grounds. I press forward toward that
which is before me, and confide in the fatherly guidance
of God. A something infinitely delightful and elevating
has taken possession of my soul with these thoughts, and
filled my heart with joy. Weak, I yet know myself to be
strong ; bound down to the earth, I yet know that I have
wings ; I am merely a child, and yet I can overcome the
world. And thus I go forth and converse with the flowers, and
listen to the birds and to the whispering of the great live-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 30 1
oak. Oaks like these, with their long, depending trails
of moss, must have inspired the oracle of Dodona.
The blackbirds, which build in them in great numbers,
are about the size of our jackdaw, and have on each side
their necks, below the head, a fine yellow ruff, like a half-
round frill. The mocking-birds are gray, about as large
as our Swedish nightingale, and their song is very intri
cate, and often really charming ; but it-wants the strong
inspiration of the European nightingale and lark. It is
as if the bird sang from memory ; sang reminiscences, and
imitated a number of sounds of other birds, and even an
imals. There are, however, in its song beautiful, pecul
iar tones, resembling those both of the thrush and the
nightingale. People say that these birds dance minuets
with each other. I, too, have seen them here figuring to
ward one another, tripping quite in a minuet fashion. I
suppose this is their way of Wooing. It is remarkable
that people never succeed in rearing in cages the young
of these birds which have been taken from the nest ; they
always die shortly after their captivity. It is asserted
that the mothers come to them and give them poison.
The full-grown birds in the country thrive very well and
sing in cages.
I am sometimes interrupted in my forenoon musings by
a merry negro girl, servant in the house, who says, "Mis
sis has sent me to hunt you," and it is for me to come in
to my luncheon. If I am writing, I remain in my own
room, and then, generally at twelve o'clock, the good old
lady herself comes up to me with bananas and a glass of
milk. In the afternoon I generally go on some expedi
tion of discovery. When I am returning home in the twi
light, I often see my old folks coming to meet me, she
walking with a crutch and supported by his arm.
24th. Last evening I had an old negro to row me in a
little canoe down the Wachamon River, spite of Mr. Poin
sett's remonstrances, who fancied that no good would come

302 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of it. The moon rose and shone brightly on the river and
its banks, over which hung various trees and plants in
flower with which I was unacquainted. The negro, a
kind old man, paddled the boat onward, and wherever I
saw an enticing flower, thither we paddled and gathered
it. Thus went we on for about two hours in that clear
moonlight, and every thing was as solitary and silent on
the river and on its banks as in a desert.
There had, however, been this day a great wedding on
the banks of the Wachamon, and all the neighbors had
been invited ; but either my host and hostess did not be
long to their circle of acquaintance or the fame of my
abolitionist views had prevented us being invited. Very
good ! for though I love to see brides and weddings, yet I
love quietness npw better than all.
My good host and hostess were glad to see me return
from my river excursion, and Mr. Poinsett told me the
names of the flowers which I had gathered. One of these
was the Magnolia glauca, a white flower something like
our white water-lily : this grows on a smaller tree, with
gray-green leaves. The celebrated, splendid flower of the
South, the Magnolia grandiflora, does not blossom till
the end of May.
I shall in a few days leave this place and return to
Charleston. My kind entertainers wish me to remain yet
longer, but I greatly desire to reach Savannah before the
heat becomes too great, and I must therefore hasten. I
have received much kindness here and much benefit from
Mr. Poinsett's conversation. The evenings spent alone
with my good old friends are somewhat tedious. One can
not be always talking American politics, and the old states
man takes an interest in nothing else, nor can one always
have stories and riddles at hand to amuse the old lady,
who sits dozing by the fire, and sometimes persuades her
husband to do the same, sitting opposite, while I amuse
myself as well as I can, which is not very well, as I am

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 303
not able to read, and as there is no piano, and it is then
too late to go out. It is time, therefore, to be going. I now
know how life looks in the plantations, know how the ne
gro slaves live, and how rice and Indian corn are planted.
Charleston, April 26th. Again, my sweet child, am I in
my good, excellent home with Mrs. W. H.
The sea voyage between Georgetown and Charleston
was cheerless and cold, but now we have the full heat of
the dog-days. I spent the last evening with my good old
couple in mending their old gloves — of course by my own
wish — while Philemon and Baucis sat, each in their arm
chair, by the fire and slept. They are aged and infirm,
and have arrived at that period of life when the rest and
life of the child are their highest happiness. The next
morning I set off, accompanied by the courteous old states
man as far as Georgetown, and spite of good Mrs. Poin
sett's troubled looks, who saw threatening clouds which
would drown us. We, however, arrived quite safely, while
the morning freshness, and the drive through that wild dis
trict, and through forests brilliant with the beautiful flow
ery azaleas, was delightful and refreshing. At George
town, a little town where the number of geese seemed to
me the most remarkable feature, I parted from my kind
companion with the promise of a second visit.
On my arrival at Charleston in the evening, I was met
by Mr. M. with the carriage. When we reached Mrs. W.
H.'s house, the young people were dancing to the piano
in the brilliant drawing-room ; Mr. M. and I danced in,
arm in arm, among them, amid great jubilation; and I
found myself here almost as if in my own home. Certain
it is that this home has more the impression of our Scan
dinavian homes (N.B., when they are good and happy)
than any home I have yet seen or heard of in this country.
The domestic life, the dancing, the music, and the evening
games are altogether in the Swedish style.
I was yesterday present at the funeral procession of the

304 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
statesman and senator of Carolina, Calhoun, whose body
passed through Charleston. The procession was said to
consist of above three thousand persons ; and it seemed,
indeed, to be interminable. The hearse was magnificent,
and so lofty from a large catafalco that it seemed to threaten
all gates made by human hands.
Many regiments paraded in splendid uniforms, and a
great number of banners with symbolic figures and in
scriptions were borne aloft ; it was very splendid, and all
went on well. All parties seem to have united with real
devotion and admiration to celebrate the memory of the
deceased, and his death is deplored in the Southern States
as the greatest misfortune. He has sat many years in
Congress as the most powerful advocate of slavery, not
merely as a necessary evil, but as a good, both for the
slave and the slave owner, and has been a great cham-
pion for the rights of the Southern States. Calhoun, Clay,
and Webster have long been celebrated as a triumvirate
of great statesmen, the greatest in all the land. Calhoun
was the great man of the Southern States, Clay of the
Western and Middle States, Webster of the States of New
England, although there is great opposition in the New
England States against Webster, particularly among the
anti-slavery party. Each of these, although old, has been
a mighty champion ; at the same time admired and feared,
loved and hated. There yet remain two. The third fell on
the scene of combat, fighting in death, and, as it seemed,
even against it.
His portrait and bust, of which I have seen many, give
me the impression of a burning volcano. The hair stands
on end, the deep-set eyes flash, deep furrows plow that
keen, thin countenance. It is impossible from this exte
rior, which seems to have been ravaged by sickness and
passion, to form any idea of the fascinating man in society,
the excellent head of a family, with manners as pure as
those of a woman, affectionate to all his relatives, a good

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 305
master, almost adored by his servants and slaves — in a
word, the amiable human bemg, which even his enemies
acknowledge him to have been.
Political ambition and party spirit seem to have been
his demons, and to have hastened his death. Clay, in
his speech on Calhoun in the Senate, makes some gently
warning allusions to this. His fight for slavery was " a
political bravado," said a clever lady, who was not one of
the anti-slavery party. Pity that so good a man should
live — and have died for so wretched a thing !
In South Carolina, the idolatry with which he was re
garded was carried to the extreme, and it has been said,
in joke, that "when Calhoun took snuff the whole of Car
olina sneezed." Even now people talk and write about
him as if he had been a divine person.
During the procession a whole crowd of negroes leaped
about the streets, looking quite entertained, as they are by
any pomp. Some one told me that he heard the negroes
say, " Calhoun was indeed a wicked man, for he wished
that we might remain slaves."
On the evening of this day we had strangers at home,
and games, dancing, and music, all merry and gay. After
this, we walked in the piazza, in the warm moonlight air,
till midnight. On the country side was heard the song
of the negroes as they rowed their boats up the river on
their return from the city, whither they had taken their
small wares — eggs, fowls, and vegetables — for sale, as they
do two or three times a week.
When this letter reaches you, you also will have summer
and flowers, my sweet Agatha, and God be praised for it.
To-morrow I set off for Savannah, and thence to Macon,
the capital of Georgia, then to Montpellier, where I am in
vited by Elliott, the distinguished bishop of the Episcopal
Church in the Southern States, to be present at the annual
examination of a ladies' seminary which is under his care.
From that place I shall write more.

306 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

LETTER XIV.
Macon, Vineville, May 7th, 1850.
•Nay, I did not go to Savannah the day I thought of,
but went — on an excursion, to which I invite you to
accompany me, but without telling you whither we go.
We drive to the rail-road, we enter one of the carriages :
Mrs. W. H, an agreeable young man — I have the pleas
ure of introducing Mr. R. to you — and myself ; and now
you will accompany us. Away we go, through forest
and field, eighteen miles from Charleston. It is late in
the afternoon and very warm. We stop ; it is in the
middle of a thick wcfcd. There is wood on all sides, and
not a house to be seen. We alight from the carriages
and enter a fir-wood. After we have walked for an hour
along unformed paths, the wood begins to be very ani
mated. It swarms with people, in particular with blacks,
as far as we can see among the lofty tree-stems. In the
middle, of the wood is an open space, in the centre of
which rises a great long roof, supported by pillars, and
under which stand benches in rows, affording sufficient
accommodation for four or five thousand people. In the
middle of this tabernacle is a lofty, square elevation, and
in the middle of this a sort of chair or pulpit. All round
the tabernacle, for so I call the roofed-in space supported
on pillars, hundreds of tents, and booths of all imaginable
forms and colorsKare pitched and erected in a vast circle,
and are seen shining out white in the wood to a great
distance, and every where, on all sides, near and afar off,
may be seen groups of people, mostly black, busied at
small fires, roasting and boiling. Children are running
about or sitting by the fires; horses stand and feed be
side the carriages they have drawn thither. It is a per
fect camp, with all the varied party-colored life of a camp,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 307
but without soldiers and arms. Here every thing looks
peaceful and festive, although not exactly joyful.
By degrees the people begin to assemble within the
tabernacle, the white people on one side, the black on the
other ; the black being considerably more numerous than
the white. The weather is sultry ; thunder-clouds cover
the heavens, and it begins to rain. Not a very agreeable
prospect for the night, my little darling, but there is noth
ing for it, we must pass the night here in the wild wood.
We have no other resource. But stop ; we have another
resource. That excellent young Mr. R. employs his elo
quence, and a tent is opened for us, and we are received
into it by a comfortable bookseller's family. The family
are red-hot Methodists, and not to be objected to. Here
we have coffee and supper.
After this meal I went to look around me, and was
astonished by a spectacle which I never shall forget. The
night was dark with the thunder-cloud, as well as with
the natural darkness of night ; but the rain had ceased,
excepting for a few heavy drops, which fell here and there,
and the whole wood stood in flames. Upon eight fire-
altars, or fire-hills, as they are called — a sort of lofty table
raised on posts, standing around the tabernacle — burned,
with a flickering brilliance of flame, large billets of fire
wood, which contains a great deal of resin, while on every
side in the wood, far away in its most remote recesses,
burned larger or smaller fires, before tents or in other
places, and lit up the lofty fir-tree stems, which seemed
like columns of an immense natural temple consecrated
to fire. The vast dome above was dark, and the air was
so still that the flames rose straight upward, and cast' a
wild light, as of a strange dawn upon the fir-tree tops and
the black clouds.
Beneath the tabernacle an immense crowd was assem
bled, certainly from three to four thousand persons. They
sang hymns — a magnificent choir ! Most likely the sound

308 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
proceeded from the black portion of the assembly, as their
number was three times that of the whites, and their voices
are naturally beautiful and pure. In the tower-like pul
pit, which stood in the middle of the tabernacle, were four
preachers, who, during the intervals between the hymns,
addressed the people with loud voices, calling sinners to
conversion and amendment of life. During all this, the
thunder pealed, and fierce lightning flashed through the
wood like angry glances of some mighty invisible eye.
We entered the tabernacle, and took our seats among the
assembly on the side of the whites.
Round the elevation, in the middle of which rose the
pulpit, ran a sort of low counter, forming a wide square.
Within this, seated on benches below the pulpit, and on
the side of the whites, sat the Methodist preachers, for the
most part handsome tall figures, with broad, grave fore
heads ; and on the side of the blacks their spiritual lead
ers and exhorters, many among whom were mulattoes,
men of a lofty, noticeable, and energetic exterior.
The later it grew in the night, the more earnest grew
the appeals ; the hymns short, but fervent, as the flames
of the light- wood ascended, like them, with a passionate
ardor. Again and again they arose on high, like melodi
ous, burning sighs from thousands of harmonious voices.
The preachers increase in the fervor of their zeal ; two
stand with their faces turned toward the camp of the
blacks, two toward that of the whites, extending their
hands, and calling on the sinners to come, come, all of
them, now at this time, at this moment, which is perhaps
the last, the only one which remains to them in which to
come to the Savior, to escape eternal damnation ! Mid
night approaches, the fires burn dimmer, but the exalta
tion increases and becomes universal. The singing of
hymns mingles with the invitations of the preachers, and
the exhortations of the class-leaders with the groans and
cries of the assembly. And now, from among the white

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 309
t
people, rise up young girls and men, and go and throw
themselves, as if overcome, upon the low counter. These
are met on the other side by the ministers, who bend down
to them, receive their confessions, encourage and console
them. In the camp of the blacks is heard a great tumult
and a loud cry. Men roar and bawl out ; women screech
like pigs about to be killed ; many, having fallen into
convulsions, leap and strike about them, so that they are
obliged to be held down. It looks here and there like a
regular fight ; some of the calmer participants laugh.
Many a cry of anguish may be heard, but you distinguish
no words excepting, "Oh, I am a sinner!" and "Jesus!
Jesus !"
During all this tumult the singing continues loud and
beautiful, and the thunder joins in with its pealing kettle
drum. While this spectacle is going forward in the black camp
we observe a quieter scene among the whites. Some of
the forms which had thrown themselves on their knees at
the counter have removed themselves, but others are still
lying there, and the ministers seem in vain to talk or to
sing to them. One of these, a young girl, is lifted up by
her friends and found to be "in a trance." She now lies
with her head in the lap of a woman dressed in black,
with her pretty young face turned upward, rigid, and as
it appears, totally unconscious. The woman dressed in
black, and another, also in the same colored attire, both
with beautiful, though sorrowful countenances, softly fan
the young girl with their fans, and watch her with serious
looks, while ten or twelve women — most of them young —
stand around her, singing softly and sweetly a hymn of
the resurrection ; all watching the young girl, in whom
they believe that something great is now taking place. It
is really a beautiful scene in that thunderous night, and
by the light of the fire-altars.
After we had contemplated these scenes, certainly for

310 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. »
an hour, and the state of exaltation began to abate, and
the principal glory of the night seemed to be over, Mrs.
W. H. and myself retired to the tent to rest. This lay at
the outskirts of the white camp, and from a feeling of cu
riosity I walked some distance into the darker portion of
the wood. Here horrible things were going on, not among
human beings, but among frogs and other reptiles. They
also seemed to be holding some sort of a great meeting,
and croaked and croaked, and coughed and snorted, and
made such wonderful noises and blurts of extraordinary
sound, which were like nothing but a regular comedy.
Never before did I hear such a concert. It was like a
parody of the scenes we had just witnessed.
It was sultry and oppressive in the tent. Our kind
hostess did all in her power to make it comfortable for us;
and Mrs. W. H. thought merely of making all comfortable
for me, taking all the inconvenience to herself. I could
not get any rest in the tent, and therefore wished at least
yet once more to take a look at the camp before I lay
down for the night.
It was now past midnight; the weather had cleared, and
the air was so delicious and the spectacle so beautiful,
that I was compelled to return to the tent to tell Mrs.
Howland, who at once resolved to come out with me.
The altar-fires now burned low, and the smoke hung with
in the wood. The transparently bright and blue heaven
stretched above the camp. The moon rose above the wood,
and the planet Jupiter stood brilliantly shining just over
the tabernacle. The singing of hymns still ascended,
though much lower; still the class-leaders exhorted; still
the young girl slept her mysterious sleep ; still the women
watched, and waited, and fanned her, in their attire of
mourning. Some oppressed souls still lay bowed upon the
counter, and still were the preachers giving consolation
either by word or song. By degrees the people assembled
in the tabernacle dispersed, scattered themselves through

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 31 1
the woods, or withdrew to their tents. Even the young
sleeping girl awoke, and was led by her friends away from
the assembly. Mr. R. had now joined us, and accompa
nied by him we went the round of the camp, especially
on the black side. And here all the tents were still full
of religious exaltation, each separate tent presenting some
new phasis. We saw in one a zealous convert, male or
female, as it might be, who with violent gesticulations
gave vent to his or her newly-awakened feelings, surround
ed by devout auditors ; in another we saw a whole crowd
of black people on their knees, all dressed in white, strik
ing themselves on the breast, and crying out and talking
with the greatest pathos; in a third women were dancing
" the holy dance" for one of the newly-converted. This
dancing, however, having been forbidden by the preachers,
ceased immediately on our entering the tent. I saw mere
ly a rocking movement of women, who held each other by
the hand in a circle, singing the while. In a fourth, a
song of the spiritual Canaan was being sung excellently.
In one tent we saw a fat negro member walking about by
himself and breathing hard ; he was hoarse, and, sighing,
he exclaimed to himself, " Oh ! I wish I could hollo !" In
some tents people were sitting around the fires, and here
visits were received, greetings were made, and friendly,
cheerful talk went on, while every where prevailed a quiet,
earnest state of feeling, which we also experienced when
ever we stopped to talk with the people. These black peo
ple have a something warm and kind about them which
I like muclj. One can see that they are children of the
warm sun. The state of feeling was considerably calmer
in the camp of the whites. One saw families sitting at
their covered tables eating and drinking.
At length we returned to our tent, where I lay upon
the family bed with our good hostess and her thirteen-
year old daughter, and slept indifferently; yet, thanks to
some small white globules of my Downing medicine, I

312 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
rested nevertheless, and became calm in the hot, feverish
night. At sunrise I heard something which resembled the
humming of an enormous wasp caught in a spider's web.
It was an alarm which gave the sign for the general rising.
At half past five I was dressed and out. The hymns of
the negroes, which had continued through the night, were
still to be heard on all sides. , The sun shone powerfully
— the air was oppressive. People were cooking and hav
ing breakfast by the fires, and a .crowd already began to
assemble on the benches under the tabernacle. At seven
o'clock the morning sermon and worship commenced. I
had observed that the preachers avoided exciting the peo
ple's feelings too much, and that they themselves appeared
without emotion. This morning their discourses appeared
to me feeble, and especially to be wanting in popular elo
quence. They preached morality. But a mere moral
sermon should not be preached when it is the heart that
you wish to win ; you should then tell, in the language
of the heart, the miracle of spiritual life. It was, there
fore, a real refreshment to me when the unimpassioned
and well-fed preachers who had spoken this morning
gave place to an elderly man, with a lively and somewhat
humorous expression of countenance, who from out the
throng of hearers ascended the pulpit and began to speak
to the people in quite another tone. It was familiar, fresh,
cordial, and humorous ; somewhat in the manner of Father
Taylor. I should like to have heard him address these
people, but then I am afraid the negroes would have been
quite beside themselves !
The new preacher said that he was a stranger — he was
evidently an Englishman — and that it was a mere chance
which brought him to this meeting. But he felt com
pelled, he said, to address them as "my friends," and to
tell them how glad he had been to witness the scenes of
tho preceding night (he addressed himself especially to the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 313
blacks), arid to give them his view of the Gospel of God
as made known in the Bible, and of what the Bible teaches
us of God. " Now you see, my friends" — this was the
style of his discourse — "when a father has made his will,
and his children are all assembled to open it, and learn
from it what are the latest wishes of their father, they do
not know how their father has disposed of and arranged
his property ; and many of them think, ' Perhaps there is
nothing for me ; perhaps he never thought of me !' But
now, when they open the will, and find that there is some
thing for John, and something for Mary, and something
for Ben, and something for Betsy, and something for every
one, and something for all, and that altogether — every in
dividual one has got a like share in the father's property,
and that he thought alike tenderly of them all — then they
see that he loved them all equally — that he wished them
all equally well ; and then, my friends, if we were these
children, and if we all of us had obtained this inheritance
in the father's house, should we not, all of us, love this
father, and understand his love for us, and obey his com
mands ?"
"Yes! yes! Oh yes! Glory! Glory! Amen!" shout
ed the assembly, with beaming glances and evident de
light. The speaker continued in his good-tempered, naive
manner, and described to them the happy life and death
of a pious Christian, a true child of God. He himself,
the speaker, had been the witness of such a man's death,
and although this man was a sailor, without superior
education, and though he made use of the expressions
which belonged to his calling, yet they testified of so clear
a spiritual life, that even now, after his death, they might
testify of it before this assembly. The man had been
long ill of fever, which had deprived him of consciousness.
He appeared to be dying, and his relations stood round
his bed believing that they should never more hear his
Vol. I.— 0

314 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
voice, and waiting merely for his last sigh, for he lay as
if in a sleep of death. But all at once he opened his,
eyes, raised his head, and cried, in a strong, joyful voice,
" Land ahead !" After that his head sank down, and
they thought it was all over with him. But again he
looked up and cried, "Turn, and let go the anchor!"
Again he was silent, and they believed he would be so
forever. Yet once more, however, he looked up brightly,
and said, with calm assurance, "All's well!" And then
he was at peace.
"Amen! Amen! Glory and glory !" cried the assem
bly, and never did I see such an expression of joy and
rapture as I then saw beaming from the countenances of
these children of Africa : the class-leaders, in particular,
were regularly beside themselves ; they clapped their
hands, laughed, and floods of light streamed from their
eyes. Some of these countenances are impressed upon
my memory as some -of the most expressive and the most
full of feeling that I ever saw. Why do not the painters
of the New World avail themselves of such scenes and
such countenances ? The delight occasioned by the speak
er's narrative would here and there have produced con
vulsions, had not Mr. Martin, the principal preacher of the
assembly, indicated, by the movements of his hand from
his pulpit, its discontinuance, and immediately the in
creasingly excited utterance ceased. Already during the
night had he warned the people against these convulsive
outbreaks as being wrong, and disturbing both to them
selves and others. The Wesleyan preacher left the pulpit
amid continued expressions of delight from the people.
The principal sermon of the day was preached about
eleven o'clock by a lawyer from one of the neighboring
states, a tall, thin gentleman, with strongly-marked, keen
features, and deep-set, brilliant eyes. He preached about
the Last Judgment, and described in a most lively man
ner "the fork-like cloven flames, the thunder, the gener-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 315
al destruction of all things," and described it as possibly
near at hand. "As yet, indeed," exclaimed he, " I have
not felt the earth tremble under my feet ; it yet seems to
stand firm," and he stamped vehemently on the pulpit
floor; " and as yet I hear not the rolling of the thunder
of doom ; but it may, nevertheless, be at hand," and so
on; and he admonished the people, therefore, immediately
to repent and be converted.
Spite of the strength of the subject, and spite of the
power in the delineation, there was a something dry and
soulless in the manner in which it was presented, which
caused it to fail of its effect with the congregation. Peo
ple seemed to feel that the preacher did not believe, or,
rather, did not livingly feel that which he described and
preached. A few cries and groans were heard, it is true,
and some sinners came forth ; but the assembly, upon the
whole, continued calm, and was not agitated by the thun
ders of the Last Judgment. The hymns were, as on the
former occasion, fervent and beautiful on the side of the
negroes' camp. This people seem to have a keen percep
tion of the most beautiful doctrines of religion, and under
stand particularly well how to apply them. Their musical
talents are remarkable. Most of the blacks have beautiful,
pure voices, and sing as easily as we whites talk.
After this service came the hour of dinner, when I vis
ited various tents in the black camp, and saw tables cov
ered with dishes of all kinds, of meat, with puddings and
tarts ; there seemed to be a regular superfluity of meat
and drink. Several of the tents were even furnished like
rooms, with capital beds, looking-glasses, and such like.
The people seemed gay, happy, and gentle. These re
ligious camp-meetings — my little heart, thou hast now
been at a camp-meeting ! — are the saturnalia of the negro
slaves. In these they luxuriate both soul and body, as is
their natural inclination to do ; but on this occasion every
thing was carried on with decency and befitting reverence.

316 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
These meetings have of late years greatly improved in
moral character, and masters allow their servants and
slaves to be present at them, partly for pleasure, and partly
because they are often productive of good results. I did
not observe the slightest circumstance which was repug
nant to my feelings or unbecoming, except, if people will,
the convulsive excitement. I had some conversation on
this subject with the leader of the meeting, the amiable
and agreeable Mr. Martin, the Methodist preacher;- and he
disapproved of it, as I had already heard. These excited
utterances, however, said he, appear to belong to the im
pulsive negro temperament, and these sudden conversions,
the result of a moment of excitement, have this good re
sult, that such converts commonly unite themselves to
churches and ministers, become members of a so-called
class, and thus obtain regular instruction in the doctrines
of religion, learn hymns and prayers, and become generally
from that time good Christians and orderly members of
society. In the great West, as well as here in the South, and in all
places where society is as yet uncultivated, it is the Meth
odists and the Baptists who first break the religious ground,
working upon the feelings and the senses of these children
of nature. Afterward come the Calvinists, Lutherans,
and many others, who speak rather to the understanding.
Missionaries who assemble the people and talk to them
under God's free heaven, who know how to avail them
selves of every circumstance presented by the time, the
scenery around them, and their own free positions, are
likely to produce the most powerful results ; and I have
heard extraordinary instances related of their influence
over the masses, and of the contagious effect of that ex
citement of mind which frequently occurs on these occa
sions. These camp-meetings continue from three to sev
en days. The one at which we were present was to break
up on the following day, and it was expected that a great

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 317
number of conversions would take place on the following
night. Nevertheless, this seemed to depend on casual cir
cumstances, and probably more than any thing else upon
a preacher whose sermon had that tendency.
We spent yet a few hours in observing the spiritual and
physical occurrences of the camp, wandering in the wood
and botanizing. Mr. R. gathered for me many new flowers,
among which was a small, very pretty little yellow flower,
called the saffron-flower.
At five in the afternoon we returned to Charleston by a
train which conveyed certainly two thousand persons, two
thirds of them blacks. They sang the whole way, and
were in high spirits.
The next morning, with a little basket of bananas and
sponge-cake, which my kind hostess and friend, Mrs. W.
H, provided for me, I was on my way to Savannah. She
herself accompanied me on board the steam-boat, and
would willingly have accompanied me the whole journey ;
and how willingly would I have had her with me ! She
is one of the persons with whom I can get on extremely
well. But I set off alone, with her fruit and a bouquet
of flowers from Mrs. Holbrook. Yet I was not alone, for
my heart was full of many things. The day was glorious,
and the vessel steamed up the Savannah, which, with a
thousand windings, flows between verdant shores, which,
though flat, are ornamented with charming woods and
plantations, with their large mansions and pretty little
slave villages, so that the whole was like a refreshing
pleasure trip. True, the slave villages are not a gladden
ing sight, but I have hitherto seen far more happy than
unhappy slaves, and therefore I have not as yet a gloomy
impression of their condition here.
The crew of this little steam-boat consisted merely of
slaves, blacks, and mulattoes. The captain told me that
they were very happy, as well as faithful and clever.
" That man," said he, indicating with his glance an el-

318 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
derly man, a mulatto, with a remarkably handsome, but
as it seemed to me, a melancholy countenance, " is my
favprite servant, and I need wish for no other as care-tak
er and friend by my death-bed."
The crew appeared to be well fed and cared for. A
handsome and fat mulatto woman said to me, in an un
der tone, when we were alone,
" What do you say about the institution of slavery here
in the South ?"
" I think," replied I, " that the slaves, in general, ap
pear happy and well cared for."
"Yes, yes," said she, "it may seem, but — " and she
gave a very significant glance, as if to say, "All is not
gold that glitters."
" You do not consider them to be well treated, then?"
asked I.
" Some are, certainly," said she, " but — " and again
she gave a significant glance.
I could have wished that she had said more, but as she
belonged to the vessel, I could not ask any questions. , I
would not become a spy ; that is against my nature, and
any thing which I could not become acquainted with by
my own experience, or by my own direct ability, that — I
would not know. Scarcely in any case could the mulatto
woman have told me any thing which I did not already
know : there are good and there are bad masters — happy
and unhappy slaves ; and the institution is — a great lie
in the life of human freedom, and especially in the New
World. There were on board the steamer some persons with
whom I was acquainted, among them Miss Mary P., a
lively, intelligent young girl from the State of New York,
who was spending the winter in Savannah on account of
her health. She had a pulmonary affection, and suffered
greatly from the winters of the Northern States ; but
with the southern air, especially the air of Savannah, and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 319
homeopathic treatment, she was recovering. I associated
with people as little as possible ; enjoyed the silence and
the river journey, the beautiful day, the quiet delicious
scenery, so unlike the occurrences of the preceding day.
When the sun went down, and the evening .suddenly be
came dusk — as is always the case in these latitudes — I
saw a clear white light ascend from the southern heavens
to the zenith. They told me it was tho zodiacal light.
It was not flashing, colored, and brilliant, as our northern
lights are most frequently, but calm, soft, and clear. A
grave, elderly gentleman, in whose company I contem
plated the starry heavens on the upper deck, told me that
later on in the summer the southern cross might be per
ceived on the horizon, as well as the uppermost star in
the Ship Argo. Thus you see that new lights and new
constellations now rise above my head ! I bid them wel
come !
In the deep twilight came a boat rowing up to the
steamer. Several blacks and one white man were in the
boat. The white man came on board after taking a friend
ly leave of the blacks, a voice from among whom cried
after him, " Don't forget yourself long away, massa !"
" No, no !" cried massa back to them.
At about half past eleven we reached Savannah. I ac
companied Miss P., her sister, and a young, agreeable phy
sician, to the largest hotel in the city, the Pulaski House:
so called from the Polish hero of that name, who fought
and fell in the American War of Independence, and whose
monument, a handsome, white marble obelisk, stands upon
a green spot of ground before the hotel, surrounded by
splendid trees.
At seven o'clock the next morning I was in a rail-way
carriage on my way to Macon, a long and very wearisome
day's journey, especially in the great heat, and with the
smoke and steam which filled the carriages. The road
lay through a barren, sandy extent of country, overgrown.

320 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
with pine forest, and almost entirely without human hab-
itations, excepting on the rail-way stations, where small
colonies began to form themselves, trades were followed,
and the meagre soil cultivated. At a few of these I
alighted, and botanized in the wood, where I found sev
eral yellow orchises.
The amusement of the journey was in the carriage in
which I sat, from a fat, jolly-looking gentleman in a cap
and gray coat, in person not unlike a mealsack, upon which
the head was set, round and movable as a top, and who
talked politics, and poured out his vials of wrath against
the late Tom Jefferson, president, and author of the " Dec
laration of Independence:" called him, in a loud voice,
the worst of names, always turning himself as he did so
to a tall, very thin military man of a noble appearance,
who sat on the other side of the carriage, and who seemed
to be half amused by the fat man's ebullitions, although
he endeavored to appease them.. But it was like pour
ing oil upon fire.
" Sir !" exclaimed our fat gentleman, with a stentorian
voice, on one occasion, while the train stood still, " sir, I
say that if it had not been for Tom Jefferson, the whole
Union would be five hundred years further advanced, and
Carolina at least a thousand !"
" Oh ! do you think so ?" said the other, smiling.
" Yes, I say that Tom Jefferson was the worst man who
has yet been placed at the head of a nation ; he has done
more mischief than all the presidents after him can do
good !"
" Yet he drew up our Act of Independence !" said the
thin gentleman.
" He stole it, sir !" exclaimed the fat one ; " he stole it,
stole it! I can prove to you that he did. There is," &c.
And here followed proofs, and many observations and re
plies between the two gentlemen, which I could not ex
actly follow.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 321
At length up sprung the fat gentleman, and grasping
with both hands at two seats, stood before the thin one,
exclaiming, "Sir! I regard Tom Jefferson as the compound of every
thing which is rascally, mean, wicked, dishonorable, &c,
&c, &c, &c. — " the great flood of accusation continuing
certainly for three minutes, and ending with, " yes, that
is what I say, sir !"
" Tha£ is strong language, sir ;" said the other, still
calm, and half smiling.
" Sir !" again exclaimed the other, " Tom Jefferson was
the cause of my father losing fifty thousand dollars, through
the embargo !"
With these words he reseated himself, red in the face as
a turkey-cock, and with an air as if to say that after that
nothing could be said. A smile was on almost every coun
tenance in the rail-way carriage ; and when Tom Jeffer
son's enemy almost immediately after took his departure,
the thin gentleman turned to me, saying, in his good-
tempered, calm way,
" That settles it ! Jefferson was certainly a bad man;
but, in any case, he was a patriot."
A hundred young men, soldiers from Charleston, trav
eled by this train, on a visit to the Georgia militia in
Macon. They were handsome, pleasant-looking, merry
young fellows, who got out at every station to refresh
themselves, and then hurried in again.
A couple of so-called Indian mounds, that is, ancient
burial hills of the Indians, and which resemble our sepul
chral mounds, excepting that they are larger and flatter
at the top, and in which arms and weapons are found,
were the only remarkable things we saw on the way.
At sunset we reached Macon. The country had now
assumed another character ; we saw verdant hills and val
leys, and beautiful white country houses shining out upon
the hills amid their gardens.
02

322 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
On all hands lay lofty trees ; we drove over a couple
of small rivers, with chocolate-hued water and wooded
banks; the city lay, as it were, imbedded in wood. It
looked young and romantic, half concealed in the valley,
and half stretching itself out on the open hills. It took
my fancy; I was glad to be there, and had, besides, a cer
tain pleasure in finding myself here alone and unknown,
and able to live at an inn. I engaged a room at a hotel,
the " Washington House," where I found a remarkably
handsome and kind landlady ; had the pleasure of wash
ing off the dust, putting on fresh linen, and drinking a
glass of excellent milk, and then to be still, and contem
plate the life and movement in the market-place, the largest
in the city, and near to which the hotel stood.
Five-and-twenty years ago the ground on which the
city stood, and the whole region around, was Indian ter
ritory and Indian hunting-ground. Where those wild
dances were danced, and their wigwams stood, now stands
Macon, with six thousand inhabitants, and shops and work
shops, hotels and houses, and an annually increasing popu
lation ; and in the middle of its great market stands Ca-
nova's He*be in a fountain, dispensing water. The young
militia of Carolina and Georgia paraded the streets and
the market-place this evening by moonlight. All the
windows were open, and the negro people poured out of
the houses to see the young men march past with their
music. I was up early the next morning, because it was glo
rious ; the world looked young and fresh as morning, and
I myself felt as fresh as it. I went out on a voyage of dis
covery with merely a couple of bananas in my "old man"
(you know that I give my traveling-bag that appellation).
All was as yet still in the city ; every thing looked fresh
and new. I had a foretaste of the young life of the West.
The pale crescent moon sank slowly amid a violet-tinted
mist, which wrapped the horizon in the west, but a heaven

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 323
of the most beautiful blue was above me. Trees and grass
glittered with dew in the rising sunlight, I walked along
streets planted with trees, and, leaving the city, found my
self upon a broad high road, on each side of which lay a
dense, dark forest. I walked on; all was hushed and
silent, but my heart sang. That which I had wished for,
and longed for through the whole of my youth ; that which
I seemed to myself to be more excluded from than any
thing else, a living acquaintance with the manifold forms
of life, had now become mine, had become so in an un
usual degree. Did I not now wander free — free as few
could be, in the great, free New World, free to see and
to become acquainted with whatever I chose? Was I
not free and unfettered as a bird ? My soul had wings,
and the whole world was mine ! Precisely because I am
so alone, that I go so solitarily, relying on God's provi
dence, through the great wide world, and become asso
ciate with it — precisely this it is which gives me such an
unspeakable feeling of vigor and joy; and that I do not
positively know whither I would go, or what I would do
during my solitary wanderings ; this makes me ever ready
to set out on my journeys of discovery, and every thing
within me be so particularly new and invigorating.
I was not, however, on this occasion, wholly without an
object; I knew that at some distance from Macon there
was a beautiful new cemetery, called Rose-hill Cemetery,
and I was now bent upon finding it. In the mean time,
as the road which I had taken seemed to lead down to the
quiet sea, I determined to make inquiries after Rose Hill
at a dwelling which I saw upon a height not far from the
road. It was one of those white, well-built, and comfort
able frame-houses which one so often sees in the rural
districts of America. I knocked at the door, and it was
opened, but by a person who almost shocked me: it was
a young lady, tolerably handsome, but with an appearance
of such a horridly bad temper that— it quite troubled me.

324 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
She looked thoroughly annoyed and worn out, and bade
me, crossly enough, to go as far as the road went, or till
it parted. I went, almost astonished, on so beautiful a
morning, amid such beautiful, youthfully fresh scenes, to
meet with so perfectly inharmonious a human temper.
Ah ! human feelings, dispositions, and tempers are every
where the same, and can every where imbitter life — in
every- new paradise can close the gates of paradise. But
sad impressions could not long remain in my mind this
morning. I advanced onward along the high road, which
now ascended a hill. On the top of this hill I could look
around me, I thought. Arrived here, I saw an iron gate
on my right hand, which led into a beautiful, well-kept
park. I opened the gate without any difficulty, and was
soon in a very beautiful park, the ground of which was
undulating, through which wound roads and foot-paths,
with lofty trees and groves on all hands, and beds of flow
ering, fragrant shrubs and plants. It was some time be
fore I could see a single monument, before I discovered
that I really was in the place consecrated to death, and
that my little traveling fairy had faithfully conducted me
to my goal, Rose-hill Cemetery.
Wandering on through the silent, solitary park, I came
to the banks of a river which ran in gentle windings be
tween banks as beautiful, and as youthfully verdant as
we, in our youth, imagine the Elysian Fields. On my side
of the river I beheld white marble monuments glancing
forth from amid the trees, speaking of the city of the dead.
The trees here and there bent over the water. Large,
splendid butterflies, the names of which I did not know,
flew softly with fluttering wings backward and forward
over the stream, from one bank to the other. . I thought
of the words, "And he showed me a clear river of living
water," &c. And the whole scene was to me, at the same
time, a living symbol of the most beautiful presentiments
of the human race regarding the mystery of death. Here

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 325
was the City of the Dead, and here, beside it, living water
pouring from invisible fountains, whispering in the fields
of death, of life and the resurrection ; here were trees, that
glorious life of nature, bearing abundant fruit, and the
leaves of which serve for the "healing of the heathen;"
there, on the other shore, were the fields of the blessed,
where no weariness and no woe shall ever enter; where
none that are accursed shall come any more, where the
light of God's countenance enlightens all ; and the butter
flies represented the souls, which, now released from earth
ly inthrallment, are borne by their wings from the one
shore to the other, to sip all the flowers of the field !
I seated myself on a piece of rock which shot out into
the river in a convenient, ledge -like form, and beside
which grew some beautiful wild flowers. And here I in
haled deep draughts of the elixir of life, which both na
ture and the spirit presented to me. More glorious re
freshment could not have been offered to a wanderer. And
much such have I received, and shall yet enjoy during my
pilgrimage. I have often thought that it would be well if running
water could be included or introduced into large ceme
teries, the resting-places of the dead, as a symbol at once
beautiful and appropriate. Here, for the first time, have
I seen my idea carried out. The river in this cemetery
is the Ocmulgee, an Indian word for the beautiful. It is
of that warm, red tinge, like English sepia, or chocolate
mixed with milk, which is said to be peculiar to nearly
all the rivers of the South, from the Rio Colorado, in New
Mexico, to the Savannah, and the Pedee, and others, in
the East, and is said to be caused by the reddish sandy
soil peculiar to the Southern States. This tint of water
produces a remarkably beautiful effect in contrast with
the rich, bright green vegetation of the banks. The Oc
mulgee is, besides, a rapid and abundant river, and is in
all respects deserving of its name.

326 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
As my spirit had not by any means failed of its object,
I began to think of my body and my bananas, on which
I made a splendid breakfast. I have become very fond of
this fruit, which is very beneficial to me. I can eat it at
any time of the day, and always find that it agrees with
me. I fancy that I could live on it and bread alone
(N.B. — Swedish clap-bread, I miss that here). A little
lizard, which seemed to study me very profoundly, was
my companion on the rock, and turned its little head this
way and that, with its glimmering black eyes always riv
eted upon me. Neither man nor human dwelling were
within sight. It was a scene of the profoundest solitude.
This beautiful morning was the 1st of May. I wonder
what sort of morning- it was in the park at Stockholm !
I would willingly have spent a day in Macon and its
beautiful neighborhood; but when I returned to my ho
tel, I was met by an agreeable and respectable gentleman,
who was going to the seminary at Montpellier to fetch
his daughter thence, and who invited me to accompany
him. As I did not know whether Bishop Elliott was
aware of the day on which I might be expected at Ma
con, and as I wished, besides this, to spare him the trouble
of sending for me, there being neither rail-road nor public
conveyance to Montpellier, and as the polite gentleman
seemed to be very agreeable, I gratefully accepted his of
fer, begged the hostess of the hotel to take charge of my
portmanteau, and soon was seated most excellently in a
large, comfortable, and spacious covered carriage beside
my kind conductor. We had not, however, driven a coup
le of hours, when we met a dusty traveling carriage, with
in which was Professor Sherbe, whom I had met at Mr.
Emerson's, at Concord, and who was now a teacher at
the seminary in Montpellier. It was the carriage to fetch
me to the Elliotts'. I therefore returned withhim to Ma
con, where the horses rested, and Sherbe refreshed him
self after the fatiguing morning's journey. The after-part

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 327
of the day we spent in great heat on the journey to Mont
pellier, along roads of which you would say "ga n'a pas
de nom /" and the description of which is wearisome — I
continually believed we should be upset — and over bridges
which looked like fabrics simply designed to help the car
riage and the people down into the rivers over which they
were scrambled together — built I can not say. We seem
ed to be in a wild and newly-inclosed country. At Bish
op Elliott's lovely country seat all was again cultivated
and beautiful — a continuation of the romantic and lux
urious district around Macon; and in the bishop himself
I became acquainted with one of the most beautiful ex
amples of that old cavalier race which gives tone and
stamp to the nobler life of the Southern States. Per
sonal beauty and dignity, and the most agreeable man
ners, were, in this mstance, ennobled by great Christian
earnestness. Bishop E. is said to have been in his youth a great
lover of social life, of dancing, and ladies' society, and to
have been a great favorite in the gay world. His conver
sion to religious earnestness is said to have been rapid and
decided. He is now known as one of the most pre-emi
nently religious men in the country, and his kindness and
amiability win all hearts. Mine he also won ; but of that
by-and-by. On the evening of my arrival, I sat with him and his
family on the piazza in front of his house, and saw the
fire-flies shining in the air, among the trees and on the
grass, every where in the park. These little insects pro
duce an effect which delights me during the dark even
ings and nights here. They are small beetles, somewhat
larger, and certainly longer, than our wood-louse, and they
emit, as they fly along, a bright light, quickly shining out,
and then again extinguished, like a lightning-flash, but
soon renewing itself again. It is a phosphoric light, and
presents on incessant display of fire-works in the air and

328 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
on the earth at this season. If these little creatures are
injured, nay, even trampled upon, as I have seen happen by
accident, they still give out light, and shine beautifully as
long as there is any life left in them. Their light is never
Utterly extinguished but with their life, and even outlives
that, a good hour.
The bishop's wife is an agreeable lady, lively and in
tellectual, and truly musical, playing on the piano as the
bird sings, and who seems to have inherited from her In
dian foster-mother an unusual degree of acuteness and
perfection of organization. Her husband often jokes her
on thissubject. The family consists of several pretty chil
dren, among which "the outlaw," the youngest son, a
lovely, good little lad, who leaped about unrestrained with
out shoes and stockings, was my especial favorite.
The family state of mind was not at this moment cheer
ful, from various causes, and the good bishop was evident
ly depressed. How agreeable he was, nevertheless, dur
ing the few hours which he was able to devote to social
intercourse and conversation ! In him I found much of
the Emersonian truth and beauty of mind, both in ex
pression and manner, without any of his critical severity,
and permeated by the spirit of Christian love as by a de
licious summer air. He is one of those rare men of the
South who can see, with a clear and unprejudiced glance,
the institution of slavery on its dark aspect. He believes
in its ultimate eradication within the United States, and
considers that this will be effected by Christianity.
" Already," said he, " is Christianity laboring to elevate
the being of the negro population, and from year to year
their condition improves, both spiritually and physically;
they will soon be our equals as regards morals, and when
they become our equals, they can no longer be our slaves.
The next step will be for them to receive wages as serv
ants ; and I know several persons who are already treat
ing their slaves as suoh."

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 329
This conversation delighted me, for I am convinced that
Elliott's views on this subject are correct.
The school examination was already nearly over, and
a great number of the young girls, the flowers of the
Southern States, had left. Still I saw a part of them,
and heard their compositions in prose and verse. Nearly
all the teachers were from the Northern States; mostly
from New England, and mostly also young, pretty, and
agreeable girls. All were assembled at the house of the
bishop in the evening of the concluding day of the exam
ination. I was not well that day, partly from the heat,
and partly from the fear I have of company, and the du
ties which it imposes upon me ; but, in the midst of the
heat and the company, I was roused by my Scandinavian
spirit, and proposed the game of " Lend me your fire-
stick," mto which all the hitherto stiff young girls en
tered merrily, and there was a deal of laughter, and the
good bishop himself became so amused that he laughed
heartily ; and when we rested from that game, he himself
began another — a quiet and intellectual game, in which
his clever little wife distinguished herself, as did he also.
Thus passed the evening, amid games and merriment, and
I forgot the heat, and weariness, and indisposition, and
went lightly and cheerfully to rest, glad, in particular, that
I had seen the good bishop cheerful.
The next morning I was to set off with Bishop Elliott
and two of the young girls. We assembled, the bishop's
family and I, to morning prayers. But how deeply was
I affected this morning, when, after the customary prayers
(the bishop and we all, as usual, kneeling), I heard him
utter for the stranger who was now visiting in his family
a prayer as warm, as beautiful, as appropriate, as if he
had read the depths of my heart and knew its secret com
bats, its strivings, its object — my own soul's inmost infi
nite prayer. I could merely, with tears in my eyes, press
his hand between mine.

330 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Accompanied by him and the two young ladies, I found
myself once more on the paths of the wilderness between
Montpellier and Macon, where I was received under the
roof of his curate, young Mr. S., and his handsome young
wife ; for the bishop would not permit me to return to the
hotel, which I greatly wished to do. I have had, however,
beneath the young oaks near the curate's house, a conver
sation with him on the trials which the Christian may
experience under ordinary circumstances in the every-day
world, which I shall never forget, because much that had
occurred in my own soul had occurred also in his ; and I
saw in him a cross-bearer — but one greater and more pa
tient than most. On the following day, which was Sun
day, he preached in the Episcopal church of Macon, a small
but handsome building, in which some youthful commu
nicants were to receive the Lord's Supper for the first time.
Elliott's sermon had reference to the occasion; he was
about to consecrate them to the Christian faith, its duties,
trials, and greatness ; to the crown of thorns and the crown
of glory ; an excellent sermon full of truth, in the admo
nition to the life both human and divine. Not brilliant
and dazzling, not merely half true aphorisms ; but the
purest light, shining because it was pure and perfect, and
because it contained the whole truth.
After divine service, I took leave of the noble bishop,
glad to have become acquainted with him, and in him a
true Christian gentleman. I hope to see him again, prob
ably in the West, whither he goes this autumn, to a great
assembly of the clergy. He has now lately returned from
an official journey to Florida, up the beautiful River St.
John, and speaks of the exuberance of natural life on its
shores, the beauty of its flowers and birds, so that I have
a great desire to go there. I parted from Elliott grieving
that human sorrow should thus depress so good, so noble,
and so amiable a man.
If you wish to see upon what spot of all the globe I am

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD 331
now to be found, you must look into the very middle of
the American State of Georgia, where is a small town by
the name of Macon ; and near to it a pretty village of
country houses and gardens, called Vineville, in one of the
prettiest of which I may be found with the amiable and
highly esteemed family of a banker, named M., who came
up to me in the church, after divine service at Macon, and
invited me to his house.
Every where throughout this country, in the South as
well as in the North of the United States, do I meet with
the same cordiality, the same incomparable hospitality.
And my little traveling fairy goes every where with me,
and makes every thing happen for the best ; and should
any thing go contrary, I consider that is for the best also,
and doubt not but it is so, or will be. The morning after
to-morrow I intend returning to Savannah ; I can not now
extend my journey further west, into Alabama, as I wish
ed to do, on account of the heat of the season. I must
contrive to reach Washington before I am melted.
The 8th. When do I think of going home, my Agatha ?
Whenever you and mamma wish it — next month, next
week, in the morning ! My own wishes, it is true, have
been for some time a little expansive ; but they can be
restrained. I have, however, wished to remain in this
hemisphere through another winter, that I might see cer
tain portions of it, and certain things which otherwise I
can not see, and thus obtain a glimpse of the tropical glory
in Cuba. I wish to leave certain impressions time to ma
ture — certain old ones time to fall off under the influence
of the New World. The indisposition under which I suf
fered last winter has deprived me of at least three months,
for during that time I was merely half alive, often merely
in a state of suffering. But as I have said, my child, this
is a floating wish ready to be done away with on the least
call from home ; and in that case we shall see each other
next autumn. No feeling of inward necessity like that

332 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
which bade me come hither bids me now remain here
over the winter. And my wish to stay here will, on the
first earnest call of my beloved ones, dissolve into that of
returning to them ; and I shall, in that case, consider it as
for the best. Merely one word from you and mamma,
and — I hasten home to you !

LETTER XV.
Macon, Vineville, May 8th.
My beloved Mamma, — It grieves me much to know
that you and Agatha have had a more than usually trying
winter. Thank God, however, that it is now past, and
that the sunny side of the year is come with its more
cheerful prospects. The baths of Marstrand will do Aga
tha good ; but we shall never see our poor little friend
strong! With regard to the wish which I have now ex
pressed to Agatha, I can merely here repeat that it will
not be difficult ; and that I am ready to yield it to another
from my beloved ones at home.
How well and happy I am among the kind people in
this hospitable country, which has become to me like a
vast home, mamma has already seen in my letters. I go
from home to home in America, and am every where re
ceived and treated like a child of the house. Besides the
excellent effect of this, as regards the health both of soul
and body, it affords me an opportunity of becoming ac
quainted with the domestic life and the homes of the New
World — with the innermost life of this hemisphere, in a
manner which scarcely any other traveler ever enjoyed,
and which is of the highest consequence to me, because it
is precisely that which I wished to become familiar with
here. But I had scarcely any idea of the degree in which
the kindness and the hospitality of this people would re
spond to this wish. Each family, if it is in any thing like

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 333
easy circumstances, inhabits an entire house, and has, be
sides, generally a little garden, or, at all events a grass-
plot. The house has one or two parlors on the ground
floor, besides eating-room, kitchen, &c. All the chambers
are in the upper stories, and there are always one or two
(sometimes more) guest-chambers. The guest-chamber,
in an American house in the city, is the same thing as for
us, in Sweden, to have a guest-chamber in our country
houses. Every house here, whether in town or country,
must have its room in which to lodge the stranger. And
now if a stranger comes hither from a foreign land quite
alone, and not very large either, it is not a very difficult
thing to lodge her in the guest-chamber ; and in this way
the whole country is one great home, with guest-chambers
for mamma's daughter. Finding there the comforts of my
own home, finding there motherly mistresses of families ;
sisters and brothers with whom I have lived and conversed,
and live and converse as openly and familiarly as with my
own family — all this has made me feel that the kingdom
of heaven is not, after all, so far from earth, at least not
from the homes of earth ; else otherwise how should one
be able to keep up an intercourse with people altogether
strangers, as unreservedly and as delightfully as one could
with the angels of God ?
I am thus now writing to you from a good, beautiful,
and happy home, which comprises three generations : old
Mr. M. and his wife, still handsome and active ; their only
son, a highly esteemed banker of Macon, and his gentle
and motherly wife and their children. The whole family
is remarkably cordial, earnest, and pious, as I often find
families in this country to be, and in the practice of morn
ing and evening devotion, which I like much, although I
sometimes think that the prayers are too long. The two
eldest daughters are handsome, sweet young girls, and
sing better than ladies generally do in this country. A
quiet sorrow broods over the family from the late decease

334 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of a dearly beloved daughter and sister, whose loss seems
especially to weigh upon the mother's heart.
I am living here in the midst of a large garden, in which
are many rare plants, and I hear the hundred-tongued
American mocking-bird every morning singing before my
window. It is very agreeable to hear, but more singular
than charming, and not to compare with our larks and
nightingales, any more than the singing voices here are
to be compared with those of Sweden. Every land has
its own.
There are various features of family life here which I
wish were more general with us. To these belong family
worship morning and evening, and the simple prayer with
which the meal is generally sanctified by the father or
mother of the family, "0 God, bless these Thy gifts to
our profit, and us to Thy service !"
With us it is usually the youngest child of the family
that says grace before meals, if it is said aloud ; and this
also is beautiful, excepting that in this way it seldom has
or can have the true spirit given to it. Most frequently,
however, our form of grace is a silent inclination of the
body, but the thought is of nothing but the meal before
us. On the contrary, I like better our usages at table
than in this country. With us people can enjoy the pleas
ures of conversation, and they need not think about the
dishes, except in so far as enjoying them goes. Every
thing, with us, is done silently and in due order by the
attendants. At a glance from the hostess you are offered
a second supply, but this also silently; the dishes come
round to the guests, each in his turn, and after that peo
ple are not troubled with them. Here it is not so. Here
there is an incessant asking and inviting, so that what
with asking and inviting, and selecting and answering,
there is really no time for the enjoyment of the meal, much
less of conversation. Neither is one able to help one's
self; but the host or hostess, or aunt or uncle, or some

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 335
other polite person, or it may be the servants, which here
in the South are always negroes, help you, and you seldom
get just what you wish for, or as much or as little as you
want, and not on that part of the plate where you wish
to have it. You are asked, for example,
" Will you have butter ?"
" Yes, I thank you."
And with that comes a piece of butter on the edge of
the plate, on which the annoying thought always suggests
itself, that it is certainly exactly where the servant put
his thumb. Then it goes on :
" Will you take fish or meat? chicken or turkey?"
" Chicken, if you please."
" Have you any choice ? The breast or a wing ?"
Then comes, " Will you have pickles ?"
" No, I thank you."
A pause and calm ensues for two minutes. But then
somebody on your left discovers that you have no pickles,
and pickles come to you from the left. " May I help you
to pickles ?"
" No, I thank you."
After a few minutes more somebody on the right sees
that you have no pickles, and hastens to offer you the bot
tle. " Will you not take pickles ?"
" No, I thank you."
You then begin an interesting conversation with your
next neighbor ; and, just as you are about to ask some
question of importance, a person opposite you observes that
you are not eating pickles, and the pickle-bottle comes to
you across the table, and you are called upon to say once
more, in self-justification,
" No, I thank you, not any," and continue your con
versation. But again, at the moment you are waiting for some
reply interesting to you, comes the servant, perhaps the
very best daddy in the whole black world, and shoots the

336 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
pickle bottle in between you and your conversable neigh
bor, and with horror you again behold pickles ready to be
put upon your plate, so that in the end you find yourself
quite overcome by the pickle persecution.
Thus goes on the meal ; one incessant bustle of serving,
which takes from you all enjoyment of the food. I have
at last a regular palpitation of the heart from disquiet and
impatience ; but that is in great measure my own fault —
the fault of my weakness, though something must be al
lowed to the fault of the custom here, which is not quite
in harmony with the higher pleasures of social intercourse.
This custom, however, did not originate in this country.
It belongs to England, and must be put down to the ac
count of England. Our mode of taking our meals and
our customs at table are more like those of France ; and
for this I commend us. In one particular, however, it
seems to me that the homes of the New World excel those
of all other countries, excepting of England, with which
they have a close connection, and that is in cleanliness.
Our very best homes in Sweden are, in this respect, sel
dom so admirable as is usually the case here ; for all here
is kept neat and clean, from the bed-rooms to the kitchen,
and the servants have the same smartness and neatness of
attire, the same suavity of manner as the lady and daugh
ters of the house. An American house and home is in
many respects the ideal of a home, if I except the appa
ratus for warming their houses in the Northern States.
Every thing is to be found there which can make exist
ence fresh, and comfortable, and agreeable, from the bath
room to the little garden, in the town as well as in the
country, with its trees, even if they be but few, its beau
tiful grass-plot and plants, which are frequently trained
on trellises on the walls, whence their flowers, wafted by
the wind, diffuse their fragrance through the windows.
And if here the mistress of the house, especially in the
South, has lighter domestic cares than our ladies as re-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 337
gards housekeeping (for fresh meat and vegetables may
be had every day, at all seasons, in "this country, where
the year may be reckoned by summers, not by winters,
as with us and which compels us to dry, and salt, and lay
in stores during the living portion of the year, in prepara
tion for the dead), yet has she much to look after and to
provide for, so that house and home may be supplied with
not merely the material things, but with those that shall
beautify it; and this more especially in the Southern
States, where all the domestics are of the negro race,
which is by nature careless and deficient in neatness. I
admire what I saw of the Southern ladies and mistresses
of families. The young girls, on the contrary, I should
like to see a little more active in the house, and more
helpful to their mothers in various ways. But it is not
the custom; and the parents, from mistaken kindness,
seem not to wish their daughters to do any thmg except
amuse themselves, and enjoy liberty and life as much as
possible. I believe that they would be happier if they
made themselves more useful. The family relationship
between parents and children seems to me particularly
beautiful, especially as regards the parents toward the
children. The beautiful, maternal instinct is inborn ia
the American women, at least in all its fervent, heartfelt
sentiment; and better, more affectionate family-fathers
than the men of America I have seen nowhere in the
world. They have, in particular, a charming weakness
for — daughters. And God bless them for it ! I hope the
daughters may know how to return it with interest.
Now must I bid mamma adieu, as I am going out with
the family here to visit some ancient Indian graves— ^In
dian mounds as they are called. They are a sort of bar
rows, now overgrown with trees, and are the sole memo
rials which remain here of the original inhabitants of the
country, with the exception of the names which they gave
to rivers and mountains, and which, for the most part, are
Vol. I.— P

338 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
still retained, These names are symbolic, and are gener
ally melodious in sound. It is not more than twenty
years since the last Indian tribes in Georgia were driven
thence by an armed force ; and I have heard eye-witness
es relate the scene, how on the morning when they were
compelled to leave their huts, their smoking hearths, their
graves, and were driven away, men, women, and children,
as a defenseless herd, the air was filled with their cry of
lamentation ! Now no Indians are to be met with in
Georgia or Carolina, though in Alabama, the furthest
state west, may still be found tribes of Choctaw and
Chickasaw Indians. Lively picnics are now held on these
ancient Indian mounds.
% I have for two nights in succession dreamed most liv-
ingly that mamma was here — was come to America to see
me. I was very glad of it, but at the same time much
surprised, because Agatha was not with her, and I thought
in my dream, it is impossible that mamma could leave
Agatha alone — " It must be a 'dream !" And a dream,
and a foolish dream it was, certainly, my sweet mamma ;
but I should be very glad that one part of it were true,
namely, that I saw you looking so well and so happy. If
I could only see that, then would I have the joy of em
bracing mamma, not in sleep and in a dream, but in wake
ful reality ! *
To-morrow I set off for Savannah.
Savannah, May 11th. And here I now am, sweet mam
ma*, after an affectionate parting from the amiable family
in Vineville, whom I was sorry to leave. I got rid of a
headache as soon as possible last evening, after the fa
tiguing day's journey by rail-way in the heat of the sun,
the smoke, and the steam, during which my little basket
of bananas was my only comfort and support. Long live
the banana !
To-day I have received visits and flowers — among the
latter a Magnolia grandiflora, a magnificent flower, as

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 339
noble as it is beautiful, a child of primeval light — and
among the former, one from a piquant young lady, who
was herself married at fourteen years of age — she is now
only seventeen, but looks as if she were twenty — and
who will carry me off this afternoon on a promenade to
Bonaventura — some romantic spot*- Her dark romantic
eyes have something quite interesting in them.
Later. I have had a visit from the greatest autograph
collector in the world, Mr. T., who kindly invited me to
his house and home at Savannah! and here comes now
my Swiss professor, and will talk to me of poetry and
religion, and the spirit of things ; and now it is dinner
time, and I must think about my body, and therefore I
must make an end of all. But first a kiss — on the paper
and in spirit to my beloved !

LETTER XVI.
Savannah, May 14th, 1850.
" The greatest autograph collector in the world" is also
the most frisaidly, the best-hearted man in the world, and
so kind to me that I shall always think of him with grati
tude. His collection of autographs is the first which I have
over been able to examine with interest and respect — not
because it ocoupies many folios, and has* a whole room
appropriated to it, and could not be fully examined, in less
than six or seven months, which certainly might inspire
respect, but because a portrait is appended to the hand
writing of each distinguished person, mostly an excellent m
oopper-plate engraving, together with some letter or inter
esting document belonging to the history of that indi
vidual. All this gives to the autograph collection of Mr.
T. a real historical or biographical interest.
His house is one of those excellent, agreeable ones
which I described in my former letter. His kind little

340 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
wife, two younger sons, and the young wife of the eldest
son, constitute the family ; a quiet, kind, hospitable fam
ily, over which death, however, has lately cast its shadow.
Here, too, the mothers have sorrowed most ; and here sor
row two mothers — the elder, her eldest, grown-up son ; the
younger, her little boy, both lately deceased !
Savannah is the most charming of cities, and reminds
me of "the maiden in the green- wood." It is, even more
than Charleston, an assemblage of villas which have come
together for company. In each quarter is a green market
place, surrounded with magnificent, lofty trees ; and in
the centre of each verdant market-place leaps up a living
fountain, a spring of fresh water, gushing forth, shining in
the sun, and keeping the green-sward moist and cool.
Savannah might be called the city of the gushing springs ;
there can not be, in the whole world, a more beautiful city
than Savannah ! Now, however, it is too warm ; there is
too much sand, and too little water. But I like Savannah.
I find here a more vigorous spiritual life, a more free and
unprejudiced looking at things and circumstances, in par
ticular at the great question of slavery, than in Charleston,
and I have here become acquainted with sonje excellent,
true people — people who will look the question directly
and fairly in the face ; who, themselves slaveholders from
the more remote times, are yet laboring for the instruction
of the slave, for* emancipation and free colonization. Ah,
Agatha ! I have felt on this occasion like a weary and
thirsty wanderer of the desert, who has arrived all at
once at a verdant oasis, where palms wave and fresh
.waters spring forth, and I have watered with tears of joy
the flowers of freedom on the soil of slavery ; for I suffered
greatly at first in society, from the endeavors of many peo
ple to thrust upon me their contracted views, and from a
want of honesty, if not in the intention, yet in the point
of view from which they regarded slavery. One evening,
however, when I was more than usually annoyed, and quite

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 34 j
disconcerted by the observations of the people who came
to see me, I found my — deliverance.
But I must give the history in the form which it has
assumed in my memory.
DIFFERENT IMPRESSIONS.
I was in company
With men and women,
And heard small talk
Of little things,
Of poor pursuits,
And narrow feelings,
And narrow views
Of narrow minds.
I rushed out
To breathe more freely,
To look on nature.
The evening star
Rose pure and bright,
The western sky
Was flushed with light,
The crescent moon
Shone sweetly down
Amid the shadows
Of the town.
Where whispering trees
And fragrant flowers
Stood hushed in silent,
Fragrant bowers.
All was romance,
All loveliness,
Wrapped in a trance
Of mystic bliss.
I looked on
In bitterness,
And sighed, and asked
Why the great Lord
Made such rich beauty
For such a race
Of little men 1
I was in company
With men and women ;
I heard noble talk
Of noble things,

342 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Of manly doings,
And manly suffering,
And man's heart beating
For all mankind.
The evening star
Seemed now less bright ;
The western sky
Of paler light.
All nature's beauty and romance —
The realm of Pan-
Retired at once,
A shadow but to that of Man '.
Since then my world here has changed, as well as my
feelings, toward the Southern life and people. My mental
vision has become clear, so that I can perceive a noble
South in the South, even as its own hills arise and enable
me to breathe across its plain of sand the invigorating
atmosphere of the hills, and which will yet become to the
people of the South that which Moses and Joseph were
to the children of Israel ; for when people speak of the
slave race of the South, it is a mistake merely to imply
the blacks. And it is also unjust to think of the people
of the Southern States as a population of slaves and slave
owners. Of a truth, there exists a free people even in the
Southern Slave States, who are silently laboring in the
work of emancipation. And though they may be but a
small number, "doubt not, little flock, for it is your Fa
ther's good pleasure to give you the kingdom !"
It appears to me probable, from what I have seen and
heard, that Georgia will become one of the leading -pow
ers in this advancing work of emancipation. Georgia,
the youngest of the first thirteen States of the Union, was
one of the most prominent in the work of American inde
pendence, and the spirit of freedom has been powerful here
from the beginning.
All nations preserve traces of their origin, and receive
a certain stamp from the men and the circumstances which
determine the character of their youthful minds. This is

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 343
quite natural. And it is easy to see a cause for the more
free and fresh spirit which prevails in Georgia if we reflect
upon the character of the first founder of the state, James
Oglethorpe, and the colony which grew up under his pro
tection. I must tell you something about this man, whose his
tory I have lately read, and of his work, because among
so much which is here incomplete, halting, imperfect, from
which the eye "turns away dissatisfied, it is a refreshment
to fix it upon a human life which will stand the test,
which pursued one great purpose from the commence
ment to the close of its working-day, labored for it and
brought it to a successful issue ; upon a man whose sole
object in life was to liberate the captive, to make the un
fortunate happy, and who, for this purpose, founded a
state !
It is not much more than a hundred years since James
Oglethorpe came to this country at the head of a little
band of emigrants, and pitched his tent upon the high
ground between the River Savannah and the sea, where
now stands the city of Savannah. He was an English
man, and had spent a richly diversified life at the uni
versity, in the army, and as a member of Parliament. A
man of heroic character, with a heart full of benevolence
and energy, he was the first who sought to alleviate the
sufferings of debtors, which at that time were extreme in
England ; these unfortunate men being often immured
in prison for life on account of the smallest debt. As a
commissioner for the inspection of jails, he obtained the
liberation of great numbers, and then sought out for them,
as well as for persecuted Protestants, an asylum, a home
of freedom in the free lands of the New World, where
poverty should not be opprobrium, where true piety might
freely worship God in its own way.
It was not difficult for him to find in England men
who could take an interest in a grand scheme for human

344 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
happiness. A society was organized for the carrying out
of Oglethorpe's plan, which became realized by a grant
from George II. of the land- which lay between the Sa
vannah and Alatamaha, from the head springs of those
rivers due west of the Pacific, and which was placed for
twenty-one years under the guardianship of a corporation
" in trust for the poor." The common seal of the corpo
ration bore on one side a group of silk- worms at their la
bor, with the motto, Non sibi sed aliis — '-' Not for them
selves, but for others" — thereby expressive of the disin
terested intention of the originators, who would not re
ceive for their labors any temporal advantage or emolu
ment whatever. On the reverse side was represented the
Genius of Georgia, with a cap of liberty on her head, a
spear in one hand, and a horn of plenty in the other.
The reported wealth and beauty of this land of promise
awoke the most brilliant hopes for the future.
Oglethorpe sailed from England in November, 1732,
with his little band of liberated captives and oppressed
Protestants, amounting in number to about one hundred
and twenty persons, and after a voyage of fifty-seven days
reached Charleston. Immediately after his arrival in the
New World, he proceeded up the Savannah River, and
landed on a high bluff, which he at once selected as the
site of his capital, and where Savannah now stands. At
the distance of half a mile dwelt the Yamacraw tribe of
Indians, who, with their chief Tomo-chichi at their head,
sought alliance with the strangers.
" Here is a little present," said the red men, stretching
out before him a buffalo-hide, painted on the inner side
with an eagle's head and feathers. " The eagle's feathers
are soft, and betoken love. The buffalo's hide is warm
and betokens protection. Therefore love and protect our
little families!"
Oglethorpe received with kindness these friendly dem
onstrations.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 345
It was on the first day of February when the little
band of colonists pitched their tents on the banks of the
river. Oglethorpe's tent stood beneath four tall pine-trees,
and for twelve months he had no other shelter. Here in
this beautiful region was the town of Savannah laid out,
according as it stands at the present day, with its regular
streets and large square in each quarter of the town,
while through the primeval woods a road was formed to
the great garden by the river side, which was soon to be
come a nursery-ground for European fruits and the won
derful natural products of America.
Such was the commencement of the commonwealth of
Georgia. The province became already in its infancy an
asylum for the oppressed and suffering, not only among
the people of Great Britain, but of Europe itself. The
fame of this asylum in the wilderness rang through Eu
rope. The Moravian brethren, persecuted in their native
land, received an invitation from England of a free pas
sage to Georgia for them and for their children, provisions
for a whole season, a grant of land to be held free for ten
years, with all the privileges and rights of native English
citizens, and the freedom to worship God in their own
way : this invitation they joyfully accepted.
On the last day of October, in the year 1733, with their
Bibles and hymn books, with their covered wagons, in
which were conveyed their aged and their little children,
and one wagon containing their few worldly goods, the
little evangelical band set forth in the name of God, after
prayers and benedictions, on their long pilgrimage. They
sailed up the stately Rhine between its vineyards and
ruined castles, and thence forth upon the great sea in the
depth of winter. When they lost sight of land, and the
majesty of ocean was revealed to them, they burst forth
into a hymn of praise. When the sea was calm and the
sun rose in its splendor, they sang "How beautiful is cre
ation — how glorious the Creator !" When the wind was
P2

346 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
adverse, they put up prayers ; when it changed, thanks
givings. When they sailed smoothly with a favoring gale,
they made holy covenants like Jacob of old ; when the
storm raged so that not a sail could be set, they lifted up
their voices in prayer, and sang amid the storm, for " to
love the Lord Jesus gave great consolation."
Thus arrived they at the shore of the New World;
Oglethorpe met them at Charleston, and bade them wel
come ; and five days afterward the far wayfarers pitched
their tents near Savannah. Their place of residence was
to be yet further up the country. Oglethorpe provided
them with horses, and accompanied them through the wil
derness, through forest and morass. By the aid of Indian
guides and blazed trees, they proceeded onward till they
had found a suitable spot for their settlement : it was on
the banks of a little stream, and they called it Ebenezer.
There they built their dwellings, and there they resolved
to erect a column in token of the providence of God,
which had brought them safely to the ends of the earth.
The same year was the town of Augusta founded,
which became a favorite place of resort for the Indian
traders. The fame of Oglethorpe extended through the
wilderness, and in May came the chiefs of the eight tribes
of the Muskhogees to make an alliance with him. Long
King, the tall old chief of the Oconas, was the spokesman
for the eight.
" The Great Spirit which dwells every where around
us," said he, " and who gave breath to all men, has sent
the Englishmen to instruct us." He then bade them
welcome to the country south of the Savannah, as well as
to the cultivation of such lands as their people had not
used ; and, in token of the sincerity of his words, he laid
eight bundles of buckskins at the feet of Oglethorpe.
The chief of the Coweta tribe arose and said, " We are
come five-and-twenty days' journey to see you. I have
never desired to go down to Charleston, lest I should die

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 347
by the way ; but when I heard that you were come, and
that you are good men, I came down to you that I might
hear good things." He then gave the European exiles
leave to summon such of their kindred as loved them out
of the Creek towns, so that they might live together.
" Recall," added he, " the Yamassees, that they may be
buried at peace among their forefathers, and that they
may see their graves before they die."
A Cherokee appeared among the English : " Fear noth
ing," said Oglethorpe, " but speak freely."
" I always speak freely," replied the mountain chief.
" Wherefore should I be afraid ? I am now among friends ;
I feared not when I was among enemies." And the set
tlers and the Cherokees became friends.
A Choctaw chief, " Red-Shoes," came the following year,
and proposed to trade: " We come from a great distance^"
said he, " and we are a great nation. The French built
forts among us. We have long traded with them, but
they are poor in goods ; we desire that a trade may be
opened between you and us."
The good faith which Oglethorpe kept in his transac
tions with the Indians, his noble demeanor and bearing,
the sweetness of his temper, won for him the confidence
of the red men. He was pleased with their simple man
ners and customs, and endeavored to enlighten their minds,
and to instruct them in the knowledge of that God whom
they ignorantly worshiped.
Oglethorpe framed laws for Georgia ; one of which for
bade the introduction of intoxicating liquors, another the
introduction of slavery. " Slavery," said Oglethorpe, " is
contrary to the Gospel, as well as to the fundamental law
of England. We will not permit a law which allows
such horrid crime." And when, later, various of " the
better class" of people endeav.ored to introduce negro slaves,
Oglethorpe resolutely opposed it ; declared that if slaves
were introduced into Georgia, he would no longer concern

348 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
himself with the colony. He continued steadfast, enforc
ing his determination by his almost arbitrary power, al
though many of the planters, in the belief that they could
not successfully cultivate the land with white laborers,
threatened to leave the colony.
Oglethorpe continued with unabated activity to labor
for the well-being and prosperity of Georgia, extending
and securing its boundaries, establishing towns, and regu
lating the commonwealth. He visited the Evangelical
brethren at Ebenezer, laid out the streets for their new
town, and praised their good management. Within a
few years the product of raw silk within this little colony
had increased to ten thousand pounds' weight yearly, be
sides which indigo had become a staple article of traffic
In the most earnest manner these colonists opposed the
use of negro slaves, maintaining that the whites could
equally well labor under the sun of Georgia. Their re
ligion united them with each other; they settled their
disputes among themselves. Every occurrence in life be
came significant of a divine providence, and the fervency
of their worship disturbed not the calmness of their judg
ment. They had peace, and were happy.
From the Moravian towns Oglethorpe journeyed south
ward, passing through the narrow inland channels where
the shores were covered by woods of pine, evergreen oaks,
and cedars, which grew down to the water's edge, and
which resounded with the melody of birds. On St. Si
mon's Island, fire having cleared the grass from an old
Indian field, the streets of Frederica were laid out, and,
amid the caroling of hundreds of birds, a fort was con
structed on a bluff commanding the river.
The Highlands of Scotland had already sent a company
of bold mountaineers, who sought for a home under Ogle
thorpe's banner; and, now attired in the Highland cos
tume, Oglethorpe sailed up the Alatamaha to visit them
at Darien, where they had taken up their quarters. By

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 349
the help of these brave men, Oglethorpe determined to
extend the boundaries of Georgia as far as St. John's River,
in Florida ; and the Indians of the Coweta tribe hearing
the rumor of war, sent forth their gayly-painted warriors
to wield the hatchet in aid of Oglethorpe. Long speeches
and exchange of presents were followed by the wild war-
dance, and the Muskhogees and the Cherokees gathered
around him to renew their former friendly alliance.
A great council of the Muskhogee chiefs was held at
Cusitas, on the Chattahoochy ; and Oglethorpe, making
his way by solitary paths, fearless of the noonday heat or
the dews of night, or of the treachery of hireling Indians,
came to this great assembly to talk to his red friends — to
distribute presents, to drink the sacred saf key with the
Creek warriors, to smoke the pipe of peace, and to conclude
a firm alliance with them in war or in peace.
In 1734 Oglethorpe made a voyage to England, and won
universal favor for his young colony. In the year 1736 he
returned, taking with him three hundred emigrants, whom
he cared for like a father ; and having reached land, he
ascended with them a rising ground, not far by Tybee
Island, where they all fell on their knees and returned
thanks to God for having safely conducted them to Geor
gia. Among these was a second company of Moravians,
men who had "a faith above fear," and who, in the sim
plicity of their lives, seemed to revive the primitive Chris
tian communities, where state and rank were unknown,
but where Paul the tent-maker, and Peter the fisherman,
presided with the demonstration of the Spirit.
With this company came John and Charles Wesley;
Charles the secretary of Oglethorpe, and both burning
with desire to become apostles of Christ among the In
dians, and to live in the New World "a life wholly and
entirely consecrate to the glory of God." They desired to
make of Georgia a religious colony. " The age in which
religious and political excitements were united was pass-

350 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ed," adds Bancroft, from whose "History of the United
States" I have taken the above narrative, " and with the
period of commercial influence fanaticism had no sym
pathy. Mystic piety, more intense by its aversion to the
theories of the eighteenth century, appeared as the rain
bow ; and Wesley was as the sower, who comes after the
clouds have been lifted up -and the floods have subsided,
and scatters his seed in the serene hour of peace."
After this we find Oglethorpe at the head of the English
army in the war with the Spaniards in Florida ; and here
he was brave and victorious, foremost always in danger,
sharing with the common soldier all the hardships of the
camp, and even amid all the excitements of war regard
ful of the property of the peaceable inhabitants, and in
victory humane and gentle toward his captives. In July,
1742, Oglethorpe ordered a general thanksgiving through
out Georgia for the re-establishment of peace.
Thus was Georgia colonized and defended ; and when
its founder and preserver, James Oglethorpe, approached
his ninetieth year* he was able to look back to a good
work, to a flourishing state — the boundaries of which he
extended and established, and the spiritual and material
life of Which he was the founder, so that it well merited
the praise that was given to it in England — " Never has a
colony been founded on a more true or more humane plan."
He was spoken of, even in the last year of his life, as
one of the finest figures that had ever been seen — a type
of venerable old age. His faculties and his senses were
as fresh as ever, and his eye as bright ; on all occasions
he was heroic, romantic, and full of chivalric politeness —
the most beautiful impersonation of all the virtues and
endowments which distinguish our ideal of a true cavalier.
And so warm was his heart, so active his zeal for the well-
being of humanity, it mattered not of what race or nation,
that long after his death his name became a watch-word
for vast benevolence of heart.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 351
After his death, many of his high-minded laws were an
nulled ; intoxicating liquors were introduced into Georgia,
and, by degrees, even negro slavery. But the spirit of free
dom and hospitality which was the life of Oglethorpe's life,
which was the animating influence of the earliest settlers
of Georgia, lives still in Georgia. I see it, I hear it, I feel
it. And the emigration hither from the Northern States,
and in particular from the states of New England, and
which increases more and more, and which has exercised
an influence upon the people and the institutions, are to
me a proof of this, and a pledge for the still further devel
opment of the life of freedom. I observe this, also, in the
more free and happier life of the negroes in Savannah ; in
the permission which is given them there to have their
own churches, and where they themselves preach. Be
sides this, much is done in Georgia for the instruction of
the negro sla,ves in Christianity, for their emancipation,
and their colonization at Liberia, on the coast of Africa.
And every year a vessel goes thence from Savannah with
colored emigrants from among the emancipated slaves of
the Slave States, provided with the necessaries of life, mon
ey, and furniture for their dwellings. I have seen various
letters from this colony written by the emigrants them
selves, which showed the good understanding which ex
isted between them and the mother states, and various in
dividuals there, in particular, through their religious as
sociations ; for each religious denomination maintains its
connection with its members in the African colony, which
is for the rest under the direction of its own colored offi
cials and ministers.
The more I see of these colored people, the more is my
curiosity and my interest aroused; not that I see among
the negroes any thing great, any thing which makes them
superior to the whites. I can not divest my mind of the
idea that they are, and must remain, inferior as regards
intellectual capacity. But they have peculiar and un-

352 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
usual gifts. Their moral sense is, it seems to me, as pure
and delicate as their musical perception ; their sensibility
is acute and warm, and their good temper and cheerful
disposition are evidently the peculiar gifts of nature, or,
more correctly, gifts of God. And though they may not
have shown themselves original in creative genius, yet
there is in their way of comprehending and applying what
they learn a really new and refreshing originality: that
may be heard in their peculiar songs — the only original
people's songs which the New World possesses — as soft,
sweet, and joyous as our people's songs are melancholy.
The same may be observed in their comprehension of the
Christian doctrines, and their application of them to daily
life. Last Sunday I went to the church of the Baptist ne
groes here with Mr. F., one of the noble-minded and act
ive descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, who resides in
Savannah, and who has shown me much kindness. The
name of the preacher was Bentley, I believe, and he was
perfectly black. He spoke extempore With great anima
tion and ease. The subject of his discourse was the ap
pearance of the Savior on earth, and the purpose for which
he came. " I remember," said he, " on one occasion,
when the President of the United States came to Geor
gia, and to our town of Savannah — I remember what an
ado the people made, and how they went out in great car
riages to meet him. The carriages were decorated very
grandly, and the great cannon pealed forth one shot after
another. And so the president came into the town in a
grand, beautiful carriage, and drove to the best house in
the whole town, and that was Mrs. Scarborough's house!
And when he came there he seated himself in the window.
But a cord was drawn around the house, to keep us ne
groes and other poor folks from coming too near. We must
stand outside, and only get a sight of the president as he
sat at the window. But the great gentlemen and the rich

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 353
folks, they went freely up the steps and in at the door,
and shook hands with him. Now, did Christ come in this
way ? Did he come only to the rich? did he shake hands
only with them ? No ! Blessed be the Lord ! he came
to the poor ! He came to us, and for our sakes, my broth
ers and sisters !" " Yes, yes ! Amen ! He came to us !
Blessed be His name ! Amen ! Halleluiah !" resounded
through the chapel for a good minute or two; and the
people stamped with their feet, and laughed and cried,
with countenances beaming with joy. The preacher then
continued to tell how Christ proved himself to be the mes
senger of the Highest. " Now imagine, my friends," said
he, " that we here are a plantation of negro laborers. But
the owner of the plantation is away; he is a long, long
way off, over the sea in England, -and the negroes on the
plantation have never seen his face. They have never
seen the face of any man higher than the overseer. But
now they hear that the owner of the plantation, their lord
and master, is coming there. And they are very curious
to see him, and they inquire about him every day. One
day they see the overseer coming, and with him another
gentleman whom they have never seen before. But his
dress is not so good, and much simpler than the overseer's ;
the overseer has a fine, buttoned coat on, a white cravat,
a handsome hat on his head, and besides that, gloves on
his hands. The strange gentleman, on the contrary, has
no gloves on, and is dressed in quite a simple, careless
way. And if the negroes had not known the overseer,
they never would have believed that this was the master.
They see, however, that the strange gentleman gives or
ders to the overseer that he shall send one negro here and
another there, that many shall be called to him and to
the overseer, and the negroes must do all that he wishes
and commands, and from this they can see that he is the
master." How living and excellent is this representation of negro-

354 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
life to the negroes, drawn as it is fresh from their every
day experience!
In the afternoon of the same day, I also accompanied
Mr. F. to hear another negro preacher. This was an old
mulatto, a powerful, handsome old man, who had acquired
some property, and who was greatly looked up to by his
people as a preacher and baptizer. He resembled the
whites both in appearance and manner. He mentioned,
during his discourse, that he was ninety-five years old;
and he related his religious experience; his spiritual af
flictions and agony, which were so extreme as to drive
him almost to self-murder ; and, lastly, his feelings when
the comprehension of Christ, and salvation through Him,
became clear to his understanding. " The whole world
became changed to me," continued he ; " every thing
seemed as if new-born, and beaming with new beauty.
Even the companion of my life, my wife, seemed to me to
be again young, and shone before me in new beauty, and
I could not help saying to her, ' Of a truth, my wife, I
love thee !' " A young woman on the bench where I sat
bent down, almost choked with laughter. I bent down
also, but to shed tears, which pleasure, sympathy, my own
life's experience, and the living, child-like description, so
faithful to nature, had called forth. After the sermon Mr.
F. and I shook hands with the powerful old Andrew
Marshall. The choir in the gallery — negroes and negresses — sang
quartettes, as correctly and beautifully as can be imag
ined. At the close of the service a woman came forth,
and, kneeling before the altar, seemed to be under great
distress of mind, and the old preacher prayed for her, in
her sorrows and secret grief, a beautiful and heartfelt pray
er. Thus to pray in the chapel for the afflicted seems to
be customary among the Baptists in this country.
May 15th. It is now very warm here, and the heat is
enervating. If it were not so I should enjoy myself in

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 355
Savannah, in the family where I am staying ; where the
master and mistress, as well as the domestics — negroes —
seem all to be influenced hy the same spirit of good tem
per and kindness, and where I have made some very agree
able acquaintance. Among those whom I love most are
a family named M'L, one of those who labor for the in
struction and colonization of the slaves. The daughters
themselves instruct the little negro children on their fa
ther's estate, and praised very much their facility of learn
ing ; in particular, they seemed to have pleasure in pic
tures and stories, and easily understood them. This gave
me .great delight ; and what a beautiful sphere of action
is opened by this means for the young daughters of the
South ! But I fear they are yet few who embrace it. I
have arranged, next year, to take a pleasure trip with this
amiable family to Florida, where they have a son residing.
But man proposes, and God disposes !
There are many beautiful places in the neighborhood
of Savannah, on the high banks of the river, and the num
ber of beautiful trees and flowers is untold. It delighted
me to hear Swedish family names in many of the appella
tions of these, and thus to recognize tokens of Linnaeus ;
as, for instance, I here found Kudbeckia Lagerstromia, a
very pretty shrub with pale-red flowers, resembling Tel-
landsia, and many others. The kind ladies here — and I
have become acquainted with some extraordinary women
among them — drove me about in their carriages to see
the places and forest parks in the neighborhood. Bona-
ventura is a natural park, and is one of the remarkable
features of the place and the South. The splendid live-
oaks, growing in groups and avenues, with their long
hanging moss, form on all sides the most beautiful Goth
ic arcades, and when the evening sun casts his glowing
beams through these deep, gloomy vistas, the most lovely
effects are produced. The young artists of America ought
to come here and study them.

356 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
A portion of this beautiful park is being converted into
a burial-ground, and white marble grave-stones raise them
selves below the hanging mosses of the live-oaks. This
moss vegetation is now in blossom ; the blossom is a small
green button-like flower of the pentandria class, with a
delicate scent. Other magnificent flowers of the South,
the Magnolia grandiflora, the Cape jasmin, and many
others, are now beginning to be generally in bloom, but
the scent of these is strong, and too powerful for my taste.
The scent of the woods is overpowering, and not whole
some. Ladies of delicate complexions become flushed,
and suffer from riding through the woods at this season.
The flowers operate upon them like poison. To me they
appeared suffocating. What odor is there so pleasant and ,
refreshing as that of our fir- woods and our lilies of the
valley ?
To-day, when I went out alone to a little grove in the
midst of the plain of sand, near the town, I found an abund
ance of the most beautiful strawberries, and wondered
how it could be that the negro children left them in peace.
I gathered and tasted them, nay I did not taste them, for
they had no sign of taste. They were a kind of spurious
strawberry. Anpther spurious beauty in the green fields
of the South is a little, low shrub, a kind of Cactus, which
is very common, called "the prickly pear," and which bears
a beautiful pale-yellow flower, like a single mallow, but
which is full of an invisible kind of minute hooked prickle,
and after gathering a flower it is many days before you
can free your fingers from the tiny spines.
One beautiful institution which I visited here is the
asylum for the orphan children of all nations and all re
ligious persuasions. It is under the direction of ladies,
also of various nations and religious opinions. I visited
it with one of the directresses, who was a Jewess, and
much attached to her peculiar religious doctrines, which,
according to her representation, approached those of the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 357
Christian Unitarian. The asylum was under the care of
Catholic Sisters of Mercy, women with good countenances,
but horrible bonnets or hooded caps, which would require
a person to be very far gone in world renunciation before
they could endure. Both the ohildren and the establish
ment were a gladdening sight. The children are allowed
to make choice of the religious sect to which they will
attach themselves, and I saw three young sisters, one of
whom was a Methodist, the second a Baptist, and the third
a member of the Episcopalian Church.
I must now prepare to leave Savannah and go to Au
gusta, higher up in the state. I think of ascending the
river from Savannah, although I am told that the journey
is wearisome and the scenery monotonous. But I greatly
prefer the steam-boat to the rail-way.
I shall write more from Augusta, my little Agatha !
P.S. — When I come home I shall bring you lovely work-
baskets, made from the scales of the fir-cone, and lined
inside with red silk, which these kind ladies have given
me, and which are their own work. They look queer,
but very ornamental.

LETTER XVII.
Columbia, South Carolina, May 25th.
What a long time it is, my sweet Agatha, since I last
conversed with you ! but days and hours rush on like the
river, and I have not many minutes to myself.
I wrote to you last at Savannah. Soon after that I
left the city, overwhelmed with kindness and presents
from its friendly inhabitants up to the last moment. I
shall always have to thank my host, Mr. T., for his heart
felt kindness and good-will toward me. At the last mo
ment he compelled me to allow him to pay for my jour
ney to Augusta. People talk about the Americans' spirit

358 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLi).
of acquisition, and with justice ; but with the same jns^
tice they ought to speak of their spirit of giving. They
love to give, even as they love to acquire.
Just as I was about to go on board, there came a Swed
ish sea-captain, who told some persons of my acquaintance
in Savannah that he wished to see me, because he was
brought up at the same place as myself and Jenny Lind.
There was not much that was agreeable for me to remem
ber in the educational establishment where we three
could have been all together. And when my sea-faring
countryman presented himself before me, and we shook
hands, he asked, " Was not mademoiselle brought up in
Stockholm?" I assented. " Ay, ay !" said he, with a significant nod
of the head, " it is so ; I was certain of it, and in Stock
holm I was also brought up !"
We shook hands again, and the good man — for he
looked like a hearty, good fellow — gave me likewise a
present, which I shall bring home with me to Sweden.
Almost sinking under presents, which to the last moment
were laid in my arms, I set off.
This voyage up the Savannah River, which I had been
warned against as slow and monotonous, was more agree
able than I can tell. The weather was charming, and
as the stream was strong and the river swollen from the
spring-floods, the voyage was slow ; I had plenty of time
to observe the banks between which the river wound, and
though mile after mile and hour after hour presented me
with only one scene, yet this scene was primeval forest.
Masses of foliage from innumerable trees and shrubs, and
beautiful climbing plants, seemed resting upon the water
on each side of the river, the shores of Georgia and Car
olina. Lofty, deep, and impenetrable extended the prime
val forest, as I was told, for many miles inland.
But here it existed in its original luxuriance and splen
dor. I seemed to myself to be present on the third day

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 359
of creation, when God called forth the vegetable world,
"every tree whose seed was in itself after its kind." On
the day when the earth opened its maternal breast and
produced all the various trees and flowers of the earth,
Savannah, with its red-brown water, was a river newly
sprung from chaos, and rich with its essence, nor yet had
had time to settle itself and clear its water, when the green
plants of earth sprang forth in wild luxuriance ; it seemed
to play with them, and they, newly upsprung from, the
water, seemed to have no wish to part from it, but half
longed to fall back into it. Flower-laden, climbing plants
flung themselves to the very tops of the trees, and then
fell down to dip again in the waves of the river. From
amid these masses of verdure, forming porticoes, pyramids,
and the most fantastic and massive creations, glanced forth,
now and then, a Catalpa, all flaming with its yellowish-
white flowers ; dark-green, solemn magnolias lifted up their
snow-white blossoms toward the light, beautiful and pure
as it. I noticed sycamores, amber-bearing poplars, tulip-
trees, with their splendid yellow and red flecked blossoms,
mulberries, many kinds of oak, elms, and willows as I went
along, and high above all towered cypresses, with their
long, depending mosses, spreading their vast arms abroad,
like patriarchs over the lower tribes of vegetation. Not a
human dwelling was to be seen on these shores, not a trace
of human activity. There was neither the sight nor sound
of animal life, and although alligators are numerous in the
Savannah River, I did not see one ; not a bird sang, and all
was silent and hushed, even the wind itself. It was a deso
lation full of fantastic beauty, and just now in the pride
of its splendor. At length I saw, sitting on the naked
boughs of a dead fir-tree, two. large birds of prey, remind
ing the beholder that "death was come into the world."
Thus we sped on, in a high-pressure boat, the Oregon,
with its two reeking chimneys, up the river, mile after
mile, hour after hour, while the morning and the evening,

360 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the sun and the moon, seemed to contend which should
most beautify the scene. And I sang in my soul, as the
earliest colonists of Georgia had done before me, "How
beautiful is creation, how glorious the Creator !" and then
I thought, what a poem, what a glorious romance is this
portion of the world in its natural life ; what wealth, what
beauty, what varied scenes it embraces in its bosom ! I
was now again alone with America ; America revealed her
mysteries to me, and made me aware of her wealth, the
inheritance of future generations.
The Savannah forms the boundary between Carolina
and Georgia. I had tenderly-beloved friends both in Car
olina and Georgia. I loved Georgia the most, and turned
toward its shore as toward a more free, a more youthfully,
fresh land.
The voyage was an incessant feast for me, and I wished
only to be silent and enjoy it. But in order to do that,
I had to avoid, in the saloon, a throng of handsome, but
wild young girls, who had made, on their Own account,
a pleasure-party, and now ran about here and there, chat
tering, calling to one another, and laughing ; and on deck,
a few gentlemen, planters, who were polite and wished to
talk, but talked only of "cotton, cotton, cotton," and how
the world was beginning to busy itself about American
cotton. I fled away from these worshipers of cotton,* and
endeavored to be alone with the river and the primeval
forest, and with the light and shadows within it. There
was with the troop of young girls, also, a youth, a hand
some young man, a brother or relative of some of them.
Later on in the evening he had to leave the vessel, and
then the wild young girls took hold of him, embraced and
kissed him, the one after the other, in fun and amid laugh
ter, while he, half annoyed and half amused, endeavored
to get loose from them. What impression would that
young man carry away with him of that night's scene ?
Not esteem for woman. One of the elder gentlemen on

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 361
deck shook his head at the young girls' behavior; " They
make a fool of that young man !" said he to me. It was
not till late in the night that I could get to sleep for the
noise which these girls made.
The next day was Sunday, and life seemed to celebrate
a holy-day, so still and so festively adorned appeared all
nature. The wild young girls had become quiet, and as
sembled before the door of my cabin, which was open to
ward the river. They were evidently in a state of mind
to hear something serious. The peace of the Sabbath
rested upon them. Had now some sower, commissioned
of Heaven, sown the seed of truth and the comprehension
of the higher life in the souls of these young girls, the
seed would assuredly have fallen in good ground. I have
faith in the inborn, pure earnestness of woman's nature,
and its kinship with the highest spiritual life, and it
grieved me when I saw it running wild as in this case.
Not that I think a moment of wildness is of much conse
quence in a human life ; all depends upon the main di
rection of the whole. But if nature is left to itself, it be
comes a wilderness, and wildernesses of human nature
are very much less beautiful than those of the primeval
forest — nor would even these be good to live in. The
spirjt of a superior nature must lay his hand upon the
young heathen before he can become full of human dig
nity and beauty.
Fathers and mothers in the young, New World do not
seem rightly to know the good old proverb, " Use is sec
ond nature ;" nor the other equally excellent one, "It is
easier to stem a brook than a river."
Toward the evening of this day, the young girls were
landed here and there at different plantations, from which
boats were put out to fetch them; and from the banks of
the river I heard words of affectionate welcome, and saw
cheerful fires blazing through the thick darkness, for the
young moon had already set, and the darkness of night
Vol. I— Q,

362 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
is very dark here at this season, while the evening glow
of our skies lights up earth and heaven till it is dimmed
by the glow of morning.
On Saturday afternoon I went on board at Savannah.
On Monday morning I arrived at Augusta, where I was
met by the agreeable, excellent Mr. B., who took me in
his carriage to his house, where I was received with great
kindness by his wife, a handsome and agreeable Irish
lady, with a handsome English countenance, remarkably
like Frances von K., but with a softer expression, and by
Hannah L., the pale girl from the South, whom I first
met with on the voyage from England, and whom I liked
so much. It was a pleasure to me to find her health now
better after her European tour, and she seemed to me,
fcere in her home and her own circle of friends, more ami
able even than before.
I spent here some very agreeable days, receiving visit
ors only in the evening, and spending the mornings in
driving out to the plantations in the neighborhood and
elsewhere. Here, also, I often had to listen to and to an
swer the same multitude of trivial and wearisome ques
tions, one of the worst and most frequent of which was,
" Do the United* States answer your expectations ?"
Yet even here I also became acquainted with some.ex-
cellent people, both men and women, real Christians and
true citizens of the world, who are silently laboring at
the work of emancipation, wisely and effectually ; assist
ing the slaves into the path of self-emancipation ; that is
to say, giving opportunity to those slaves to acquire money,
helping them to keep it, and encouraging them to indus
try and good conduct, with a view to their liberation at a
certain time — in a few years perhaps, or it may be less, and
afterward giving them that freedom for which they have
worked. How beautiful it seemed to me when I saw
them; in particular, an elderly gentleman and" lady, how
good they seemed to me, and how amiable ! How happy

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD 353
I felt myself in knowing them ! One of these friends of
humanity had advanced to a negro woman a little capital,
which enabled her, by her own labor, not only to pay
monthly interest to her owner for the money he had paid
for her, but by which she had the means of purchasing
the freedom of four of her children ; the fifth had yet to
be purchased, but even this one, also, would shortly be
free, through the help of a benevolent man. And who
does not admire this slave, who thinks nothing of continu
ing herself a slave, but merely of purchasing the freedom
— of emancipating her children? Such a mother would,
in the times of Athens and Sparta, have been proclaimed
as "an honor to humanity." But this mother remains an
unknown slave. It is true that she feels herself well off
in her situation, and does not wish for a freedom which
at her age could not be obtained but at the exchange of
a life free from care, for one much harder — at least in
Liberia. "When I am old," said she, "and no longer
able to work, master and mistress will take care of me !"
So think many old slaves, and do not trouble themselves
about a freedom in which they would have to take care
of themselves. And this is good when the master and
mistress are good, and do not die before the old slaves, in
which case the fate of these is very uncertain, and be
comes sometimes, under new owners, worse than that of
the domestic animals.
During my visit to a few of the plantations, I could
clearly see that the ladies looked on me with suspicious
glances. I liked one of these ladies, nevertheless. She
seemed to me of a fresh, fine, motherly character. I re
quested her to accompany me to a slave village at a short
distance from the house. She agreed to do so. The
\hands, as the working negroes of the South are called,
were now out in the fields reaping the corn, and their
houses were mostly locked up ; I went into the few that
remained open. In one of these an old negro, who had a
4

364 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
bad foot, sat on the bed. Both himself and the whole
dwelling bore the stamp of good care and attention. " He
is well provided for in his old age, because he is one of
our own people," said Mrs. E. aloud to me, so that the
negro might hear her ; " if he were free, he would not be
so well off."
" And why not ?" said I, but silently, to myself, for I
would not say it aloud lest the negro should hear. "We
too, on our estates in Sweden, have old and sick servants,
and although they are free and enjoy freely the wages for
which they serve, yet we consider it no less incumbent
on us, in justice to them and as our own duty, to take all
possible care of them in their sickness and old age ; and
if they serve us faithfully, to make their old age as happy
as we possibly can consistently with our own means.
The bad master with us, as well as the bad slaveholder,
goes where he belongs."
This is what I wished to say to Mrs. E., and would
have said it if we had been alone together, because I could
not help seeing in her a somewhat proud, but at the bot
tom a noble character, who, by the injustice of the Aboli
tionists against the position of the slaveholder, has been
driven to injustice against that of the workers, but who
could and who would look at the truth, if, without any
polemical asperity, it were placed before her unbiased
judgment. But I did not find any opportunity for trying
the experiment, because we never were alone.
The slave villages in Georgia have the same exterior
as those in Carolina, and the condition of the slaves on
the plantations seem to me similar also. . The good and
the bad masters make the only difference; but then, in
such circumstances, this is immeasurable.
" Here lives the owner of a plantation who is universally
known as cruel to his people," was once said to me as I
went past a beautiful country house almost concealed by
thick trees and shrubs. People know this, and they do

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 355
not willingly hold intercourse with such a man, that is
all. Neither the angel of justice nor of love ventures into
these mystical groves, where human beings are sacrificed.
What paganism amid Christianity ! But this avenges it
self, nevertheless, on the white races, as is evident in many
things. One day I went to see, in the forest, some of the poor
people called " clay-eaters ;" these are a kind of wretched
white people, found in considerable numbers both in Car
olina and Georgia, who live in the woods, without church
es, without schools, without hearths, and sometimes, also,
without homes, but yet independent and proud in their
own way, and who are induced by a diseased appetite to
eat a sort of unctuous earth which is found here, until
this taste becomes a passion with them, equally strong
with the love of intoxicating liquors ; although, by slow
degrees, it consumes its victim, causes the complexion to
become gray, and the body soon to mingle with the earth
on which it has nourished itself. Clay-eaters is the name
given to these miserable people. No one knows whence
they come, and scarcely how they exist ; but they and the
people called " Sand-hill people" — poor whites who live in
the barren, sandy tracts of the Southern States — are found
in great numbers here. The Sand-hill people are common
ly as immoral as they are ignorant ; for as by the law of
the States it is forbidden to teach the negro slaves to read
and write, and in consequence there would be no support
for schools, where half the population consists of slaves,
and the country in consequence is thinly inhabited ; there
fore the indigent white people in the country villages are
without schools, and very nearly without any instruction
at all. Besides which, these people have no feeling for
the honor of labor and the power of activity. The first
thing which a white man does when he has acquired a
little money is to buy a slave, either male or female, and
the slave must work for the whole family. The poor

366 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
slaveholder prides himself on doing nothing, and letting
the whole work be done by the slave. Slave labor is
generally careless labor, and all the more so under a lazy
master. The family is not benefited by it. If the mas
ter and mistress are famished, the slaves are famished
also, and all become miserable together. But again to
the clay-eaters.
Mr. G. and his family were a good specimen of this
class of. people. They lived in the depths of a wood
quite away from any road. It was a hot and sultry day,
and it was sultry in the wood. The poison-oak (a kind
of dwarf oak, said to be extremely poisonous) grew thick
ly on all sides in the sand. Deep in the wood we found
a newly-built shed, which had been roofed in for the poor
family by some benevolent persons. Here lived the hus
band and wife, with five or six children. They had a
roof over their heads, but that was all ; I saw no kind of
furniture whatever, not even a fire-place, and door there
was none. But Mr. G., an affable little man of about
fifty, seemed delighted with his world, with himself, his
children, and in particular with his wife, whom he de
scribed as the best wife in the world, and with whom he
seemed to be enchanted. The wife, although gray as the
earth, both in complexion and dress, and pitifully thin,
was evidently still quite young, and possessed real beauty
of feature. She looked good but not gay, was silent, and
kept her eyes Very much fixed on her children, the hand
somest, the most magnificent, unbaptized young creatures
that any one can imagine, tumbling about with one an
other in perfect freedom, with natural grace, liveliness,
and agility--very excellent human material, thought I,
and better than many a baptized, over-indulged drawing-
room urchin. Mr. G. was talkative, and volunteered us
various passages out of his life's history.
He had at one time been the overseer of a slaveholder
and churchman ; but the office was one of so much cruel-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 367
ty that he gave it up. He could not endure having to
flog the slaves himself, nor yet to have them flogged. But
his master would not permit him to abstain from it. And
others were no better. He had tried them. This one, it
seemed to him, ought to have been better, as he was a re
ligious man. "And in the beginning he was not bad,"
said he; "but after a while he married a rich planter's
daughter, which changed him greatly, and he grew worse
and worse every year. But that was the fault of his mar
riage, for he was unhappy with his wife."
The clay-eater in the forest looked down with compas
sion upon the rich planter — religious professor though he
Was — unhappy with his wife and cruel to his people. He,
the freeman in the wild forest, with his pretty, gentle wife,
and his handsome children, was richer and happier than
he ! Mr. G. seemed proud as a king in his free, innocent
poverty. .
"But can not overseers be gentle to the slaves?" in
quired L "No," replied he, "they must be severe; they
must drive them with the whip, if they are to work as
they ought; and the planters will have nothing else."
I leave this man's must to its own intrinsic value, and
to the question whether it may not have had its origin in
a want of wise management and gentleness in himself.
But true it is that the overseers which I have as yet met
with displease me by a certain severity, a certain savage
expression in their countenance, particularly in their eye.
And one of the heaviest grievances in the life of the plant
er seems to me to be, that the slaves, after a long series
of years, are left in the power of the overseers while the
master and his family are absent from the plantation for
the sake of their health or their pleasure.
The day after my visit to the clay-eaters, I was present
at a festival at Augusta, on occasion of the presentation of
a sword of honor, on behalf of the State of Georgia, to a
young officer of Augusta, who had distinguished himself,

368 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and had been severely wounded in the war with Mexico.
A stage was erected for the occasion in a little park with
in the city, and around it, in the form of an amphitheatre,
a gallery, with benches and seats, which were filled with
spectators. The sword was presented to the young soldier
on the elevated platform, which was covered with carpets
and adorned with banners. It was a very beautiful scene,
under the open sky and the beautiful trees, only there was
rather too much talking. I was pleased that the young
hero of the day, in his speech, mentioned, with affection
and praise, many of his comrades in the war, who had, he
said, deserved this distinction better than he ; and he re
lated their achievements. He seemed to have a heartfelt
delight in speaking of the deeds of his companions-in-arms.
The assembly applauded his speech rapturously. We had,
besides, several other speeches. I can not help always be
ing astonished at the Americans' great facility in talking.
When, however, the speeches are too numerous and too
long, I can not but recall the words of Mr. Poinsett, when
on one occasion I spoke with admiration of this wonderful
facility in making speeches, "It is a gteat misfortune!"
After the ceremony the cannon fired loud enough to
split the drums of one's ears, if not the walls of the for
tress. The hero of the day descended from the platform amid
a host of friends and acquaintances ; his sword of honor,
with its handsome silver hilt, its inscription and belt, was
passed from hand to hand among the spectators. After
this, music struck up, and the company proceeded in a
promenade dance under the trees, which were illuminated
with colored lamps, the young hero at a given sign taking
the lead. Dancing then became general. I noticed a
number of little girls dancing ; they looked pretty, though
I am not fond of seeing children so fine, and such little
women, in the dance. The ladies who did not dance sat
in grand style on the galleried seats under the trees.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 369
Many were very handsome. It astonished me when Mrs.
E., the planter's lady who had looked suspiciously on me,
and yet whom I took a liking to, introduced me to her
husband, and when they both invited me very kindly and
warmly to pay them a visit for as long a time as might
be agreeable to me. I was sorry to be obliged to decline
so polite an invitation, one which proved to me that I had
not been mistaken in my liking for the lady. Her hus
band, also, appeared extremely agreeable.
A heavy shower of rain, which came on quite unex
pectedly, put a sudden end to the fete, and sent every body
helter-skelter home.
When at home with Mr. B., I heard the negroes sing
ing, it having been so arranged by Hannah L. I wished
rather to have heard their own naive songs, but was told
that they " dwelt with the Lord," and sang only hymns.
I am sorry for this exclusiveness ; nevertheless, their hymns
sung in quartette were glorious. It would be impossible
to have more exquisite or better singing. They had note
books before them, and seemed to be singing from them ;
but my friends laughed, doubting whether they were for
actual use. In the midst of the singing a cock began to
crow in the house, and kept on crowing incessantly. From
the amusement this occasioned, I saw that there was more
in it than appeared. Nor was it, in reality, a cock that
crowed, but a young negro from a neighboring court,
who, being possessed of the cock's ability to crow, chose
to make one in the concert.
After this, another young negro, who was not so evan
gelical as the rest, came and sang with his banjo several
of the negro songs universally known and sung in the
South by the negro people, whose product they are, and
in the Northern States by persons of all classes, because
they are extremely popular. The music of these songs is
melodious, naive, and full of rhythmical life, and the deep
est, tenderest sentiment. Many of these songs remind me
Q2

370 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of Haydn's and Mozart's simple, naive melodies ; for ex
ample, " Rosa Lee," " Oh, Susannah," " Dearest May,"
"Carry me back to old Virginny," "Uncle Ned," and
" Mary Blane," all of which are full of the most touching
pathos, both in words and melody. The words, however,
are frequently inferior to the music ; they are often child
ish, and contain many repetitions both of phrases and im
agery ; but frequently, amid all this, expressions and turns
of thought which are in the highest degree poetical, and
with bold and happy transitions, such as we find in the
oldest songs of our Northern people. These negro songs
are also not uncommonly ballads, or, more properly, little
romances, which contain descriptions of their love affairs
and their simple life's fate. There is no imagination, no
gloomy background, rich with saga or legend, as in our
songs; but, on the other hand, much sentiment, and a
naive, and often humorous seizing upon the moment and
its circumstances. These songs have been made on the
road ; during the journeyings of the slaves ; upon the riv
ers, as they paddled their canoes along or steered the raft
down the stream ; and, in particular, at the corn-huskings,
which are to the negroes what the harvest-home is to our
peasants, and at which they sing impromptu whatever is
uppermost in their heart or in their brain. Yes, all these
songs are peculiarly improvisations, which have taken root
in the mind of the people, and are listened to and sung to
the whites, who, possessed of a knowledge of music, have
caught and noted them down. And this improvisation
goes forward every day. People hear new songs contin
ually; they are the offspring of nature and of accident,
produced from the joys and the sorrows of a childlike
race. The rhyme comes as it may, sometimes clumsily,
sometimes no rhyme at all, sometimes most wonderfully
fresh and perfect; the rhythm is excellent, and the de
scriptions have local coloring and distinctness. Alabama,
Louisiana, Tennessee, Carolina, " Old Virginny," all the

HOMES'OF THE NEW WORLD. 37J
melodious names of the Southern States and places there,
the abodes of the slaves, are introduced into their songs,
as well as their love histories, and give a local interest and
coloring not only to the song, but to the state and to the
place which they sing about. Thus these songs are like
flowers and fragrance from the negro life in those states
— like flowers cast upon the waves of the river, and borne
hither and thither by the wind — like fragrance from the
flowers of the wilderness in their summer life, because
there is no bitterness, no gloomy spirit in these songs.
They are the offspring of life's summer day, and bear wit
ness to thia. And if bitterness and the condition of slav
ery were to cease forever in the free land of the United
States, these songs would still live, and bear witness to
the light of life, even as the phosphorescent beam of the
fire-fly shines, though the glow-worm may be crushed.
The young negro whom I heard sing this evening, sang
among other songs one of which I would that I could give
you an idea, so fresh was the melody, and so peculiar the
key. Of the words I only remember this first verse :
I am going to the old Pedee !
And there on the old Pedee,
On a summer's night,
When the moon shines bright,
My Sally I shall see !
The last syllable of the first and last verse is long
drawn out. The little romance describes how the lover
and Sally will be married and settle themselves down,
and live happily all on the banks of the old Pedee. A
heartfelt, charming Southern idyll.
The banjo is an African instrument, made from the
half of a fruit called the calabash, or gourd, which has a
very hard rind. A thin skin or piece of bladder is stretch
ed over the opening, and over this one or two strings are
stretched, which are raised on a bridge. The banjo is the
negroes' guitar, and certainly it is the first-born among
stringed instruments.

372 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The day following, when dining with a Mr. and Mrs.
G., I also had the pleasure of hearing some negro songs,
which pleased me greatly. The young negro who sang,
having weak lungs, was not able to do much work, and
some kind people, therefore, had enabled him to cultivate
his musical gifts by instruction and practice. He sang
excellently. And in order to understand the peculiar fas
cination of their songs, they should be heard sung by ne
groes, with their beaming glances and naive abandon.
Augusta is a little city of the same style as Savannah,
but less great, less beautiful, smaller in every way ; but
very pretty, nevertheless, and situated in a broad bend of
the Savannah. Around it are many charming country
houses with their gardens. I visited several such ; saw
beautiful and earnest family groups, and heard the hund-
red-tongued birds singing in the oak woods. Of oaks, such
as our Swedish oak, I find none ; but many other kinds
of oaks, of which the live-oak, with its delicately cut oval
leaf, is the most splendid kind.
During my stay at Augusta, I have been for some time
deliberating upon an excursion which I proposed to make
northward. I wished greatly to visit the Highlands of
Georgia, and Tellulah Falls in that district, which had
been described to me in Charleston as the most picturesque
in America. I should like to have seen that original, who
a few years since built the first inn at the 'Falls, and who
christened his eldest daughter Magnolia Grandiflora, his
second Tellulah Falls, and his son some other curious
name, which I have forgotten. I had already half de
termined to undertake the journey, and a kind young
lady had given me letters to her friends in Athens and
Rome, places on the road to Tellulah Falls, and which I
presume are related in about the same degree to the great
of these names as we probably are to Adam and Eve;
but the heat became great, and I felt myself so weak in
consequence of it, and the journey would have been so

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 373
fatiguing, that I gave it up, and determined instead to
go back to Charleston by way of Columbia, the capital of
South Carolina, and which I have been told has a remark
ably beautiful site in the neighborhood of the Highlands.
Having promised to return, I parted from my kind en
tertainers, thankful for the residence in their house, and
for that which the residence in Augusta had given me, of
gold, better than that of California.
The excellent, agreeable Mr. B. accompanied me a short
distance to the rail-road, on the other side of the river.
On our way we passed through the slave market. Forty
or fifty young persons of both sexes were -walking up and
down before the house in expectation of purchasers. They
were singing ; they seemed cheerful and thoughtless. The
young slaves who were here offered for sale were from
twelve to twenty years of age. There was one little boy,
however, who was only six : he belonged to no one there.
He attached himself to the slave-keeper.. Poor little fel
low ! Who was his mother ? Who his sister or his broth
er? Many of these children were fair mulattoes, and
some of them very pretty. One young girl of twelve was
so white, that I should have supposed her to belong to the
white race ; her features, too, were also those of the whites.
The slave-keeper told us that the day before, another girl,
still fairer and handsomer, had been sold for fifteen hund
red dollars. These white children of slavery become, for
the most part, victims of crime, and sink into the deepest
degradation. Yet again — what heathenism in the midst
of a Christian land !
The greater number of these young slaves were from
Virginia, which not needing much slave labor itself, sells
its slaves down South. Some gentlemen were on the spot,
and one or two of them called my attention to the cheer
ful looks of the young people.
"All the more sorrowful is their condition," thought I;
" the highest degradation is not to feel it !"

374 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
But from this shame-spot in the young and beautiful
State of Georgia, I turn my glance with pleasure to
another spot, one rich in honor and hope — that so-called
" Liberty county ;" and it was a great loss to me not to
have been able to visit this, the oldest home of liberty in
the State of Georgia. Here began the first movement in
the South for American freedom. " The Liberty Boys"
originated here; and here it Was that, still laterj com
menced the first effectual movements for the instruction
of the negroes in Christianity, for their emancipation and
colonization in their African father-land.
A short time -ago there died in Liberty county a rich
planter, Mr. Clay, universally known for his zeal on these
subjects, and for his human kindness generally. His
corpse was followed to the grave by a great number of
persons, both whites and blacks. The whites, as soon as
the grave, was covered in, returned to their homes, but the
negroes remained by the grave through the whole night,
singing hymns. The sister of Mr. Clay participated with
him in the work of elevating the slaves, and it is said con
tinues it since his death. God bless all such noble and
liberal-minded persons !
I found that in Georgia the following view of slavery
prevailed generally:
Slavery is an evil ; but under the wise direction of God
it will become a blessing to the negroes. The whites who
have enslaved them will make them compensation for
their sufferings through the gift of Christianity, and by
instructing them in agriculture and the handcraft arts —
thus they may be first instructed, and then gradually
emancipated and colonized in Africa; the heathen nations
of Africa being finally Christianized and civilized through
the Christianized and emancipated slaves of America.
I am convinced that this is the truth and the way.
And by this view of the question in Georgia, and from
what it has already begun, I see a proof of how much

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 375
public opinion in this country goes ahead of legislation ;
for the law, as regards the treatment of slaves, takes a
very low stand in Georgia, as well as in South Carolina.
Georgia may, with more justice than Carolina, be called
the Palmetto State, as the palmetto is really very abund
ant there, besides many other plants, which indicate the
neighborhood of the tropics, and a new face of nature ; and
how gladly would I contemplate this face still more close
ly ! One of those plants, called Yucca gloriosa, as well
as the Spanish dagger, sends forth its pointed dagger-like
leaves in all directions from the stem, and has a cluster of
splendid white bell-shaped flowers.
And now adieu for the present, amid the beautiful flow
ers of Georgia, and its still more beautiful human beings.
Columbia is a pretty little city of handsome villas and
gardens, and in the midst of these a fine Senate House, for
Columbia is the capital of South Carolina. Every state
in the Union has its capital situated in the centre of the
state, and commonly it is of small importance, excepting
as a place of meeting for the two legislative bodies, the
Senate and Representatives, who sit in the Senate House
of the oapital some months of each year. Besides which,
each state has its large trading towns situated by the sea,
or upon some of the great rivers which pour in all direc
tions through this abundantly- watered portion of the earth.
Columbia, in Carolina — every state in the Union has, I
believe, a city which is called Columbia or Columbus — is
beautifully situated on a height near the River Congaree.
I have derived great pleasure, through the kindness of
a Mr. Gibbs, here, a natural historian, who has shown me
much attention. In his collection I have seen the remains
of those antediluvian creatures, the Megatherium and Mas
todon, the bones of which have been dug up here. These
remains belong to Titanic creatures. A single tooth is as
large as my hand. Mr. Gibbs has had the kindness to
give me drawings and descriptions of these animals, which

376 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
I shall be glad to send home to our Professor Sundevall.
He has also given me a little humming-bird's nest, the
prettiest thing in the world, built of small, delicate blades
of grass and tiny pieces of paper.
I was one day invited by Professor F. to the weddings
of two couples of his house slaves. The bridal pairs were
young people, and looked very well, especially one of the
bridegrooms, a negro black as night, and whom his mas
ter commended for the excellence of his character and his
general intelligence, and one of the brides — but not of
the bridegroom par excellence — were regularly handsome.
Both the brides were dressed very prettily in white, and
wore garlands. The clergyman entered the negro-com
pany, stepped up to the bridal couples and very soon dis
missed the marriage ceremony, after which they began
dancing in the same room. Negroes and negresses swung
round in a lively waltz; ladies dressed and decked out in
gauze and flowers, altogether like our ladies, the only dif
ference being that these had more finery about them, and
considerably less grace ; and, after all, they looked very
much better in this borrowed and imitated finery than I
should have believed possible. While the black company
danced zealously, the white people went to see the wed
ding dinner-table, which was splendidly covered with flow
ers and fine cakes, and seemed really almost to bend under
the abundance of meats.
I here became acquainted with a German, Professor
Lieber, an author of talent, and a worthy man. For the
rest there was nothing very remarkable here, unless it were
the great number of colonels. All gentlemen of wealth,
planters or others, it matters not, are called colonel, though
they may not have been military. Such colonels abound
in the Southern States. When I expressed my astonish
ment at this general promotion, I was told that when the
President of the United States visited the various states,
he nominated many of these gentlemen to be his adjutants

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 377
for the occasion ; and these adopted and have since retained
the title of colonel. But that sounding title for so small
service, and the passion for titles which evidently distin
guished a portion of the republican people of America,
especially in the South, is — a little possessed of the devil,
and but little in harmony with the aim of this community.
The old Adam in the old uniform is going about still !
Yesterday I went out alone on a ramble of discovery
through wood and field. I came to a pretty little house
in the midst of a wood, and there stood at its door, and
apparently its owner, a fat mulatto woman. With the
excuse of obtaining a glass of water, I went into the house
and fell into discourse with the old couple, a negro and
his wife, to whom the house and a little garden belonged.
The mulatto woman was talkative, and showed me the
whole house, which the master of herself and her husband
had built for them and given them for their lifetime. It
showed throughout that the old couple had a love of order
and excellence, not only in the house but the garden. Their
children were all dead, and some dark words, accompanied
by dark glances, escaped the old woman in the bitter feel
ing of the loss of her children through the fault of others,
which made me aware of a dark background to this bright
picture. But I would not seek to know more. The old
negro, I thought, looked anxious when his wife talked
gloomily. At another place in the wood I saw, at a very little
residence, two elderly white ladies, evidently sisters, and
meanly clad, sitting enjoying the shade of a live oak. I
asked permission to sit down with them in the shade.
They consented, and thus I fell into discourse with them,
was shown their house, and made acquainted with their
circumstances. These were narrow. The sisters had seen
better days, but had, since the death of their father, fallen
into need ; they were now supported by the product of their
place and by dress-making. But they were contented, and

378 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
piety and labor made life serene and the days short. If
only the health of one of the sisters were a little better,
and the summers and the sand a little less hot ! How
similar every where are human circumstances, how simi
lar are the causes of suffering and of happiness, of joy and
of sorrow ! Here is it the summer and the sand which is
in the way of happiness ; elsewhere it is the winter and
the granite — every where it is sickness !
Charleston, June 2d. This Charleston — this "owl's
nest," is nevertheless right pleasant as it now stands, like
an immense bouquet of fragrant trees and flowers, and
with its kind, amiable people ! It has affected me deeply
to have been received here as I have been by old and new
friends. I have come to love Charleston for the sake of
its inhabitants, especially for my two ladies there, Mrs.'
W. Howland and Mrs. Holbrook. I am now once more
in the excellent home of the former, where I have been
received as a member of the family.
I arrived here the day before yesterday half suffocated
by the heat of the atmosphere, sunshine, smoke, and
steam, but found here a real Swedish, fresh summer air,
which still continues and has greatly refreshed me, to say
nothing of all that is good, comfortable, and charming,
with which this home abounds. God be thanked for this
good home and for every good home on earth ! " All good
homes !" is my usual toast when I propose one at the
American tables.
I found upon my writing-table a bouquet of beautiful
flowers from Mrs. Holbrook, and a book which both sur
prised and pleased me. I little expected in the New
World, and least of all in a great city, to meet with a
profoundly penetrative, liberal spirit, which, like Bbklin
in Sweden, and H. Martensen in Denmark, places the
ground of Christian faith in the highest reason. It is,
however, precisely this pure German spirit which I find
in the Philosophic Theology, or the first Principles of all

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 379
Religious Faith founded in Reason, by the young mission
ary, James W. Miles ; a small book, but of great import,
written with English clearness and precision, without any
German prolixity. This little work comes very near
Martensen's "Autonomi;" that excellent treatise which
Martensen has yet to develop ; and it rejoices me all the
more, as it proves that the laws of thought develop them
selves in the human race from an inner necessity, irre
spective of accidental circumstances. Truths, discoveries,
do not emigrate from one Country to another. Among all
people who have advanced to about the same degree of
intellectual cultivation the same phenomena and the same
views present themselves. Thus here, a young, solitary,
retired, but profoundly thinking man arrived at the same
train of thought as our greatest Scandinavian philosophical
theologians, and that without knowing them or the fount
ains from which they have quaffed the new life of thought.
One instance in the book, by which the young Miles elu
cidates the connection of the subjective reason with the
objective — that is, of man's with that of God, has struck
me from the same cause — namely, how different minds t
in far distant countries and under different circumstances
arrive at the same results of thought, because I myself
have frequently made use of the same in conversation, as
proof on this subject — and have always regarded it as my
own discovery, and have had my own little selfish pleasure
in so doing. But how much greater is my pleasure in
seeing that it also flashes forth before another seeking
soul, and becomes for him a guiding star. The instance
I alluded to is the well-known one of Le Verrier, who cal
culated that a star existed in a certain spot of the uni
verse, and of the star being afterward discovered there.
I must immediately write to Mrs. H., to express my
pleasure in the book and its author. And now once more
I hope to wander with her in the shades of the myrtle
grove.

380 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Justina, the eldest daughter of Mrs. W. H., is just now
returned, after about a year's residence in Baltimore, in
Maryland. It was a delight to me to see her joyful re
ception at home. How alike are all good homes and re
lationships ! The same sorrows, the same joys ! But
that I have long known, even without seeing it.
There is here this evening a great soiree for my sake.
I am very glad that I am not responsible for it. I have
nothing to do but to go about, tolerably elegantly attired,
faire la belle conversation, reply to the questions of " How
do you like this ?" and " How do you like that ?" and be
amiable according to my ability.
June 10th. Now, my sweet child, I must prepare this
letter, which is even now too long, for its departure. I
have enjoyed myself for several days in doing — nothing,
watching the humming-birds, fluttering about the red flow
ers of the garden, or looking at the great turkey -buzzards,
sitting on the roof and chimneys, spreading out their large
wings in the wind or the sun, which gives them a very
"strange appearance ; and for the rest, looking about me a
little in the state and in the city.
South Carolina is a state of much more aristocratic char
acter, as well in law as social life, than Georgia, and has
not the element of freedom and humanity as the funda
mental principle of its life, like its younger sister state.
Massachusetts and Virginia, the old dominions, the two
oldest mother hives, from which swarms went forth to all
the other states of the Union, sent also its earliest culti
vators to South Carolina. Puritans and cavaliers were
united, but that merely through pecuniary interests. The
Englishmen, Lord Shaftesbury and John Locke, estab
lished here an aristocratic community, and negro slaves
were declared to be the absolute property of their masters.
Nevertheless, South Carolina lacks not in her earliest his
tory the moment which made her a member of the New
World, and which, according to my view, was when she

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 381
offered a sanctuary and a new home to the persecuted
children of the Old World ; yes, when she gave to all per
secuted, oppressed, or unhappy human beings tho oppor
tunity and the means of beginning anew a new life, a
new hope, a new and more happy development.
The noble Coligny, in France, long ago cast his glance
toward South Carolina as a place of refuge for the Hugue
nots. And when persecution broke forth in all its un
bounded ferocity, they who could save themselves fled
hither across the sea to the land which rumor had de
scribed as the pride and envy of North America, and where,
throughout the year, every month had its own flowers —
which last is perfectly true.
"We quitted home by night, leaving the soldiers in
their beds, and abandoning the house with its furniture,"
says Judith, the young wife of Pierre Manigault. " We
contrived to hide ourselves for ten days at Romans, in
Dauphigny, while a search was made for us ; but our
faithful hostess would not betray us. After our arrival
in Carolina we suffered every kind of evil. In eighteen
months. my eldest brother, unaccustomed to the hard labor
which we were obliged to undergo, died of a fever. Since
leaving France, we had experienced every kind of affliction,
disease, pestilence, famine, poverty, hard labor. I have
been for six months without tasting bread, working the
ground like a slave ; and I have passed three or four years
without having it when I wanted it. And yet God has
done great things for us in enabling us to bear up under
so many trials."
The son of Judith Manigault, who became an affluent
man, intrusted the whole of his large property, during
the war of American Independence, "for the use of the
country which had adopted his mother." From Langue-
doc, from Rochelle, from Saintange, from Bourdeaux, and
from many other French towns and provinces, fled the
persecuted families, who "had all the virtues of Puritans,

382 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
without their bigotry, to Carolma." Assignments of land
were made to them on the flowery and peaceful banks of
the River Cooper, beneath the shade of the glorious prime
val forest, whence they could lift their voices in hymns
of praise to their God. Thus became South Carolina the
asylum of the French Puritans, and thus it takes its place
in that great asylum for all people which the New World
offers at this day.
And still, to this day, is Carolina, and most of the South
ern provinces, full of families descended from these oldest
settlers, but who have little more in common with them
than the name. Language, manners, memories have be
come obliterated under the influence of the legislative,
amalgamating race of the New World, Yet, nevertheless,
somewhat of the French mode, of the French tone of mind,
exists still in the life and temperament of the Southern
people. In South Carolina the spirit and the links of social life
are aristocratic to a degree which I can not approve of,
however much I may like certain people there. And
aristocracy there has this in common with aristocracies
of the present time ; that, while the aristocratic virtues
and greatness have vanished, the pretension merely re
mains. The formerly rich, magnificent planters exist no
longer. Wealth, power, munificent hospitality are all
gone. And, bowed beneath the yoke of slavery, the South
ern States are a long way behind those qf the North in
their rapid development, in prosperity and population.
The emigration of the present day is also beginning to
bring in its manufactories and mechanical art even into
the Southern States, but much more into Georgia than
Carolina. Yet even here has a man from New England,
Mr. Gregg, lately established a cotton manufactory, sim»
ilar to that of Lowell, laid out beautifully with garden-
plots for the work-people. Far behind the Northern States
stand the South in any case, as regards moral and intelleot-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 383
ual culture, and this in consequence of the unhappy slave
institution, with all its consequences, both to the black
and the white population. There are great individuals in
the Southern States, but no great community, no united,
aspiring people. The fetters of slavery bind, more or less,
all and every one. Yet I love the South. I have found
there many things to love — many things to esteem — many
things to enjoy — many things to be grateful for ; and as
it is natural to me to enter into the life amid which I am
living or observing, I have in the South felt myself to have
a Southern tendency ; and having entered into the peculiar
life of the South, its circumstances and position, having a
living sense of the good which abundantly exists here,
which here is in operation, I have perfectly understood
that bitter feeling which ferments, even in noble minds,
toward the despotic and unreasonable North, against that
portion of the North which is so opposed to the South ;
against the ultra-abolitionists and their violence. It is
merely when I oppose them to the ultra of the pro-slavery
party that I hold with the former. But what would I
not give if the South, the true, the noble South, would
itself take the subject of contention in hand, and silence
the mouth of their opponents, silence their blame, both
just and unjust, in a great and noble way, by laws which
would bring about a gradual emancipation, by one law,
at least, which should allow the slaves to purchase their
own freedom and that of their families at a reasonable
price, a price which should be established by law. This,
it seems to me, might be required from the Southern
States, as an act of justice to themselves, to their native
land — -so far as they desire to have part in its proud char
ter of liberty, and that they do desire — as an act of jus
tice to their posterity, to the people, whom they have en
slaved, and for whom they thereby would open a future,,
first by means of hope, by a noble object for which to
strive, and then a new existence in a life of freedom, either

384 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
in Africa, or here in- their adopted country, as the free
servants or laborers of the whites; for I confess that,
according to my opinion, the Southern States would lose .
a great part of their charm and their peculiar character
in losing their black population. Bananas, negroes, and
negro-songs are the greatest refreshments of the mind,
according to my experience, which I found in the United
States. And to every one, whether in Old or New En
gland, who is troubled by spleen or dyspepsia, or over-ex
citement of brain or nerves, would I recommend, as a rad
ical cure, a journey to the South to eat bananas, to see
the negroes, and hear their songs. It will do them good
to go through the primeval forest, with its flowers, and its
odors, and to sail upon the red rivers ! But the negroes
are preferable to every thing else. They are the life and
the good humor of the South. The more I see of this
people, their manners, their disposition, way of talking,
of acting, of moving, the more am I convinced that they
are a distinct stock in the great human family, and are
intended to present a distinct physiognomy, a distinct
form of the old type, man, and this physiognomy is the
result of temperament.
Last evening I went with Mrs. W. H. to a place in the
city where the negroes, who come during the day to
Charleston from the plantations to sell their small wares,
baskets, woven mats, and such like, as well as garden
produce, lie to with their boats. It was now evening, and
the negroes were returning to their boats to row back up
the river ; they came with bundles in their hands, jugs on
their heads, and all sorts of vessels filled with things which
they had purchased with the product of their wares, wheat-
en bread and molasses being apparently the principal ar
ticles. Already were two boats filled with people, and
baskets, and jugs, amid the merriest chatter and laugh
ter; but still they waited for more, and I heard Adam,
and Aaron, and Sally, and Mehala, and Lucy, and Abra-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

385

ham, and Sarah called for ! We, in the mean time, fell
into discourse with the negroes who stood on the shore,
asking them to whom they belonged, whether they were
well off, and so on. Two of those with whom we spoke
could not sufficiently praise their masters, and told all
that they had given them ; on the contrary, they spoke ill
of a planter in the neighborhood.
"I fancy you are talking against my master!" said a
young negro, somewhat tartly, who came forward with a
threatening gesture ; on which the others immediately re
called their words. " No, Heaven forbid ! They had said
nothing, only that their masters — " But again they were
interrupted by the champion of the censured master, who
maintained that his master was not worse than theirs, and
so on. And now a great cry was sent forth for Sally, and
Nelly, and Adam, and Abraham, and Aaron! And di
rectly Nelly, and Sally, and Abraham, and Adam, and
Aaron, and I do not know how many other of Adam's cap
tive sons and daughters, came running along with jugs,
and baskets, and bottles toward the shore, and then down
into the boats, amid loud shouting, and talking, and laugh
ter ; and how they all got into the boats, men and molas
ses, women and jugs, and baskets and bottles, helter-skel
ter, rolling and tumbling, without method or measure,
rhyme or reason, which I could discover, is more than I
can tell! I only could stare at it in astonishment. It
was like a confused mass of arms, and legs, and heads in
one black movement; but merry was it, and all went on
good-humoredly, and good-humoredly they went off. And
all the black mass was quiet, and then the boats put off
from the shore with little zigzags, and talk and laughter
was heard from one boat to the other, and white teeth
shone out in the dark. When, however, they had got out
in the river, and the oars kept time on the mirror-bright
waters, they began to sing, and the chaotic confusion dis
solved itself in the most beautiful harmony.
Vol. I.— R

386 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
One peculiarity in these so-called children of nature is
their aristocratic tendency ; but I have always regarded
the children of nature as natural aristocrats. They pride#
themselves on belonging to rich masters, and consider a
marriage with the servant of a poor master as a great
misalliance. They look up to their rich masters as an
Oriental Grefac of the old race upon his ancestors. That
which beyond every thing else is an impediment to the
emancipation of this people, and in great masses, is their
want of nationality, their want of popular spirit, and a
general unity of feeling. They have merely a feeling for
family or for kindred, and perhaps for the tribe, where the
tribes still continue unbroken, as in Africa. They have
'no common memories, and no common object of lofty,
popular aspiration. The tribes and small principalities of
Africa prove this also. And to imagine that the eman
cipated slaves of America could, beyond the sea, in Libe
ria, in Africa, establish a community according to the
American republic, is, I believe, a mistake. Small mo
narchical communities are, however, that which they ap
pear to me formed for. They feel in a high degree the
sentiment of piety and loyalty, and would always be eas
ily governed, and "would like to be governed by a natural
ly superior person. I see, therefore, the ideal of negro
life in small communities, ennobled by Christianity, ar
ranging itself round a superior — their priest or king, or
both in one person. And in America I see them thus by
preference around a white man, either as his free servants
or small tenants, convinced that as a means of leading
the people to order and reasonable industry the slaves' fet
ters and the whip are not needed, but merely Christian,
human instruction, which leads to industry and order ;
the preaching of Christianity, and that great influence
which a man of the white race, by his natural intellectu
al superiority, and systematic turn of mind, will always
have over the blaok. And if he would add to this in the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 337
scale a moral superiority also, he would become very pow
erful. To the white gentlemen of the South may be ap
plied the words which Victor Hugo addressed to the mon-
archs of Europe :
" Oh rois ! soyez grands, car le peuple grandit !"
The slave population of the South is increasing every
day in numbers, in intelligence — is becoming more intel
ligent through the influence of the free blacks and the
mulattoes, who are daily increasing in the Slave States,
and who participate in the educational advantages of the
whites. In a word, the black race is in a state of growth,
in every way, in the Southern States. May the white
race be wise enough to grow also, in spirit, in laws, in
life ! It has a great problem to solve. But I have hopes
from the noble South, from the children of the light, from
the truly emancipated in the Slave States. They will
bring the right thing about.
And that would not be difficult, if the women would
but awake. But ah ! the greater number here sleep still
— sleep still on soft couches, fanned by their slaves, not
as free women. Man has so long talked to woman about
her listening to the small voice, and that is good ; but it
is now time that she should listen to the great voice, to
the voice of God's Spirit in the human race, which sounds
over the whole earth, and vibrates through all free na
tions. Of a truth, it is time ! — time that she listened to it,
that she became magnanimous in heart and in thought.
" If the mothers became noble-minded, would not the sons
be noble?" said one of America's noble women; and his
tory replies " Yes!"
As regards the slave owners, I may divide them into
three classes : Mammon-worshipers, patriarchs, and he
roes, or men of progress. The first regard the slaves
merely from a pecuniary point of view, and use or mis
use them at pleasure. The second consider themselves
responsible for their office ; consider that they can not,

388 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and ought not to surrender the property which they have
inherited from their fathers, and which, perhaps, is all that
they possess for themselves and their children ; and they
regard it as an imperative duty to preserve these inherit
ed servants, to provide for their old age, and to make their
present life as happy as possible, by means of instruction
and Christianity, and to allow them as much freedom
and as much innocent pleasure as possible. The third,
highest class, advances the well-being of the slave with
reference to their emancipation ; and this is done by
means of education, and such practical aids. They ad
vance both people and country on the path of human cul
tivation. I have heard mention made of some persons
even in Carolina as belonging to this latter class, and in
particular of two wealthy ladies who have lately liberated
their slaves. This is forbidden by the law ; but here also
has public opinion begun to go ahead of law ; and the
lawyers themselves aid by passing statutes to this end,
and when they are reproached with this, they laugh, and
seem untroubled by conscience.
I have heard some very beautiful traits of the patriarchs
as well as of their slaves, and of the devotion on both
sides. I believe them, because I have seen various in
stances of the kind, and they appear to me very natural.
There is, upon the whole, no human being for whom I have
a greater esteem and sympathy than the good and con
scientious slaveholder, for his position is one of difficulty,
and full of trouble.
By this assertion, however, I stand, that the institution
of slavery degrades the white man still more than the
black ; it operates prejudicially on his development — on
his justice — on his judgment; it operates prejudicially, in
an especial manner, on the education of his children, and
that subjection of their naturally violent tempers, which
is so important in their earlier years. Private as well as
public morals suffer therefrom. But enough, however —

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 339
and perhaps for you too much of this shadow-side of the
state which is beloved by the sun.
I must now give you, a short summary of my late doings.
I believe I last left off at the party which was going to
be given in the house. It was very beautiful, and all went
on well, and very charmingly too. Mrs. Hammarskbid
(Emilie Holmberg) sang very sweetly ; I played Swedish
dances; people talked, and walked about, and drank —
tout comme chez nous. I saw Mr. Simms, one of the best
poets and novelists of South Carolina, this evening. He
is an enthusiast for the beautiful scenery of the South,
and that pleased me, and therein we agreed very well.
Not so on the great question; but that I did not expect.
I could embrace a young man who is able to look at this
question with an unprejudiced and truthfully pure glance ;
that is, if he would permit it. I saw also a brother of
young Miles, who said, speaking on this subject to me,
" The world is against us, and we shall be overpowered by
voices and condemned without justice, for what we are,
and for what we are doing on behalf of our servants." I
could not help sympathizing with him in this respect.
The excitement is great and the bitterness is strong at
this moment between the Northern and Southern States
of the Union. Many voices in Carolina are raised for sep
aration and war.
I have, besides, been to a great entertainment given by
the Governor of South Carolina, Mr. Akin, and his lovely
wife. There was very beautiful music ; and for the rest,
conversation in the room, or out under the piazzas, in the
shade of blossoming creepers, the clematis, the caprifoli-
um, and roses, quite romantic in the soft night air. Five
hundred persons, it is said, were invited, and the entertain
ment was one of the most beautiful I have been present
at in this country.
I saw many lovely young daughters of the South, but
no. great beauty ; on the contrary, many were very pale.

390 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The ladies here universally use pearl-powder, which they
afterward wipe off, and hence the skin has a sort of vel
vety, soft color for the moment, but the complexion only
becomes more sallow in consequence. I am told that the
great heat renders the use of this powder necessary. I
have nothing exactly against it, if the powder be only
rubbed quite off again ; but that is often very imperfectly
done. I fear that this white powdering is probably an
heir-loom of the old French ancestry.
Yet once more have I wandered with Mrs. Holbrook in
the myrtle groves of Belmont, and enjoyed with her an
intellectual feast. I have also seen the young intelligent
missionary, Mr. Miles ; he has a pale, expressive counte
nance, a deeply penetrative eye — but ah! it has pene
trated no more deeply to the heart of the great question
than most other eyes here. On other subjects I have been
delighted with the free, strong flight of his spirit.
I was invited one evening with Mrs. H. to meet various
elderly members of her family. I met on this occasion a
couple of old unmarried ladies, the owners of two beauti
ful islands on the coast of Carolina, where they live alone
among three hundred negroes, as their owners, their ad
visers, and physicians, and in all cases on the best under
standing with them. One white man only is on the plant
ation as overseer.
I regret much not having been able to accept an invi
tation, at least at this time, and that was to a Mr. Spal
ding's, a rich old gentleman, who, upon the beautiful isl
and where he lives, ha-s allowed the palmettoes to grow in
freedom, and the negroes to live and work in freedom also,
governed alone by the law of duty and love, and where
all succeeds excellently; and all this have I been invited
to see by this noble man. May he live forever !
The coasts, both of Georgia and Carolina, abound in
islands, which, I understand, are beautiful as paradise,
and rich in vegetation. The finest cotton grows on them.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 391
Cotton is cultivated on the hills and on the islands of
Georgia and Carolina; rice upon the lowlands. Even
Carolina has hills and mountains abounding in metals,
and fresh, clear mountain streams, which do not assume
their chocolate hue till they are far on their course.
I intended to have made my journey northward through
the highlands of Carolina, and thence through Tennessee
and Virginia — because I must of necessity see " the Old
Dominion," one of the oldest parent states, and the native
land of Washington ; but to travel through Tennessee would
have been too fatiguing, where the roads are bad and the
inns are bad — for that portion of the state is yet in its in
fancy — so that I did not dare to undertake the journey in
the great heat ; but instead shall return by the sea, beau
tifully and quietly as I came. On the 15th instant, there
fore, I shall go on board the steamer to Philadelphia, and
thence to Washington. Until then I remain quietly here,
and only make little excursions in the city and its neigh
borhood. I am quite well, my little Heart, thank God and home
opathy, and unremitting care as regards diet, and my
beloved bananas ! Besides this, I have availed myself of
sea-bathing here; and though I bathe in a swamp and
under cover, I feel that it is good for me. The Misses A.,
two wealthy unmarried sisters, of middle age, have had
the kindness to lend me their carriage and horses to take
me to the baths. The youngest of these ladies generally
accompanies me. The coachman and the horses are faith
ful old servants of the family, and we are obliged to be
driven as they will, and that is not rapidly. The other
morning the following conversation occurred between the
slave and his mistress.
She. " Dear Richard, don't drive us down  Street;
it is so long and so sandy, we shall never get along. Do
you hear, Richard ?"
He. "Yes, I will drive that way, Missis."

392 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
She. "Ah, dear Richard, can't you drive another; for
instance, along  Street?"
He. " No, Missis. I have something to get in 
Street." She. " Ah, dear Richard, can not I avoid going there?"
He. " No, Missis. I want to go there, Missis."
And, spite of renewed prayers, his mistress was obliged
to yield, and we were driven the way which the obstinate
Richard chose. These faithful old servants are more ob
stinate than ours, but then their eyes beam with a some
thing so kind, with such a cordial life, that one can not
help letting them have their way sometimes. They de
sire all for the good of the family.
Among other persons here who have shown me much
kindness, and in whose society I have had pleasure, is the
minister of the Lutheran Church, the clever natural his
torian, Mr. Bachman, a cheerful and agreeable man, and
a universal favorite.
The master of the house where I am staying, Mr. Will
iam Howland, is now returned home. He is a man of
refined, gentlemanly demeanor, and evidently a kind and
beloved head of the family ; one who seems particularly
to enjoy being able to live, now for a time, quietly at
home with his family. The children seem to dance in
the evening more gayly than ever since Justina is at
home, and Justina is a noble young girl, well grown, and
with a noble exterior, but too pale in complexion. She
has a fine talent for the piano, and in the evening, when
the dancing is over, she and her sister Ilione sing to the
piano negro songs, which amuse their father as much as
they amuse me, and we sit under the piazza in the de
licious night-air often till midnight.
One evening which I spent at Mr. G.'s I was present
at the evening worship of the negroes, in a hall which
that good, right-thinking minister had allowed them to
use for that purpose. The first speaker, an old negro,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 3g3
was obliged to give place to another, who said he was so
full of the power of the word that he could not possibly
keep silence, and he poured forth of his eloquence for a
good hour, but said the same thing over and over again.
These negro preachers were far inferior to those which I
heard in Savannah.
Finally, he admonished one of the sisters " to pray."
On this, an elderly, sickly woman began immediately to
pray aloud, and her evident fervor in thanksgiving for the
consolation of the Gospel of Christ, and her testimony on
behalf of its powers, in her own long and suffering life,
was really affecting. But the prayer was too long; the
same thing was repeated too often, with an incessant
thumping on the bench with her fists, as an accompani
ment to every groan of prayer. At the close of this, and
when another sister was admonished to pray, the speaker
added, "But make it short, if you please!"
This sister,. however, did not make it short, but longer
even than the first, with still more circumlocution, and
still more thumping on the bench.
A third sister, who was admonished to pray, received
the short, definite injunction, "But short." And when
she lost herself in the long bewilderment of prayer, she
was interrupted without ceremony by the wordy preacher,
who could no longer keep silence, but must hear himself
talk on for another good hour. Nor was it until the sing
ing of one of the hymns composed by the negroes them
selves, such as they sing in their canoes, and in which
the name "Jerusalem" is often repeated, that the congre
gation became really alive. They sang so that it was a
pleasure to hear, with all their souls and with all their
bodies in unison ; for their bodies wagged, their heads
nodded, their feet stamped, their knees shook, their el
bows and their hands beat time to the tune and the words
which they sang with evident delight. One rriust see
these people singing if one is rightly to understand their
R 2

394 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
life. I have seen their imitators, the so-called " Sable
Singers," who travel about the country painted up as ne
groes, and singing negro songs in the negro manner, and
with negro gestures, as it is said; but nothing can be
more radically unlike, for the most essential part of the
resemblance fails — namely, the life.
One of my pleasures here has been to talk with an old
negro called Romeo, who lives in a little house in a gar
den near, and which said garden he takes care of, or
rather neglects, according to his pleasure. He is the
most good-tempered, merriest old man that any one can
imagine, and he has a good deal of natural wit. He was,
in the prime of his life, stolen from Africa and brought
hither, and he tells stories about that event in the most
naive manner. I asked him one day what the people in
his native land believed respecting life after death ! He
replied " that the good would go to the God of heaven
who made them." " And what of the bad ?" asked I.
" They go out into the wind," and he blew with his mouth
around him on all sides.
I got him to sing me an Ethiopian death-song, which
seemed to consist of a monotone vibration upon three semi
tones ; and after that an African love-song, which seemed
to be tolerably rude, and which convulsed the old fellow
with laughter. I have his portrait in my album, but he
laughed and was so shame-faced while I made the sketch,
that it was difficult for me to catch the likeness. He is
dressed in his slave garments, gray clothes, and knitted
woolen cap.
The negro people and the primeval forest have made a
peculiarly living impression upon me, and have extended
my vision as regards the richness of those forms in which
the Creator expresses his life. The earth seems to me as
a great symbolic writing, a grand epic, in which the va
rious species of man, of vegetable productions and ani
mals, water and land, form groups of separate songs and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

395

paragraphs which we have to read, and from which to
learn the style of the Great Master, His design, and His
system. My soul, in this view, spreads forth her wings
and flies — alas ! only in spirit — around the whole world ;
across the deserts and the paradise of Africa ; across the
icy tracts of Siberia ; over the mountain land of the Him
alayas — every where between the poles and the equator,
where man lives, and animals breathe, and vegetation
ascends toward the light; and I endeavor involuntari
ly to group and arrange the dissimilar forms into har
monious constellations around one central, all-illumina
ting Sun ; but — all is yet only anticipation, glimpses,
flashes of light into my soul — merely the dawn, the morn
ing watch ! Perhaps at length the perfect day may ap
pear ; perhaps in the native land of runes, in my own
silent home, I may be enabled to expound these runes of
the earth, and that runic song which has been given me
to ponder upon.
Of the mysteries of Charleston I shall not tell you any
thing, because I know them not, excepting by rumor,
and that which I know merely by rumor I leave untold.
Dark mysteries, more indeed than rumor has told, can
not fail in a great city in which slavery abides. I have
heard it said that there is a flogging institution in Charles
ton for slaves, which brings the city a yearly revenue of
more than ten thousand dollars. Every person who wish
es to have his slave punished by the whip sends him there
with money for his chastisement. I have both heard and
read of this many times, and I believe it to be true. But
the position of things here makes it difficult, nay, next
to impossible, for me to search into such things. But I
can not and will not become a spy. I receive merely that
which comes to me compulsively by my own experience,
and which I therefore consider as a knowledge by higher
design, as a something which I ought to know and to re
ceive. I have here properly to do with the ideal, and to

396 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
seize and present it purely and faithfully. And it is in
the feeling of that ideal South, as it already exists in
some degree, and as it some time may wholly exist, in
order to fulfill the design of the Creator, that I now bid
farewell to the South, with both admiration and love-
sorrowing for that which it now is not, and hoping again
to return.
I .shall write you no more from this place, but next
from one of the Northern States. I long to go northward
for cooler air and a freer people. Here one is often obliged
to swallow down one's innermost thoughts and be silent,
if one would avoid either wounding others or disputing
with them. And this heat — if it continues without inter
mission, as it is likely to do from one month to another,
till October — rather would I dwell at North Cape, and
be lighted by fire- wood three parts of the year !
But, notwithstanding, farewell thou beautiful, flowery
South, the garden of North America ! Thou hast warmed
and refreshed me delioiously ! farewell to thy piazzas
covered with blossoming creepers shading pale beauties ;
farewell fragrant forests, red rivers where the songs of
the negro resound ; farewell kind, beautiful, amiable peo
ple, friends of the slave, but not of slavery I When now
in spirit I look back to the South, I shall think upon you,
and, through you, on the future of Carolina and Georgia.
I see you, then, beneath your palmettoes or your magno
lia and orange groves, the fruits of all the earth, and be
yond all, the tropical bananas, spread out before you upon
your hospitable boards ; see you distribute them, as I
have done many a time, to the stranger, to the needy, to
the messengers of all nations ! I see around you blacks
as servants and friends. They are free, and you have
made them so. They sing hymns which you have taught
them, joyful songs which they themselves have made.
And for them and for you sing the hundred-tongued birds
in the cool live-oaks, which wave their long pendent moss-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 397
es, while above them and you beams the mild blue south
ern heaven, and the blessing of heaven ! May it be so !
P.S. — Yes, I must tell you about one of the mysteries
of Charleston, because I have often seen it steal hastily
by like a shadow in the streets and alleys there. It ap
pears to be a woman, meanly clad, in the hues of twilight.
She is called Mrs. Doctor Susan, for she is the physician
and helper of the poor. She belongs to one of the higher
families of the city, but, having made a false step in her
youth, became an outcast from society, which in North
America endures much secret immorality, but none which
becomes public. It might perhaps, in the course of years,
have forgiven, and again admitted the young delinquent
to its circles, but she no longer sought for pardon from
man. She turned her heart and her eye to One much
higher. She became the servant of his poor and afflicted
people. And since then she may only be met with among
them, or on the way to them. That which is given to
her, either of money or of clothing, is applied by her to
the use of the poor, and she herself lives in voluntary
poverty. The negroes in my friend's family were at one time so
ill of an infectious fever that every one fled from them.
But Doctor Susan came and tended them, and restored
them to health, and when she was rewarded for it she
considered her reward too great. Known throughout the
whole city, she goes every where in her poor, dark attire,
like a messenger of consolation, but always rapidly, si
lently, and as if fearful of being seen. Like the fire-fly,
it is only in the dark that she sends forth her clear in
dwelling light ; like it has she been trampled upon by
mankind, and she yet gives forth light.
Farewell, dear heart ! Greet those you know, and
wish it from your Fredrika.

398 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.

LETTER XVIII.
Philadelphia, June 23d.
At length, my sweet little Agatha, I have a moment's
calm in which to converse with you ; but it has been hard
to find in this friendly city of the Friends.
I left Charleston the fifteenth of this month, overwhelm
ed, as in all other places, with presents, and an infinity of
kindness and attentions. But ah ! how weary and worn
out I was during the last days there with the labor of
incessant society. Sea-bathing kept me alive, as well as
a few hours of rest in the kind house of my friend, Mrs.
W. H.
My last evening at Charleston was spent in company
with a lively little astronomer, Mr. Gibbs, brother of the
natural historian at Columbia, and in contemplating from
the piazza the starry heavens. The three great constel
lations, Scorpio, with its fiery-red heart, Antares, Sagitta
rius, and Capricornus, as well as the Southern Crown (in
significant), shone brightly in the southern heavens, and
the zodiacal light cast its white splendor up toward the
Milky Way. We directed the telescope upon a nebulous
spot in the latter, and then to that place where — we found
ourselves^ ah ! lost in immensity, like the animalcules in
the ocean. But I can now look upon this relative condi
tion without being depressed, without its producing un
easy thoughts. Oersted's treatise on the "Entirety of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 3gg
Reason in the whole Universe," and the data upon which
he founds his argument, has given me the feeling of home
in this universe, and made me a citizen of the world. The
whole universe is to me now merely the world and home
of man. The night was very dark, and the stars, there
fore, all the brighter ; yet they were not as bright as with
us, nor yet did they appear so large. The atmosphere
was full of fragrance, and was so calm that the strokes of
the oars and the songs from the negroes' boats on the river
were plainly heard. It was not till half past twelve that
I went to rest.
The following day I took leave of my excellent and be
loved home in South Carolina. My good Mrs. W. H. took
a sisterly, nay, a motherly, care of me to the last. My
little hand-basket was filled with beautiful fruit, oranges
and bananas, by her " fruit- woman," a handsome mulatto,
who always wore a handkerchief tied picturesquely on her
head, and a sketch of whom I made in my album. Old
Romeo gave me flowers. At half past three in the after
noon I went on board the steam-boat, the " Osprey" — the
steam company of Philadelphia and Charleston, the pro
prietors of this vessel, having sent me a free ticket, so that
I went to Philadelphia free of cost ; it was thus a gift to
me of twenty dollars, and could not have been made in a
more polite manner.
The first four-and-twenty hours on board were extreme
ly hot. Both the air and the sea were still, as if the wind
was dead. And I felt how people might die of heat. - A
number of Spaniards from Cuba were on board ; and it was
amusing to watch them, from their peculiar physiognomy
and demeanor, so unlike that of Americans. The vivacity
of their action, their strongly-accentuated, melodious lan
guage, the peculiarity of feature, seemed to indicate a more
important race than that of the Anglo-Saxon ; and yet it
is not so, at least not at the present time. The Spaniards,
particularly in this hemisphere, stand far behind the Amer-

400 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
icans in moral and scientific cultivation. One portion of
these Spaniards was said to be escaping from the inves
tigations which the unsuccessful expedition of Lopez had
occasioned in the island ; others were going to New York
to consult physicians, or to avoid the summer in the trop
ics. A young couple of a high family, and near relations,
were going to be married, as the Spanish law is said to
place impediments in the way of marriage between near
relatives, and that with reason, as the children or grand
children of such frequently become idiotic, or unfortunate
beings in some other way. The young bridegroom was
handsome, but looked ill-tempered, with a good deal of
hauteur. The bride and her sister were young and pretty,
but too stout. An old count, who was evidently suffering
from asthma, was waited upon with the greatest tender
ness by a negro. Little children were amusing by their
lively antics and talk. The voyage was calm, and, upon
the whole, good. Mr. Linton, from the city of the Friends,
took charge of me with chivalric politeness. The sea
sent us flocks of flying-fish as entertainment on the voy
age. Pelicans, with immense beaks, floated like our gulls
through the air, on search for prey, while a large whale
stopped on his journey through the ocean, as if to let us
witness various beautiful waterspouts.
The sailing up the River Delaware on Tuesday morn
ing was very agreeable to me, although the weather was
misty. But the mist lifted up again and again its heavy
draperies, and revealed bright green shores of idyllian
beauty, with lofty hills, wooden country houses, grazing
cattle, and a character of landscape wholly unlike that
which had been lately familiar to me in the South.
I was met at Philadelphia by the polite Professor Hart,
who took me to his house; and there have I been ever
since, and there am I still, occupied, both soul and body,
by social life and company, and by a great deal which is
interesting, although laborious.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 40 1
The Quakers — the Friends, as they are commonly
called — are especially kind to me, take me by the hand,
call me Fredrika, and address me with thou, or, rather,
thee, and convey me, in easy carriages, to see all that is
remarkable and beautiful, as well in the city as out of it.
And what large and -excellent institutions there are here
for the public good ! The heart is enlarged by the con
templation of them, and by the manner in which they
are maintained. One can not help being struck here, in
a high degree, by the contrast between the Slave States
and the Free States ; between the state wriose principle is
selfishness and the state whose principle is human love;
between the state where labor is slavery and the state
where labor is free, and the free are honored. And
here, where one sees white women sweeping before the
doors, how well kept is every thing, how ornamental, how
flourishing within the city as well as in the country !
And these public institutions, these flowers of human
love — ah ! the magnolia blossoms of the primeval forests
are devoid of fragrance in comparison with them ; they
stand as far behind these dwellings, these asylums for the
unfortunate and for the old, as the outer court of the
Sanctuary did to the holy of holies.
I could not help weeping tears of joy when I visited,
the other day, the great Philadelphia Lunatic Asylum — so
grand, so noble appeared the human heart to me here, the
work and the tenderness of which seemed to present itself
in every thing. The Asylum is situated in large and beau
tiful grounds, in which are shady alleys, seats, and flower-
gardens. The whole demesne is surrounded by a wall,
so managed as to be concealed by the rising ground, both
from the park and the house, so that the poor captives
may fancy themselves in perfect freedom. There is also
a beautiful museum of stuffed birds and other animals,
with collections of shells and minerals, where the diseased
mind may divert itself and derive instruction, occupation

402 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and amusement being the principal means employed for
the improvement of these unfortunates. For this reason,
lectures are delivered two or three times a week in a large
hall. They frequently meet for general amusement, as
for concerts, dances, and so on, and the appliances for va
rious kinds of games, such as billiards, chess, &c., are
provided. I heard on all hands music in the house. Mu
sic is especially an effective means of cure. Many of the
patients played on the piano remarkably well. They
showed me an elderly lady, who had been brought hither
in a state of perfect fatuity. They gave her a piano, and
encouraged her to play some little simple pieces, such as
she had played in her youth. By degrees the memory of
many of these early pieces reawoke, until the whole of
her childhood's music revived within her, and with it, as
it seemed, the world of her childhood. She played to me,
and went with visible delight from one little piece to an
other, while her countenance became as bright and as in
nocently gay as that of a happy child. She will proba
bly never become perfectly well and strong in mind ; but
she spends here a happy, harmless life in the music of
her early years. Many of the ladies, and in particular
the younger ones, occupy themselves in making artificial
flowers, some of' which they gave me, and very well done
they were. The men are much employed in field labor
and gardening. A niece of the great Washington's was
here : a handsome old lady, with features greatly resem
bling those of the president, and well-bred manners. She
was very pale, and was said to be rather weak than dis
eased in mind. The number of beautiful flowers here,
particularly of roses, was extraordinary ; and even the in
curables, if they have a moment of sane consciousness,
find themselves surrounded by roses.
While my conductor hither, an agreeable and humor
ous Quaker, and one of the directors of the asylum, was
Atoning with much attention and apparent interest to

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 403
an old lady's communication to him respecting her affairs
in Jerusalem, another whispered to me, ironically, "A mag
nificent place this is ; yes, quite a paradise ! Don't you
think so ?" — and added, with some reserve, and in a lower
voice, " It is a hell ! dreadful things are done here !"
Alas ! the poor unfortunates can not always occupy them
selves with music and flowers. Some compulsion must
at times be made use of; but it is enough that the for
mer means preponderate, and the fact of so many patients
being cured proves it ; and that the latter are made use
of as seldom, and in as mild a form as possible.
A young, good-looking officer said to me, " Ah ! I see
that you are come to liberate me, and that we shall go
out together arm in arm !" Then added he, " Tell me
now, if you had a sister whom you loved better than any
thing else in the world, and you were kept shut up to
prevent your getting to her, how should you like it ?" I
said that, if I were not well, and it was right for me to
take care of my health for a time, I would be patient.
" Yes, but I am well," said he ; "I have been a little un
well, a little tete montCe, as they say ; but I am altogether
right again, and these people are certainly gone mad who
can not see it, who obstinately keep me here."
The insane have commonly this resemblance to wise
people, that they consider themselves to be wiser than
others. My young colonel was evidently tete montee still,
and accompanied us with warm expressions in favor of
ladies. Gerard College is a large school, in which three hundred
boys, otherwise unprovided for, are instructed in every
kind of handcraft trade. A naturalized Frenchman, a
Mr. Gerard, left the whole of his large property for the
establishment of this school. The building itself, which
is not yet completed, is of white marble, and in imitation
of the Grecian temple of Minerva ; it has cost an unheard-
of sum of money, and many persons disapprove of expend-

404 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ing so much on mere outward show, by which means the
real benefits of the institution are deferred. As yet there
are scarcely one hundred boys in the school.
The fancy which the Americans have for the temple-
style in their buildings is very striking. For my part, I
have nothing to say against it, even though the use of the
colonnade and other ornaments is sometimes carried to an
excess not in accordance with the idea of the building,
particularly as regards private houses ; nevertheless, this
magnificent style proves that the popular feeling has ad
vanced beyond the stage when the dwelling was merely a
shelter for the body, without any further intention. The
desire is now that the habitation should be symbolic of
the soul within ; and when one sees any grand and mag
nificent building, like a Grecian temple or Pantheon, or
a Gothic castle, one may then be sure that it is not a pri
vate dwelling, but a public institution ; either an acade
my, a school, a senate-house, a church, or an — hotel.
Mr. Gerard, in his will, expressly ordered that no re
ligious instruction should be given in his institution to the
young, and that no teacher of religion should have a place,
either among the teachers or the directors of his establish
ment. Yet so decided is the view which these people take
of the necessary relationship of religious instruction both
with the man and the school, and so strong their attach
ment to it, that they always find some expedient for evad
ing such orohibitions ; and although they have adhered to
tne testator's wishes with regard to the exclusion of re
ligious teachers and instruction, yet every morning in Gi-
rard College, as in all other American schools, a chapter of
the New Testament is read aloud to the assembled youths
of the college before they begin their daily work.
The statue of Mr. Gerard, in white marble, stands' in
one of the magnificent galleries of this scholastic temple.
It is an excellent work, as the faithful portraiture of a
simple townsman in his every-day attire ; yet an extreme-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 405
ly prosaic figure, presented without any idealization, but
which pleases by its powerful reality, although it stands
almost like a something which is out of place in that
beautiful temple.
I must also say a few words about the Philadelphia
Penitentiary. In the centre of the large rotunda, into
which run all the various passages with their prison-cells,
like radii to one common centre, sat, in an arm-chair,
comfortable and precise, in his drab coat with large but
tons and broad-brimmed hat, the Quaker, Mr. S., like a
great spider watching the flies which had been caught in
the net. But no ! this simile does not at all accord with
the thing and the man — that kind, elderly gentleman,
with a remarkably sensible and somewhat humorous ex
terior. A more excellent guide no one can imagine. He
accompanied us to the cells of the prisoners. The pris
oners live here quite solitary, without intercourse with
their fellow-prisoners ; they work, however, and they read.
The library is considerable, and contains, besides relig
ious books, works of natural history, travels, and even a
good selection of polite literature. It is with no niggard
hand that the nobler seed of cultivation is scattered among
the children of imprisonment, " those who sit in darkness."
The spirit of the New World is neither timid nor niggard
ly, and fears not to do too much where it would do good.
It is careful merely to select the right seed, and gives of
such with a liberal heart and a liberal hand. I have often
thought that beautiful stories, sketches of human life, bi
ographies, in particular of the guilty who have become
reformed, of prisoners, who, after being liberated, have
become virtuous members of society, might do more to
ward the improvement of the prisoner's state of mind and
heart than sermons and religious books — except always
the books of the New Testaments — and I have therefore
wished much to do something of this kind myself. And
I now found my belief strengthened by what " Friend S."

406 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
told me of the effect of good stories upon the minds of the
prisoners. He had lately visited one of the male prison
ers, a man noted for his hard and impenetrable disposition
during the whole time that he had been in prison, upward
of twelve months. This morning, however, he appeared
much changed, very mild, and almost tender.
"How is this?" asked the Quaker; "you are not like
yourself! What is the meaning of it?"
" Hem ! I hardly know myself," said the prisoner,
"but that there book" — and he pointed to a little book
with the title of "Little Jane" — "has made me feel quite
queer ! It is many a year since I shed a tear ; but — that
there story!" — and he turned away annoyed because the
stupid tears would again come into his eyes at the recol
lection of "that there story."
Thus had the history of the beautiful soul of a little
child softened the stony heart of the sinner — the man had
committed murder.
A young prisoner, who had now been in prison for two
years, and who when he came in could neither read nor
write, and had not the slightest religious knowledge, now
wrote an excellent hand, and reading was his great de
light. He was now shortly to leave the prison, and would
go thence a much more intelligent and better human be
ing than he entered it. His countenance, in the first in
stance, had indicated a coarse nature, but it now had a
good expression, and his voice and language showed con
siderable cultivation.
Another prisoner had, with some artistic feeling, paint
ed his cell, and planted a bower in the passage where he
went once a day for fresh air. All the prisoners have
this refreshment once a day in one of the passages which
strike out like rays from the prison, and separated from
the other passages by a high wall. The sight of Friend
S. was evidently a sight of gladness to all the prisoners.
It was plain that they saw their friend in the Friend, and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 407
his good-tempered, sensible countenance put them in good
humor. One young woman, who was soon to leave the
prison, declared that she should do so unwillingly, be
cause she should 'then no longer see good Mr. S.
In the cells of the female prisoners, among whom were
two negro women, I saw fresh flowers in glasses. Their
female keeper had given them these. They all praised
her. I left this prison more edified than I had often been on
leaving a church. Friend S. told me that the number of
the prisoners had not increased since the commencement
of the prison, but continued very much about the same,
which is a pleasing fact, as the population of the city has
considerably increased during this time, and increases
every year. Less pleasing and satisfactory is it, as re
gards the effect of the system, that the same prisoners not
unfrequently return, and for the same kind of crime. But
this is natural enough. It is not easy to amend a fault
which has become habitual through many years, nor easy
to amend old criminals. Hence the hope of the New
World is not to reform so much through prisons as through
schools, and still more through the homes ; when all homes
become that which they ought to be, and that which many
already are, the great reformatory work will be done.
Two houses of refuge, asylums for neglected boys, which
I have visited, seem to be well-conceived and well-man
aged institutions. The boys here, as well as in the great
establishment at Westboro', in Massachusetts, which I vis
ited with the S.s last autumn, are treated according to the
same plan. They are kept in these establishments but a
few months, receive instruction, and are well disciplined,
and then are placed out in good families in the country,
principally in the West, where there is plenty of room for
all kinds of working people.
The Sailors' Home is an institution set on foot by pri
vate individuals, and intended to furnish a good home at

408 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a low price to seamen of all nations during the time that
they remain in the city and their vessels in harbor. I
visited it in company with Mrs. Hale, the author of " Mir
iam," a lady with a practical, intellectual brow, and frank,
and most agreeable manners. She is now occupied in the
publication of a work on the position of women in society,
a work not sufficiently liberal in its tendency, according
to my opinion.
Of all the public institutions which I visited I was least
satisfied with the great Philadelphia Poor-house, an im
mense establishment for about three thousand persons,
which costs the city an immense sum, and yet which can
not possibly answer its purpose. Every thing is done too
much in a massive, manufacturing way ; the individual
becomes lost in the mass, and can not receive his proper
degree of attention. The lazy mendicant receives as much
as the unfortunate, the lame, and the blind, and they can
not have that individual care which they require. At'
least so it appeared to me. Neither did it seem to me
that the guardian spirit of the place was so generous and
so full of tenderness as in the other institutions, and I
failed to find places of repose under the open sky, with
trees, and green space, and flowers for the aged. The lit
tle court with a few trees was. nothing to speak of. For
the rest, the institution was remarkable for its order and
cleanliness, which are distinguishing features of all the
public institutions of the New World. Large, light halls,
in the walls of which were formed small, dark rooms, like
niches or cells, the sleeping-rooms of the aged, and which
thus gave to every person his own little apartment, with
a door opening into the common hall, in which an iron
stove diffused warmth to all, seemed to me the prevailing
arrangement for the poor. And it is certainly a good ar
rangement, as the old people can thus, when they will,
be alone, and also can, when they will, enjoy society and
books in a large, light, warm room, furnished with tables,
chairs, or benches.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 409
I have also heard of various other benevolent institu
tions in the city, which I yet hope to visit. And in every
one of these the Quakers take part, either as founders or
directors, and in every case the same spirit of human love
is observable as animated the first lawgiver of Pennsyl
vania, the founder of Philadelphia, William Penn ; and
the more I see of the Quakers the better 1 like them.
The men have something sly and humorous about them.
a sort of dry humor which is very capital ; they are fond
of telling a good story, commonly illustrative of the peace-
principle, and which is to prove how well this and worldly
wisdom may go together, and how triumphantly they are
doing battle in the world. Christian love shows itself in
them, seasoned with a little innocent, worldly cunning in
manner, and a delicate sharpness of temper. The women
please me particularly, from that quiet refinement of de
meanor, both inward and outward, which I have already
observed ; their expression is sensible ; nobody ever hears
them ask senseless questions. One meets with many strik
ing countenances among them, with remarkably lovely
eyes, purely cut features, and clear complexions. The
interest which the Quaker women take in the affairs of
their native land, and especially in those which have a
great human purpose, is also a feature which distinguishes
them from the ordinary class of ladies.
The Quakers have always been the best friends of the
negro slave, and the fugitive slaves from the Slave States
find, at the present time, their most powerful protectors
and advocates among the Friends. Many of the Quaker
women are distinguished by their gifts as public speakers,
and have often come forward in public assemblies as for
cible advocates of some question of humanity. At the
present time they take the lead in the anti-slavery party,
and a celebrated speaker on this subject, Lucretia Mott,
was among one of my late visitors here. She is a hand
some lady, of about fifty, with fine features, splendid eyes,
¦Vol. I.— S

410 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and a very clear, quiet, but decided manner — crystal-like,
I might say.
June 25th. Yesterday, midsummer-day, I visited the
old Swedish church here ; for the Swedes were the first
settlers on the River Delaware, and were possessed of land
from Trenton Falls to the sea, and it was from them that
William Penn bought the ground on which Philadelphia
now stands. It was the great Gustavus Adolphus who, to
gether with Oxenstjerna, sketched out a plan for a Swedish
colony in the New World, and the king himself becarne
surety to the royal treasury for the sum of 400,000 rix-
dollars for the carrying it out. Persons of all conditions
were invited to co-operate in the undertaking. The colony
was to exist by free labor. " Slaves," said they, " cost a
great deal, work unwillingly, and soon perish from hard
usage. The Swedish people are laborious and intelligent,
and we shall certainly gain more by a free people with
wives and children." The Swedes found a new paradise
in the New World, and believed that the proposed colony
would become a secure asylum for the wives and daugh
ters of those who had become fugitives by religious perse
cution or war ; would be a blessing at once for individual
man and the whole Protestant world. "It may prove an
advantage to the whole of oppressed Christendom," said
the great monarch, who, in his schemes for the honor
of Sweden, always united with them the well-being of
humanity. After the king's death this plan was carried out under
the direction of Oxenstjerna. Land was purchased along
the southern banks of the Delaware, and peopled by Swed
ish emigrants. The colony called itself New Sweden,
and enjoyed a period of prosperity and increasing import
ance, engaged in agriculture and other peaceful employ
ment, during which it erected the fortress of Christiana.,
as a defense against the Dutch who inhabited the north
ern banks of the river. The number of Swedes did not

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 411
exceed seven hundred, and when contests arose with the
more powerful colony of New Netherland, and the Swedish
governor, Rising, attacked the Dutch fortress Casimir, the
Dutch avenged themselves by surprising the Swedish col
ony with an overwhelming force, and they submitted . The
Swedish arms in Europe had by this time ceased to inspire
respect on the other side the Atlantic^ and spita of their
protests the Swedes were brought under the. jurisdiction
of the Dutch. The connection with the mother country
ceased by degrees. And afton the death of the last Swed
ish clergyman who emigrated hither — Gollint*-andi who
died at a great age* the Swedish congregation and ohurch
'have been under the eare of an American clergyman. Mr.
Clay, the present minister, invited me to meet at his house
all the descendants of the earliest Swedish settlers whom
he knew. It was a compaay of from fifty to sixty, and I
shook hands with many agreeable persona, but who had
nothing Swedish about them,, excepting their family
names, of which I recognized many. But no traditions
of their emigration hi-thee remained ; language*,, appear
ance, all had entirely merged into that of the now pre
vailing Anglo-Saxon race. The ehureh clock alone 4iad
something truly Swedish about it, something of the char
acter of the peasant's clock in ita physiognomy,, and was
called Joekum.
The church, a handsome and substantial, though small
building of brick, was ancient only in its exterior. The
interior waa new, and very much ornamented. A large
book was placed upom a sort of tall stand in the middle,
of the church,, and upon its page might be read in large
letters, which however had been somewhat altered by
restoration, " The people who dwelt in darkness have seen
a great light." And thia inscription, together with th©
old church at Wilmington, in Delaware, and a few family
names, are all that remain of the colony of New Sweden
on the eastern shores; of the. New World. Yet no/! not

412 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
all. A peaceful, noble memory of its life continues to ex
ist on the page of history, like a lovely episode of idyllian
purity and freshness. The Pilgrims of New England
stained its soil with blood by their injustice and cruelty
to the Indians. The Swedish pilgrims, in their treat
ment of the natives, were so just and wise, that during
the whole time when this coast was under the Swedish
dominion not one drop of Indian blood was shed by them,
and the Indians loved them, and called them " our own
people." " The Swedes are a God-fearing people," say
the old chronicles of those times. " They are industrious
and contented, and much attached to the customs and
manners of the mother country. They live by agricul
ture and the breeding of cattle; the women are good
housewives, spin and weave, take care of their families,
and bring up their children well."
William Penn, in his letter to the tradesmen of Lon
don, August 6, 1633, wrote thus of them :
" The Swedes and the Finns inhabit the tracts by the
River Delaware, where the water rises high. They are a
simple, strong, and industrious people, but do not appear
to make much progress in agriculture and planting. They
seem rather to desire to have enough than to have abund
ance or to carry on trade. I can not but commend them
for their hearty good-will toward the English. They have
not degenerated from the old friendship which existed be
tween the two kingdoms. As they are a moral, strong,
and healthy people, they have handsome children, and
every house seems full of them. It is seldom that you
find any family without three or four lads, and as many
girls too; some have six, seven, or eight sons. And I
must do them the justice to say that I have seen few
young men more useful or more industrious."
Thus spoke the earliest witness of the old Swedish col
ony. They and the old Swedish church stand there still.
A new Swedish church is now rising in the valley of the
Mississippi, in the West. I must see it.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 413
I visited also yesterday Franklin's grave, and bound
clover and other field-flowers into a garland for it. Frank
lin belongs to the group of fortunate men who are the
heroes of peace, and the quiet benefactors of the human
race. He was the third man in that great triumvirate
(Fox, Penn, Franklin), and the first man in the battle of
the press for freedom of thought in America, and for Amer
ican independence.
Franklin, with his quiet demeanor, his simple habits,
his free, searching glance, directed always upon the sim
plest and the most common laws as regarded every thing,
who "played with the lightning as with a brother," and
"without noise or tumult drew the lightning down from
the sky" — Franklin, with his practical philosophy of life,
which, however, was broad rather than deep ; his great
activity and his excellent temper — seems to me a fine rep
resentative of one phase of American character.
But I must tell you a little more about the Quakers,
who not only founded Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, and
gave to the state and the city their peculiar character, but
who exercised a deep and lasting influence upon the spir
itual life of the people, both of England and New En
gland. In Sweden we know the Quakers merely as a
strange sect which says thou to every body, will not take
an oath, and wear their broad-brimmed hats in the pres
ence of every one. We know them only from little out
ward peculiarities. I have here become acquainted with
their inward significance for the whole of humanity.
It is about two hundred years since George Fox was
born in England. His father, who was called " Righteous
Christopher," was a weaver of Leicestershire, and his
mother was descended from the stock of the martyrs. As
a boy Fox was early distinguished by deep religious feel
ing, and an inflexible and upright disposition. He was
put apprentice to a shoemaker in Nottingham, who also
owned some land, and by him was employed to keep, his

414 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
sfeseep. Reading the Bible, prayer, and fasting occupied
him wliile so engaged. His young soul thirsted after per
fection, and was exeited by a vague longing for the su
preme good, for the steadfast, true light. His youth was
passed during one of the most stormy periods, when Church
and State were alike shaken by hostile parties, and the
different religious sects were divided among themselves,
and opposed the one to the other. The youth, who longed
for the immovable truth, for a foundation whieh would
sustain him, a clearness which would guide him and all
men to the truth, to the supreme good, heard around Trim
merely tine strife of opimon and war. These darkened
his soul still more.
Driven, as it were, by inexpressible anguish, he forsook
his business and his flock, and burying himself in the sol
itudes of woods, he yearned after a revelation of God. He
went to many priests for consolation, but obtained none.
He went to London to seek for the light ; but there con
tending sects and the great professors encompassed him
only with a deeper darkness. He returned to the country,
where some advised him to get married ; others, to go into
Cromwell's army. But his restless spirit drove him into
solitude and out into the fields, where he wandered about
for many mights in anguish, of mind " too great to be de
scribed." Yet, nevertheless, now and then a ray of heav
enly joy beamed in his soul, and he seemed to rest in peace
in Abraham's bosom.
He had been brought up in the Church of England.
But he now saw that a man might be educated in Oxford
and in Cambridge, and yet be in no condition to solve the
great problem of existence. He thought also that G-od did
not live in temples made of stone, but in the living human
heart. From the Church he went over to the Dissenters.
But neither with them did he find "the fixed truth," the
firm foundation for that moral conviction which he sought.
He gave up, therefore, all religious sects, and the seek-

HOMES OF THE NEW. WORLD. 415
ing for the truth among them, and, although shaken by
tempests of opinion, he confided his heart to a Power su
perior to the storm, and found the anchorage of the Spirit.
One morning, as Fox sat silently musing by the fire and
glancing into his own soul, a cloud came over his mind,
and he thought he heard a voice, which said, "All things
come by nature !" And a pantheistic vision darkened and
troubled his soul. But as he continued musing, another
voice arose from the depths of his soul, which said,
" There is a living God !" All at once it became light in
his inmost being; all clouds, all doubts fled; he felt him
self irradiated, and raised upward by an infinite conviction
of truth, and an unspeakable joy.
And the light and the conviction of truth which had
enlightened his soul, which had arisen in him without the
help of any man, spake thus : " There is in every man an
inner light, which is God's revelation to man; an inner
voice which witnesses of the truth, and which is God's
voice in the soul of man, and which guides it to all truth.
In order to come at the truth, it is only needful for man
to turn attentively toward that inner light — to listen to
that inner voice."
That inner light ! that inner voice bade him go forth
and proclaim that message to the human race. It com
manded him to go into the churches, and in the midst of
divine service to cry aloud against the priests — " The
Scriptures are not the rule, but the Spirit, which is above
the Scriptures !" It bade him stand against the hired
ministers of religion, as against wolves in sheeps' clothing.
I shall not tell you of all the persecution which raged
against this man, who thus opposed himself to old belief
and custom, of the stones which were flung at him, who
in the power of the Spirit made the walls of the Church
to quake, although nothing is more interesting than to
follow this divinely possessed man, and to see him, after
ill usage, imprisonment, danger of death, again stand

416 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
forth, always the same, only stronger and more resolute,
and with a more fervent zeal ; to see the crowd of disci
ples increasing around him, drunken with that flood of
inner light, while the servants of the State Church feared
and trembled, when it was said, " The man in the leath
ern breeches is come !"
And nothing is more interesting than to see these un
learned disciples of that revelation of the inner light and
the inner voice stand forth in the power of that incorrupt
ible seed which lives in every human soul, and deliver
the oracles of conscience. Plowmen and milkmaids be
came preachers, and sent forth their voices through the
world, calling upon the Pope and the Sultan, updn Puri
tans and Cavaliers, negroes and Hindoos, all to listen to
the solemn judgment of the inner voice.
That light which had enlightened the noblest of the
heathens, which had enlightened Socrates and Seneca, as
the surest foundation of moral determination, as the dear
est spring of life in heathenism, this had, by means of
the shepherd, George Fox, been diffused among the peo
ple, and had become their possession ; even the meanest
might be participant thereof. For the teacher said,
" Sit down, whoever thou art, sit down on thy own hearth,
and read the divine word in thy heart. Some seek for
the truth in books, others from learned men. But that
which they are seeking for is within themselves ; for man
is an epitome of the whole world ; and for us to under
stand it, we need only to read ourselves aright."
The bursting forth of these opinions at a time when old
ascendencies were tottering to their fall, and old oracles
gave only confused answers, will explain the enthusiasm,
bordering upon insane fanaticism, with which many of
George Fox's adherents promulgated his doctrines. They
believed themselves designed to be the founders of a
world's religion, and went forth to preach the revelation
of the inner light " in Rome and Jerusalem, in America
and Egypt, in China and Japan."

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 417
Fox, led and guided by the inner light, still proceeded
onward with innovation on the usages of the world. That
inner voice, which commanded him to set the Spirit above
the Scriptures, bade him say thee and thou to all men,
commanded him to swear no oath, and not to approve of
any form of government which was not in accordance
with the dictates of the inner voice. On the contrary, it
commanded him to inclose all mankind in an embrace of
brotherly love, and to treat even animals with tenderness.
He voyaged to the New World, and said to the Indian,
" Thou art my brother !"
Wherever he went preaching his doctrines, the inner
beauty of his soul, and his love for eternal goodness and
truth, were felt by all ; and every where crowds accom
panied him, and he made innumerable converts to a way
which seemed so clear and so easy ; for George Fox
taught that the human soul was by nature good, and a
pure child of God. William Penn, a young man of extra
ordinary powers, handsome person, and high and wealthy
family, became one of George Fox's most zealous disci
ples. He also suffered for his opinions, and strengthened
them by becoming one of his most powerful apostles.
The weapons of persecution and ridicule had long been
directed against the increasing multitude of Quakers ;
human reason, too, directed her arguments to oppose them.
They were charged with self-deception. • " How can you
know that you are not mistaking the fancies of a heated
brain for the manifestation of the Spirit of God ?" said
the caviller.
" By the same spirit," replied Penn. " The Spirit wit-
nesseth with our spirit."
" The Bible was the guide and rule of the Protestants.
Had the Quakers a better guide ?"
The Quakers answered that truth was one. God's re
vealed word can not be opposed to God's voice in the con
science. But the Spirit is the criterion, and the Spirit

418 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
dwells in the spirit of man. The letter is not the spirit.
" The Bible is not religion, but the history of religion.
The Scriptures are a declaration of the fountain, but not
the fountain itself." " God's light in our souls bears wit
ness to the truth of God in the Scriptures and in Chris
tianity." The Christian Quaker maintained his relationship to
all the children of light in all ages, and received the reve
lation of the light of Christianity only because it became
strengthened by the inner light in his soul. His faith
was founded upon the universal testimony of the con
science. This assisted him through all knotty contro
versy. When they propounded to him the doctrines of
predestination, the questions of free will and necessity,
the Quaker laid his hand upon his breast. The inner
voice there testified of free will and responsibility; and
it said more than that ; it said, " All men are equal, be
cause the inner light enlightens all. And all government
is to be rejected which is not based upon the laws of uni
versal reason. There is no difference between priest and
layman, between man and woman. The inner light en
lightens all, and knows no distinction of class or of sex."
But I must not go to greater length in these doctrines
of the Quakers, or I should extend my letter too far. I
must instead pass over to the establishment of this Quaker
State. In proportion as the sect protested more and more vehe
mently against Church and State, persecution and hatred
increased, and thousands of the Quakers died in prison
from cold and ill usage.
Amid these sufferings the oppressed people cast their
eyes toward the New World as a place of refuge. Fox
returned from his missionary journey through the East
ern States, from Rhode Island to Carolina, where he had
sown the seed of his doctrines in thousands of willing
souls.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD 419
Several Quaker families in England united to prepare
for themselves and their friends an asylum on the other
side of the Atlantic — in that land which had given a home
to George Fox. They purchased, therefore, land along the
banks of the Delaware, and set out with a large number
of adherents to establish there a community whose one
law and rule should be the inner law of the heart, enlight
ened by the inner light. To this party William Penn soon
attached himself, and took the lead in the colony as its
natural head and governor.
In the fundamental principles of their legislation the
Friends adhered to that of the Puritan colony of New
Hampshire ; " their concessions were such as Friends
could approve of," because, said they, the power is vested
in the people.
But the Quakers went further than the Pilgrim Fathers
in their understanding of and application of this principle.
The Puritans had made the Scriptures their guide and
rule. The Friends made the Spirit the interpreter of the
Scriptures. The Puritans had given the congregation a
right to select their own ministers. The Friends would
not have any priests at all. Every human being, man or
woman, was a priest, and had the right to preach to oth
ers if the Spirit moved them, and the inner voice admon
ished them to give utterance to any truths ; for the inner
light was sent to all.
The Puritans had given the right of vote to every man
in the community, and all questions of law or judgment
were to be decided by a majority of voices. The Friends,
believing in the power of the inner light, and the final
unanimity of the inner light in all, allowed in their coun
cils any questions under discussion to be dealt with again
and again, until all became voluntarily and unanimously
agreed. The Puritans had built their churches without orna
ments or pictures.

420 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The Friends built no churches. They assembled in
halls or houses, called meeting-rooms, and sat there to
gether in silence, listening to the revelation of the inner
voice, and speaking merely when this admonished them
Ja say any thing.
The Puritans regarded woman as the helper of man,
and his companion in the house and on the private path
of life.
The Friends regarded woman as man's helper also in
his life as a citizen, as his helper in the business of his
public as well as his private life, and acknowledged the
right of woman to speak, as well in the Senate as the
Church. The Female Assemblies of Council were of as
much weight as those of the men ,\ and the inspiration of
woman was listened to with reverence when she stood
forth, at the call of the Spirit, in their meeting-houses.
The Puritans had simplified the marriage ceremony.
The Friends rejected marriage by a priest, arid it became
a civil rite. If a man and woman declared themselves
willing to live together as a married pair, that sufficed to
constitute the marriage. The inner voice was enough to
sanctify the union, and to make it firm ; the inner voice
alone could point put the way, and keep the heart pure.
Thus pure, thus sublime were the principles which
guided this little people, who went over to the New World
to make that " holy experiment," as William Penn terms
it ; to found a community wholly and entirely based upon
that which is most inward and most spiritual in human
life. Thus began the colony which, under the guidance of
William Penn, extended itself into the most flourishing
condition, and received the name of Pennsylvania. Penn
desired in it to found a free colony for all mankind.
The fame of that holy experiment resounded afar. The
sons of the forest, the chiefs of the Indian tribes, came to
meet the Quaker king. Penn met them beneath the open

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 421
sky, in the depths of the forest, now leafless by the frosts
of autumn, and proclaimed to them the same message of
the nobility of man, and of the unity and truth of the
inner light, which Fox had announced to Cromwell, and
Mary Fisher to the Grand Sultan. The Englishmen and
the Indians must regard the same moral law, and every
quarrel between them be adjusted by a peaceful tribunal
composed of an equal number of men of each race.
" We meet," said Penn, " upon the broad pathway of
good faith and good will ; no one shall seek to take ad
vantage of the other, but all shall be done with candor
and with love."
" We are all one flesh and blood."
The Indians were affected by these noble words. "We
will live," said they, "in love with William Penn and his
children as long as sun and moon shall endure."
And the sun, and the forest, and the river witnessed the
treaty of peace and friendship which was made on the
shores of the Delaware ; the first treaty, says an historian,
which was not ratified by an oath, and the only one which
never was broken.
The Quakers said, "We have done a better work than
if we, like the proud Spaniards, had gained the mines of
Potosi. We have taught to the darkened souls around us
their rights as men."
Upon a stretch of land between the Rivers Schuylkill
and Delaware, purchased from the Swedes, and blessed
with pure springs of water and a healthful atmosphere,
Penn laid the foundation of the city of Philadelphia, an
asylum for the persecuted, a habitation for freedom, a
home for all mankind. "Here," said the Friends, "we
will worship God according to His pure law and light;
here will we lead an innocent life upon an elysian, virgin
soil." That Philadelphia was later to become the birth-place
of American independence, and of that Declaration which

422 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
proclaimed it to all the world, and united all the individ
ual states of the Union in the great name of humanity—-
of this the Friends thought not.
My dear heart, I have written out the above for you,
partly from books, partly from myself, from my own ob
servation and thoughts ; for I have been greatly fascinated
by this episode in the history of man, and I see traces of
its life still quite fresh around me.
Looking now at the principles of Quakerism in and for
themselves, I see clearly that they are the same doctrines
for which Socrates died and Luther lived, and for which
the great Gustavus Adolphus fought and conquered, and
died the death of the hero — the right of freedom of thought,
of faith in the light and voice of God in the soul of man ;
this principle, arising in George Fox from the very heart
of the people, and thence becoming the vital prmciple of
people, Church, and State, constitutes the peculiarity of
Quakerism, thoroughly permeating social life.
New it is not ; neither is it sufficient in the one-sided
view in which Quakers comprehend it. What if that
inner light illumines a dark desire in the human soul?
if the inward voice finds itself opposed by a debased or
evil impulse of the heart? The Quakers have forgotten,
or have not regarded the old saying, that "there is a drop
of black blood in every man's heart." And in order to
make this pure, neither light nor admonishing voice avails
any thing, but only another drop of blood of divine power
and purity. The Quakers may, in the mysteries of Quaker
life, find proofs enough of the existence cf this black drop,
even among the children of the inner light ; perhaps no
bloody proofs, no burning spot, but dark histories of gloomy,
silent, bitter quarrels among " the Friends ;" secret oppres
sion, secret, long misery, irreconcilable misunderstandings,
and all those dark fiends which, when I see them imbitter-
ing family or social life, remind me of the old Northern
hell, with its dark, poisonous rivers, cruel witchcraft, rainy

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 423
clouds, venomous serpents, and so on. But Quakerism, in
its first arisings, saw nothing of this, and perhaps possessed
nothing of it. Enthusiasm for a beautiful idea changes
the soul to a spring morning, with a clear heaven and the
purest air, full of the song of birds, amid flowery meadows.
Later in the day the clouds arise. Quakerism, in its ear
liest morning freshness, was itself a pure, unfathomed river,
derived from pure fountains, and which baptized the world
anew with the purifying waters of truth, and faith in the
voice and power of truth. That was and that is its good
work in mankind. And its awakening cry has penetrated
with purifying power into millions of souls. Waldo Emer
son, in his belief irt the power of this inner light and truth,
is a Quaker.
It was a mistake in the Quakers to believe that man
has sufficient of this inner light in himself, nay of his own
strength, to attain to perfection, and it still remains a mis
take to this day. For this reason they make too little use
of prayer, too little of the Lord's Supper, too little of all
those means which the All-good Father has afforded to His
children, in order to bring them into connection with Him,
and Him with them, that He might impart to them His
life and His strength, and which, therefore, are so properly
called means of grace. Therefore is it, also, that they are
deficient in that reliance and freedom with which a child
of God moves through the whole circle of his creation, re
garding nothing as unclean, and nothing as hurtful, which
is enjoyed with a pure mind. They look with suspicious
glances upon all free beauty and art, and are afraid of joy;
nay, they mistrust even the beauty of nature, and are de
ficient in that universal sense which belongs to the Scan
dinavians — though it sometimes a little oversteps itself
with them — and which made your somewhat eccentric
acquaintance, L., say, " One should eat in God ; one should
play and sing in God; nay, one should dance in God."
But peace be with Quakerism ! It has accomplished

424 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
its mission, and borne the torch of light before mankind for
a season, during its passage "out of darkness, and through
the shadows to the light." It has had its time. There
is an end of the earlier power of the sect. But its influ
ence still exists, and is in force in the New World, espe
cially as the principle of stern uprightness and public be
nevolence, and it will yet by this open new paths for the
people of the New World. The doctrine of the inner light
died not, but seeks a union with another higher light. It
has, especially in its declared equality of man and woman,
a rich seed which must germinate through a wider sphere.
How little danger there is in this avowed equality, and
how little outward change is produced by it in society,
the Quaker community has practically shown. Men and
women have there the same privileges, and exercise them
alike. But in all this they have remained true to their na
ture ; she turns rather into the home ; he, more outward, to
the community. The women have remained equally fem
inine, but have become more marked in character. The
different characteristics of the two have, in that which was
the best, remained unchanged, but have been improved,
elevated where they were worst. That "holy experi
ment" proves itself to have been in this respect wholly
successful, and ought to have led to a yet more grand ex
periment. The present younger generation of Quakers unites itself
more to the world by poetry and music, and begins to light
up the old gray and drab attire by a still more cheerful
hue. The change is prepared in the mind. The world
has become purified through the purity of the Quakers,
and its innocent joy and beauty now begin to find their
way to them. A young girl of Quaker family, of my ac
quaintance here, wore pale pink ribbon, and had her bon
net made in a prettier form than that in use among the
Quakers, and when reproached by her mother for seeking
to please man rather than God, she replied :

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 425
" Oh, my mother! He made the flowers and the rain
bow!" The exclusiveness of Quakerism is at an end. And yet
it is so peculiar and so beautiful in its simple, gentle, out
ward forms, that I am afraid for it, and would not lose it
for a great deal. I am fond of its "thee and thou;" its
silent meetings ; its dress, in particular the woman's dress,
with its chaste, dew-like purity and delicacy. And under
this attire there dwells still many a noble soul, in the
brightness of that inner light, illumined by the sun of
Christian revelation, deriving thence, for themselves and
others, oracles which the distracted eye and ear of the
world can not perceive. And poets such as Whittier, and
speakers such as Lucretia Mott, show that the Spirit with
its rich gifts still rests upon the assembly of Friends.
The Quakers of the United States are at this time split
into two parties, and have separated, with not exactly the
most friendly feelings, into two bodies. The so-called
"Hicksite Quakers" have separated themselves from the
Orthodox class. These latter are allied, as formerly, rath
er to the Puritan creed ; the former to the Unitarian.
July 21th. I yesterday was present at a meeting of the
Orthodox Quakers. About two hundred persons were as
sembled in a large, light hall without the slightest or
nament, the men on one side, the women on the other,
and with these a number of children. The people sat on
benches quite silent, and looking straight before them, all
except myself, who looked a little about me, but very
quietly. It was a very hot day, and the silence and the
immovability of the assembly was oppressive to me. And
I-kept thinking the whole time, "will not the Spirit move
some of the assembly ?" But no ! the Spirit moved not
one. An old gentleman coughed, and I sneezed, and the
leaves of the trees moved softly outside the window. This
was the only movement I perceived. <There sat the wom
en, with their drab bonnets all of one color and form, like

426 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
upturned, flat-bottomed boats, and appearing less agree
able to me than common. Nevertheless, I saw in many
countenances and eyes an expression which evidently test
ified of the depth of the "Spirit, although in this depth I
failed to find — light. And the children, the poor little
Children, who were obliged to sit still and keep awake,
without occupation and without any object for their child
ish attention — what could they think of? thought I, Who
can not think deeply on a subject unless when I am walk
ing. Thus sat we, in heat and silence, Certainly for an
hour, until two of the elders, who sat in the gallery, rose
up and extended to each other their hands, which was the
signal for the general breaking up, and I was glad to get
out into the open air. On Sunday I shall visit the meet
ing of the Unitarian Quakers, and see whether the Spirit
is more alive among them. Here it was deep, perhaps,
but it did not come out of the depth into the day. As
discipline, these silent meetings may, in any case, be ex
cellent. Of the undisciplined, who talk at random, With
out purpose or effect, one has enough in the world.
Sunday. Yes, of a truth the Spirit was alive there, and
moved first a man and then a woman, and I heard the
Spirit speak from the heart of Quakerism itself. The
preacher, whose name 1 have forgotten, an elderly gentle
man with an animated, yet serious countenance, admon
ished his hearers to keep the will and the mind in a state
of integrity and purity. From this pure light, he said,
light went forth through the whole life, directing all its
actions. The discourse was good, animated, clear, true.
But I thought of the words, " Man must be regenerated
by water and the Spirit." Here was the water, but-1-
nothing more. It was the human purification. The Spir
it of heaven, love, the inspiration of life, had nothing to do
with it. After this preacher sat down, and all had been
silent again for a time, there arose from her seat a short,
handsome lady, with fine features, and beautiful, clear

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 427
eyes. It was Lueretia Mott. With a low, but very sweet
voice, and an eloquence of expression which made me
not lose a single word, she spoke for certainly an hour,
without interruption, Without repetition, and in a manner
which made one wish her to continue, so lucid and pow
erful was her delineation of the principles of non-conform
ity (the Quaker principles), so logical and excellent was
the application of these to the practical questions of life,
now so much contested, and which the speaker represent
ed as being peace, slavery, and the rights of woman. I
listened with the greatest pleasure to this excellent dis
course, which was permeated by the Inner life of the speak
er as by a strong though somewhat imprisoned fire. There
was talent, power, clearness, light. Yet for all that, the
warmth of inspiration was wanting. I am, in the mean
time, glad to have heard a female speaker, perfect in her
way. The room was quite full, arid she was listened to
with evident admiration.
I have heard speak of two young ladies who in this as
sembly utter sometimes inspired words. But I did not
hear them. This meeting closed, as the former had done,
by two of the elders rising and shaking hands with each
other. Monday. I have to-day, my little heart, read for the
first time in its entirety the American Declaration of In
dependence, about which the world has heard so much,
and I with them. I read it in the very same hall where
it was subscribed ; and you must also hear it, that is to
say, its first principles, because they contain the rights
and privileges of the new humanity in the New World.
It says :
" When, in the course of human events, it becomes nec
essary for one people to dissolve the political bands Which
have connected them with another, and to assume among
the powers of earth the separate and equal station to
which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them,

428 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation. " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Crea
tor with inalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure p
these rights, governments are instituted among men, de
riving their just powers from the consent of the governed ;
that wherever any form of government becomes destruc
tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter it,
and to institute a new government, laying its foundation
on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness."
After this are enumerated all the grievances which the
American colonies had to complain of against the English
government, and which had led to their taking the reins
of government into their own hands. The colonies which
at that time united themselves into one States' Alliance
were thirteen in number. Jefferson, assisted, as I have
heard, by Thomas Paine, drew up the memorial, and the
hand of the worshiper of nature may be seen ; but even in
the work of the worshiper of nature, the guidance of a
higher Providence is evident. It was on the Fourth of
July, 1776, that the Declaration of Independence received
the votes, and passed the American Congress. It was
the dawn of a new epoch which then arose ; an epoch of
great thoughts and struggles which then was proclaimed
to the world. It was while war was raging with En
gland, and while the result of that war was uncertain,
that this Declaration was drawn up and signed ; and on
the day before a battle it was read to the whole republi
can army by the desire of its great commander, General
Washington. Every thing in the hall, where it was subscribed by the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 429
leading men, is preserved as it was then, to this day. The
green table still stands around which the members of the
government sat, and upon which the Declaration of Inde
pendence was signed.
I was told an amusing expression of Franklin's on this
occasion. When the document was to be signed, some of
fthose present appeared dubious, and ready to draw back.
One voice said, " Now, gentlemen, let us all hang to
gether!" "Yes," said Franklin, in his quiet way, "or
else we shall all have to hang separately !"
They laughed, and signed.
This splendid declaration of the inalienable freedom
and rights of humanity is now, however, opposed to many
things in this country. How long will it be so ?
I must now tell you a little about some of my friends
and acquaintance here. First, my entertainers, in whose
good home I live as a member of the family. Professor
Hart and his wife are quiet, God-fearing people, very kind,
and of an excellent class for me to be with. They two,
and their sweet little ten-years' old son, Morgan, consti
tute the whole family. Hart is an interesting and esti
mable man ; it would certainly be difficult to find any
one of a more gentle and mild disposition and manner,
combined with greater energy and more capacity for work.
To this is added a fine humor, and a mild, but singularly
penetrative glance. He is unusually systematic in all that
he undertakes, and is distinguished as the teacher and su
perintendent of a high school in Philadelphia for five hund
red boys. He is also the editor of an extensively-read lit
erary magazine, " Sartain's Union Magazine ;" he is able
to accomplish so much by an exact distribution of his time,
and by doing every thing at the moment when it should
be done ; hence he does so much, seems never to be in a
hurry, or to have much to do.
My most agreeable acquaintance are the family of the
Danish charge d'affaires here. The daughters are in-

43Q HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
expressibly charming, lively, and full of intellect. It is
very delightful to me to converse with them in my native
tongue, to talk about Denmark and good friends there.
The death of Ohlenschlager was astonishing news to me.
He was so strong and well a year ago when I saw him at
his country house, and he was more amiable than usual,
and drank to the success of my journey to the New Worldf
which was just then decided upon. One of the young la
dies read that piece, which he desired to be read aloud to
him as a preparation for death, a monologue of Socrates
in his hour of death, written by Ohlenschlager himself.
That was in the true Stoic spirit. But how extraordinary
at such an hour to have his own verses read to him ! Far
better was the feeling of our Bishop Wallin, when at his
death-bed they began to sing one of his own beautiful
hymns, he interrupted them and said, " No, no ! not that
now !" and took pleasure only in hearing read the Gospel
of St. John.
But I was going to tell of my acquaintance.
Among my good friends here I reckon also a Quaker
co%ple — but of the somewhat worldly class of Quakers' —
Mr. and Mrs. E. T., agreeable, and wealthy people, who
have shown me much kindness., and who have driven me
about to places both in and out of the city. Mrs. T.'s pa-
ternal home, a strict Quaker home, interests me especial
ly,, from a young girl there who wrote to me, some time
since,, a charming little letter. I knew that she was very
delicate from a spinal complaint, which had confined her
to her bed for some years. When I was taken into, her
chamber, I saw laid upon a bed, in white garments ar
ranged artistically in broad, full folds, a being — never had
I seen any thing so like, an angel ! That beautiful, pure
countenance was lighted by a pair of large eyes, which
beamed with really supernatural brightnesss. She made
no movement to raise her head when I bent over her to
speak, but laid her arms quietly around my neck. That

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 43 J
fascinating countenance bore not a trace of the disease
and nervous weakness of which she is the prey, and which
she bears like a patient lamb ; neither do they enfeeble
her spiritual life. God has given wings to her spirit, and
the physically-bound young girl has sent forth from her
sick-bed instructive teachings to the world from her ob
servations of the wonderful mechanism of life in nature.
Her little book for youth, " Life in the Insect World," is
to me a welcome gift, because it shows me a young girl
who has made nice investigation into one of the natural
sciences, which I have often endeavored to excite young
ladies to do, but, as far as I know, without success ; that is
to say, biographical observations with regard to animals
and plants. The turn for minute detail, acute perception
of the lesser world, which is peculiar to woman, together
with a poetic feeling which allies it to the spiritual — the
universal, and which can discern in all things symbols of
purpose rich in thought ; these are all natural endowments
which seem singularly to befit woman for that portion of
science, and should, in their pursuit and their application,
tend to make the searching soul richer in its daily life.
Mary Townsend has treated her subject in this biographic
and poetic manner, and given in her work the history of
the insect metamorphoses. The little book is ornamented
with copper-plates, in which various kinds of insects are
shown in various stages of their existence, especially in
that in which they burst from their pupa state, and un
fold their wings in space. It is not wonderful that the
beautiful human spirit, sternly imprisoned in its earthly
pupa, should feel especially enamored of this movement
of transformation.
Mary Townsend, and a young sister of hers, also richly
gifted, and delicate also in health — yet not in the same
way as Mary — are now occupied in preparing a rhymed
chronicle of the History of England for children's easy
committal to memory. And thus that meagre Quaker

432 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
home incloses a rich poetical life, and in that a being
which is almost an angel already, and which waits only
for its transformation to become fully so. The parents
are an old classical Quaker couple. The old man's prin
cipal object and delight seems to be to take care of his
daughters. I have dined with Lucretia Mott, in company with all
her children and grandchildren, a handsome, flourishing
multitude. She interests, rather than attaches me. ' Her
husband, Mr. Mott, is a strong old gentleman, who seems
to maintain his place, though he is obscured somewhat
by the publicity of his wife's glory. It is said that he is
pleased by it, and it does him honor.
At a public lecture, lately delivered by a distinguished
litterateur, Mr. Dana, on Shakspeare, he instanced .Des-
demona as the ideal of woman in all ages, beyond which
none higher could be found. When, however, the lecture
was ended, Lucretia Mott rose, and said,
" Friend Dana, I consider that thou art wrong in thy
representation of what woman ought to be, and I will en
deavor to prove it."
She therefore proposed to the assembly to meet her on
a certain day in that same room. The assembly did not
fail to be present, and Lucretia M. delivered an excellent
lecture, permeated by that love of truth and integrity
which is the very foundation of Quakerism. Lucretia is
a splendid woman and speaker, and would be still more
splendid if she listened a little more attentively to other
people's observations and thoughts, especially on the slave
question ; but that she does not.
Among others who have invited me to their houses is
the wife of the British consul. I called on her to thank
her, and found her a warm-hearted, lively lady, particu
larly zealous on the subject of the development of her sex
to a more independent life, both as regards body and soul.
She had established a drawing-school for her young girls,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 433
where they could learn drawing, the making of designs,
wood-engraving, &c, and she showed me various beauti
ful works of these young people. She had also endeavor
ed to establish other good institutions for women, but was
annoyed by the want of sympathy which she met with,
especially among women themselves. She said, " They
do not stand by their sex !"
She thought that as the world now went on, the best
service one could do to any new-born female child was to
— drown it. I laughed at this extraordinary proof of love,
but could not agree with this warm-hearted lady, that
is to. say, unless the world should not become more just
and enlightened on these subjects than it now is. But in
America it seems to me that there is no reason to doubt •
about this, and no reason at all to drown little girls.
I have here received visits merely in the evenings, but
have then seen a great many people, among whom many
that interested me. I received yesterday a present from
some agreeable young girls of a gigantic cactus, just in
bloom, one of that species which merely flowers once in
thirty years. No one can imagine a more glorious creation
of sunshine — the sun has wished to reflect himself in this
flower. I have received, my little Agatha, your letter of May:
it is charming that you have at length vernal weather at
Stockholm, and that mamma arid you are well. When
you spoke of how we should meet at Marstrand, I was
not a little tempted to pack up my things and set off;
but it would have been folly in me, my little heart, to
have left my work only half finished, after having dared
so much, and even suffered so much, to advance it thus
far. I feel that my life and experience here are of great
importance to me, and believe that I can so evidently see
the hand of a guiding Providence in this my journey, that
I should both grieve and be angry with myself if, without
absolute necessity, I were to interrupt or cut it short. I
Vol. I.— T

434 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
greatly desire to remain on this side the ocean through the
next winter. In June I could then return home, and then
could I go with my little heart, and we could climb together
the May-pole at Marstrand!
Spite of the great heat which now prevails here, I feel
myself becoming more acclimated, and more capable than
hitherto of reflecting upon and profiting by my experience
in this country.
You ask me about the position^of women with regard
to schools. Yes, my child, I have much to say to you on
that subject, and have already told you a little. Their
position in that respect is indubitably one of the most
beautiful aspects of the New World. They areacknowl-
edged, still more and more unreservedly, to be the best
instructors of childhood and youth, and they are employed
for this purpose in public schools for boys, even of thirteen
or fourteen, or even more. I have spoken with young
ladies who were teachers of youths of seventeen or eight
een, and they told me that they never experienced any
thing from them but attention and esteem. True is it
that these young girls were remarkably noble, and had
great self-possession of manner. Female teachers are not
nearly so well remunerated as male; but every one ac
knowledges the injustice of this, as the health of women
suffers more from that laborious employment than that
of men, and prevents their being able to continue it so
long. It is hoped, however, that this unequal division
may be remedied as new paths of industry are opened to
women. And this is beginning more and more to be the
case. A remarkable young woman in this city, Elizabeth
Blackwell, has opened, as a physician, a career to her sex.
She has done this so resolutely, amid opposition, and infi
nite difficulty and prejudice (which exist even in this
country), and so triumphantly by her talent, that a medi
cal college is now about to be established here, solely for
women, in which they may study and graduate as nhysi-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 435
cians. This has pleased me greatly. How useful will
these female physicians be in the treatment of their own
sex and of children ; yes, there are divers diseases for the
treatment of which they seem to be peculiarly calculated.
The education of women for the industrial employments
is, I think, greatly neglected even here ; and they ought,
much more than they do, to learn book-keeping. In France,
women have, in this respect, greatly the advantage of those
in this country ; and here, where two thirds of the people
follow trade, it would be of great importance if the wom
en could keep books. Still, their principal office is in the
home^ as the instructors of youth. I saw lately a young
girl of about twenty give a lesson in elocution to a class
of young men, some of whom were above twenty. Her
talent was remarkable in this branch of art, and the youths
obeyed her directions like good children. They had volun
tarily formed this class that they might be taught by her.
I shall now shortly leave this friendly City of the
Friends to go to Washington, where Congress is now sit
ting, and where a furious war is going forward about Cal
ifornia and slavery. You know already, from description,
that Philadelphia is remarkable for its regularity and order.
It has in this respect the character of the Quakers, and is
a quiet city in comparison With New York, has no palaces
or remarkable buildings, but is every where well built,
has beautiful broad streets planted with trees, and behind
these broad causeways and many magnificent private
houses, with marble steps and door- ways, and particularly
so in the fashionable streets. In each of the great quar
ters there is a large green market, planted with trees like
a park, where it is delightful to walk or sit.
Behind this exterior of order, cleanliness, and regularity,
there is, I understand, a considerable proportion of irreg
ularity; and quarrels and affrays not unfrequently take
place between the less civilized portion of the population,
in particular between the lower class of work-people and

436 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the free negroes, who are mostly fugitive slaves, and often
very disorderly.
A portion of the male youth in the Quaker city seem
like certain fermenting drinks in bottles, which make the
cork fly out of the bottle when it becomes too small for
them ; I tell that which has been told to me ; and the
thing seems natural enough. If my spirit had been bot
tled up in the strict Quaker formula, I should have be
come either a St. Theresa, or have gone mad, or — I dare
not say what.
In company with the amiable B. family I visited the
beautiful Philadelphia church-yard, Laurel Hill, on the
banks of the Schuylkill, which last, people say, is a name
descended from the times of the Scandinavians here, from
the Danish Skjulto Kilder, Hidden Fountains. I also vis
ited, in company with the. T.'s, some of the beautiful en
virons of the town, and among these the rocky and pic
turesque banks of the Schuylkill. The land is fertile on
all sides ; one sees fields of Indian corn (maize) and wheat,
and beautiful meadows ; every thing testifies of care and
industry. Chestnut and walnut trees, the ash, the oak of
many kinds, the elm, the maple, and the lime, are very
general. One sees commonly the beautiful little Vir
ginian pine, a pyramidal, dark little tree with pine-tree
leaves, besides a great variety of shrubs ; plantations of
fruit trees, mostly peach-trees, ornament the fields. The
country round Philadelphia is a pleasing alternation of
hill and dale, and idyllian landscape ; the trees are large
and branching. No tree, however, equals the magnolia
and the live oak of the South. I have also seen the tulip-
tree here. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State, I
suppose from its central position among the first states of
the Union. Pennsylvania takes the second place among
the states of the Union as regards population and wealth.
It has immense beds of coal in its soil, and great natural
beauty in the interior of the country. Susquehanna River

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 437
and the valley of the Wyoming are celebrated for their ro-
roantio beauty. Philadelphia is second to New York in size
and population, the population of Philadelphia being about
three hundred thousand. The disorders in the city may, in
great measure, arise from the vastly increasing population
upon which no educational influences have yet operated.
Latterly, however, the Quaker State has aroused itself to
a sense of this neglect, and, following the example of the
Pilgrim State, has organized a system of schools similar
to those of Massachusetts, and now flatters itself with hav
ing excelled them ; but if with justice I can not say.
And now adieu to Philadelphia ! - Bergfalk has returned?
to Sweden. He was to sail from Boston on the 26th of
June. He has been extremely ill in Philadelphia of in
flammation of the lungs, but was cured by homeopathic
treatment. During his illness and convalescence he has
experienced something of the abundant kindness of this
people, who did all they could for the sufferer, and knew
no bounds to their good will. Of this I am glad. Berg
falk has lived in America as a good Swede, laboring and
investigating the state of the laws and questions connect
ed therewith ; never losing sight of the important inquiry,
what can be good and advantageous to Sweden ? He has
inquired into every thing. He longed very much for his
home. It grieved me greatly not to be able to see him be
fore he set off, and that strangers, and not his country-wom
an, sat by his sick-bed : but his letter tells me that in these
strangers he found affectionate brothers and sisters.
Washington, July 1st.
I felt a little thrill of joy when, in the evening of yes
terday, I beheld from the top of the Capitol of the United
States the glorious panorama of the country around,
through which wound the Potomac River, the whole light
ed up by the golden light of evening : it was a magnifi
cent sight. The situation of the Senate House, its envi
rons, and the views from it are certainly the most beau-

438 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
tiful which can be met with. And the representatives,
who here make speeches for the country and the people,
can not avoid being inspired by the view which is pre
sented to their gaze; they must feel joy and pride that
this is their country, and that it is in their power to work
for its well-being.
I spent the evening in company with the American
consul in Canada, a pleasant young man, Mr. Andrews,
and with Miss Lynch. This agreeable young poetess is
now in Washington, endeavoring to obtain from Congress
a pension for her mother, the widow of a naval officer.
The following day I visited, with her and Dr. Hebbe, a
Swede who has resided several years in America, the
Senate House, and the House of Representatives. The
day was beautiful ; the United States banner with its thir
ty-three stars, a star for each state, waved from the top
of the Capitol, as is .customary while Congress is sitting.
It looked quite festal. The Senators sat in a large rotunda,
well lighted by lofty windows, occupying one half of the
room, and produced altogether a good and honest effect.
The greater number of these gentlemen were of noble
form, with a somewhat peculiar physiognomy and bearing,
which, on the whole, was calm and dignified, but which
nevertheless does not prevent occurrence of scenes which
are considerably disturbing and unworthy of senatorial dig
nity. During the present session even, on one occasion,
a strange and rather comio scene occurred between the
senator from Missouri, Mr. Benton, and the senator from
Mississippi, Mr. Foote, in which the former, a strong-built
man, with an expression and beak-like countenance re
sembling a bird of prey, presented himself before the lat
ter with a look and gesture that made the other, a little
man of nervous excitability, draw forth a pistol, which he
placed against Benton's breast. With this, the senator
of Alabama said, quite coolly, " Give me that instrument,"
and forthwith disarmed Foote, when behold the pistol was

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 439
— unloaded ! The hawk and the dove were now both of
them in their places in the Senate, and the quarrel be
tween them seemed to be at an end ; but I should not de
pend upon the hawk.
The two great statesmen, Clay and Webster, were both
in the Senate, but neither of them spoke. I have already
described to you the appearance of Clay ; Daniel Web
ster bears a remarkable likeness to our deceased Arch
bishop Wallin, especially in the large deep-set eyes, and
the strong, magnificent, arched forehead ; but he is a
handsomer man, and looks more massive. His head is
really magnificent. Webster represents Massachusetts,
and Clay Kentucky, in the Senate. As regards the great
questions of contention between the North and the South
in this country, Webster appears to be the representative
of the moderate party in the North, and Clay of the mod
erate party in the South. The Senate is divided in the
house into two portions. Each senator has a little desk
before him, upon which paper and books are placed. The
vice-president, who is speaker, and who sits upon a some
what elevated platform in front of both parties, with the
American eagle displayed above him, is a handsome, pow
erful figure, with an open, manly countenance. In the
gallery appropriated to the public, and which runs round
the house above the heads of the senators, the front seat,
according to American politeness, is left for ladies, and
one hears remarkably well from this gallery.
The House of Representatives produces a less striking
effect. The space is much larger, and not so well light
ed as that of the senators ; the throng of people is much
greater also, and they talk and behave in a much less dig
nified manner. The whole produced a chaotic impres
sion on my mind ; nor could I hear one single word from
the gallery. The sound does not ascend clearly, and the
worthy members talked with the rapidity of a torrent.
I shook hands with many, both of the senators and the

440 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
representatives. They were all particularly polite and
merry. In the afternoon, the senator from New Hampshire took
Miss Lynch and myself to the White House, the residence
of the president, General Taylor, just out of the city, and
where, in the Park, every Saturday afternoon, there is mil
itary music, and the people walk about at pleasure. The
president was out among the crowd. I was introduced
to him, and we shook hands. He is kind and agreeable,
both in appearance and manner, and was simply, almost
negligently, dressed. He is not considered to possess any
great talent as a statesman, but is universally esteemed
for the spotless purity of his character, and for his ability
and humanity as a general. It -was the Mexican war
which made him president. His demeanor struck me as
civil rather than military. Vice-president Fillmore, with
whom also I became acquainted this evening, looks more
of a president than Taylor.
The presidential residence is a handsome, palace-like
house, yet of too simple a style to be called a palace, near
the Potomac River. The situation and views are beauti
ful. The band played " The Star-spangled Banner," and
other national airs. From three to four hundred persons,
ladies, gentlemen, and children, strolled about on the grass
and amid. the trees; the evening was beautiful, the scene
gay and delightful, and one of a true republican charac
ter : I enjoyed it, wandering arm in arm, now with one,
now with another member of Congress, and shaking hands
right and left. When people knew that I was fond of
little children, many mothers and fathers brought their
little ones to shake hands with me ; this pleased me. The
president was delighted with the children who leaped about
so joyously and so free from care, or seated themselves on
the green-sward. He seems to be between fifty and six
ty, and is said to be tired of, and distressed by, the state of
things and the contentions in the Union at this moment.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 44]
Later. I have just returned from the Capitol, where I
have passed the forenoon, but where we walked about
arm in arm with the senators, and talked with them much
more than we listened to the speeches in the Senate ; but
I will do that before long. The entrance of California
into the Union, with or without slavery, is the great con
tested question of the day, and which splits the North and
the South into two hostile parties. No one knows as. yet
how the contest will end, and it is reported that the pres
ident said lately that all was dark. Henry Clay, who is
endeavoring to bring about a compromise, and who has
long labored for this purpose, has latterly set the whole
Senate against him, it is said, by his despotic and over
bearing behavior, and he is now quite Worn out by the
opposition he meets with from his colleagues. He com
plained bitterly of this to-day, when Anne Lynch and I
called upon him before Congress. I had seen him the
day before at the White House.
He now inquired from me about King Oscar, his char
acter, his standing with the people, &c. So many trivial
and insignificant questions are asked me, that it was now
really refreshing to reply to inquiries which were earnest
and had some purpose in them, and which were made with
an earnest intention. And it was very pleasant to me to
be able to tell Mr. Clay that we had in King Oscar a good
and noble-minded monarch whom we loved. By what
the American statesman knew respecting him and our
Swedish political affairs, I could see the glance of genius,
which requires but little knowledge to enable it to perceive
and comprehend much.
While we were in the midst of this subject, the servant
introduced an extraordinary little man with an extraordin
ary stick in his hand, which looked like a something be
tween a knob-stick and an enchanter's wand — some sort
of a curiosity'out of the Great West! thought I. N.B. —
We sat before the open. door.
T2

442- HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
"Is this Henry Clay?" said the little man, planting
himself with his great knob-stick just before the great
statesman. " Yes, sir, that is my name," said Clay, impatiently.
" Sit down. What do you wish with me ?"
The little man seated himself without any hesitation in
an arm-chair, and I rose, saying that I feared to take up
Mr. Clay's time.
" Oh, no, no!" said he, politely*; "it is so refreshing to
see ladies ! But these fellows — I hate them !" and made
a gesture toward the little man which would have sent
him out of the room or have knocked him down if he
could rightly have felt it. But he sat there, fast rooted to
the ground, with his knob-stick in his hand, determined
not to move, and I felt it necessary to leave the weary
statesman to the witchcraft.
Clay, who is extremely popular, allows every one who
comes to see him, and is thus overwhelmed by people
who take up his time and make demands upon his serv
ices. He is at the present moment more irritable and im
patient than he has ever been known before. The oppo
sition he meets with may very well be the cause of it.
What a life ! And yet this it is for which men strive !
I visited the library of the Capitol to-day with the sen
ator of Georgia, Judge Berrian, a witty and acute-minded
man; a man who holds extreme pro-slavery views, but
belonging to the class of patriarchs, I believe. The libra
ry is a large, handsome hall, with a glorious view ; it is
a public place of meeting during the sitting of Congress,
where people may rest themselves from the affairs of state,
talk with their acquaintances, &c. Here may be seen,
every day, sitting in the recess of a window, at a table
covered with books and papers, a lady of about middle
age, an elegant figure, refined countenance, and agreeable
expression. She seems to be always occupied, and to be
in connection with several of the influential members of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 443
Congress, and there she sits watching the progress of her
own affairs; What does she desire ? What does she wish ?
She wishes to have ten millions of dollars from the lands
in the West, as an annual fund, to be appropriated for lu
natic asylums and poor-houses in all the states of the
Union. It is__ Mrs. Dorothea Dix, who, during the last ten or
twelve years, has traveled through most of the states, vis
ited mad-houses and other asylums for the unfortunate,
and done a great deal for their improvement, and in
particular as regards the better treatment of the insane,
through her influence, and the excellent memorials which
she has drawn up and presented to the governors of the
various states. Many asylums have been established where
they formerly did not exist, and where the unfortunate
were left to private care or in the most miserable neglect.
The activity and influence of this lady is. one of the most
beautiful traits of female citizenship in the New World ;
but I shall tell you about her another time, perhaps, when
we meet.
July 2d. Again home from the Capitol, where I have
heard Clay and Webster, as well as several of the most
distinguished senators. Clay speaks in an animated man
ner, and with strong feeling. I was not very much struck
with his voice, of which I had heard so much praise. It
seems to me that he often speaks too rapidly, so that the
words are lost in the shrill sound of the voice. Webster
speaks with great calmness, both in tone and demeanor,
but there is an intensity of power in his manner. He
has also this peculiarity as a speaker, and in this he also
resembles Wallin, that he drops his voice and speaks all
the lower, the deeper is the impression which he seeks to
make. This is the very opposite of the general manner
of American speakers, but it produces great effect. Other
speakers interested me also ; but I could hardly have ariy
quietness to listen for introductions to and conversation

444 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
with members of Congress. They were extremely polite,
but I shall in future apply my ears to business, and leave
to Anne Lynch that light conversation in which she is a
mistress and I a bungler.
From the Capitol we drove to the house of the presi
dent, whose reception-day it was. We arrived late, so
that we were alone with the old gentleman, who was
very kind and affable, and related to us various things
about the Southern Indians calculated to dissipate the
somewhat too romantic idea of them entertained by Anne
Lynch and myself. I fancied that I could see behind his
polite affability a cloud of secret anxiety which he wished
to suppress. His daughter, married to Colonel Bliss, ap
peared, in her white dress, unspeakably agreeable and
lovely, with a quiet and refined manner.
I spent yesterday morning with Professor Henry, one
of the most celebrated chemists in this country, and found
in him a great admirer of Berzelius and Oersted, as well as
an uncommonly amiable man. Vice-president Fillmore
came in the evening ; he is a very gentlemanly person,
and shines greatly in conversation.
July 3d. I spent last evening with Daniel Webster at
Mr. and Mrs. L.'s, the parents of Mrs. Schroder, a hand
some old couple, together with various other persons.
Webster does not look well ; he has a sallow complexion,
keeps himself much ap'art from others, is silent, and has a
heavy and absent look. His charming and amiable wife
placed herself beside me, wishing that I might have the
pleasure of hearing him speak. He has extraordinary
eyes; when they open and fix their gaze upon you, you
seem to look into a catacomb full of ancient wisdom ; but
not much of this comes out into every-day conversation
and social life, and that depth lies deep enough in that
magnificently-formed head. The man himself seems to
be perfectly simple, and without regard to the world's
fashions — a very decided character ; one which looks like

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 445
what it is. He seems to me, however, to be one of those
whose powers show themselves most beautifully on great
and momentous occasions.
Anne Lynch said to-day that some one at the table
d'hote remarked, speaking of Daniel Webster, " That no
body was as wise as Webster looked." To which Judge
Berrian immediately replied, "Not even Webster him
self !" on which all laughed and applauded.
Anne Lynch and I sit at one corner of the table d'hote,
with Henry Clay between us, and on either hand vari
ous Southerners, so that I am, through my little friend,
Anne, brought into the midst of the pro-slavery party.
Yet Henry Clay can not be reckoned as belonging to that
party. I am living at present at the National Hotel, but shall
soon remove to a private family, from which I received an
invitation some time since. It is a horrible life of visit
ing here, and intolerably hot. But one has an opportu
nity of seeing and hearing various interesting people.
The senator of California — a man of giant stature,
a magnificent specimen of the inhabitants of the Great
West — has given me a breast-pin of Californian gold, the
head of which is a nugget of gold in its native state, and
in which, with a little help of the imagination, one can
see an eagle about to raise its wings and fly from its eyrie.
And now, my little heart, I must close this long letter.
I shall still remain fourteen days in Washington, after
which I shall betake myself to the sea-side for a couple
of weeks, and thus endeavor, by sea-bathing, to invigor
ate myself before I proceed further.
Instead of going hence westward, which would be
dangerous and fatiguing in the great heats of summer, I
now intend to go northward, to Maine and New Hamp
shire, perhaps also visit Canada, which young Mr. A.
strongly advises, and then advance westward, by the
great inland lakes to Chicago, and so on to the Scandi-

446 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
navian settlement, still further in the west; for I must
ultimately visit them. Some riotous scenes have lately
occurred in the Peasant Colony, and Erik Janssen, the
prophet, has been killed by a Swede named Rooth. He
might have maintained the respect of his people, but had
a sad reputation around the colony.
Anne Lynch and I intend to spend to-morrow, the 4th
of July, at Mount Vernon, the former country seat of
Washington, and the place of his burial, and there quiet
ly to celebrate the great day of the United States, the day
on which the Declaration of Independence was made, and
which is kept in all the states and cities with speechify
ing, drinking of toasts, and firing of guns.
In a week I shall leave the hotel, which is too hot and
too populous for me, and where it is almost impossible to
escape from company and company-life. My little friend,
Miss Lynch, lives in it as in the breath of her life, and
without the slightest coquetry, always attracts around her,
by liveliness and good-humored wit, a crowd of people,
mostly gentlemen. To these she often says many a little
caustic truth, but so gayly that it seems to please them
more than flattery. She has an especial facility for puns
and sallies of wit, which always produce a lively effect,
and infuse fresh air into the occasionally heavy or thun
derous intellectual atmosphere. As for instance, on one
occasion, when Clay, having excited himself against those
who believed that, under his proposal of compromise, he con
cealed selfish views and designs for the presidentship, he
added the protestation, " It is not in the power of mankind
to offer any reward which would be a temptation to me !"
On this Anne Lynch asked if he asserted the same as re
garded " the power of womankind ?" Clay smiled, and said
that he would think about it ; and his ill humor was gone.
Farewell, my child ! I salute you and mamma.
I shall tell you in my next more about Congress and
the gentlemen of Congress here.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 44?

LETTER XIX.
Washington, July 10th.
I last wrote to you, my sweet Agatha, from the Na
tional Hotel, a kind of hot oven full of senators and rep
resentatives, of traveling gentlemen and ladies, where one
was baked soul and body by heat and this high-pressure
life, and where I lingered so long merely to remain in
company with Miss Lynch, but where we, with our dif
ferent natures, got on very differently; she in the vortex
of social life, of which she is the ornament, I seeking for
solitude — the hardest thing to find in such an hotel- world,
but of which I, nevertheless, enjoyed a few moments, partly
in my own room, partly walking in the gallery of the court,
where I listened to the plashing of the water as it fell ipto
the fountain-basin in the middle of the court, and reposing
my soul upon a few words or tones which always return
in my moments of solitude, always the same, always suf
ficient to fill soul and sense, so that, like the water of the
fountain, they leap up in clear streams, saluting heaven,
fructifying early! I can not tell, but you can understand
that which I experience at such moments, and that which
then lives in my soul ; but such moments were not many
in the National Hotel, where I lived in daily association
with from three to four hundred persons.
To-day I wrote from a tranquil home, Where the alan-
fhus and sycamore whisper outside my window, and the
lady of the house and I spring around each other as we
take a cold bath three or four times a day.
But a truce now to myself, for great and nationally
important events have occurred since I last wrote, events
which have caused a strong vibration through the whole
social and political system of every state of the Union, and
have produced an overturning in many things; and it is
of these events that I must first speak.

448 HOMES OF THE NEW "WORLD.
For some few days (5th and 6th of July) it has been
mentioned here and there in Washington that the pres
ident (General Taylor) was indisposed. He was perfect
ly well on the 4th (it was on the 3d when I last saw him),
but having eaten something which .had disagreed with
him — oyster-patty, I should imagine — he had an attack
of illness ; on the 7th he was said again to be better, and
would soon be quite restored.
As I sat, however, yesterday (the 9th) in the Senate
House, listening patiently, or more correctly, impatiently,
to a long and tedious pro-slavery speech by the senator
of South Corolina, Judge Butler, an estimable man and a
good friend of mine (always excepting as regards this
question), I perceived a thrill, as if from a noiseless elec
tric shock, had passed through the assembly; a number
of fresh persons entered by the principal doors, and at
once Daniel Webster was seen to stand beside the speak
ing senator, indicating with a deprecatory gesture that he
must interrupt him on account of some important bus
iness. The orator bowed and was silent ; a stillness as of
death reigned in the house, and all eyes were fixed upon
Webster, who himself stood silent for a few seconds, as if
to prepare the assembly for tidings of serious import. He
then spoke slowly, and with that deep and impressive
voice which is peculiar to him.
"I have a sorrowful message to deliver to the Senate.
A great misfortune threatens the nation. The President
of the United States, General Taylor, is dying, and prob
ably may not survive the day."
Again was that silent electrical shock perceptible. I
saw many persons turn pale, and I felt myself grow pale
also from the unexpected announcement, and from seeing
the effect which it had produced. One senator bowed his
head upon his hands, as if he heard the thunder of judg
ment. This movement of astonishment was, however, tran
sient. Mind soon regained its usual tension : the Senate

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 449
adjourned immediately, and to a man they all poured forth
mto the city to tell this news or to hear any thing fresh.
At the present moment of party strife, and during the con
tention which is now going forward in Congress, and upon
the adjustment of which it is said that the personal char
acter of General Taylor exercised an important influence,
the news of his condition has made an immense impression.
At half past ten in the evening the president died, after
having taken a beautiful and affecting leave of his family.
"Weep not, my dear wife," he is related to have said
to her, who loved him with infinite affection, " I have en
deavored to do my duty, and I trust in the mercy of God !"
The day following (the 10th of July), the new presi
dent, Vice-president Fillmore, entered upon his office, ac
cordmg to the law of the country, which decrees that
in case of the decease of the president the vice-president
shall hold his office during the time which yet remains of
the full term of government, when a new president shall
be elected. The term of presidentship is for four years ;
and Taylor, I believe, had occupied the seat of president
about two years ; two, therefore, remained for Fillmore.
It is believed that this hasty elevation is not welcome
to him. It is said that, when he was told of Taylor's
death, he bowed his head and said, " This is my first mis
fortune !" and it is said, also, that when, conducted by
two of the members of Congress, the one from Massachu
setts, the other from Louisiana, he entered the House of
Representatives, in order to take the oath, his appearance
did not belie this impression. He was very pale, and look
ed unhappy. That fine, manly figure, which hitherto had
borne itself so nobly, now supported, or, rather, dragged in
by two unequal figures, who held each one an arm, did
not look either well or at his ease. After this trial, the
members of the Senate, two and two, or one and one, en
tered the House of Representatives. Nothing can be sim
pler than the form by which the new president was in-

450 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ducted into his office. Placing his hand upon the Bible,
he promised to defend the Constitution of the United States,
called upon God to witness his promise, kissed the book,
and — that was all.
The president and senators went out as they had enter
ed. Most of the senators went out in pairs, some arm-in
arm; Clay went alone — indifferent, weary, very much
alone, seemed to me both his expression and bearing ;
Corwin, the senator from Ohio, of whom I shall presently
have more to say, a stout little mail, resolute and good-
tempered, he also walked alone.
The sitting of Congress is now prorogued for three days,
until after the interment of President Taylor. But the
contending parties, who now prepare themselves for a new
turn in affairs, have not prorogued their operations. They
labor incessantly, and have no other feeling or thought
than their own interests.
Yesterday, as I returned from the Capitol, I heard one
young man say to another, "If. he dies, then our party
will triumph, and, by God, I know that he will die."
And now, while these mighty affairs both rest and are
agitated, I will tell you a little about my own concerns.
I spent the 4th of July — that great day in the United
States — at Mount Vernon, the estate of Washington, with
Miss Lynch, Mr. Andrews, and Mr. Corwin, the senator
from Ohio. Mr. Corwin is one of this: country's "self-made
men." His father was a poor farmer, and the son enjoyed
merely a common school education, but has, through his
own means, educated and trained himself till he is one
of the most celebrated popular orators ; and what is still
more, a universally esteemed politician, agamst whom no
body has any thing to say, excepting that sometimes he is
too good.
He was a charming and inestimable companion for us ;
and his conversation, in particular his vivacious and life
like descriptions — though sometimes a little caricatured —

HOMES OF THE NEiW WORLD. 451
of his brethren in the Senate, and his imitations of their
manner and their tone ; his happy humor, which like a
living fountain, forever swelling forth from fresh springs,
converted the tedious drive along a wretched road in a
shaking carriage, and in the oppressive heat of the day,
into a journey of pleasure.
We were received at Mount Vernon by a handsome
young couple, the nephew of the great president and his
wife. They invited us to cool and rest ourselves, and en
tertained us with milk and fruit, which were delicious.
Henry Clay had given us a letter of introduction to them.
The situation of the house, on the banks of the Potomac,
is unspeakably beautiful ; the park, laid out in the En
glish style, appeared to me extensive, but, like the build
ings, to be somewhat out of order. A beautiful mauso
leum, containing the bodies of Washington and his wife,
stands in the park ; and through the grated iron door of
the mausoleum the coffins may be seen. I threw in be
tween the iron bars my green branch.
Washington has always appeared to me in life and
character to have a resemblance to Gustavus Wasa ; al
though his life was less romantic, and his character more
phlegmatic, less impulsive, than the Swedish liberator.
Wasa is a more dramatic, Washington a more epic figure ;
Wasa more of the hero, Washington more of the states
man ; Wasa king, Washington president. Large, power
ful, kingly souls were they, both worthy to be the gov
ernors of free people. Washington, perhaps, stands higher
than Wasa, in his pure unselfishness, as the supreme head
of the people. In self-government he was almost without
an equal ; and it is said that only on one single occasion,
in a momentary outbreak, did he allow the volcanic work
ings of his soul to be observed.
The American ideal of a man, " a well-balanced mind,"
must have its type in the great president. Noble he was,
and, when he had done an injustice, would candidly ao-

452 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
knowledge it. That which I most admire in his charac
ter and life, is his perseverance. He was not without pride
in his manner and temper toward others. He had a glance
which could strike the insolent dumb ; and I have heard
it said, that his very presence, even if he were silent, al
ways could be felt like a dominant power ; but this is the
case with all strong characters.
The mother of Washington was a quiet, noble lady,
whose " well-balanced mind" seemed to exceed that of
her son, and who thought too highly of duty and father
land to be proud of his achievements, however tenderly
she loved him.
"I hope that George will fulfill his duty to his coun
try !" said she, modestly, on one occasion, when his mer
its were exalted in her presence. The understanding be
tween Washington and his mother seems to have been
perfect. Of the understanding between him and his wife
I have merely heard this anecdote :
A guest at Mount Vernon happened to sleep in a room
adjoining that occupied by the president and his lady.
Late in the evening, when people had retired to their
various chambers, he heard the lady delivering a very
animated lecture to her lord and master upon something
which he had done, that she thought should have been
done differently; to all this he listened in the profound-
est silence, and when she too was silent, he opened his
lips and spoke, " Now good sleep to you, my dear."
Portraits and descriptions of her show her to have been
a pretty, agreeable, kind, little woman, from whom it re
ally could not have been so disagreeable to have a curtain-
lecture. Washington was the native of a slave state, Virginia,
and was himself a slaveholder until just before his death,
when he gave his slaves their freedom. It is really re
markable to see in his will, which I have lately read, how
nothing appeared to have weighed so much upon his heart

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 453
as solicitude for the well-being of his slaves. Several
pages are occupied by directions for the treatment of those
who were to receive their freedom, as well as of those who
were old, or infirm, and who, therefore, were to be well
cared for until their death. This precision with regard
to the kind treatment of the old slaves after his death,
places the republican hero of the New World much high
er than those of old Rome ! The pure humanity of Wash
ington in this respect shines forth with the purest splen
dor ; and it is this pure humanity, still more than his
talent as a governor ; still more than his glowing patriot
ism, which makes Washington the great man of the New
World — I will not say the greatest, because I am still
looking for him. It is also this which calls forth that
fervent and unanimous homage which is befitting to him
from the people of the New World, and which he obtains
also from the people of Europe, and which to this day
calls forth encomiums on his memory from the States of
America and the Czar of Russia. Washington endeavored
in every thing, and above every thing, to be just and true,
therefore he stood so firmly, and therefore he stood so
purely, during a stormy and unsettled period, a Memnon's
statue in the midst of the whirling sands of the desert,
unmoved by them, influenced only by the light, and ever
giving forth the same pure harmonious tone.
Mount Vernon was the home of Washington's youth ;
hither he brought his bride, here he lived happily through
the whole of his life, whenever he had an interval of rest
from the charge of public affairs. Mount Vernon was his
favorite residence. Here, in old age, he died in peace,
after a well completed and honorable career, able to say,
" I am not afraid to die !"
We were alone at Washington's grave on this day,
which we spent amid quiet conversation in the park,
walking about or sitting on the grass under the shadowy-
trees ; and Mr. Corwin, who during the drive thither had

454 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
shot right and left, like a master, the arrows of satire and
jest, now showed during a serious conversation that pro-
foundly religious mind, that desire to rest in spiritual and
eternal truth, which distinguishes the man of the New
World, whether he be descended from Cavalier or Puritan ;
and which is shown in his outward life, however much
he may be occupied by the business and the battle of the
day. Corwin is a determined anti-slavery man, and will
not hear of any compromise with slavery, and is therefore
opposed to Clay and his scheme of adjustment, From his
description of Clay and his manner of treating persons of
different talents and different political views, although the
description was somewhat caricatured, I yet obtained a
definite idea of Clay's ability as a political leader during
a war of opinions.
We returned toward evening, and part of the journey
which we made on the Potomac was beautiful ; the banks
of the river are not here of a great character, but they
are nevertheless romantic, and present extensive views
over a richly-wooded country, broken into hills and val
leys. At Alexandria, a small town on our way, we took
a little supper with a kind lady, who seemed to consider
her Alexandria as remarkable as we should have consid
ered the old classical city of the same name.
I have visited every day the Senate and the Assembly
of Representatives, though generally the former, because
I hear well there, and because as a parliamentary assem
bly it seems, in every case, to stand above the other.
In the House of Representatives no speaker may occupy
more than an hour of time. As soon as the hour is at an
end, and a little bell rings, another speaker has a right to
interrupt him, even should it be in the very midst of his
most profound argument, or in the highest flight of his
genius, and demand general attention for his speech, which
may occupy another hour, after which he again must give
place to some one else. And as the speakers in a general

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 455
way speak with great ease, and have a deal to say, they
are anxious to make good use of their power, and that, I
suppose, is the reason for the headlong speed with which
the speech is hurled forth, like an avalanche, into the
House, at least it has been so every time I have been
there. A certain kind of hurry-skurry seems to prevail
in this house, which contrasts strongly with the decorum
of the Senate. There each senator may speak as long as
he will, nay even through the whole of the session, if he
chose, without any one having a right to interrupt him,
except to make an observation or with his consent.
During this talking, however, whether in the Senate or
in the House of Representatives, I am often enough re
minded of Mr. Poinsett's words, when I praised the Amer
ican talent for talking, "It is a great misfortune!" But
is it better, as regards this misfortune, in other countries
in assemblies where people make speeches ? And if I do
sigh now and then as I listen to a speech, yet I am in
terested by many on account of their straightforwardness,
on account of the subjects upon which they touch, or on
account of the speakers themselves. I like both to see and
to hear parliamentary assemblies. Human nature seems
to me great, when it stands forth and does battle for some
high purpose or principle, and if it be possessed of power
or of genius, it wins great victories ; and I love to see
human nature great and important, to see it from its pri
vate little world, its isolated point, labor for — the whole
world. And even without genius, human nature here
presents, as a moral power, an interesting sight merely
by its "yes" or "no." Such an assembly is in its opera
tion a grand dramatic scene, and there sometimes occui
in it scenes and episodes of much more vital effect than
many a one which we witness on the stage.
Some such, at which I have been present here, I will
mention to you. But first a word about the scene itself,
that is to say, the Senate, because it has an especial inter-

456 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
est for me, inasmuch as all the senators represent states,
and the characteristic and poetic features of these present
themselves to my imagination, in picturesque groups, in
the men who represent them. Each state in the Union
sends two senators to Congress. These stand up in the
Senate, and are addressed not as Mr. this or that, but as
the senator of Kentucky, or Massachusetts, or Mississippi,
or Louisiana, and so on ; and I then immediately see be
fore me an image of Kentucky, or Massachusetts, or Mis
sissippi, or Louisiana, according to what I know of the life
and temperament of the states, as well in spirit as in nat
ural scenery, even though the human representative may
not answer to it ; and the whole fashion and form of this
hemisphere stands before me like a great drama, in which
Massachusetts and Louisiana, Carolina and Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Alabama, and many others, are acting powers
with definite individuality. Individuality is again sup
plied by the surname which chance or the humor of the
people have given to some of the states, and according to
which it would be easy to christen all. Thus I behold
here the Empire State (New York); the Granite State
(New Hampshire); the Keystone State (Pennsylvania);
the Wolverines (Michigan) ; and many other tilt and com
bat with the Giant State (Kentucky) ; with the Palmetto
State (Carolina); the French State (Louisiana); and so
on. And the warfare that goes on about the Gold State,
called also the Pacific State (California), calls forth all
those marked features and circumstances which distin
guish and separate the Northern and the Southern States,
and which set them in opposition one to the other.
I will now tell you what the great apple of contention
looks like, which has been here fought for during the last
seven months. Behold !

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 457
THE COMPROMISE BILL.
The admission of California as a State into the Union,
the arrangement of Territorial Administration for
Utah (the Mormon State) and New Mexico, as well
the project fox determining the Western and North
western boundary of Texas.
And now a word in explanation : in order that a state
can have a right to be admitted as such into the Union, it
is necessary for it to have a population of at least fifty-
five thousand souls. Until then, every separate portion of
the United States land is called territory, and is governed,
during the period of its development and minority, more
immediately by the Federal administration, which ap
points a governor and other officials, and furnishes troops
to defend the inhabitants against the Indians or other en
emies, whatever they may be, of whom the population of
the territory may complain. Every state in the Union
has a right to form its own laws, on condition that they
do not encroach upon the enactments of the other Federal
states, as well as that the form of government be repub
lican. The territory, again, has not the privileges of the
state, and people are not yet agreed as to how far its priv
ileges of self-government' ought to extend. Well now,
California, the population of which became suddenly aug
mented to above one hundred and fifty thousand souls,
principally by emigration from the free Northeastern
States, desires to be admitted into the Union as a free
state. New Mexico, which in consequence of the Mexi
can law, is free from slavery, and Utah, which calls its
poung population "Latter-Day Saints," desire also as ter
ritory resolutely to oppose the introduction of slavery.
But as these three states — that which has attained its
majority, as well as those which yet remain in their mi
nority — are situated below a geographical line, called the
Missouri line, which, accordingly to ancient agreement, is
Vol, I.— U

458 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
to constitute the line of separation between the Free States
and the Slave States, so that all the states north of this
line shall have a right to be free from slaves, and all states
lying to the south of it have a right to slaves and slave
labor ; and as three new states would disturb the balance
of political power between the North and the South, and
give the preponderance to the North and the Free States,
therefore do all the men of the South — yet not all — cry,
" No ! No !" to this ; and the ultras among them add,
" Rather will we break with the North, and form our
selves into a separate Union — the Southern States Union !
We will declare war against the North !"
The Southerners insist upon it that both California and
New Mexico shall be open to receive their slave institu
tions, and beyond this they insist that Congress shall pass
a law forbidding the Free States to give harborage and
protection to fugitive slaves, and that it shall give to
them, the Southerners, the right to demand and obtain
the aid of the legislative power in the Free States for the
recovery of their human property.
To this the men of the North shout " No ! No !" with
all their might. And the ultras of their party add, " Rath*
er bloody war ! We will never consent to slavery ! Away
with slavery ! We will remain a free people ! Congress
shall pass a law to forbid slavery in every new state."
Many of the Southerners admit, in the mean time, the
right of California to enter the Union as a free state, but
deny to the territories any right to legislate for themselves
on the question of slavery. The Southerners, in general,
maintain that they do not contend for the cause of slav
ery, but for states'-right and the cause of the Constitu
tion. Many are right in this assertion, but with many
others it is easy to see that the interests of slavery color
their opposition.
Other questions of contention belong to the same cate
gory, as, for instance, whether Columbia, the district in

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 459
which Washington stands, shall continue to hold slaves
or not. There is at the present time, within sight of the
Capitol, a gloomy, gray building, half buried in trees, as
if ashamed of itself, that is a slave-pen, where slaves are
brought up or kept for sale. Washington is situated in
the Slave State of Maryland. One portion of the South
erners are anxious to maintain, even here, their beloved
domestic institutions, as the phrase is. Another point of
contention is the question about the boundaries between
Texas and Mexico, and about a strip of land between the
Slave State and the yet free territory, or which shall have
and which shall give up this piece ; and Freedom and
Slavery get to fighting anew on this ground about this
piece of land.
Such is the aspect which this great apple of discord
presents, an actual Gordian knot which seems to demand
the sword of an Alexander to sever.
Henry Clay's scheme of compromise says, California
shall be introduced into the Union as a free state, accord
ing to her wishes ; because her population of nearly 200,000
have a right to determine their measures. New Mexico
shall wait for the determination of the law, until she is
possessed of a population large enough to constitute a
state. She shall, in the mean time, continue to~be a ter
ritory without slaves. And the same with regard to Utah.
On the contrary, the Slave States shall possess the right
to demand the restoration of their fugitive slaves, and, if
it be necessary, to regain them by the aid of law, as the
.Constitution has decreed.
Columbia shall be a free district, from which slavery
shall be banished.
These, I believe, are the principal points of Clay's scheme
to bring about peace between the North and South. Both
North and South, however, demand greater concession,
each on his own side, and exclaim "No! No!" to the
Compromise Bill.

460 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
This bill, which has many clauses introduced under
the same head, all of which Clay wishes to have carried
at the same time, has thence obtained the name of " the
Omnibus Bill," and is contested under this appellation.
Many senators, who go with Clay on certain points, have
separated from him on others ; and it seems as if the Om
nibus Bill, as such, had nearly the whole Senate against
it, although some special questions seem likely to be de
cided according to Clay's views, among which is the prin
cipal one of California's admission into the Union as a
free state : but even they who are agreed on important
points may fall out with each other about trifles ; and the
other day I heard Mississippi sharply taken to task by
Mississippi for his " disunion tendency," on which the
other half of Mississippi cried " Shame on disunionists !"
But now for a little about the dramatis persona, or
such of them as appear to me most remarkable.
Henry Clay has his seat against the wall, to the right
of the entrance, is always there, attentive, lively, follow
ing the discussion, throwing in now and then a word, and
not unfrequently taking, himself the lead in it. His cheek
and eye have a feverish glow, his voice and words are
always energetic, urged on by the impulsiveness of the
soul, and compel attention ; his arguments are to the pur
pose, striking, and, seeming to me to bear the stamp of
strong conviction, ought to produce conviction in others ;
and when his strong resounding voice thunders the battle-
cry " California" (the last syllable of which he sounds
in a peculiar manner) through the Senate, amid the fight
for the freedom of California, then they feel that the old
warrior leads them forth to victory. Although born in a
Slave State, Kentucky, and its representative, and though
a slaveholder himself, Clay's sympathies are evidently
wholly and entirely in favor of the system of freedom;
and at the opening of this session he frankly declared that
he never would allow the introduction of slavery into any

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 461
new state. And herein I recognize the great statesman
and the free son of the New World. On a former occa
sion, also, he proposed a plan by which to free his native
land from slavery, and which does not seem to be an im
practicable one. It is this : that all children born of slaves,
after a certain year — I believe that it was this present year
of 1850 — should be declared free, and should be brought
up in a humane manner in schools, and should be taught
mechanical arts and handcraft trades. This projeot, so no
ble in its intention, so practical, and which in so rational
a manner opens the way for a twofold emancipation, has
nevertheless been rejected. The ultras on both sides, in
the anti-slavery and pro-slavery camps, will not hear of it.
I believe that the concession which Clay, while he is com
bating for the freedom of California and the neutrality of
Mexico, makes to the Southern States, in yielding to their
demands with regard to the restoration of their fugitive
slaves, is a measure rendered imperative by the necessity
of the moment. Since I have been in the Slave States,
and seen and heard the bitterness which exists there, in
particular in South Carolina, against the conduct and in
terference of the Northerners in the question of slavery —
since I have often heard the wish expressed for separation
from the North, which ferments there, and which even
makes itself seen in the Senate, I consider this concession
to be necessary for the prevention of civil war at the pres
ent moment ; while the feelings of the South are afresh
irritated by the probable accession to the North, of Cali
fornia, and even of New Mexico, and Utah into its group
of states. The concession has its legal ground, inasmuch
as, conformably with the Constitution of the United States,
the states are bound to respect each others' laws, and ac
cording to the laws of the Slave States, the slaves consti
tute a portion of the slaveholder's lawful property.
I perfectly understand the bitterness which the sup
porters of anti-slavery principles must feel at the thought

462 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
that their free soil may not be an asylum for the unfor
tunate slave, and that the slave-catcher may there have a
free career, and demand the assistance of the officials of
the Free States. I know that I myself would rather suffer
death than give up an unfortunate slave who had taken
refuge with me ; but is there at this moment an alterna
tive between this concession and civil war ? Clay seems
to consider that there is not, and Daniel Webster seems to
coincide with him, though he has not as yet expressed
himself openly on Clay's Compromise Bill.
I believe that Clay makes this concession reluctantly,
and that he would not have proposed it if he had regarded
it as any thing more than temporary, if his own large heart
and his statesman's eye had not convinced him that the
time is not far distant when the noble heart's impulse of
the South will impel them voluntarily to a nobler, hu-
maner legislation as regards the slave question; and that
urged on necessarily by the liberal movement of human
ity, as well in Europe as in America, the New World will
rid itself of this its greatest lie.
And this I also believe, thanks to the noble minds with
which I became acquainted in the South — thanks to the
free South, which grows and extends itself in the bosom
of the Slave States ; and who can feel the movement of the
spirit over the whole of this vast world's formation with
out feeling that the Spirit of God floats over the deep, and
will divide light from darkness by his almighty — "Be
thou light !" The crimson of dawn is already on the hills,
and tinging the tops of the forest trees. He who will see
it may ! I do not dread the darkness conquering here.
Near Clay, and before him in the row of seats, you see
the representative of the Granite State, Mr. Hale, from
New Hampshire, with a head not unlike that of Napoleon,
and a body and bearing like a great fat boy ; a healthy,
strong, Highland character, immovable in his principles
as the Granite Mountains, and with a mind as fresh as

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 463
the wind which blows around them. A strong anti-slav
ery supporter, and inflexible toward any concession on this
question, he frequently puts the whole House into the best
of tempers by his humor, and his witty and sarcastio sal
lies. I like the man very much. Near to him I see the
senator from Texas (the first president of that republican
Texas), General Houston, who required a month to travel
from his state to Washington. People listen willingly to
the magnificent old general, for the sake of the picturesque
and fresh descriptions which he introduces in his speeches.
His expression is good-tempered and manly, with a touch
of military chivalry. He has the peculiarity of cutting
little bits of wood with his penknife during all the discus
sions in the Senate. I also see the senator from Pennsyl
vania, a man of Quaker-like simplicity, and with a pure
and handsome countenance, among the anti-slavery lead
ers. The two senators from Ohio, Corwin and Chase, are
here ; the former you are already acquainted. with. I see
him in the Senate, sitting silent and tranquil ; he has al
ready delivered his sentiments on the important subject,
and now merely makes occasionally a short observation
on some speech of a Southerner. Chase has a remark
ably noble and handsome exterior ; I have seldom seen a
more noble or prouder figure. Such a man in private
life must be a dominant spirit, and awaken love or hate.
In public he expresses himself firmly, but in few words,
for the prmciple of freedom.
The senator from New York, Mr. Seward, is a little
man, not at all handsome, and with that nasal twang
which not unfrequently belongs to the sons of Boston.
Seward is from that city. Yet, nevertheless, that voice
has uttered, during the present session, some of the great
est and noblest thoughts. He is a stout anti-slavery man,
and is against any compromise.
"I will labor," said he, lately, at the close of a speech,
"for the support of the Union, not by concessions to slav-

464 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ery, but by the advancement of those laws and institutions
which make her a benefactor to the whole human race."
Good and great !
If I now advance from the point where I began, and on
the side of the principal entrance, I find, not far from Clay,
a Southerner and a champion of slavery, the senator from
Georgia, Judge Berrian, a man of talent and wit, and also
a kind and God-fearing man, a man of refinement and
high breeding, whom it grieved me to see advocating the
dark side of the South, on the plea that he must maintain
its rights. He stands now in opposition to Clay on the
question of California's right to freedom, and the personal
hostility between them has gone so far, that Clay gave up
his place at our table d'hote. (Clay has resumed his seat,
and Berrian sits at the table.)
In the middle of this camp sits the colossus, Daniel
Webster, in his arm-chair, with his sallow cheek and
brow, and seems to be oppressed with thought, or with
the heat, perhaps with both. I call him a colossus, not
because I see in him an overpowering intellectual great
ness, but on account of his magnificent head and massive
appearance, although he is not a large figure, and because
his influence is felt as something colossal. He has been
extremely handsome, possessed of a natural, kingly dig
nity, and is described as having, by his mere presence,
exercised an almost magical power over human masses.
He is now above sixty, and is still a handsome, powerful
man, although years and thought seem to weigh upon
him. Clay, though more than seventy, is in appearance
a youth in comparison with Webster. Clay is always
ready to fire off; Webster seems to deliberate carefully as
to the charging of his piece before he applies the match.
The senators of Illinois, General Shields and Judge
Douglas, are both small men, but men of talent, and even
of genius. In the deep, beautiful eyes of Douglas glows
a dark fire which it is said burns with ambitious desires

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 465
for the office of president ; but the same desires influence
Clay, Webster, Seward, and many others. He speaks but
little, at least in company, but his presence is felt. He
looks like an ardent, clever, and determined little man.
General Shields, fair, blue-eyed, and with an honest glance,
is of a more frank character. He distinguished himself,
and was severely wounded, in the war with Mexico. I
love to talk with him and to hear him talk. He is an
active-minded and warm American, and seems to me to
understand the peculiar aspect and vocation of his country.
Let us now cast a glance into the other cartip. The
hawk from Missouri, Colonel Benton, sits there in the midst
of his own people, as well as the lion from Kentucky in the
other camp, and just opposite to him. He is one of the
oldest senators in Congress, and highly esteemed for his
learning, his firmness, and his courage. He has fought a
duel, and in cold blood slowly taken aim, and in cold blood
shot his man, and he looks as if he could shoot his man in-
cold blood still. This duel, or, more correctly speaking, his
behavior in it, has cast a shadow upon his character in
the eyes of many. He belongs to the population of "the
Borderers" in America, to that class which springs up on
the outskirts of the wilderness, and among a half-savage
people ; he has evidently accustomed himself to club-law ;
has accustomed hitoself to go with-pistol and bowie-knife
(a kind of crooked knife universal as a weapon in the Slave
States, and called after its inventor), and which is carried,
as our geritlemen carry a penknife and pencil, in the
breast pocket. And Colonel Benton is a suitable repre
sentative of a slave state, where the wild Missouri pours its
turbid waters along its perilous course, forming the west
ern boundaries of the savage mountain land of the Indian
tribes, and extending eastward to the gigantic Mississippi,
where heathenism still contends for dominion with Chris
tian law — of that yet only half-civilized Missouri may a
cold-blooded duellist like Colonel Benton very well be re-
U2

466 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
garded as a worthy representative, where he can, by his
resolute will and his determined behavior, make himself
both esteemed and feared as a political character. In
exterior he is a strong-built, powerful, broad-shouldered,
broad-chested man; the forehead is lofty, and the some
what gray hair rises thin and slightly curled above it; be
low gleam out a pair of lively, but cold, gray eyes, and be
tween them shoots forth an aquiline nose ; the lower part
of the countenance is strong, and shows a strong will and
strong animal propensities. The figure and expression are
powerful, but somewhat heavy, and are deficient in nobil
ity. He has advocated in the Senate the freedom of Cal
ifornia, but has opposed Mr. Clay's " Omnibus Bill." In so
ciety I have found him candid, extremely polite, and kind ;
nevertheless, there was a something within me which felt
a repulsion to that cool, blood-stained hand. If it were not
for this, I should like to see more of the man. His unre
served acknowledgment in the Senate that, although the
representative of a slave state, a native of a slave state,
and himself a slaveholder, he yet regarded slavery as an
evil, and should regard it as a crime to aid in the extension
of the curse to territory which had hitherto been free. This
manly, candid declaration from a man in his position de
serves all esteem, and his vivid description of nature and
the circumstances of life in the Western lands, shows both
knowledge and talent.
Near to the senator from Missouri, and most striking in
the camp of the Southerners, stands forth Soule, the sen
ator of Louisiana, and forming a strong contrast to the
former. The hawk of Missouri is a proper representative
of the state, with the wild river and the richly metallic
mountains, the boundary of the Indians. The land where
the orange glows, where the sugar-cane flourishes, and
where French civilization and French manners have been
naturalized, ever since they fled thither from France, at
the period of its extremest refinement ; that flowery, beau-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 467
tiful Louisiana could not have sent to Congress a more
worthy representative than the French consul, Soule. Pos
sessed of that beauty peculiar to the South, with its deli
cate features, eyes and hair of that rich, dark color which
distinguish the Spaniards, and also the handsomest por
tion .of the French population, Soule has that grace of
manner and expression which is found among the men of
these nations, and which is not met with among the An
glo-Saxons and Northmen, however good and handsome
they may be. Soule has come forward in the Senate on
the Californian question, to advocate " the rights of the
South," but always as a man of genius and tact ; and on
the occasion of a resolution which was opposed to the in
terests of Louisiana as a slave state, he also declared hfrri-
¦self for the preservation of the Union. His great speech
produced a great effect, and I have heard it praised by
many. I have read it, and find nothing in it to admire
as of a superior character. The rights of the South are
the highest object for which he contends, and his highest
impulse is a chivalric sense of honor as regards his own
honor. " The South must not yield, because the South is
the weaker combatant. If the South shall be conquered,
no blush of shame must tinge her cheek."
Soule is a French knight, but not of the highest order,
not a Bayard nor a Turenne.
Mr. Dickinson, a cold-blooded senator from Alabama, a
man of an acute and stern aspect, highly esteemed for in
tegrity of character in the camp of the Southerners, sits
near the inflammable Mississippi, that is to say, the youn
ger of the senators from that state, a young man of hand
some person and inflammable temperament, who talks vi
olently for " Southern rights." The other, and elder sen
ator of Mississippi, Mr. Foote, is a little, thin, and also
fiery man, whom I believe to be a really warm patriot.
He stands for the Union, and his most brilliant moments
are when he hurls himself into a violent dithyrambic

468 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
against all and each who threaten it. The explosions of
his indignant feelings almost lift him up from the earth,
as the whole of his slender but sinewy frame responds in
vehement agitation to the apostrophes of the spirit. These
are sometimes so keen and full of rebuke, that I wonder
at the coolness with which the Senate, and certain sena
tors in particular, listen to them; but it seems to me as
if they listened with that sort of feeling with which a con
noisseur regards the clever work of an artist. For the
rest, Mr. Foote is always on the alert, quick to interrupt,
to make observations, and sometimes calls forth, by his
mercurial temperament, a universal smile, but of a good-
natured kind, as at the bottom is Mr. Foote himself.
Near the combustible Mississippi I see a young man,
also handsome, and with features bearing a remarkable
resemblance to those of the Indian. That is the senator
from Virginia — his name has escaped my memory — and
he is said to be a descendant of Pocahontas, the Indian
heroine of Virginia. For my part, this is the most re
markable thing about him.
But now, my child, you must have had enough for
to-day of politics and political gentlemen. I shall write
more when I have seen more.
Two deputies from the Mormonites may also be seen in
the Senate (yet not within the Senate, but in the outer
court), who present to Congress the request from the Mor
mon people — now rapidly increased to the number of
12,000 souls — to be admitted into the Union, and the
protection of its troops against the Indians. This re
markable sect has, since it was expelled from its first set
tlement on the Mississippi by the people of Illinois, wan
dered far out into the West, beyond the Indian wilderness,
Nebraska ; and have founded a flourishing community, in
a fertile valley bordering on a vast Indian lake, called the
Great Salt Lake, in Upper California. I have not yet
heard any thing very creditable about the government or

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 469
the customs of the people. Their Bible, however— the Mor
mon Bible — I have been able to borrow here. It contains,
first, the whole Christian Bible, after that an addition of
some later pretended prophets, of whom Meroni and Mor
mon are the last. In the prophecies of these men is given
a closer and more definite prophecy of Christ; nay, in
deed, almost the whole of his history, and many of his
words, but nothing new in religious doctrine, as far as I
can discover. The peculiarity of the sect seems to be
based upon the assertion that their prophet, Joe Smith, is
descended directly from these later Christian prophets, and
has obtained, by miraculous communication, portions of
their books, as well also as of their spiritual gifts and power
to communicate these gifts to others, by which means they
are all brought into a closer communication with Christ
than any other Christians.
How a man, who evidently, in many cases, was a de
ceiver, could obtain so great an influence over thousands
of people in the present Christian state of society, and
was able to form them into a vast organized body, ac
cording to his law, seems scarcely comprehensible, unless
it be by supposing that this man was really possessed
of some extraordinary powers, partly of a prophetic kind
(and we hear of many such, similar to the oldest pro
phetic skill, even in the present day, as, for instance, the
second-sight of the Scotch Highlanders), and partly of
worldly prudence. He was shot during the war with Il
linois, and he is said to have distinctly foretold the time
and the manner of his death ; but the Mormon people con
tinue to be led by men who adhere to his laws, and who
pretend to be guided by his spirit. The habits and or
ganization of the community is said to be according to
the Christian moral code, and extremely severe.
I must now tell you something about my new home.
It is at the house of Mr. Johnson, the Professor of Geol
ogy. He is now from home on a scientific journey, but

470 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
is shortly expected back. His wife, her sister, and two
adopted children, a handsome girl of fifteen, and a boy of
thirteen, compose the whole family. Mrs. Johnson zeal
ously denounces slavery, and as zealously advocates hy
dropathy. She sees the root of all evil in the former, and
a cure for all evil in the latter ; hers is a thoroughly good,
sincere, open-hearted, excellent character, with a great
deal of fresh originality. Her sister, who is several years
younger, is a Quakeress, and has one of those pure, lovely
countenances so general among the women of this sect,
with a quiet, intelligent manner. She always wears white,
and every morning the breakfast-table is ornamented with
fresh roses, which she gathers in her morning walk in the
park of the Capitol; one or two roses are laid for each
person, just as we used to have them at Aersta. Miss D.
is the ideal of a poetical Quakeress, and now and then
she introduces a line or two of beautiful poetry into her
conversation, but always appropriately and agreeably. I
feel refreshment and repose from her very presence. Mrs.
J. makes me experience the same with her cold baths,
the fresh originality of her character, and those disputes
which, to my great amusement, I almost always hear be
tween her and Dr. Hebbe ; and, above all, by the delicious
peace and freedom which she affords me in her excellent
home. Washington, July 14th.
It is Sunday, and I have remained at home from church
to rest and converse with you. It is very hot, but the
sycamore-tree outside my window casts a shadow, and
all is kept cool by the green Venetian shutters.
And now you are indeed with mamma at Aersta, my
little Agatha, and are living out in the summer air and
among the flowers. May every thing else at home afford
you summer benefit also, and enable you to enjoy your
rural life !
Here every thing is again in perfect warfare. Presi-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 471
dent Taylor reposes in his quiet grave, sincerely lamented
by his nearest friends, and by his comrades on the field
of battle. His funeral was performed with some pomp,
but much less than that of Calhoun in Charleston, and
attracted much fewer spectators. Political parties seemed
to prepare themselves for renewed combat over his grave,
and those impulses which his death seemed to have call
ed forth in Congress toward the consideration of subjects
higher than selfish and worldly interests, appear now bur
ied with him. Mr. King, the senator from Alabama, is
now the speaker in place of Mr. Fillmore, and occupies
the post with somewhat more acerbity of manner and
considerably less grace. Newspaper articles are now
showered down on Fillmore, who has all at once become
the greatest man of the United States, scrutinizing him,
his life, his conduct, his talents, character, &c, on all
sides. A statesman in this country stands like a helms
man on his ship, exposed alike to all winds and weather,
so that he soon becomes so weather-proof as not to trouble
himself, let it blow as it may. This character of helms
man is one, however, which suits every public man, states
man, official, or author. Let the wind blow how it may,
there is but one thing to attend to, one thing to ask about,
namely, whether he steer according to the compass, which,
in this case, is the conscience or conscientious conviction.
The biography of Fillmore shows that he also is one of
the New World's " self-made men ;" that his father was
a poor farmer, and that the boy enjoyed only a common
school education ; that as a boy he learned the tailoring
trade, then was a schoolmaster, and after that a writer
with a lawyer, who, having observed the promising endow
ments of the youth, took him into his employment. His
talents are not considered of the highest order ; but he is
praised for his character and good sense. A deal has been
said about the fact of his only daughter having been at
the time of his elevation, and being still, a teacher in a

472 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ladies' school ; yet not as a common teacher, but occu
pying for one year the situation of teacher in a school,
where all the pupils must hold this office for one year be
fore they are considered as perfectly taught.
I have, my little Agatha, nothing to say about myself
excepting what is good. I live in a world full of interest,
and almost every day furnishes acquaintance and conver
sation, which call forth more thought than I shall be able
to work out for many a day, and all of which is exciting
in this great heat. But let me be as weary and as much
exhausted as I may, yet with the first word of real, vital
interest,-my heart beats afresh, my nerves are braced, and
I feel myself again as strong and as full of life as ever.
And I have nowhere had conversations so full of universal
interest as since I have been here ; but this must be tak
en into consideration, that a great deal of the wisdom of
the United States is now concentrated here, in and around
Congress ; for they who desire to carry out any gener
ally beneficial reforms or plans come hither to present their
petitions to Congress, to talk with the members, or to
watch the progress of their affairs. Among these gentle
men is a Mr. Tomsens, who is working for post-office re
form, reduction of the rate of postage throughout the
whole Union, similar to the reform in England in this
respect ; and there is reason to believe that the thing will
be carried. Mr. T., besides this, interests me by the in
terest he takes in the higher development of woman, and
his correct views as regards its influence on the whole
race. If the choice should be given me of affording edu
cation to the men or to the women of a nation, I should
begin with the women, said he. But this view is tolera
bly general among the thinking men of the New World.
T. is struck, as I have been, by the marked character of
the Quaker women, and considers that it has its origin in
their being early accustomed to self-government, and from
their early participation in the business of civil life.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 473
Professor Henry is one of the most amiable scientific
men whom I ever met with, and his conversation affords
me great pleasure. We one day talked about the supreme
and universal laws ; Henry remarked that the closer we
advanced toward these the simpler they appeared, and add
ed, "In order to comprehend them in their highest truth,
an angel's mind and an angel's glance are requisite."
For the rest, Henry is, like Oersted, a worshiper of the
laws of nature, yet without wishing to receive the natural
phenomena as having reference to a spiritual world of
nature, far richer than that portion which is alone consid
ered real. And on this point I stand at issue with Henry, -
as I did with Oersted ; but no matter what men are, what
they do is the important thing, not what they are not, or
what they can not do. One and all have to turn their
own talent to good account. We all know that ; but we
so often forget it — while we blame and criticise.
Mr. Carey, the political economist, talked with me yes
terday for certainly more than an hour about the true
states' formation. According to him, the true and per
manent states' erection must not resemble the pillar, but
the pyramid. The pillar corresponds with the European
monarchical form of government. But it can not support
any large additional weight without falling to pieces under
it. Some years ago, when Carey saw Louis Philippe in
France, concentrating the power and dominion upon him
self and his dynasty, he remarked^," That can never last
long ! That will go to pieces !"
And so it did in very short time. The true form of
government, that which will defy time and tempests, must
have a broad basis, and from this build upward ; such is the
form of the pyramid; such is the form of the United States
government — from which, raised on the basis of public
education and equal civil rights, the national weal ascends
firmly and immovably on its foundation, like the Andes
and the Alps of the earth. This comparison is good, and

474 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the argument is just. Less striking appears to me his
theory of national economy, which would make the pro
ductions of the earth equal to its population, and render
death, at least as far as his great agents, war and pesti
lence, go, unnecessary there — unnecessary especially as
the means of making breathing-room for the survivors. I
rejoice in all theories, and all efforts which tend in this
direction, because they always admit light, and breath
ing-room, and hope upon earth. But, nevertheless, it
seems to me clear that an island which will very well
support ten persons, never can support equally well ten
hundred. Yes, but say they, an island, a little circumscribed
space, with circumscribed resources and means, and the
whole earth ! but what, indeed, is the whole earth more
than a small, a very small island floating in the ocean of
the universe ? Has it any thing more than circumscribed
resources ? Can it, even if the whole of its surface were
plowed up, be any thing else than a nursery, where the
trees would soon choke one another if they were not thin
ned out ; a colony for pilgrims who must emigrate to new
worlds ?
Ah ! next to being nourished by this our earth, I know
no more joyful privilege than the hope of bemg able to
leave it, to be able to emigrate from it to a larger, freer,
better world. But if national economy and science did
no more than render death a peaceful member of society,
who came merely to the aged, and came like their best
friend, sleep, that would be glorious !
Horace Mann, the great promoter of education, is a
man of strong, immeasurable hope. I was depressed in
mind when I talked with him, but he inspired me with
a feeling of new courage. On his forehead (one of those
vernal foreheads which are arched upward with aspiring
ideas) one sees the man who, merely through the influ
ence of his brain, has erected large, airy halls of learning

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 475
throughout the Northern States, and who has elevated the
whole social system. His views are summarily these :
We inherit capacity of mind, and good and bad quali
ties from our parents ; one generation inherits from anoth
er. The sins and the virtues of the parent, according to
the words of the Scriptures, are visited, punished, or re
warded in the person of his children and children's chil
dren. By diffusing the influence of good education through
the whole people, will the whole people be elevated, and
the next generation similarly treated, and having inherit
ed a higher nature, will be elevated still more, and so on
infinitely. Horace Mann talks on this subject with a faith which
might remove mountains. He is, like Carey, a heroic
nature, and is not sparing of those who oppose him, and
not much liked by those who desire to live in an inactive
state of mind. I, who merely opposed him to hear more
of his views, have merely learned from them that which I
was glad to learn.
Both these men are*in the prime of life, are slender in
person, youthful and lively in manner, with that beam of
genius which, lighting up the countenance, is its highest
beauty. I meet with many persons here whose peculiar talent
or sound reason is illumined by this ray from above,
which, wherever we find it, produces such an enlivening
effect. And here, where every political question bears
publicly or privately a close relation to the highest inter
ests of humanity, to the highest well-being and object of
humanity, and which may be dealt with accordingly ;
here, where the social circles are at this moment and in
this city merely a drawing-room to Congress, every con
versation seems naturally to turn upon questions of the
most vital importance, and to receive vitality therefrom.
Never, since the time when, yet quite young, I met with
Montesquieu's " Essai sur V esprit des Lois," and in pro.

476 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
found solitude at Aersta lived in this book, or, rather, in
the thoughts which it awoke on the relationship between
mankind and government, have I, until now, so much Uved
in and occupied myself with such thoughts.
July 16th. But if a stranger came to Washington at
this time, and gazed out from the Capitol over that glori
ous country, and let his thoughts extend themselves fur
ther yet over the territory of the United States, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean ; if he here took his stand
during the sitting of Congress, and saw the star-spangled
banner of the United States floating from the Capitol, and
thought, " How great, how glorious must it be for the men with
in to glance forth, and think that over this grand, this af
fluent land, over this hemisphere of the world a life of lib
erty extends !"
Would he not be startled and amazed when he heard
the answer from within the Capitol :
"No, of slavery!"
Would he not be startled, and believe that he heard in
correctly ; would he not believe any thing rather than
such a monstrous assertion, such a frightful lie in a land,
the fundamental law of which says, " We regard this truth
as self-evident, that all mankind are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the endeavor
after happiness," &c.
And yet, if a stranger were now to come to Washington
and listen to the voices of the Capitol, he would hear noth
ing but the abnegation of liberty.
I acknowledge that I felt extreme indignation to hear
day after day in the Senate pro-slavery speeches from the
men of the South, without hearing a single word in reply
from the side of the anti-slavery party. I asked in aston
ishment, what was the cause of this ? And for reply was
told that the anti-slavery party had already fired off all

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 477
their guns, and that now the other side must have their
turn to talk, after which they would proceed to voting,
when the protest against slavery would be availing without
talking. From some speeches which I heard in the begin
ning, and from the printed speeches of William H. Seward
and other members of Congress which I have read, I see
that their declarations are correct, and I can only deplore
that I arrived here during this period of the discussion.
It is, however an important step forward in political life
that the discussion of the question of slavery is perfectly
open ; a few years since it was forbidden, on pain of death,
in Congress. Courageous men, friends of humanity and
public feeling, have broken down this barrier ; and the
combat about freedom and slavery has at this time more
forcibly concentrated itself upon the inner bearing of the
question, during which the instincts of humanity and no
ble thoughts have been called forth, even as in a landscape
alps shoot upward, upon whose lofty brows the ascending
sun casts his earliest beams. Among these noble thoughts
is this, that God's law is higher than the laws of the state,
and that, empowered by this, the community has a right
to oppose the latter if they are contradictory to the former.
This is, in fact, merely an application of the first prin
ciple of the American Declaration of Independence to the
question now under contention. But. the Idealists of the
North gave it utterance at this time, with a force and
beauty which makes it clear to me that sooner or later it
will become the standard of freedom in the strife. The
opposite party, in return, say that they do not understand
this talk about a law which is higher than the Constitution
and fidelity to it. And this is even said by Daniel Web
ster, the representative of the Pilgrim State; his watch
words are "The Constitution and the Union." These are
his gods, and there is no God superior to them in his eyes.
July 18th. Yesterday I heard a very remarkable speech
from Webster in the Senate, which impressed me greatly

478 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
in his favor. I have hitherto lived much with the ene
mies and political opponents of Webster, and have heard
him attacked and keenly criticised in many ways. I am
now convinced that he' may be perfectly honest in his con
victions, and I will believe that he is so. He spoke for
Clay's Compromise Bill, gave in his full adherence to it,
declaring that he considered it, at the present moment, as
furnishing the necessary terms of reconciliation between
the contending states, and that he considered this recon
ciliation necessary to the stability and the future welfare
of the Union.
He said, " I have faith in a wise mediatrix, in a heal
ing vitality in the nation as well as in private individuals,
and that, whatever may be the faults and short-comings
with which we are now chargeable, yet that we shall all
the sooner rid ourselves of these, if we only hold together
in a high-minded spirit of forbearance, instead of rending
asunder our band in blind over-haste."
" As to Utah," said Webster, " let her sit upon her salt
plain, on the shores of her salt lake, for yet a few years, if
it is necessary," which called forth a general smile. He
then summed up in strong, short sentences, each sentence
a picture, the record of what each different state, the Pil
grim as well as the Palmetto State, had been to each other
during their war of Independence ; what they had suffered,
how they had striven together for the general good, and
ended by admonishing them to turn their regards from
private interests to the common weal, to maintain the Con
stitution which their fathers had founded, and to practice
more than ordinary virtue! "As far as myself am con
cerned," said he, " I will stand by the Union and all who
stand by it. I propose to stand firmly by the Constitu
tion, and need no other platform. I will do justice to the
whole nation; I will recognize only our country; let the
consequences to myself be whatever they may, I trouble
not myself about that. No man can sufter too much, or

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 479
fall too soon, if he suffer and if he fall in defense of his
country's freedom and Constitution !"
Webster had begun his speech calmly, heavily, and
without apparent life. Toward the end of the speech his
cheek had acquired the glow of youth, his figure became
more erect, he seemed slender and full of vivacity ; and
as he spoke the last concluding words, he stood in full
manly, almost Apollo-like beauty, in the midst of that
fascinated, listening assembly, stood, still calm, without
any apparent design, but as if reposing himself, happy and
free, in the quiet grandeur of the song which he had sung.
Ah ! that he had but sung one still more beautiful — a yet
nobler song, all then had been perfect — a victory for the
light as for himself ! But while he spoke for the freedom
of California, he spoke also for the recapturing 'of the fu
gitive slave, even upon that formerly free soil, and no spot
of Amerioan soil may ever again be said to be the home
of freedom. The unhappy circumstances of the time, po
litical necessity compelled him to this step ; he could not
do otherwise — so I believe ; and I believe also in his con
fession of faith, " I believe in a healing vitality in the
people," &c. ; and believe that it will show itself prophet
ically true.
I will, however, now tell you the impression produced
by this speech. I never witnessed any thing which more
took hold upon the attention, or had a more electrifying
effect. Amid the profound silence with which he was
listened to, nay, as if the whole assembly held its breath,
burst forth again and again thunders of applause; again
and again was the speaker, the senator from Alabama,
obliged to remind, and finally very severely to remind, the
audience in the galleries that it was forbidden thus to give
expression to their applause. With every new lightning-
flash of Webster's eloquence burst forth anew the thunder
of applause, which was only silenced by the desire to list
en yet again to the speaker. From this fairly enchanted

480 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
audience I turned my glance to one countenance which
beamed with a joy so warm, so pure, that I could not do
otherwise than sympathize in the liveliest manner, for this
countenance was that of Webster's wife. I have heard it
said that when she first heard her husband speak in pub
lic she fainted ; yet she looks like a strong, and by no
means a nervous woman.
No one can, even in the effect which it produces, form
too high an idea of Webster's power as a speaker ; of the
classical beauty and strength of his language, or the pow
er and deep intensity of voice with which he utters that
to which he desires to give strong effect. If this is not
an unusually great natural power — for it has the appear
ance of being altogether simple and natural — then it is
very great art. Our Archbishop Wallin is the only speak
er whom I have heard who in this respect resembles
Webster, and who was possessed of an equal power over
his hearers.
In general, the speakers in this country scream too
much ; they are too violent, and shout and roar out their
words as if they would be very powerful. Henry Clay is
free from this fault, but he is evidently more impulsive
and has less control over himself than Webster. Although
the Compromise Bill has now both these great statesmen
on its side, yet it is the general opinion that it will not be
carried, at least in its present omnibus character — nay,
that it is lost already. Henry Clay, who has battled for
it these seven months, fights for it still, almost like a dy
ing gladiator, and it really quite distresses me to see him,
excited and violent, almost like a youth, with trembling,
death-like hands, so thin and pallid are the fingers, push
back the white locks from the lofty brow over which they
are continually thrown by the violent movements of his
head while he is speaking or replying to attacks made
upon him in the Senate. Webster is more beautiful, and
calmer in his whole demeanor. Nevertheless, I see in

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 481
Clay the patriotic hero, who will conduct his native land
and his countrymen onward along the path of freedom ;
while Webster, with all his beauty and his power as an
orator, is to me merely like a great national watchman,
who keeps watch that the Constitution does not take fire
in any of her old corners. Webster is a mediator ; a man
of the Union. He is a pacificator, but not a regenerator.
July 20th. I am never able to write to you when I
wish ; my time is so much occupied. The great question
yet remains undecided in Congress, and statesmen fight
for it to the death. Since I have seen the personal con
tests here, nothing appears to me more natural than the
enthusiasm of the Americans for their statesmen, because
heroic virtue and heroic courage is required in this intel
lectual combat, and that of a much higher quality than
is called forth in bloody war. Yet neither is this war
bloodless, although blood may not be seen to flow; the
best blood of the human heart wells up and is consumed
here amid the keen conflict of words.
I was yesterday witness of a single combat between the
lion of Kentucky and the hawk of Missouri, which made
my blood boil with indignation. Colonel Benton had, the
day before, made a violent attack on Clay's Compromise
Bill, during which he said, " The bill is caught in the fact
—flagrante delicto — I have caught it by the neck, and
here hold it up to shame and opprobrium before the pub
lic gaze" (and with this Mr. Benton held the bill rolled
up aloft in his hand), " caught it just as it was about to
perpetrate its crime, just as it was about to," &c, &c.
Of a truth, for three whole hours did Benton labor, with a
real lust of murder, to crush and annihilate this "mon
ster," as he called Clay's bill — to attack even Clay him
self with all kinds of weapons, endeavoring to hold him
up also to public disapprobation and public derision in a
manner which betrayed hatred and low malice. This at
tack oocupied nearly the whole of the day.
Vol. I.— X

482 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Yesterday Clay rose to reply, and called upon the Sen-
ate to disapprove of expressions such as those that I have
given ; but by this he only irritated the wild beast of Mis
souri to a still more personal attack, and I felt an abhor
rence of that evidently cold-blooded delight with which
he, when he had discovered a weak place in Clay's posi
tion, seemed to gripe him in his claws and regularly dig
into his flesh and blood. Pardon me, my child, for using
so coarse an expression, but I only paint, and that in wa
ter-colors, the character of the transaction. Among other
things, I remember the following :
Benton mentioned some points in the bill regarding
which, he said, he had noticed Clay to be sensitive. "I
•see," said he, " that the senator of Kentucky is particu
larly impatient about that passage. I shall, therefore, at
once dissect it, I shall at once apply the knife to its quiver
ing nerves !" and with this he turned up his coat-sleeves —
perhaps unconsciously — as if preparing himself for an oper
ation which he should perform with gusto. I saw before
me the cold-blooded duellist, perhaps turning up thus his
sleeves that he might have his wrists at liberty slowly
to take aim, and finally to shoot his adversary. How I
abhorred that man and his ignoble mode of combat ! A
strong, noble anger is a refreshing, sight to witness ; but
this beast of prey's lust of torture — shame !
That the lion of Kentucky felt the claws and the beak
of the hawk, I could see by the glow on his cheek, and
by his hasty, feverish movements when he rose once or
twice in self-defense. Yet all the more did I admire his
not allowing himself to go into any personality, nor yet to
retort in any other way than by remaining silent during
a great? part of his adversary's tedious operation, and by
his continuing to be a gentleman vis-a-vis a beast of prey,
who gave himself up to the coarse instincts of his nature.
But I could not help being surprised that, during the long
time that this quarrel lasted, no high-minded sentiment

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 483
was excited in the Senate against this mode of bearing
arms. - 1 longed that it might. The Scandinavian pagans
combated in a more chivalric manner. I was also aston
ished in the evening, when in company, not to find that
my feeling with regard to Senator B.'s conduct was general.
" I am much mistaken, Miss  ," said Senator H. to
a young lady, a literary lioness now in Washington, "if
you were not cordially delighted by Benton's treatment
of Clay."
" Yes," replied she, " I enjoyed it heart and soul ; it was
a regular treat to me !"
What taste !
Clay has not, however, always shown in the Senate the
same moderation and superiority in political quarrels, and
not very long since, in a contest with Benton, he indulged
in a coarseness something like his own ; but that was
merely for a moment. That violence which with Clay is
paroxysm, is natural to Benton ; the former is excited,
the latter falls into it from an almost incredible arrogance.
Clay is surprised into it; Benton has it always at hand.
To-day, when, later than usual, I entered the Senate,
Clay was speaking; he was not expected to speak to-day,
but something which had occurred during the discussion
had excited him, and I now saw him in one of those
moments when his impassioned ardor carried along with
it, or controlled, the surrounding multitude. He stood
with his hands closed, and his upturned countenance
directed to heaven, and with a voice, the pathos and
melody of which I now for the first time properly esti
mated, declared the purity of his intentions, and that he
desired nothing but the well-being of his country. " What
is there to tempt me?" asked he. "At my age a man
stands nearer to heaven than earth, and is too near leav
ing the latter for him to be seeking reward there. The
approval of my conscience is the only thing which can
sustain me through the conflict."

484 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Every one listened in silence. I felt a deep sympathy
with the solitary champion, who stood here so alone
among enemies, addressing a prejudiced audience, and
without a friend. But the isolated state is the highest
grandeur on earth, if a man knows that the Supreme
Judge is his friend, or at least his one confidant.
On Monday Clay is expected to make his last great,
perhaps his dying speech, on the Californian question, aft
er which it will probably be soon decided, and Clay, in
any case, will leave Congress and go to the sea-side. I
shall yet remain here a few days on purpose to hear him.
I shall now tell you of some other persons and occur
rences here which have interested me. Among the for
mer is a scientific man, Mr. Schoolcraft, who has discov
ered the springs of the Mississippi, far up in the Northern
province, Minnesota. He has been very much among the
North American Indian tribes, and has a deal to tell about
them which is very interesting. He is now busy occupied
in bringing out a work on them, and the country around
the Upper Mississippi. He walks on crutches, in conse
quence of lameness, but the soul moves itself unimpeded.
He is an interesting and very good-natured man.
He and two other persons here have excited in me the
greatest inclination to visit the Upper Mississippi, the
character of which is described to me as being very mag
nificent ; to go among the Indians and see something of
their wild life, and to make a journey down the valley
of the Mississippi, in its whole extent, from the North to
New Orleans, in the South. I must see this great future
home of a population vaster, it is said, than that which
the whole of Europe now contains. Since I have seen
the southern parts of North America, I have obtained an
idea of the life of the West, and see the truth of Waldo
Emerson's words, " The poet of America has not yet ap
peared." And if I can not see the poet yet, I must see
his muse, the goddess of song which shall inspire him ;

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 485
have at least a glimpse into the grandeur of her kingdom,
and of the powers which she commands in nature ; be
able to form an idea of the life and development of those
future generations which she will bring forth.
I saw in Mr. Schoolcraft's Collection of Indian Curiosi
ties, among other things, small flutes, which the enamored
Indians make use of when they would declare their pas
sion to the object of their affections. They paint and
adorn themselves in their best manner, and go out in the
quiet evening or night, and blow upon the flute in the
neighborhood of the tent or wigwam of their beloved. If
the fair one be propitious to the lover, she shows herself
outside the tent, and sometimes comes forth to him, and
allows herself to be carried away. This flute is a very
imperfect instrument, and the Indians, who are possessed
of but very small musical powers, produce from it only a
low note, almost without melody, resembling the whist
ling or twittering of a bird. Mr. S. has had the kindness
to give me some paintings of Indian life and manners ;
one of them represents such a nocturnal wooing. It is not
far removed from the life of the animal ; one seems to see
a fine bird whistling to his little mate.
I have had a view of the moon from the Observatory,
through a very good telescope ; have seen its sleeping
" Mare Vaporum," its mountains and valleys, and the
chasm in one of its mountains, better than I had hitherto
.done. It is a pity that this beautiful Observatory has so
unhealthy a site on the banks of the Potomac, so that no
astronomer can live here without endangering his health.
I went one day with a handsome, young, new-married
pair, and Miss Dix, to the " Little Falls" on the Potomac,
in a wild and picturesque district. There dwells here, in
great solitude, a kind of savage, with seven fingers on
each hand, and seven toes on each foot. He is a giant in
his bodily proportions, and lives here on fish ; he is said
to be inoffensive when he is left at peace, but dangerous

486 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
if excited. I can believe it. He looked to me like one
of those Starkodder natures, half human and half en
chanter, which the old Scandinavian ages produced at the
wild Falls of Trollhatta, and which the wildernesses of
America seem to produce still.
Another curiosity, but of smaller dimensions, I saw also,
not however in the wilderness, but in the Capitol. I was
in the House of Representatives. There were not many
people in the gallery, and I went forward toward the rail
ing, so that I might hear more distinctly what was said
in the hall below. Here stood beside me a little lady,
meanly attired, and about middle age, but so short that
she scarcely reached my shoulder. Several persons came
up into the gallery to speak to me, and by this means my
name was mentioned. When they were gone, my little
lady turned to me, wishing also to shake hands with me
and bid me welcome, which she did in quite a friendly
manner, but added, in a tone of vexation, "I am very much
disappointed in you !"
"Indeed!" said I; "and why?"
"Well," said she, eyeing me with a grave and displeased
glance, " I expected that you would have been a tall
lady." "Oh!" said I, smiling, "did you wish, then, to find me
tall?" " No, not precisely ! But I am very much disappointed
in you !"
And with that she laid her hand upon her breast, and
turning herself to me, she continued, with great emphasis,
"In me you see a descendant of the old Pilgrims, a lineal
descendant of the great and celebrated Miles Standish!"
The little descendant evidently expected that I should
fall down from sheer astonishment, but I merely said,
"Oh!" If I had had spirit enough I should have added,
"lam very much disappointed in you ! for the great grand
daughter of the great Miles Standish ought at least to have
been six feet high !"

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 487
But like a little descendant of the great Vikings, I
did not think that it became me to do battle with a great
grand-daughter of the Pilgrims about our respective
heights, and therefore I merely indicated my satisfaction
both by glance and lips, which she could explain as she
pleased. She explained it probably to her advantage, be
cause she went on to communicate to me, in a weighty
manner, the business which now had brought her to Con
gress. The little lady was grave and important, Puritanic
to the last crumb ; but not, I should imagine, very like the
old Puritan, her ancestor.
I must now give you a little domestic news. Professor
Johnson is come back. When his wife read his letter,
which announced his speedy return, she jumped for joy,
and I jumped too in sympathy, and from the pleasure
which I felt in again seeing one of those happy marriage
connections which it is my delight to witness, and so
many of which I have already seen in the New World.
The expected husband came the next day, a strong, kind-
hearted, excellent, and good-tempered man, who adds con
siderably by his presence to the richness and well-being
of home, even as far as I am? concerned, inasmuch as he
reads aloud to me in the afternoons and any evenings
when I am disengaged, or when the weather — which has
now been wet for a couple of days — prevents my going out.
In this way he has read to me Governor Seward's excellent
biography of the late President Adams, which has struck
me particularly from the heroic character of the noble
statesman in his struggle against slavery. A great states
man in this country must be, at the same time, a sage and
a hero, if he is to be adequate to his post.
I spend most of my forenoons at the Capitol, and gener
ally in the Senate. In the afternoons some of my friends
among the senators frequently drive me out to various
places in the neighborhood ; and in the evenings I receive
visitors. During such a drive to-day with Governor Sew-

488 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ard, he related to me the circumstance in his life which
aroused his inextinguishable abhorrence of slavery, and
his unwavering opposition to it.
Yesterday afternoon I drove with the senators from Illi
nois and Miss Lynch to an old battle-field, now a church
yard, on the banks of the Potomac. When I stood with
General Shields, and beheld from this spot the extensive
view of the river banks, scattered with hamlets and church
es, and villas and cottages, amid their garden-grounds, he
exclaimed, as he pointed it out, " See ! This is America !"
And so it is. The true life of the New World is not to be
seen in great cities, with great palaces and dirty alleys^
but in the abundance of its small communities, of its beau
tiful private dwellings, with their encircling fields and
groves, in the bosom of grand scenery, by the sides of
vigorous rivers, with mountains and forests, and all ap
pliances for a vigorous and affluent life. One of the
peculiar appliances for this vigor and affluence of life are
the magnificent rivers, the many streams of water with
which North America abounds, and which promote the
circulation of life, both physically and spiritually, and
which bring into connection all points of the Union one
with another. The circulation of life and population is
already very great in the United States, and it becomes
greater every day by means of new steam-boat communi
cation and new rail-roads. The North travels to the South,
and the South to the North, to and fro, like shuttles in the
weaver's loom, partly for business, partly on account of the
climate. The Northerners love, during the winter months,
to warm themselves in summer air, and to gather flowers
in Carolina and Florida (as well as in Cuba, which, indeed,
lies out of the political, but not out of the natural Union) ;
and the Southerners escape their always enervating sum
mer, during the months of May, June, July, August, and
September, and seek to invigorate themselves on the cool
lakes of Massachusetts and New York, or among the White
Mountains of the Granite State.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 489
The North and the South could not dispense with one
another — could not break up the Union without the life's-
blood of the body politic becoming stagnant a'nd the life
itself being endangered. And the great statesmen here
know that, and endeavor in the present contest, by means
of a compromise, to keep the circulation unimpeded. The
ultras of the anti-slavery party maintain that it will go on
of itself nevertheless, that for twenty years has this cry
of danger to the Union been heard, and that in reality
there is no danger at all. But —
I have many acquaintance of more than ordinary interest
among the men of Washington; but I will tell you about
them when we meet. I have not become acquainted with
any ladies who interest me, excepting those of this family,
with the exception of Miss Dix. A young and really gifted
poetess, Miss C, is too much of an Amazon for my taste,
and with too little that is noble as such. She has both
heart and genius, but of an unpruned kind. If I saw more
of her, we might perhaps approximate more. As it is, our
approximation is somewhat like that of a pair of rebound
ing billiard-balls. The sketches of the members of Con
gress and of the transactions in the Capitol, which she
has published during the present sitting of Congress in
one of the papers of the city, are brilliant, bold, and often
striking ; but they are sometimes likewise deficient in that
which — I find deficient in herself. They have excited here
the attention which they merit. Another gifted authoress
also, who has begun to excite attention by her novels, is
too much wrapped up in herself. Mrs. W. and Mrs. P. I
like ; but then I have so little time to see those whom I
do like. I see every day in the gallery of the Senate many
elegant toilets, and very lovely faces, which seem to show
themselves there — only to be seen. Again and again, as
I gaze on those lovely faces, I am obliged to say silently,
regarding their expression, "How unmeaning!" And in
voluntarily, but invariably, I am impressed more and more
X2

490 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
with the conviction that the women of America do not,
in general, equal that good report which some European
travelers have given of them. I would that it were other
wise. And the beautiful examples which I have seen of
womanly dignity and grace do not contradict my opinion.
But it is not the fault of the women. It is the fault of
their education, which, even when it is best, merely gives
scholastic training, but no higher training for the world
and social life. I can not help it. The men of America
appear to me, in general, to surpass the women in real
development and good breeding. And it is not to be won
dered at. The American man, if he have received only a
defective school education, enters early into that great
school of public and civil life, which in such manifold
ways calls forth every faculty, every power, and whatever
capacity for business nature has endowed him with. Thus
he becomes early familiar with the various spheres of life,
and even if he should not fathom any of them, still there
are no cardinal points in them which are foreign to him,
so far as they have reference to the human weal and the
well-being of social life. Besides, he acquires, through
his practical life, local and peculiar knowledge, so that
when one converses with a man in this country, one is
always sure of learning something ; and should he have
received from Mother Nature a seed of a higher humanity,
then shoot up, as if of themselves, those beautiful exam
ples of mankind and man, which adorn the earth with an
almost perfected humanity, some of which I have become
acquainted with tinder the denomination of "self-made
men." July 21st. I have been to-day to a Methodist church
of free negroes. The preacher, also a negro, and whom I
had seen in a shop in the city, had a countenance which
bore a remarkable resemblance to an ape ; he had, how
ever, that talent of improvisation, and of strikingly ap
plying theoretical truths to the occurrences of daily life,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 491
which I have often admirecl among the negroes. This
man possesses in a high degree the power of electrifying
his audience; and as it is the custom in the Methodist
churches to give utterance to the feelings and thoughts,
it caused an extraordinary scene on this occasion — so ve
hement were the cries and expressions of emotion.
The theme of the preacher was a common one — con
version and amendment, or death and damnation. But
when he spoke of different failings and sins, his descrip
tions were as graphic as his gestures. When he spoke
about the sins of the tongue, he dragged this "unruly
member" out of his mouth, and shook it between his fin
gers very energetically. ,»On his admonishing his audi
ence to bid farewell to the devil, and turn away from him
(after he had vehemently proclaimed the damnation which
the Evil One would drag them into), his expressions took
such a strong and powerful hold of his hearers, that the
whole assembly was like a tempestuous sea. One heard
only the cry, ," Yes, yes!" "Farewell! forever!" "Yes,
Amen !" " Never mind !" " Go along !" " Oh God !"
" Farewell !" " Amen, amen !" &c. And besides these
convulsive groans, cries, and howls, the assembly was
ready for any extravagance, whatever it might have been,
if the preacher had willed it. The swell of excitement,
however, soon abated when the sermon was ended.
After that, a noble instance of social feeling occurred.
The preacher announced that a slave, a member of the
congregation, was about to be sold "down South," and
thus to be far separated from his wife and child, if suffi
cient money could not be raised in Washington to furnish
the sum which the master of the^slave demanded for him.
And the negro congregation offered to make a voluntary
collection "for purchasing the freedom of the slave brother.
A pewter plate was set upon a stool in the church, and
one silver piece after another rang joyfully upon it.
The whole congregation was remarkable for its respect-

492 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD,
able, and even wealthy appearance. All were well dressed,
and had the expression of thinking, earnest people. I
missed among the women the picturesque head-gear of
the South, which had here been replaced by the unbe
coming, ordinary female bonnet ; but those black eyes and
countenances, how full they are of ardent feeling and life!
And there is always life in the congregations of this peo
ple ; and though the expression of it may sometimes ap
proach the comic, still one never gets sleepy there, as one
often does in the very proper congregations and churches
of the whites.
From this negro assembly, which honorably testifies of
America's behavior to Africa, I, must conduct you to a
dwelling which testifies also, but in an opposite way. I
went thither one morning with Dr. Hebbe and my good
hostess, before we went to the Capitol, because the " Slave-
pen" of Washington is situated near to the Capitol of
Washington, and may be seen from it, although that gray
house, the prison-house of the innocent, hides itself behind
leafy trees. We encountered no one within the inclosure,
where little negro children were sitting or leaping about
on the green-sward. At the little grated door, however,
we were met by the slave- keeper, a good-tempered, talka
tive, but evidently a coarse man, who seemed pleased to
show us his power and authority. Mrs. J. wished to have
a negro boy as a servant, and inquired if she could have
such an one from this place. " No! children were not
allowed to go out from here. They were kept here for a
short time to fatten, and after that were sent to the slave-
market down South, to be sold ; no slave was allowed to
be sold here for the present. There were now some very
splendid articles for sale, which were to be sent down
South. Among these there was a young girl who had
been brought up in all respects ' like a lady ;' she could
embroider and play on the piano, and dress like a lady,
and read, and write, and dance, and all this she had

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 493
learned in the family which had brought her up, and who
had treated her in her ehildhood as if she had been their
own. But, however, her mind had grown too high for
her ; she had become proud, and now, to humble her, they
had brought her here to be sold."
All this the talkative slave-keeper told us. I inquired
something about the temper and the state of mind of
those who were confined here.
" Oh!" said the man, smiling, " they would be unruly
enough if they were not afraid of a flogging."
My honest, open-hearted hostess could not contain her
indignation at this treatment . of people who were not
guilty of any crime. The man laughed, and maintained
that the negro people, both men and women, must be
ruled by the whip, and took leave of us as much satisfied
with himself and his world as we were the contrary.
In Washington, near the United States Senate House
— this slave-pen ! Could one not be tempted to enter and
read aloud there the American Declaration of Independ
ence ! Yet there are sufficient there to read it aloud.
The freedom and honor of America will not die or be
come paralyzed in American hands.*
Have I told you about a baptism by immersion, which
I have witnessed in one of the churches here ? I believe
not. In the South, on the banks of the Red River, in
Macon, and in Savannah, I had seen processions of people
returning from baptisms in the river, but I had missed
seeing the ceremony itself. I saw it here, however, in
the Baptist church ; after the sermon the pulpit was re
moved, and we saw in the choir, before which the pulpit
had stood, six young girls, each in a light gray woollen
blouse, bound round the waist with a scarf, standing all
in a row at the lower end of the choir. A young minis
ter, dressed in black, descended into an opening in the
* This slave-pen has, I believe, been removed since Miss Bremer's
viBit. — Trans.

494 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
floor, within which was a font. Here he addressed the
assembly, and the young girls who were about to be bap
tized, on the signification of baptism ; relating his own
feelings when he, for the first time, was bowed into the
purifying element, with the full sense of the intention and
power of the rite. He invited, therefore, the young sisters
to oome to the baptism of regeneration. They now ad
vanced forward, one at a time, led by the hand by an eld
erly male relative, to the edge of the font ; here the min
ister received the hand of the young girl, and conducted
her down the steps. He stood facing her in the font for
a moment, holding her hands ; probably he then received
a promise from her, but I could not hear it; after which,
with her head resting on the hand of the minister, she
was hastily dipped backward under the water. It was
the work of a moment, and as soon as she was raised
again a song of praise burst forth, the first words of which
rang in my ears, as "Rejoice, rejoice!" When the bap
tized reascended the steps she was received by one of her
relatives, who wrapped around her a large shawl or cloak,
and led her hastily out of the choir. Thus did five young
girls and one young man pass through the ceremony of
baptism ; but there yet remained one of the girls, the
youngest, the loveliest, who stood immovable in a corner
during the long baptism of the others, like a church-an
gel, and might have been taken for a statue had not th«
love'y rose-tint on her cheek testified that the figure was
living. But I was astonished at that delicate girl's ability
to stand in expectation so long and so immovably.
And now the young minister ascended from the font,
and all seemed to be over. Was it possible that they had
forgotten that lovely young girl, or was she really, after
all, not a living creature, but a statue, a church-angel?
An old man came forward and addressed the congrega
tion. He was the young girl's father ; he had been her
teacher, had initiated her into the life and doctrines of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD 495
religion, and prepared her for baptism. He wished to
have permission himself to administer the sacrament of
baptism to his beloved ohild. He descended into the
font. The statue now moved from the church wall ; the
young girl came forward alone with a light step, and full
of trust, as a child to its beloved father, and gave herself
up into his hands. It was beautiful, and really affecting,
to see the aged and the young standing here before the
eye of Heaven, the father dedicating the daughter, the
daughter giving herself up to her father's guidance, and,
through it, to a holy life ; and it would have been yet
more beautiful if it had taken place with the blue heav
ens above, and green trees around them instead of a white-
arched roof and walls.
" Rejoice ! rejoice !" again sang the choir, in a glad
song of praise, over the young girl now consecrated by
baptism; and father and daughter reascended from the
font. The greater portion of the assembly, among which were
a great number of children, beheld the whole affair as a
spectacle, and made a dreadful noise when they went out
of the church, notwithstanding the admonitions of the
ministers to silence. And even by the rivers and in the
silence of the woods, the rite of baptism would be dis
turbed by curious and self-elected spectators.
I shall now go out and refresh myself by a quiet ram
ble into the country with my Quaker friend, the agreea
ble Miss D. Next week I shall leave Washington, and
return to Philadelphia to go with Professor Hart and his
family to Cape May. Then, after I have refreshed and in
vigorated myself by sea-bathing for a couple of weeks, I
shall go to New York, to consult with my friends the
Springs about my further journeying, whether it shall be
first to the North or to the West. The young Lowells
will go with me to Niagara, and if I could induce the
Springs to accompany us, that would be charming ; they

496 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
are such agreeable people to be with, and they enjoy every
thing which is good and beautiful so delightfully. From
Niagara I shall travel alone, perhaps westward to the Mis
sissippi — and for how long I know not. The giants plan,
but the gods decide.
I had here last evening a great gathering of "my
friends," acquaintance, and non-acquaintance, and receiv
ed flowers and distributed flowers. The Americans have
a great deal of fresh cordiality and youthful ardor about
them ; there is no denying that.
I heard both glad and sorrowful tidings last evening —
namely, that Denmark has obtained peace on the condi
tion which she desired, and that — Sir Robert Peel is kill
ed by a fall from his horse. The death of this great
statesman is universally deplored here, but en passant,
for people here have not time just now to occupy them
selves with other people's misfortunes. Their own affairs
engage their time and their intellects, and — the heat is
overpowering. The members of Congress are tired out
with Congress ; the speakers are tired out with hearing
each other talk.
" Neither the eloquence of Demosthenes nor of Cicero
would be able to give us any pleasure !" said a wearied
senator to me to-day. Yet, nevertheless, people listened
willingly to the lively and witty sallies of Mr* Hale, the
representative of the Granite State. He, to-day, personi
fied all the states, and spoke in character for all their rep
resentatives, during a general attack on the Compromise
Bill, in a manner which caused universal merriment.
Everybody, longs in the mean time, that Congress should
come to a close, and that every body may be able to set
off, the one to his home, another to the sea-side, every
one to get away, away, away, away — from speeches and
contention in the Capitol, and all the hot, high-pressure
life of Washington ! The last great speech of this session
is expected to-morrow.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 497
Monday, July 22d. Clay has made his great speech,
and the question stands as it stood before, and the world
goes on as it did before, but it is said that Congress will
soon be at an end.
Clay spoke from three to four hours, but his speech,
which was in fact a summing up of the whole state and
development of the question during the session, as well as
a statement of Clay's own part in the affair, did not seem
to make any great impression upon the Senate. A senti
mental address to the members of Congress, bidding them
to reflect upon what they, on their return home, should-
have to tell their wives and children about the position of
their country, did not succeed at all, and called forth
laughter, so likewise his warning to them to put aside all
little-mindedness, all selfish impulses, &c, and for the
sake of the welfare of the whole land to vote for the Com
promise Bill ; and this last deserved to fail, inasmuch as
it represented that all opposition to the bill was alone the
effect of base motives, which is not the case. I can not,
nevertheless, but admire the athletic soul of this man,
and his power as a speaker.
After having spoken for more than three hours with
fervor and power, sometimes with emotion, disentangling
clearly and logically the progress and state of this con
tested question, which had occupied Congress for seven
months, he stood vigorous still, and ready for a little fenc
ing-match, although with very keen weapons — those of
sarcasm and joke — with Senator Hale, of New Hamp
shire, who, as usual, set the whole house in a roar of
laughter. Clay showed himself, however, a master in
this art of fencing as well as Hale, but somewhat more
bitter. Some of his attacks were so vehemently applauded
from the galleries, that the vice-president, after repeated
reminders of silence, angrily said that he should be obliged
to clear the galleries if the audience would not attend tc
his words.

498 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Clay will now leave Washington. The rejection of his
Compromise question will cost him dearly. Opposition
against him and his bill is strong at this moment ; and he
stands with his bill just as obstinately against opposition.
I set off in the morning with Miss Dix to Baltimore,
where I remain a couple of days on my way to Philadelphia.
I leave Washington, and this phasis of the life of the
New World will close itself forever to me. What have I
seen? Any thing nobler, any thing more beautiful than
in the national assemblies of the Old World ? No ! Have
I seen any thing new ? No ! Not, at least, among the
gentlemen senators. The new has our Lord given in the
world which he created, and upon the new soil of which
contests arise, and in the prospects which are opened by
the questions between Freedom and Slavery, into regions
and amid scenes hitherto unknown, and which are, even
now, frequently but indistinctly seen through mists. That
which is refreshing and new is in the various characters
of the states represented, especially in those of the vast
and half-unknown land of the West, over whose wilderness
es and paradises many different races of mankind wander,
seeking for or establishing homes ; in the prospects unfold
ed by the immense Texas, out of which five states might
now be formed , where the Rio Grande and the Rio Colorado,
and innumerable rivers flow through fertile prairies; by
New Mexico, with its stony deserts, "el Slano Estuccado,"
where water is not to be found for twenty, thirty, or forty
miles, but in whose "Valle de losAngelos" the heat of the
tropics ripens tropical fruits ; finally, by California, with its
gold-bearing rivers, its Rocky Mountains full of gold, its
many extraordinary natural productions, its Sierra Nevada
with eternal snows, its great Salt Lake, on the borders of
which the Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, have estab
lished themselves in an extensive valley, the fertility of
which, and the delicious climate of which, are said to ri
val those of Caucasus and Peru — and where equally, with-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 499
in these regions, exist all the natural requisites for the de
velopment of a perfected humanity. California, the great
est of all the states of the New World, a new world yet to
be discovered, full of beautiful sights and pictures of hor
ror; where the people from the East and the West pour
in, seeking for the gold of Ophir ! California, which for
its eastern boundary has the wild steppe-land of Nebraska,
the hunting-ground of the wild Indian tribes, and on the
other side the Pacific Ocean — that great Pacific Ocean,
whose waves are said to strike with such regular pulsa
tion against the shore, and with such mighty power, that
its thundering sound is heard to a great distance, and the
air and the leaves of the trees tremble far inland. Be
hold — all this and still more such — as the prospects open
ed by Panama and the regions of Central America, where
the people of the United States are now digging canals and
laying down rail-roads to unite the oceans — all this is a
new and invigorating spectacle, and it is presented in the
Congress of the United States. In the discussions, on the
contrary, I see nothing new. I see in them the same bit
terness and injustice between political parties as in the
kingdoms of Europe; the same distrust of each other's hon
esty of purpose ; the same passions, great and small ; and
in debate the same determination to carry their point, to
have their rights, cost what it will; the same misunder
standing and personality, the same continual deviation
from the thing itself to the person ; the same irritability
and impatience about the beloved I, which cause inces
sant provocations, outbreaks of temper, explanations and
fresh explanations, and an infinite number of little quar
rels in the infinitely prolonged progress of the great quar
rel ; and which make the great men, the representatives
of great states, frequently like childishly brawling chil
dren. And if it happen, in addition, that the state's rep
resentative is very touchy on the subject of the honor of
his state, and is ready to boil up on the slightest allusion

500 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
which seems to touch its credit, and especially as the states
are not just now on the best terms with each other, it
will easily be seen that occasion of quarrel will exist in
double measure.
So much for the dark side of the Assembly. But nei
ther is there light wanted on the other side, and it is, I
believe, equally strong with that which the Old World
can show. There is no lack of great-minded protests
against darkness and selfishness ; no lack either of great-
minded appeals to the highest objects of the Union, or to
the highest weal of humanity. The eagle sits upon the
rock of the sea, and lifts his pinions, glancing now and
then toward the sun, but he has not yet taken his flight
toward it. Henry Clay resembles this eagle. Daniel
Webster is the eagle which wheels round in the clouds,
resting upon his pinions, but flying merely in circles
around an imaginary sun — the Constitution. Neither of
them possess that greatness which I admire in the great
est statesman of the Old World — Moses. The greatest
statesman of the New World has not yet come.
But what might not this representation be if it answer
ed its condition and its purpose ; if the representative of
each individual state, permeated by the peculiar individ
uality of his state, its natural scenery and popular life,
and by the bond of its connection with the highest ob
ject of the Union, stood forth to speak thus for it in the
Congress ! Of a truth, then would the Congress of the
United States become a magnificent drama, a spectacle
worthy of gods and men !
July 25th. A cordial good-morning to you, my sweet
Agatha, from a wonderfully lovely country seat, with a
view commanding the outlet of the River Patapsco into
Chesapeake Bay, near Baltimore. I am here with Miss
Dix, a guest at General S.'s, on my way to Philadelphia.
My host is a lively, cordial, clever, loquacious officer,
whose wife is a beautiful, quiet woman, the happy moth-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 501
er often young children ; they are evidently a happy mar
ried pair, with a good and happy home. I feel such im
mediately on entering the house.
Having taken the kindest leave of my hearty, good,
and kind entertainers at Washington, and of my beloved
Quakeress friend, I set off with Miss Dix, and an agree
able friend of the Downings, Mr. William R. ; but it was
a difficult and fatiguing day's journey, in the great heat
and from many delays, in consequence of the road being
broken up by the floods. I was enabled, however, to see
some beautiful views of the Susquehanna River.
Late in the evening, I sat in the most beautiful moon
light alone with Miss Dix, on the balcony of General S.'s
villa, looking out upon the gleaming river, the broad Ches
apeake Bay, and listening to the story of her simple but
extraordinary life's destiny. Among all the varying scenes
of my life in this country, this was not one of the least in
teresting. I asked Miss Dix to tell me what it was which
had directed her into the path which she now pursues, as
the public protector and advocate of the unfortunate. I
will tell you more of her narrative by word of mouth ;
now, merely the words with which she replied to my ques
tion regarding the circumstances which had decided her
career. "It was," said she, "no remarkable occurrence, nor
change in my inner or outer life, it was merely an act
of simple obedience to the voice of God. I had returned
from England, whither I went on account of my health,
which had obliged me to give up the school which I had
kept for several years, and I now lived in a boarding-
house, without any determined occupation, employing my
self in the study of various branches of natural history,
to which I had always been attached, but yet some way
depressed by the inactivity of my life. I longed for some
nobler purpose for which to labor, something which would
fill the vacuum which! felt in my soul.

502 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" One day when returning from church, I saw two gen
tlemen talking together, and heard one of them say, ' I
wish that somebody would see to the jail, for the state of
things there is dreadful!' In a moment it flashed upon
me, ' There was a something for me to do !' And I did it.
I found many unfortunate lunatics confined in the prison,
together with criminals, and treated in the same manner,
besides a deal of mismanagement, and many faults in the
institution which I need not now mention. I wrote an
account of this, and drew up a plan for its amendment,
which I transmitted to the States' government. Thia
drew attention to the subject, and a measure was passed
by government for the improvement of the prison, and the
erection of an asylum for the reception of lunatics, where
they could receive such attention as they required. That
was the beginning. Thus I saw the path marked out for
me and it, and that which I have done in it have, as it
were, been done of themselves."
Washington lay behind me, with its political quarrels,
its bitter strife of state against state, man with man, its
intricate relationships and unsatisfactory prospects, its
excited, chaotic state. And here was a small human life,
which by an act of simple obedience had gone forth from
its privacy, from its darknessy extending itself into a great
active principle, fraught with blessing for neglected beings
throughout every state of the Union, like that little river
before us, which, supplied by unseen springs, had poured
forth itself into that glorious creek, and in that united
itself with the world's ocean ! The contrast was striking ;
the resemblance between that human life, and the scene
before me was striking also ; and the peace and beauty
of the night, and that pure moonlight, were like the bless
ing of Heaven upon them both.
Miss Dix has, during her twelve years' labor as the
good angel of the prisoner and the lunatic, traveled through
most of the states of the Union ; has forced her way into

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 503
regions and places which had hitherto been hidden from a
gleam of light, and has conveyed the message of light and
hope to those who sat in darkness ; she has, through her
excellent memorials to the States' governments, and her
influence with private individuals, been the means of the
erection of thirteen hospitals for the insane, and of an im-
pro/ed mode of treatment for these unfortunates, as well
as of prisoners generally, particularly in the prisons of
the Southern States.
She jsjme of the most beautiful proofs of that which a
woman, without any other aid than her own free-will and
character, without any other power than that of her pur
pose,, and its uprightness, and her ability to bring these
forward, can effect in society.
I admire her — admire, in particular, her courage and
her perseverance. In other respects we hardly sympa
thize ; but I love the place she occupies in humanity ;
love her figure sitting in the recess of the window in the
Capitol, where, amid the fiery feuds, she silently spins her
web for the asylums of the unfortunate, a quiet centre for
the threads o£ Christian love, which she draws across and
across the ceaseless contests, undisturbed by them — a
divine spinner is she for the house of God. Should I not
kiss her hand ? I did ; and do it again in spirit, with
thanks for that which she is and that which she docs.
I will tell you, when we meet, some extraordinary an
ecdotes, which she related to me from her life — so rich
in adventure ; they are of the most romantic kind in the
history of real life.
I shall now tell you a little about Baltimore. Baltimore
is the capital of the State of Maryland. Maryland is the
earliest residence of Catholicism in the United States.
Lord Calvert Baltimore, who went over from the Protest
ant to the Catholic faith, and who resigned his post in
the English government in consequence, was the founder
of the colony in Maryland, which was intended, in the

504 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
first place, to afford an asylum for persecuted and suffer
ing Catholics ; and not alone for them, but for people of
every sect, who merely acknowledged themselves as Chris
tians — and there are mentioned as among the earliest
planters here also Swedes and Finns. The noble and
large-minded Lord Baltimore wished to erect the Catholic
Church on the soil of the New World upon a broader ba
sis than it occupied in the Old World.
The city of Baltimore became the seat of the archbish
op, and the Convent of the Visitation was established there,
as the mother institution of any of a similar kind which
might extend themselves on the soil of the New World.
Maryland had tobacco plantations and slaves, and lived,
it is said, in a patriarchal manner. It lives yet by to
bacco and slaves — less patriarchally, however, as various
transactions and narratives from the chronicles of the Slave
State prove ; and Baltimore is still the home of Catholi
cism, the seat of the Catholic archbishop, and the con
vent of the order of the Visitation. Some of Lord Balti
more's liberal spirit seems also to continue here. I visited
the convent during my stay in Baltimore, and liked very
much what I saw, in particular the appearance and man
ners of the Abbess and the young Sisters. They take the
vows for their whole life, but have laid aside much of the
old Catholic ceremonial, and have no peculiar habit. They
principally occupy themselves in education, as well as in
the guardianship of poor orphans. Many of the best Prot
estant families in the United States send their children
hither to be educated, because they are better instructed,
and at a less expense than in most other educational in
stitutions. Catholicism in the United States seems to
have left behind it all that which made it feared and ha
ted on the other side of the ocean, and to have taken with
it merely that which was best ; and here it is justly com
mended for its zeal in good works. The Catholic congre
gations here are also distinguished by their excellent in-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 505
stitutions for children, and for the sick. That great board
ing-school for young girls is the principal source of rev
enue for the convent. The public examination there will
shortly take place. I heard also, in a large concert-hall,
some of the young girls play both on the harp and the pi
ano, besides singing in chorus, which they did very well,
and with fine effect.
I have visited both the prison and the lunatic asylum
of Baltimore, but found nothing greatly to admire. Mary
land is a small state, and a slave state. Baltimore is a
large city, but is less beautiful, and has fewer trees and
gardens, than most of the American cities which I have
hitherto seen. Baltimore is renowned for its cheerful so
ciety and'beautiful women. " The Belle of Baltimore" is
a gay negro song, which is sung both by the blacks and
the whites, both servants and masters. But that which
makes Baltimore remarkable to my feelings, is something
quite different. It is the story of a scene in a public
house, and about a little girl. Will you hear the former
for the sake of the latter ? You must, for they can not
be separated.
A few years ago, there lived in Baltimore a family of
the name of Hawkins. They had been in-better circum
stances, but were reduced through the drunkenness of the
father. There was a public house in one of the lanes in
Baltimore, where every day five or six drunken compan
ions used to assemble to guzzle all day long. Hawkins
was one of this set ; and although he cursed it, and curs
ed himself for his weakness in going there, yet it clung
to him like a curse, and every day he went there, and
only came thence when he was no longer able to stand ;
and late in the evening, or in the night, staggered home,
often falling on the steps, where he must have remained
lying, and have perished of cold and wretchedness, had it
not been for%his daughter, little Hannah. She sat up
till she heard him coming home, and then went out to
Vol. T.— Y

506 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
meet him and helped him up the steps ; and when he fell
down, and she was not able to raise him, she carried down
pillows and a bed-cover and made him a bed where he
lay, doing all in her power to make him comfortable, and
then lay down beside him. The wife, who in her despair
had grown weary of striving with him, endeavored by her
own labor to maintain herself and the other younger chil
dren. Little Hannah, however, only ten years old, did
not grow weary, but still watched over her father, and
devoted to him her childish affection. When he, in the
morning, awoke out of his drunkenness, he used immedi
ately to send the little girl out to get him some brandy,
and she did as she was bid when her prayers could not
prevail with him to abstain. She succeeded only in
awakening in him a yet stronger sense of his misery, and
the need there was for him to forget it. He cursed him
self for being so unworthy a father to such a child, and
he compelled the child to give him the drink which would
drown his misery. And when he, by means of the fresh,
fiery liquor, was revived and invigorated so that he could
stand and walk, he again went to the ale-house.
Such was his life for a long time ; a lengthened chain
of misery and self-accusation, interrupted merely by fresh
debauch. The family had.sunk into the depth of poverty,
and each succeeding day only added to their distress. One
morning, when Hawkins, ill both in body and mind, after
the carouse of the foregoing day, awoke in his bed, he
desired Hannah, as usual, to go out and get him some
brandy. But the girl would not go. She besought him
earnestly ; " Dear father," she said, " not to-day — not to
day, dear father !" and she wept bitterly. The father, in
extreme anger, bade her leave the room.
He got up, and with staggering steps crawled down to
the usual place. Here, in the mean time, an extraordina
ry scene had occurred, one which is difficult to explain
excepting by a mysterious and higher intervention.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. - 507
The drunken companions were already there with their
filled glasses in their hands, when one of them said, " It
is very foolish of us, though, to sit here and ruin ourselves
merely for the good of  !" meaning the master of the
public house. The others agreed.
Some one of them said, "Suppose that from this day
forth we were not to drink another drop !"
One word led to another. The men hastily made an
agreement and drew up a paper, in which they bound
themselves, by oath, to a total abstinence from all intoxi
cating liquors.
When Hawkins, therefore, entered the public house, he
was met by his companions with the temperance pledge
in their hands, and by the cry from all, " Sign it ! sign it !"
Astonished, overpowered, almost beside himself, he add
ed his name to that of the others. Without having asked
for a drop of brandy he now hastened home, as if from a
new sort of carouse. He found his wife and his daughter
together. He threw himself upon a chair, and could only
ejaculate, "It is done!"
His paleness and his bewildered aspect terrified them ;
they asked him what he had done.
" I have signed the pledge!" exclaimed, he, at length.
Hannah and his wife threw themselves upon his neck.
They all wept — tears of a new delight.
It was from this point, from this scene in the public
house, that the movement commenced which has since
spread itself with lightning speed through the United
States, carrying hundreds of thousands of human beings
along with it, until it has grown into a mighty wall, a
bulwark against drunkenness, which had for some years
begun to spread itself over the land like a swelling tide,
bearing along with it to destruction persons of all classes.
These formerly drunken companions of the public house
in Baltimore became Temperance lecturers, and, under the

508 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. "
name of "the Washingtonians," went forth, many with
them, to hold meetings in cities and in the country, in
which they addressed large multitudes, their own life's
experience giving color and vitality to their pictures of
the curse of drunkenness, and the bliss of an amended
and pure life.
They came to Boston, and Hawkins with them. Peo
ple wished him to speak, but Nature had not formed him
for an orator, and he was scarcely able to stand up before
an assembly. He did it, however, at the request of many
persons. Marcus Spring was present on this occasion,
and he gave me the account. Hawkins, when he stood
up, began with these words, " I have been a drunkard !"
and then stopped short, as if overcome by the memory of
that time and the solemnity of the present moment. The
numerous assembly clapped and encouraged him, and in
spired him with new courage.
He began again, but merely to relate the history of his
former misery, and of little Hannah's conduct toward him.
The simplicity of the narrative, its intrinsic beauty, the
sincere emotion of the man as he related it, made a deep
impression. After this, one and another rose, and spoke the inner
most truth out of their heart's or their life's experience.
One voice out of many exclaimed, " Is there, then, hope
even for me?" "Yes! yes!" cried another ; "come broth
er, come and sign ! We will stand by you !"
Thousands of people this evening signed the pledge.
The good M. said that he himself became so excited and
was so affected by the scene, that he too rose up to ex
press to the meeting the pleasure which it had afforded
him ; but scarcely had he said two words when he lost
himself, forgot what he meant to say, and sat down again
with the firm resolve never again to stand up as an orator.
The history of this conversion is, in reality, very extra
ordinary, because the operating cause proceeded not from

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 509
ihat little heroine alone. I believe she stood in secret re
lationship with a good angel, and that it had found its
way to the public house that very morning, and whisper
ed in the men's ears that they should outwit the landlord.
A cunning little female angel it was, I am pretty certain !
Hawkins still continues to travel about the country as
a Temperance lecturer. He has, as such, accumulated a
little property, and acquired a position ; and little Hannah
is at the present time with him in the West, no longer
little Hannah, but a nice young girl of sixteen. The his
tory of Hannah Hawkins is my " Belle of Baltimore."
Among other guests, last evening, at General Stuart's,
was a Miss  , I have forgotten her name — an eld
erly and very agreeable lady she was, and a splendid hu
man being, with a warm heart and a fresh spirit. She
was the daughter of a wealthy, slaveholding family, and
on coming of age emancipated her slaves; and, as she was
rich, gave to every one of them — somewhat above twenty
in number — a small gratuity wherewith to begin an in
dependent career. She told me that one of these slaves,
a negro who had always distinguished himself by his good
conduct, had, as a freeman, acquired considerable prop
erty by trade, so that he was able to live in comfort and
independence. But his son, who was a spendthrift, so
much reduced his father that, in his old age, he was ob
liged to maintain himself by hard labor — I believe as a
"cart-driver" — that is, one who carries materials to the
roads and for building. At length the old man fell sick,
and knew that his end was near. He sent, therefore, a
message to his former owner, Miss  , begging that she
would come to him, otherwise he could not die in peace.
She went to his house, and found the old man in a mean
room, lying in bed, and very weak.
"Missis !" said he, "you have always been good to me,
and I have thought I must tell you that which lies on my
mind, and beg you to help me, if you can !"

510 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Miss  ¦ told the old man to speak freely.
He continued. " You know, missis, how I lost my
property. I have now, for several years, maintained my
self by my labor, always paying my way. Latterly, how
ever, I have not been able to avoid getting into debt, and
I shall not die easy if I do not know certainly that these
debts will be paid. Missis ! I beg of you to pay my
debts!" " And how large are your debts ?" asked Miss  .
" Fifteen dollars !"
"Make your mind easy, dear Jacob," said Miss  ;
" I can and I will pay them."
" God bless you for it, missis !"
"Now answer me, Jacob," said she, "one question
which I will put to you, and tell me, on your conscience,
have you, as a freeman, felt yourself happier than when
you were a slave in my father's house ?"
" Missis," said the old man, solemnly, raising himself
up in his bed, "your parents, my master and missis, were
always good to me, and in their house I never knew what
want was. As a freeman, and especially in my latter
years, I have suffered very much ; I have suffered hunger
and cold ; I have had to work in rain, and snow, and
storm ; but yet, missis, I have borne that suffering unre-
piningly, because I was free, and would willingly suffer
it again, merely to have my freedom and the right to
control my own actions, for that has been my greatest
treasure." In the combat of freedom against slavery this testimony
is of no small value.
Nevertheless, it would not be difficult to produce testi
mony on the opposite side, of fugitive slaves who, in the
Northern States, have been asked by old friends from the
South what they thought about freedom, and they have
answered that they "were sick of it; that they wished
massa would take them back again !" Sb I have been

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 51 1
told, and I feel certain of the truth of it. That disposi
tions naturally lazy, and not accustomed to independence,
should prefer "the flesh-pots of Egypt" and the bondage
of Egypt to freedom, with hard labor and scanty food, is
quite intelligible ; and that the servants of good masters
in the South should, when they find themselves free among
people who care nothing about them, or are not kindly
disposed, and that in a severe climate, far from their for
mer warm homes, warm hearts, and warm parlors, is very
natural also. For my part, it only seems extraordinary
that so few instances occur of fugitive slaves returning
to their former connections, and begging "massa" and
" missis" to take them back again. But by no means is it
allowable to judge on either side of this question between
freedom and slavery by isolated facts and anecdotes ; judg
ment must be based upon principle, must be based upon
that truth which is immutable and of universal applica
tion. When Bernsdorf, the great statesman of Denmark,
emancipated the peasant serfs on his estate, these assem
bled to a man, and besought of him, with tears, that he
would not give them up, but still continue to be their
paternal lord and master ; that he would annul the decla
ration which made them free.
"You do not understand what I have done for you,"
replied Bernsdorf; "but you will understand it at some
future time, and your children will understand it and
thank me."
And he maintained that which he had done. And he
did more, inasmuch as he established schools and other
institutions for the improvement of his dependents, and
prepared them, by these means, properly to avail them
selves of their freedom. ,
Philadelphia, Saturday morning.
Once more, my little Agatha, am I in the "Friends"
city, after a beautiful day's sail on Chesapeake Bay and

512 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the Delaware, disturbed only by strange ladies who asked
and asked again the usual senseless questions. Ah, if they
only knew how they tormented me, how much I required
silence and rest, they would leave me at peace — I am so
worn out by the life of excitement and by the heat in
Washington. I must endeavor to regain my strength by
the sea. The gentlemen were much better. I met with
some sensible, kind people among them.
Professor Hart came on board to meet me at Philadel
phia, and took me to his house, where I now am, as a
member of the family.
In company with Lucretia Mott I visited several fami
lies of free negroes in this city, among the rest the negro
minister of an Episcopal church here ; he was a tall, good-
tempered, and most respectable man, a daguerreotypist, and
spoke French and some other languages very well. These
free negroes strike me in the same way as the slaves ;
they are good-natured and full of feeling, with a deal of
imitative power and great originality, but their excellent
qualities are of quite a different kind to those of the whites,
and no schools or institutions of learning will ever bring
them to the same point ; nor do I know why they should
be so brought. The merits of the whites are accompanied
by the faults of the whites.
Among the few colored people, as they like to be called,
whom I saw here, I was most interested by a young mu
latto woman, Sarah Douglas, a charming girl, with a re
markably intelligent countenance. She was the teacher
in a school of about sixty children, negroes and mulattoes,
and she praised them for their facility in learning, but said
that they forgot equally fast, and that it was difficult to
bring them beyond a certain point. She herself was one
of the most beautiful examples of true cultivation among
the colored people.
I have also again paid a visit to dear Mary Townsend,
that beautiful ohild of the inner light, with those super-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 513
naturally beaming eyes. I now knew for the first time
that these beaming eyes could scarcely bear the light of
day, that she was not able to read nor to write a page
without extreme suffering, and that her work on "Insect
Life" was dictated with bandaged eyes. Thus lay she,
immovable and blind, as she prepared the winged life of
the children of nature, "thankful," writes she in her pref
ace, "if my little book may be a means of preventing
the cruelty to insects which children are so prone to."
" It has enabled me at times to forget," says she, further,
"that I was confined within the four walls of my cham
ber. It has taken me out into the fields and into the
roads, and renewed my admiration of the wonderful works
of the Creator."
Thus lies she, as it were, fettered and blind till the
day when the deliverer, Death, shall release the angel's
wings. Fettered and blind, and yet, nevertheless, how
keen-eyed and winged in comparison with many ! The
effect of that inner light ! She is called in the family
"the Innermost!" and I will convey her image across the
sea to my "Innermost."
That inner light ! That life of the inner light ! I thank
the city of the Friends for a new revelation of this.
The next time I write to you will be from the sea-side
in New Jersey. On Thursday we go to Cape May. But
before that I shall make an excursion into the country, to
the house of a lady, a friend of Mr. Downing, an American
Madame De Sevigne.

LETTER XXI.
Cape May, New Jersey, Aug. 2.
I spent last Saturday and Sunday at a beautiful coun
try seat near Philadelphia, among beautiful, rare flowers,
principally Mexican, with their splendid fiery coloring, and
Y2

514 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
flocks of humming-birds, which fluttered among them, dip
ping their delicate long bills into the flower-cups. A real
feast it was, of lovely natural objects out of doors ; and
within doors, every thing ornamented, rich, beautiful, aris
tocratic, but too exclusive, at least for my taste, and with
too little in it of really "high life."
I write to you to-day from the sea-side, with the great
free ocean heaving up toward the sands opposite my win
dow, and just before me, in the midst of the waves, a scene
of the most democratic republican character.
But I must, however, tell you something about my visit
to the beautiful villa, because I was there present at the
marriage feast of the maize, and saw the wedding dress,
and I must tell you something about it.
The maize is of the class diazcla. The male flower de
velops itself in a spiked head, which is placed aloft on the
top of the strong green plant, somewhat like the sea-reed
with us, only much thicker in stem and in leaf. This head
of male flowers waves merrily in the wind, quite like a bon
vivant, and scatters abroad his pollen like a cloud. Lower
down, and inclosed in the stem, is placed the ear of maize-
corn, enveloped in pale-green sheaths, which at the season
of the blossoming open themselves a little at the top, in
order to give room for a tuft of brilliant silky thread, vary
ing in all the colors of the rainbow, but principally of vi
olet and gold. It does not come very far out, and with
draws itself again after the ear, by means of it, has sa
luted the air and the light, like some of those small white
plumes upon the pistils of the rye and wheat with us.
These grand silky tufts were just now out, and I broke off
one of these heads, and carefully unwrapped the one green
garment after another. Seven green coverings did I thus
remove, each inner one becoming of a still softer tint and
still finer texture than the preceding, the nearer they ap
proached the ear. Most cautiously did I remove the last
pale-green covering, and a spirally-enwrapped veil of brill-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 5] 5
iant, white, silky thread streamed softly down from the
rich, pearly ear ; most lovely, most inexpressibly rich and
pure ! Each corn-pearl had its silken thread, all were
turned to one side, and wound round the ear, and united
themselves at the top, where they pressed toward the light,
and received coloring from its rays.
A spirit of worship arose in my soul at the sight of that
hidden but now revealed glory, and I could not but recall
the words of the Savior: "Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed as one of these!" It was infinitely beautiful,
and I wished that you could have seen it with me.
I must mention among the flowers the tiger-lily, on ac
count of its unusual splendor. In the evening I saw a
moth fluttering over the flowers, which was so like a hum
ming-bird in its manner of flying and sipping from the
flowers, with a short beak-like proboscis, as it fluttered on
the wing, that I was for a moment uncertain whether it
belonged to the class of birds or of butterflies, till I came
near and saw the four legs. I can not learn its name.
Some maintain that it is called "Lady's-bird."
In a general way, gentlemen and ladies in this country
know but very little about natural objects, except simply
as regards use and pleasure. This ignorance, especially
in the South, and in the midst of this affluent animal and
vegetable world, seems to me really lamentable. Human
beings ought, indeed, to enjoy Nature in another way
than oxen and butterflies ; they should, as the lords of
creation, reverence themselves and their Creator, by con
templating His works with intelligent minds, learning
their meaning, and, as priests and priestesses of Nature,
explaining her wisdom and interpreting her song of praise.
It would be a worthy occupation for people of " high life;"
and "high life" in the New World becomes an empty
idea, if it does not teach itself to sing a new " high song,"
higher than Solomon's, higher than Odin's and Wala's,
but in the same spirit. .

516 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
I went from Philadelphia with Professor Hart and his
wife, on a beautiful July day, to Cape May ; and beauti
ful was our journey upon the mirror-like Delaware, with
its green, idyllian, beautiful shores. During the day I
read Mr. Clay's "Annals" of the Swedish Colony upon
these shores, and experienced heartfelt delight in glancing
from the historical idyll to those scenes, where it had ex
isted in peace and in piety. The temerity and the war
like dispositions of two of the leaders, Printz and Rising,
were the cause of disturbances which ultimately led to
the overthrow of the colony ; but the people themselves
were peaceful and contented. The names which they
gave to different places, New Gotheborg, Elfsborg, &c,
prove the affection which they bore to the mother country.
And how enchanted they were with the New World, is
shown by the name of Paradise Point, which they be
stowed upon a point where they landed, on the shore of
the Delaware, and by many anecdotes preserved by their
Swedish annalist, Campanius. Here, in the Vineland of the
old Sagas, did the Swedes find again the wild vine, and
many glorious fruits which they mention. Here, amid these
h dutiful, sunbright hills and fields, they lived happily,
even though under a foreign sway ; " for," says the chron
icle, "the new government was mild and just toward
them ; but it caused them to forget their mother country."
The memory of that first colony upon these shores is,
however, like the fresh verdure which covers them. I
contemplated them with affection. Peace and freedom
had been planted here by the people of Sweden.
In the evening we reached Cape May and the sea.
And now for the republic among the billows ; not at all
"high life," excepting as regards certain feelings. It is
now about ten o'clock in the morning ; a very parti-col
ored scene presents itself on the shore at an early hour ;
nany hundreds, in fact more than a thousand people, men,
women, and children, in red, blue, and yellow dresses;

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 517
dresses of all colors and shapes — but the blouse-shape be
ing the basis of every costume, however varied — panta
loons and yellow straw hats with broad brims, and adorned
with bright red ribbon, go out into the sea in crowds, and
leap up and down in the heaving waves, or let them dash
over their heads, amid great laughter and merriment.
Carriages and horses drive out into the waves, gentlemen
ride into them, dogs swim about ; white and black peo
ple, horses and carriages, and dogs — all are there, one
among another, and just before them great fishes, porpoises,
lift up their heads, and sometimes take a huge leap, very
likely because they are so amused at seeing human be
ings leaping about in their own element.
It is, as I have said, a republic among the billows, more
equal and more fraternized than any upon dry land ; be
cause the sea, the great, mighty sea, treats all alike, roars
around all and over all with such a superiority of power,
that it is not worth any one's while to set themselves up
in opposition to it, or to be as any thing beside it ; the sea
dashes over them all, dashes them all about, enlivens them
all, caresses them all, purifies them all, unites them all.
Among the citizens in the billows you must particularly
notice one couple, a citizen in grand flame-colored attire,
and a citizeness in a brown, cabbage-butterfly-striped
woolen gown. The citizeness distinguishes herself by
her propensity to withdraw from the crowd to some soli
tary place, by her wish to be independent, and her ina
bility to keep her footing against the waves ; and these
waves hurl her piteously enough upon a sandbank, where
she is left alone to her own powers and a trident (a three-
grained fork), with which she endeavors to keep herself
firm on the ground, but in vain ; while the citizen goes
back to take out his wife. This couple are Professor Hart
and the undersigned. Presently you might see me rise
up out of the water, tired of struggling with the waves
and being dashed on the bank — now sitting upon it like

518 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
a sea-mew, surrounded by white-crested, tumultuous bil
lows — now contemplating the ocean and infinite space,
and now that party-colored company among the waves by
the shore — very unlike that in the Capitol of Washington !
Here human beings do not appear great, nor remarkable
in any way, and more like ungraceful, clumsy beasts than
the lords and ladies of creation, because the garments in
which they are attired are not designed to set off beauty.
I was at first almost frightened at the undertaking and
the company, and at the unlovely, apparent rudeness of
this kind of republic ; but I longed for the strength of the
sea, and thought, "We are all as nothing before our Lord,
all of us sinners, poor wretches all of us !" And I went
out among the rest. And though I am not yet as much
at home among the waves as I see many others are, yet I
am already enchanted with this wild bath, and hope to
derive much good from it. It gives me a peculiar im
pression of a something at once grand and delightful ; the
waves come on like a giant, strong, but at the same time
kind, gentle, and mighty, almost like a god, at least like
the power of a god, full of health-giving life, so that when
I feel them sweeping over me, I involuntarily seem to
think that it would not be hard to die amid them. But
be not afraid, my child ; you may depend upon it that I
will take care of myself; and here there are others who
would also take care of me — for even here I have kind
friends — although, in order to be at peace, I do not by any
means court their civilities, but keep at a distance from-
them. This is not quite in accordance with my disposi
tion, and it really is painful to me to turn this unfriendly
side to those who make advances toward me in kindness,
but I must endeavor to gain a little strength for the com
ing campaign — I must have silence and repose, I must
rest a little.
With Professor Hart and his wife I get on excellently ;
they are quiet, kind, earnest people ; they let me do as T
Vol. II.— F

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 519
like. I have a nioe little room near theirs, with a fine
view over the ocean, which here, without islands or rocks,
rolls up unimpeded upon the low sandy shore ; I hear its
roar day and night from my open window, for I have for
several months slept with my window open and the Ve
netian shutters closed, as people do here generally. I rest
and enjoy myself, as I have not hitherto done in this coun
try. The restless mind, however, labors still, writes ro
mances and dramas, the scenes of which are all laid in
Sweden, although the scenes here have given life to them ;
but I live for Sweden in all that I do and all that I imagine.
Now are you also, my Agatha, by the sea, and bathing
in the salt waves. Oh ! may the quiet bathing at Mar
strand revive and invigorate you as much as I feel these
wild ocean-bathings invigorate me! These would not,
however, suit you ; they are two powerful.
August 10th. How beautiful it is to be here ; how
pleasant to pause from going out to see things, from the
excitement of hearing, and learning, and from social life
and conversation ! How good it is to be alone, to be si
lent and quiet ! And the sea ! the sea ! that grand, glo
rious sea, how soothing and refreshing it is to contemplate
it, to listen to it, to bathe in it ! I sit every morning,
after my breakfast of coffee, Carolina rice, and an egg, by
the sea-side, under a leafy alcove, with a took in my hand,
and gaze out over the sea, and into the vast expanse of
sky ; see the porpoises in flocks following the line of the
coast, and hear the great waves breaking and roaring at
my feet. The porpoises amuse me particularly ; they go,
for the most part, in couples, and pop their heads up out
of the sea as if to say " good morning," making a curve
of their bodies, so that the upper part is visible above the
surface of the water ; after this curved movement, made
slowly and with a certain method in it, they plunge their
heads down again and vanish in the waves, but are soon
seen up again doing the same as before. They are large

520 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
fishes, I should imagine about two ells long, and seem in
form not to be unlike our largest salmon, and they have
a something very grave in their movements as they thus
offer us their salutations from the deep ; sometimes, how-.
ever, they give great leaps.
Do you know why I sit with a book in my hand while
I am looking out on all this ? It is that people may think
I am reading, and thus be prevented from interrupting
me ; excepting for this, I should have no pt<*ce. And I
am become nervous to that degreee by the incessant talk
of strangers, and the repetition of ever-recurring questions,
that my heart begins to beat if any one only sits down on
the same bench with me, lest they should begin to talk to
me ; therefore, whenever this occurs, I fix my eyes imme
diately on my book. In the mornings, however, my leafy
drawing-room is tolerably free from people, and interesting
porpoises are sometimes the only living creatures that I
see. I have had some rich hours here, nevertheless, by the
actual reading of a book lately published, the fourth part
of Orsted's "Aanden i Naturen," in which he still further
develops, as I besought of him to do in Copenhagen, those
germs of thought which lie hidden in his glorious little
work, " Ofver fbrnuftlagamas enhet uti hela univer-
sum." Never shall I forget the delight which thrilled
through me the morning on which I first read this little
work, which Orsted had given to me, and when the con
sciousness that it was equally applicable to the whole
higher human intelligence, flashed through my soul like
lightning ! It was early in the morning, but I could not
resist going to Orsted and telling him my delight and my
presage. That morning, and the conversations which thence en
sued between the amiable old man and myself during the
winter which I spent in Copenhagen, and the rich hours
which they afforded me, I lived over again here while I

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 521
have been reading this new work of Orsted's, and during
the glorious prospects which have opened to me even be
yond the horizon, which has been indicated by this noble,
scientific man. But Orsted has done his work in a large
manner ; and while he has determined that which is
known certainly, and that which, in all probability, may
be taken for granted, he has left the field open for still
further research and deduction, by the guidance of those
laws and analogies which he has pointed out. How I re
joice in the thoughts of being able, on my return to Den
mark, to see again this estimable old, but youthful-mind
ed, man.
But I must now tell you about my life at Cape May.
I pass my mornings in company with the sea and the por
poises. When the tide comes in — as for instance, this
morning at half past ten — and the waves advance further
and further, on the sands, I attire myself in bathing cos
tume, and tnus go out into the sea, but before the great
crowd assembles there, and let myself be washed over by
the waves, most frequently having hold of Professor Hart's
hand, sometimes in company with a lively Quaker lady,
a niece of Lucretia Mott ; sometimes also alone, for I have
now become quite expert in wrestling with the waves, and
in keeping my balance in them. One remains in the water
about a quarter of an hour, and it feels so pleasant that
one is quite sorry to come out. After this bathing, I go
to my chamber, write a little while my hair dries, drink
a glass of good ice-cold milk, with a piece of excellent
wheaten bread, and then lie down on my bed for an hour,
where, hushed by the great cradle-song of the sea, I fall
asleep directly, as lightly and pleasantly as, I imagine,
little children slumber to their mother's lullaby.
When I wake, I dress myself quickly for dinner. The
dinner hour is two, and a noisy scene it is ! There sit,
in a large light hall, at two tables, about three hundred
persons, while a thundering band is playing, waited upon

522 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
by a regiment of somewhat above forty negroes, who march
in and maneuver to the sound of a bell, and make as much
noise as they possibly can make with dishes and plates,
and such like things, and that is not a little. They come
marching in two and two, each one carrying a dish or bowl
in his hands. Ring ! says a little bell held aloft by the
steward, and the dish-bearers halt. Ring ! says the little
bell again, and they turn themselves to the table, each one
standing immovably in his place. Ring ! and they scrape
their feet forward on the floor with a shrill sound, which
would make me ready to jump up, if the whole of their
serving were not a succession of scraping, and shrill sounds
and clamor, so that it would be impossible to escape from
their noisy sphere. The dinners are, for the most part,
very good, and the dishes less highly seasoned than I have
been accustomed to find them at American tables, and
especially at the hotels. Although I here always find a
deficiency of vegetables, yet I am fond of one which is
called squash, and which is the flesh of a species of very
common gourd here, boiled and served up much in the
style of our cabbage, and which is eaten with meat. It
is white, somewhat insipid, but soft and agreeable, rather
like spinach ; it is here universally eaten ; so also are
tomatoes, a very savory and delicately acid fruit, which is
eaten as salad. Of the second course I dare not venture
to eat any thing but sago pudding or custard, a land of
egg-cream in cups, and am glad that these are always to
be had here.
One standing dish at American tables at this season is
the so-called "sweet corn." It is the entire corn ear of
a peculiar kind of maize, which ripens early. It is boiled
in water and served whole ; it is eaten with butter, and
tastes like French petit pois ; they scrape off the grains
with a knife, or cut them out from the stem. Some peo
ple take the whole stem, and gnaw them out vrith their
teeth : two gentlemen do so who sit opposite Professor

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 523
Hart and myself at table, and whom we call " the sharks,"
because of their remarkable ability in gobbling up large
and often double portions of every thing which comes to
table, and it really troubles me to see how their wide
mouths, furnished with able teeth, ravenously grind up
the beautiful white, pearly maize ears, which I saw so
lately in their wedding attire, and which are now mas
sacred, and disappear down the ravenous throats of the
sharks. When I see that, I am convinced that if eating
is not a regularly consecrated act — and is it nqt so in the
intention of the grace before meat? — then it is a low and
animal transaction, unworthy of man and unworthy of
nature. After dinner I again sit with my book in my hand, and
contemplate the sea, and enjoy the life-giving sea-breeze.
Some bathing again takes place toward half past five,
when the tide again rises, and occasionally I also take a
second bath, but in a general way I find that once a day
is sufficient, because the wrestling with the waves makes
bathing fatiguing. I mostly about that time take a walk,
and sometimes call on people who have visited me, either
in this great hotel where we are, or in some of the small
cottages scattered about. When it gets dark, and it gets
dark early here, I walk backward and forward in the upper
piazza which runs round our hotel — the Columbia House
— and contemplate the glorious spectacle produced by the
lightning, and the unusual eruptions of light with which
the heavens have favored us every evening since I have
been here, without thunder being audible. The one half
of the vault of heaven during these wonderful lightning-
exhibitions will be perfectly clear and starlight ; over the
other half rests a dense cloud, and from its extremities,
and from various parts of it, flash forth eruptions of light
such as I never saw before ; fountains of fire seem to
' spring forth at various points, at others they flash and
sparkle as from the burning of some highly inflammable

524 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
substance ; gulfs open full of brilliant and colored flames,
which leap hither and thither ; and from the edges of the
cloud where it appears thin and gray, spears and wedge
like flashes are sent forth incessantly, while toward the
horizon, where the clouds seem to melt into the sea, it is
illumined by far-extended and mild gleams of lightning.
In short, it is an exhibition of celestial fire- works, which
are always new, astonishing, and, to me, enchanting. vWe
have had two magnificent thunder-storms, when the light
nings flashed and crossed each other over the ocean, so
that it was a really grand spectacle. The weather just
now is perfectly calm, and the days and nights are unin
terruptedly delicious and beautiful. We have frequently
music and earthly fire-works on the beach opposite our
hotel, so that we do not experience any want of cheerful
amusement. To the same category belong the cavalcades
of gentlemen and ladies on the beach, driving about in
light, little carriages, the crowds of pedestrians wandering
along the shore, seeking and finding Cape May diamonds,
small, clear crystals, which, when cut, present a remark
ably clear and beautiful water. Later in the evening,
when the moon rises, Professor Hart and myself may often
be seen among the pedestrians ; for I like to hear him
develop his thoughts on the subject of education ; I like
to hear his method of awakening, and from year to year
anew awakening and keeping alive the attention of the
boys, and calling forth their peculiar faculties into full
self-consciousness and activity. His theory and his prac
tice in this respect seems to me excellent ; and the prog
ress of his school, and the ability and the cleverness of the
boys in their various ways, when they leave the school,
testify to the correctness of the principle and the excel
lence of the method.
The roar of the sea is generally lower in the evening
than in the day, the slumbrous light of the moon seems
to lull the restless billows, and their song is one of repose.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 525
Sometimes I go to a little distance inland, and listen to
the whispering of the maize in the evening breeze — a quiet,
soothing sound ! Thus approach night and sleep to the
great cradle-song of the sea. Thus pass the days with
little variation, and I only wish that I could prolong each
twofold. It is said that the number of bathers here is
from two to three thousand persons.
" Miss  , may I have the pleasure of taking a bath
with you, or of bathing you ?" is an invitation which one
often hears at this place from a gentleman to a lady, just
as at a ball the invitation is to a quadrille or a waltz, and
I have never heard the invitation refused, neither do I
see any thing particularly unbecoming in these bathing-
dances, although they look neither beautiful nor charm
ing ; in particular, that tour in the dance in which the gen
tleman teaches the lady to float, which, however, is not
a thing to be despised in case of shipwreck.
Very various are the scenes which on all sides present
themselves in the bathing republic. Here a young, hand
some couple, in elegant bathing attire, go dancing out into
the wild waves holding each other by the hand, and full
of the joy and the courage of life, ready to meet any thing,
the great world's sea and all its billows ! There, again,
is an elderly couple, in gray garments, holding each other
steadily by the two hands, and popping up and down in
the waves, just as people dip candles, with solemn aspects,
and merely observant to keep their footing, and doing all
for the benefit of health. Here is a young, smiling moth
er, bearing before her her little, beautiful boy, a naked
Cupid, not yet a year old, who laughs and claps his little
hands for joy as the wild waves dash over him. Just by
is a fat grandmother with a life-preserver round her body,
and half sitting on the sands in evident fear of being
drowned for all that, and, when the waves come rolling
onward, catching hold of some of her leaping and laugh
ing great children and grandchildren who dance around

526 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
her. Here a graceful young girl, who now for the first
time bathes in the sea, flies before the waves into the
arms of father or mother, in whose embrace it may dash
over her ; there is a group of wild young women holding
each other by the hand, dancing around and screaming
aloud every time a wave dashes over their heads; and
there, in front of them, is a yet wilder swarm of young
men, who dive and plunge about like fishes, much to the
amazement of the porpoises (as I presume), who here and
there pop their huge heads out of the billows, but which
again disappear as a couple of large dogs rush forward
through the water toward them in the hope of a good prize.
Sometimes, when one expects a wave to come dashing
over one, it brings with it a great force of ladies and gen
tlemen, whom it has borne along with it, and one has
then to take cafe of one's life. Three life-boats are con-
tinually rowing about outside this scene during the bath
ing season, in order to be at hand in case of accident.
Nevertheless, scarcely a year passes without some misfor
tune occurring during the bathing season, principally from
the want of circumspection in the bathers themselves, who
venture out too far when they are not expert swimmers.
The impulse of the waves in the ebb is stronger than in
the flowing tide, and it literally sucks them out into the
great deep ; and I can not, in such case, but think upon
the legend of our mythology, about " the false Ran" which
hungers for human life, and drags his prey down into his
bosom. There is no other danger on this coast ; porpoises
are not dangerous, and of sharks there are none except
ing at the dinner-table.
A shipwreck has lately occurred not far from Cape
May, which has crushed the hope of many a heart, and
has made a deep impression upon thousands of minds in
the Northeastern States.
One stormy night during July, a brig was stranded
upon a rock on the coast of New Jersey. This brig con-
F 2

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 527
veyed to her native land the Marchioness Ossoli (Margaret
Fuller), the object of so much conversation and so much
blame, of so much admiration, of so much attention in
the New England States, and with her came her hus
band, the Marchese Ossoli, and their little boy. They all
perished, after having seen death approach for four hours ;
while the waves dashed to pieces the vessel which had
borne them hither. As I recollect, I mentioned to you
Margaret Fuller's letter to the Spring's from Gibraltar, in
which _she spoke of her presentiment of evil, of the cap
tain's death, &c.
After the death of the captain, the first mate took the
command of the vessel. He seems to have been an ex
pert seaman, and so certainly calculated on bringing his
ship safe into port, that the evening before the disaster
occurred he assured the passengers that on the morrow
they should be in New York. All, therefore, went to rest,
and were awoke in the early dawn by the vessel being
aground. The helmsman had mistaken one beacon in
these roads for another. They were not far from land,
and the waves were running toward the land, so that sev
eral of the passengers had themselves lashed to planks,
and thus came to shore, although half dead. This mode
of saving her life was offered to Margaret Fuller, but she
refused it ; she would not be saved without her husband
and her child.
Before her embarkation from Italy, she wrote to one of
her friends in America, " I have a presentiment that some
great change in my fate is at hand. I feel the approach
of a crisis. Ossoli was warned by a fortune-teller in his
youth to beware of the sea, and this is his first great voy-
~age ; but if a misfortune should happen, I shall perish with
my husband and my child." And now the moment which
had been foreshadowed to her was come, and she would
perish with her beloved ones !
A sailor took the little boy, and bound him to a plank,

528 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
together with a little Italian girl, and threw himself into
the sea with them, in the hope of saving them. They told
Margaret Fuller that they had safely neared the shore.
They told her that Ossoli also was saved. And then it was
that she consented also to be lashed to a plank. She never
reached the shore. A wave had washed Ossoli from the
deck into the deep. The corpse of neither has ever been
found; but the little boy was found upon a reef of sand,
still lashed with the little Italian girl to the plank, but
both were dead.
"A quick death and a short death-struggle!" had al
ways been Margaret Fuller's prayer. It had been fulfill
ed, and she was and she is with herheloved ones.
But her mother and her sisters, who came to meet her
at New York — their sorrow almost approaches to despair;
they had anticipated this meeting with so much anxiety
and much joy; they wished to make her so* happy ! And
that little boy — every thing was ready for him, his little
bed, his chair, his table ! Rebecca S., who saw Margaret
Fuller's mother, writes to me that she looks like one who
will never smile again ; she seems crushed. Among those
who perished in the wreck was also the brother of Charles
Sumner, that young man who went to Petersburg and pre
sented an acorn to the Emperor Nicholas.
I do not find in such works of Margaret Fuller's as I
have read any remarkable genius, nothing of which be
trays that extraordinary power which distinguished her in
conversation. Her talent as an author seems to me no
way striking ; nevertheless, a large-minded, noble spirit
shows itself in her writings, and this caused her often to
deplore, and filled her with indignation against that which
she knew was not noble in her countrymen and her na
tive land. She is rather the critic than the enthusiast.
I have inscribed on my memory, from her volume called
"A Summer on the Lakes," these- words:
" He who courageously determines to accomplish a no-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 529
ble undertaking, whatever opposition he may experience,
can not fail in the end of winning thereby something val
uable." That rich life, with all its sufferings, yearnings, pre
sentiments, and hopes, is now at an end, has passed from
the earth. " But she won what earth of best could give her,
Love, the mother's name, and — last, a grave !" — Teonbe.
From Margaret Fuller's letters I could believe that the
highest object of her life was gamed in her happiness as
a mother ; all her soul seemed to have centered in that.
She had been described to me as not sufficiently femi
nine ; she seems to me almost too much so ; too much con
centered in that one phasis of her being. Well for her,
in the mean time, who went hence with her heart's fullness
of love, and went with those whom she loved most.
August 12th. All continues to be delicious and good !
The sea, the heavens and their grand show ; the warlike
games of Valhalla, which take place every evening, in which
heroes and heroic maidens hurl their flaming spears ; the
embraces of the sea during the day ; the song of the sea
at night ; freedom, peace in the open air — ah ! how glori
ous is all this !
Professor Hart enjoys the bathing and the life here as
much as I do, and little Morgan flits about like a sea-gull,
now on the shore and now in the water, barelegged and
brown, and as happy as a free lad can possibly be on the
sea-shore. But poor Mrs. Hart derives benefit neither
from bathing nor yet from the sea air, and becomes every
day paler and paler, and can hardly eat any thing but a
little boiled rice. I believe that she lives principally, and
is sustained by her husband's and her son's enjoyment of
life, and will not leave this place for their sakes.
I have derived pleasure from my acquaintance with an
amiable family, or rather two brother-families from Phil
adelphia, who live in a cottage near here, for the benefit
Vol. I — Z

530 - HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of sea-bathing. Mr. F., the elder, is the minister of a
Unitarian congregation in Philadelphia, one of the noblest,
purest human beings whom God ever created, true, fer
vent, and full of love, but so absorbed by his anti-slavery
feelings that his life and his mind suffer in consequence,
and I believe that he would with the greatest pleasure
suffer death if by that means slavery could be abolished.
And his lovely daughter would gladly suffer with him, a
Valkyria in soul and bearing, a glorious young girl, who is
her father's happiness as he is hers. This grief for slavery •
would have made an end of the noble minister's life had
not his daughter enlivened him every day with new joy
and fasoination. She is blonde and blue, like the Scan
dinavian "maiden" of our songs, and considerably re
sembles a Swede. The wife of the second brother is a
brunette, delioate, beautiful, witty, charming as a French
woman, a great contrast to the fair " Skbidmo," but most
delightful. She is the happy mother of three clever lads.
The Valkyria has three brothers. The two families live
together in beautiful family love. That which I see in
this country of most beautiful and best is family-life and
nature, as well as the public institutions, which are the
work of Christian love.
Among the novelties here at the present moment, are
some Indians who have pitched their tent in the neighbor
hood of the hotels on the shore, and there weave baskets
and fans according to Indian taste, with other small wares
which they sell to — any body who will buy them. The
men are half-blood Indians, but the women true squaws,
with black, wild elf-locks, and strong features. They are
ugly, but the children are pretty, with splendid eyes, and
as wild as little wild beasts.
There is a "hop" every week in one of the hotels, that
is, a kind of ball, which, I suppose differs only from other
balls by people hopping about with less ceremony. I have
not had the heart to leave the oompanionship of the sea

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 531
and the moonlight to go to a ball and see human beings
hopping about ; neither have we here been without scenes
of a less lively oharacter. We have had a great battle
in one hotel . between the black servants and the white
gentlemen, which has caused some bloody heads. The
greatest share of blame falls upon a gentleman who owns
slaves. He will be obliged to leave. There have been
two attempts at murder in another hotel, but which were
prevented in time. The blame of these is laid upon a
negro, but still more upon the landlady's treatment of her
domestics in this hotel. N.B. — All the waiters here are
negroes or mulattoes.
A sail which I have had to-day in a pleasure-yacht, be
longing to an agreeable young man, a Mr. B., who invited
me and some other of the company on board his vessel, has
given me the greatest desire to return home in a sailing
vessel, if I could only spare the time for it. Sailing ves
sels are so infinitely more beautiful and more poetical
than steam-vessels. On board the latter one never hears
the song of the wind or the billows, because of the noise
caused by the machinery, and one can enjoy no sea-air
which is free from the fumes of the chimney or the kitch
en. Steam-boats are excellent in the rivers, but on the
sea — the sailing-ship forever !
I have lately had a visit from some most charming
young Quakeresses. No one can imagine any thing more
lovely than these young girls in their light, delicate, mod
est attire.
I must introduce to you a contrast to these. I was sit
ting one morning beneath my leafy alcove, on the sea
shore, with my book in my hand, but my eyes on the sea
and the porpoises, when a fat lady, with a oountenance
like one of our jolliest Stockholm huckster-women, came
and seated herself on the same bench at a little distance
from me. I had a presentiment of evil, and I fixed my
eyes on Wordsworth's Excursion. My neighbor crept to
ward me, and at length she said,

532 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
"Do you know where Miss Bremer lives?"
" I believe," said 1, " that she lives in Columbia House !"
"Hum! should be glad to see her!"
A silence. I am silent and look in my book. My neigh
bor begins again.
"I sent her the other day a packet — some verses, with
the signature ' The American Harp,' and a volume — and
I have not heard a word from her."
"Ah!" said I, now pushed very closely, "you are per
haps ' The American Harp,' and it is you that I have to
thank for the present !" For here be it known, I had wish
ed not to meet the authoress of a book written in the style
of " The Sorrowful Certainties," because the authoress had
mentioned in her epistle that it had been much praised
in the Cape May newspapers, and I could not say any thing
of it but — possessed !
The good intention of the verses, however, deserved my
thanks, and I now gave them quite properly.
"But," asked the Harp, "have you read the book?"
"No, not yet; I have merely looked into it."
"Indeed! but read it through; because it is a book
which, the more it is read, the better it is liked ; and I
have written it all, both prose and verse ; it is altogether
mine. I have written a deal of verse, and think of bring
ing out a collection of my poetical works ; but it is very
expensive to bring out such!"
I said that I supposed it must be so.
"Yes," said she; "but I write verses very easily, in- par
ticular where there is water ; and I like to write about
water. I am so very fond of water. Is there much wa
ter in Sweden?"
"Yes, a great deal," replied I, "both of sea, and rivers,
and lakes."
"I should like to write there; I should be able to write
there very well!" said she. "I should like to write in
Sweden !"

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 533
I said that the voyage thither was dreadfully difficult
and long — it was a thing hardly thought of!
"Ah, but I should not trouble myself about that," she
said; "I am so fond of the water! and could write a deal
in- Sweden — See there ! now my parasol has fallen ! and
the handle is broken ; yes, that is what I expected. Yes
terday I broke my spectacles with the gold frame, and
now I must use my silver ones ! I am always breaking
something — however, I have not yet broken my neck!"
" Then every thing is no^lost yet!" said I, laughing;
and as I saw Professor Hart coming up the steps to my
airy saloon, I hastened to make him acquainted with the
"American Harp," and leaving her to him, I vacated the
field. . Such harps are to be met with in all countries, but in
none do they sound forth with such naivete as here.
A young poet from the city of the Friends, with a beau
tiful, dramatic talent, and a head like Byron, and a family
of refinement and amiability, belong to my agreeable ac
quaintance here, of whom I would see more, but who all
come and go like the waves of the ocean.
August 16th. There is now an end to my good time !
To-day I set off to New York. To-morrow, my friends,
the Harts, return to Philadelphia. My companion to New
York is a lawyer, an elderly gentleman, very estimable
and good-hearted, I believe, but who has the fault of hav
ing too good a memory for — verses, and a fancy for repeat
ing long and often very prosaic pieces from the German,
French, and English authors, which are less amusing to
prosaic listeners.
At dinner I exchanged my place, and the sharks, who
now saw empty seats opposite them, looked about for me
with a hungry mien ; it seemed to me as if they felt the
want of a living foreground to their feast.
I regret leaving Cape May, which is to me so quiet and
invigorating ; but I must not linger any longer, I have so
much yet to see and to learn in this country.

534 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
I shall now go and take my last bathe in the sea, and
think the while that you also are bathing in the health-
giving waves of the ocean. The waves of the Atlantic
Sea and the North Sea flow into the same great bath ;
and in it thou bathest with me and I with thee !
" Miss Agatha, may I have the pleasure of taking a
bathe with you ?"
And thus I embrace you heartily, all through the sea !

LETTER XXI.
TO THE CONFERENCE-COUNSELOR, H. C. ORSTED, COPENHAGEN.
Sea-side, New Jersey, August 10th.
How often, my valued friend, have I thought of you in
this hemisphere, so distant from your country and your
home ; how often have I wished it was in my power to
tell you something about this great, steadily-progressing
portion of the world, upon which your eye also rests with
the interest of an inquirer. Of all my friends in Copen
hagen, you were the only one who understood that long
ing which impelled me to the New World ; and when I
put the question to you, "Does it appear to you extra
ordinary and irrational that I desire to see America?" you
replied, "No! It is a great and remarkable formation of
that creative mind which can not but be in the highest
degree interesting to study more nearly!"
Oh, yes ; and so it is, and far more so than I had any
idea of, and it is far richer than I can yet understand;
and I have been more willing to wait before I wrote to
you until this New World, with all its various phenom
ena and their living unity, had become more intelligi
ble to myself. And for this purpose I might have waited
yet much longer, because there is much here which I
have not yet seen, which I have not yet well considered,
and, so to say, have not yet digested !

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 535
But I can not any longer defer writing to you. The
necessity to thank you compels me to write. I must — I
wjjl thank you for that great, unexpected pleasure which
your spirit has afforded me here upon this foreign coast,
many thousand miles distant from you ; for here, on the
shore of the Atlantic Ocean, here where constellations
ascend which we do not behold in our horizon, here have
I read the last-published portion of your work, Aanden i
Naturen; and that treatise which you gave me in Copen
hagen, " Ofver V'dsens enheten af Fornuftet i hela Verlds
Altet" that little work which made me so infinitely hap
py, through the new, joyful light which it caused to arise
before me, which brought the whole starry firmament
nearer to my heart, and made each star burn with a light
kindred to the light of my own spirit; that glorious, little,
but large work, which accompanied me across the great
sea from the Old World to the New, as one of my dearest
treasures, I recognized in this your book, but amplified
and rendered more perfect, as I had preconceived it capa
ble of being. And I have been unspeakably delighted to
recognize here as mature fruit the blossom of our conversa
tion in Copenhagen ; to see here my own earnest prevision
of the subject, rendered yet more clearly and forcibly by
your lucid and logical mind.
For what can be clearer, what more rational or more
certain, than that when all the stars are governed by the
same laws of revolution, when all of them are subject to
the same light and the same shadow, and when we, in
consequence of this, are able to study them, to discover
their courses, &c, to calculate the place of the star and
afterward to find the star (le Verrier), then it is evident
that the resemblance between the reason of man and the
reason in the universe must go still further, must em
brace -all spheres, and in a similar manner. If we are
necessarily to understand the terms lines, circles, parabo
las, &c, as applied to all those worlds, which we disoern

536 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
in space, as we understand their application to our earth,
if their mathematical and physical, laws are the same as
those which are in force upon this earth, then is it clear
that the sense of beauty can not be essentially dissimilar,
and that the moral reason must be fundamentally the
same, must recognize the same principles, the same rad
ical idea. You have clearly proved these ; you have shown
that if these distant spheres obey laws similar to those laws
which operate upon our terrestrial globe, then it is prob
able, nay, almost certain, that reflecting beings, endowed
with reason and with minds similar to our own, exist in
these remote worlds, as their highest product, as the flow
ers of their life and laws ; yes, that it is improbable that
the great Creator there should have left his work more in
complete than upon this earth.
The same light, the same shadow! and, I add, the same
joy, the same tears, the same yearnings, the same hope,
the same wants, the same faith, the same God, Creator,
Mediator, P er fleeter ; yes, although under different cir
cumstances and in different degrees of development, still
individually the same for all, because the same normal
process of life must avail for all. I do not know whether
you go with me so far ; but in one thing I believe that
you will agree with me, because the thought is suggested
by your work, namely, that there is not in the whole uni
verse any place, not even the remotest star, which is al
together alien to this world, this earth upon which we
live, and that reason which exists in us. From the win-
tery stillness of Urania to the glowing, fervent life of Mer
cury, from the nebula which slowly develops itself be
neath the eye of the Creator in accordance with laws and
powers similar to those of our earth, to the star which
having attained the highest material perfectibility, pro
ducing harmonious communities of beautiful human be
ings and animal life, all conditions, all changes and scenes,
all degrees of development and dissimilar associations of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 537
being, in nature and spirit, which the human life and hu
man imagination can conceive — and far, far more still —
for where is the human imagination that can extend to
the peopling of the starry firmament, to the conception of
all its forms? — all this is nevertheless, in reality, human
— is the world of man ; is our world. Every where the
same laws, the same governing reason ; therefore, every
where, in reality, the same soul, the same heart.
Oh my friend ! This human heart, which loves so
much, and which suffers so much ; this spirit, which an
ticipates and yearns after so much, which can attain to
so little, perfect so little ; this poor, combating, little, large,
enigmatic being — Man, is not, then, after all, so mean, so
isolated in mind, in existence! That truth which he here
acknowledges is truth in all worlds in the whole universe ;
that existence — -that inquiry— that life which he has here
begun may be developed in infinity, and attain its object;
and, released from earth, we may find new light, yes, the
Eternal light, with adoration, indeed, but without being
astonished by it— without being confounded by it ; be
cause1 he was at home in the region of light when here,
and Was acquainted with its nature long since.
The same light, the same shadows! Beloved stars,
kindred worlds ! in the same light, in the same Father's
house, how near, how. dear you become to me. For though
darkness and discord may prevail in you, as upon the
earth, yet I know that the Master lives, who will sepa
rate the darkness from the light, and dissolve the discord
into perfect harmony.
I saw one day, my dear friend, at your house, a quan-
tity of sand-grains strewn upon a glass plate arrange them
selves, under the influence of a musical note, into the most
exquisite, starlike, and symmetrically harmonious figure
A human hand made the stroke which produced the note.
But when the stroke is made by the hand of the Al
mighty, will not the note then produced bring into ex-
Z 2

538 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
quisitely harmonious form those sand-grains which are
human beings, communities, nations? It will arrange
the world in beauty and harmony, and there shall be no
discord, and no lamentation any more ; thus say the most
reasonable anticipations of all people, as you yourself
have told us with scientific certainty in your " Parity of
Reason throughout the Universe ;" and thus has He him
self told us in his revelation, as Eternal goodness. And
hence it is that I see, during life's changing phenomena,
amid every thing dark and chaotic, amid all stars and in
all stars, amid all tears — as well as in my own — every
where the harmonious figure, the eternal star, the child
of harmony, the future world of God, the kingdom of
man ; and hence it is that I weep and am joyful never
theless. You see, my estimable friend, what a pure, divine joy
your book has awoke within me. It has been your de
sire, your pleasure, to impart such joy ; and I can not de
scribe to you how my soul was enriched those mornings
when I sat by the sea-shore with your book in my hand,
and before me boundless space, as infinite as the views
which it presented to my glance ; or in the evenings,
when, in thought, with you I visited those brilliant worlds
above and around me, and, according to the doctrine of
the metamorphosis of things, I let my fancy freely sport
with the powers of matter and of mind, while a magnifi
cent spectacle of electric fire was displayed in the firma
ment above. Festal hours and moments !
Your book, which was sent to me by the Danish charge
d'affaires in Philadelphia, Mr. Bille, was all the more wel
come to me, as I had lately parted with that little work
on the " Parity of Reason," &c, which you gave me in
Copenhagen ; I had left it with Professor Henry, of Wash
ington, an amiable and distinguished scientific man, who,
on hearing of its subject and nature from me, wished to
translate it. I have often heard your name mentioned

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 539
with honor in the New World, together with those of Lin
naeus and Berzelius. Professor Henry was the first who
made your scientific works known in this country. And it
would delight you to know the rapidity and the skill with
which every discovery in natural philosophy is here con
verted and applied to the public advantage. Your discov
ery of electro-magnetic power, which led to the invention
of the electric telegraph, can not be made more use of any
where than in this country. Every where along the lines
of rail-road, from city to city, and from state to state, is car
ried the electric telegraph. Distant cities, persons living
in New York and New Orleans, converse with each other
by means of the electric wire, transact affairs of business
— even affairs of marriage, I have heard — and every day
are attempted new developments, new applications of
those powers, the relationship between which were made
known by you. The Americans seem to be particularly
attracted by motive powers — by any method of expediting
movement and accelerating communication. Any thmg
which can give life and action goes most rapidly " ahead,"
as the phrase is, that is to say, finds most favor with them.
In the Patent Office at Washington, where models are pre
served of every machine made in the United States, which
has been patented, and which amount, if I am not mis
taken, to twelve or fifteen thousand — I remarked that the
greater number of them were for the acceleration of speed,
and for the saving of time and labor. There were also
some for the perpetual movement, which — now stand still.
Even children seem to feel this passion for moving-ma
chines. I saw on one occasion a school of boys during
the time they were allowed to rest and to amuse them
selves by drawing on their slates. I walked between the
benches, that I might see the work of the bright-eyed chil
dren and the inspiration of the moment. I saw on most
of the slates smoking steam-engines or steam-boats, all in
movement. But this interest in locomotive machinery

540 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
has a profound connection with the movement of life it
self in this country. Innumerable rivers and streams
flow through this country in all directions, and give a
greater facility to the circulation of life than in most other
countries. Locomotives are here like pulses, which impel
the blood through the veins and arteries of the body to
every part of the system. Nothing is so invariably a char
acteristic of life here as its incessant change from place
to place. People, goods, thoughts, and things, are in a
perpetual state of movement and interchange between
state and state, between the North and the South, between
the East and the West; nothing stands still; nothing stag
nates, unless exceptionally. The impulse and the neces
sity to obtain possession of all the natural resources to this
country are, besides this, in full activity ; and there is, in
consequence, a great deal done, both by government and
by indiyiduals, to promote the extension of practical sci
ence. Geology and the physical sciences flourish ; the
different states send out scientific men to examine new
districts within the states, and institutions are estab
lished for the advancement of useful knowledge, espe
cially in natural history and mechanics. One such is the
Franklin Institute at Philadelphia, another the Smith
sonian Institute at Washington, the ornamental Gothic
building for which is now erected on the banks of the Po
tomac. This institution, endowed by a wealthy gentle
man of the name of Smith, is intended to form a central
national institution, where all the scientific laborers of the
United States may have a point of union. Professor Hen
ry, who is the secretary of the institution, was glad to have
an opportunity of sending you the first printed transac
tions of this very important institute, and I shall have the
pleasure of being the bearer of them to you.
Yes, how delightful it will be to me, on my return home,
to see you and good Mrs. Orsted and Matilda, and to tell
you by word of mouth what I have seen and experienced

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 541
here. I can now only passingly touch upon that great
theme, the life of the United States. I am like a gleaner,
wandering here and there over the fields, gathering up
ears and flowers to bind into sheaves and garlands, but in
order to do that I must have more than a handful ; and,
as yet, I have not more.
The commencement of my wanderings in this hemis
phere was in the northeastern states of the Union. I
found there earnestness and labor, restless onward-striving,
power both manual and spiritual; large educational es
tablishments, manufactories, asylums for the suffering,
and institutions for the restoration of fallen humanity,
were all admirable there, and, above all, the upward-pro
gressive movement of society. I saw, before the winter
set in, the glorious Hudson, with its magnificent scenery,
its shores covered with wood, which at that season pre
sented the most wonderful splendor and variety of color ;
I saw the rivers of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and
hills and valleys which often reminded me of Sweden, for
the scenery of Sweden and that of these two states resem-
ble each other greatly, inasmuch as they have the strong
characteristics of winter, snow and ice, and the dramatic
scenes which these afford both of suffering and pleasure.
After that I saw, in the South, the Palmetto States, Car
olina and Georgia, and here I was enchanted by a luxu
riance in the outward life of Nature, to which I had hith
erto been a stranger ! Would that I were able to de
scribe to you those red rivers, the shores of which are
covered with woods as yet untouched by human hand,
and where no human habitation is to be found ; woods
which seem to swim upon the water, and where a hund
red different kinds of trees were engarlanded by hundreds
of different beautiful flowering creepers — a chaotic vege
table life, but full of beauty, and the most wonderful
groupings, in which one discerns all those various archi
tectural forms which we admire in temples and churches

542 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
built by human hands. The primeval forest here presents
them in fantastic sport, inspired by its morning dream.
The morning dream of Nature ! Is not Nature human,
or, at least, full of the human element in the bad and the
good, the beautiful and hideous ? She must have human
dreams. The primeval forest exhibits on a colossal scale
porticoes and vaulted temples, pyramids, grottoes, sphinx
es, and dragons, flower-crowned columns, temples of joy,
triumphal arches, and profound, quiet tombs. The prime
val feast presents a dream of the world of man ; and with.
what a richness of detail, what a depth of poetry ! I
dreamed myself back as I beheld this sight to the third
day of creation, when, in obedience to the creative "Let
there be !" the earth opened her maternal bosom, and
brought forth the vegetable world in its morning pomp,
still prophetically warm from the dream of night. You,
my friend, who have so much of the poet in your soul,
will not be offended that I, in this case, see rather through
the eye of the biblical Genesis than through that of sci
ence. The former beholds in one moment that which the
latter beholds in a succession of periods ; yet they both
behold the same reality.
It was an especial delight to me to recognize among
the common productions of these woods many which I
had seen as rare species when I walked with you through
the botanic garden at Copenhagen ; of these I remember
particularly the tulip-tree, and the fan-palm or palmetto,
which is one of the most common indigenous trees of the
Southern States.
If life in -the Northern States is a grand epic, a poem
full of great teaching, then is that of the Southern States
a romance of infinitely-picturesque beauty — yes, even
though slavery and sandy deserts exist there. As belong
ing to the romantic life of these states must be mentioned
the negroes, with their enigmatical character, their songs
and religious festivals ; the cities full of orange-groves,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 543
and their many kinds of beautiful flowering trees ; their
piazzas, covered with honeysuckle and roses, which no,
winter destroys, amid which flutter sun-bright humming
birds, and which screen from the heat of the sun beauti
ful but pale women ; their fire-flies shining forth like
points of light in the night ; their pine- woods, where blos
soming azaleas stand like angels of light among the dark
trees, in which sing thrushes and the " hundred-tongued
birds ;" and for the rest, those peculiar vegetable growths
which are the natural productions of these states — cotton
(particularly in the beautiful islands along the coasts),
rice, and so on, the cultivation of these, as well as the
mixed population. But I must stop. It is presumption
to attempt a description of the life and peculiar charac
teristics of the states, when I know that every single
state in the Union is like a perfect realm, with almost all
the various circumstances and resources of a European
kingdom in fertile fields, metallic mountains, navigable
rivers, forests, and besides these many natural gifts and
beauties which as yet are unknown, and not turned to
account. Yes, it excites at the same time both joy and
despair, to know that there is on all hands so much that
is new, and so much which is yet unknown, and so much
which I never shall know. Fortunately, however, for this
country, it possesses, in its very subdivision and form of
government, a great and effective means of becoming ac
quainted with itself. Each separate state is like an in
dependent individual existence, and feels itself excited to
emulate its sister states (with which it sometimes wran
gles and quarrels, as sisters will sometimes do in their
younger years), and to become a full-grown human being
on its own account. And for this purpose all its powers
are called into action, and all its peculiar ways and means
are examined into. Hence it is that in this land of liberty
there is no limitation to experimental attempts. Every
thing, oven the very maddest of all, may be attempted,

544 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and proved whether there is any thing available in it or
not. Every thing, even the most absurd, is sure of hav
ing some adherents, and an opportunity afforded for trial;
and I have heard Americans say jestingly, that, if any
body catoe forth with the assertion that it was better to
walk upon the head than the feet, he would be quite sure
of pupils who would, in most good earnest,, make the at
tempt whether it were possible to walk on the head.
Other men would perhaps laugh at them, still would al
low them to make the trial, quite certain that if by ex
periment it was found that walking on the head were not
practicable, they would soon get on their legs again, and
in the mean time they would have gained something by
experience. And certain it is that several attempts, which
in the beginning have appeared as absurd as that of mak
ing use of the head instead of the feet, and which were
treated accordingly, have after a time succeeded, and been
crowned with the most fortunate results. One such at
tempt may be mentioned as that of exporting ice to the
tropical countries. The first person who tried this experi
ment, and who now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
was regarded for several years by certain people as a fool.
Now, however, the exportation of ice to hot countries forms
one of the principal sources of revenue to North America.
Great numbers of ships transport blocks of ice from the
mountains of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to the
cities of the Southern States, to the West Indian Islands,
to Mexico, &c.
Yes, North America, by means of the speculative dispo
sition of her people, by means of her political subdivision,
her institutions which afford free play to individual pecul
iarity and will, in evil as well as in good ; America is the
land of experiment, and its commencement in the field of
experimental humanity reveals a boundless prospect as to
what it may yet bring forth. One of its sons drew the
lightning from the clouds ; another created wings out of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 545
steam for all the people of the earth ; so that they might
fly round the world ; a third has, oh the happy man ! dis
covered the means of mitigating life's bitter enemy, bod
ily suffering, and of extending the wings of the angel of
sleep over the unfortunate one in the hour of his agony !
And all this has been done in the early morning of the
country's life, for in computing the age of a world's culti
vation which has a thousand years for its future, two centu
ries' existence is merely as the morning hour ; the day lies
before it as its future. What will not this people accom
plish during the day ? Of a verity, greater things than
these! That will I venture to predict from its eye; for
that eye is vigilant and bright ; it is early accustomed
keenly to observe the object which is, without asking
about that which was, and without being checked by the
warning cry of antiquity ; it has a watchful eye, undaunt
ed courage, and unwearied perseverance. And if this ob
servant eye, when the working days are over, and the Sab
bath recurs, were directed more exclusively upon spiritual
things, would it not even then make discoveries and intro
duce science and certainty into regions where now hu
manity is merely at home, by means of hope and faith.
I believe so, because the purpose of this people's gaze as
well as of their social arrangements, is, above every thing
else, to compass those ends which are of importance to the
whole of humanity ; I believe it, because the Germanic
element, the character of which is profoundly intellectual
and transcendental, is, in this country, mingled with the
Anglo-Norman, and from the union of these two races a
third national character may be expected, which shall com
bine the highest speculative thought with the clearest
practical intuition.
But I will not any longer occupy your time, and per
haps your patience, with my endeavor to show the harmo
nious figure in the star of the American Union. Regard
this, then, as an ear of corn plucked from a rich harvest

546 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
field. When I have completed my wanderings, when I
have returned to you, I shall bring more with me. By
that time I shall have visited the most northern states of
the Union, the land of the White Mountains and the In
dians, and that great West, "that great, wonderful West,"
as the people of the West call it; where, in the vast valley
of the Mississippi, there is said to be room for more than
two hundred and fifty millions of people to live comfort
ably ; where rich American corn grows in unexampled
luxuriance, and where one first begins fully to compre
hend the phenomenon of the United States progress, or, as
it is called, "growth." As regards this growth, this prog
ress, and in what it properly consists, I hope at some fu
ture time to converse with you.
When I may see you again — whether this autumn, or
not until next spring — I do not know. If my mother and
sister consent, I shall remain over the winter. The great
kindness and hospitality with which I am received makes
it easy for me to visit very distant states and places. This
is a blessing for which I can not be sufficiently grateful.
This hospitality, however, which would make my life a
perpetual festival, is too much for the powers of my mind
and body. The nation has a warm, youthful heart, and
that one must confess with pleasure and gratitude, even
if one is one's self too old or too stupid properly to receive
what they wish to give.
The - very reception, both outwardly and spiritually,
which they' give- you is a part of this youthfulness of life.
America is a hospitable land for strangers, not alone as
they may come outwardly in flesh and blood, but as re
gards thoughts and ideas. And this is shown by the ven
eration which is felt for many of the scientific names of
Europe. And I expect to see much seed of future devel
opment germinating here, in consequence of the increas
ing and more inward approximation of the American and
Scandinavian mind. You are here generally known, and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 547
are becoming more and more so every day. When H.
Martensen's theological writings are known here he will
produce an epoch in the religious knowledge of the New
World ; for the state of this presses onward to that har
monious figure in which every separate particle forms a
portion of the great universal harmony. And of this kind
is Martensen's Philosophical Theology.
I am at this moment greatly distressed by the intelli
gence of the war which has again broken out between
Denmark and Holstein. And we hoped for peace !
But that brave little people can not lose the victory.
There must be, I predict it, a good ending to the war;
and Denmark will arise therefrom stronger and greater
than before ! May it be so ; and when I again see you
and my Danish friends, may we drink a skael'to Den
mark's honorable peace !
I inclose in your letter a few lines to Andersen. His
"Fairy Tales" are universally read and loved in this coun
try, both by great and small, as they are with us.
Let me be retained in your remembrance, and regard
as your sincerely devoted and grateful friend,
Fredrika Bremer.

LETTER XXII.
Rose Cottage, Brooklyn, August 20th.
Delightful as it was, my dear little Agatha, to receive
your letter of the 12th of July, warm as it made my heart
to read of your tender regard for me, yet I was deeply
grieved to find you so weak and suffering ; and I feel
almost a reproach of conscience that I am not with you,
that I am not helping you by all means in ivy power, at
all events as regards the sick people in the country, be
cause that must be almost too much for you. Your own
indisposition must prevent your bearing that of others

548 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
calmly. I endeavor to console myself with the reflection
that you are now at Marstrand, away from the sorrows
and anxieties of the day, and that you are gaining new
strength by bathing, which is always so beneficial to you.
Ah ! if that sea-bathing could but be to you what those
seventeen or eighteen days at Cape May have been to me !
I have now only remaining of my former indisposition a
slight tendency to palpitation of the heart, and some de
gree of sleeplessness ; but my little homeopathic globules
never fail to relieve me in these respects.
As regards my remaining here for some months yet,
that has become almost an indispensable thing. I should
be unable to go so far, or to see that which I must see
before winter sets in. My journey to the West lies before
me yet unaccomplished. This could not be done properly
in less than ten or twelve weeks, and that would take me
far into November, and to return home from North Amer
ica without having seen the great West and its growing
life, would be to me like seeing the opera of "Gustavus
Wasa" played without the part of the hero. In the month
of December I might return home, but I acknowledge that
I am a little timid at the thoughts of that long sea- voyage
at that season of the year (although I would not say any
thing about it), yet even then I should leave unseen a great
deal which would be of infinite advantage to me to have
seen and to have become acquainted with, and which I
may never again have an opportunity of being within
reach of. In about four or five months on the other side
of December I should hope to have accomplished all which
I think I ought to do here, and then, my darling, I could
return and be with you at Marstrand, in Stockholm, at
Aersta, or wherever you might be, and then we could talk,
and think, apd read, and write, and, please God, enjoy life
together with our good, beloved mother, and do the best
we could with what was wrong if we could not make it
ail right. And as for me, do not be uneasy ; my little

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 549
traveling fairy goes with me on the journey, and, with
the help of God, helps me on all occasions ; and since
that good sea-bathing I feel again that I have courage to
encounter the giants of the West, and I think that the
very sight of them will cause my strength to become as
that of a giant, if I were but easy about you !
August 23d. Your letter from Marstrand ! Ah, thank
God for it ! It made me really happy ; for your former
letter had made me deeply anxious. Ah ! how glad I am
that you feel yourself improving again, and that you are
again able to enjoy life ; I bless that sea-bathing, and
thank God, and hope that all will be well with you for the
future. Next year we must all four labor for the estab
lishing of your health, I, you, sea-bathing, and homeopa
thy. And what a pleasure, and how amusing it was, to
hear you speak so charmingly and cheerfully of one thing
and another : about the entrance of the crown-princess
into Stockholm ; yes, how delightful it was that she was
so beautifully received, and that she is so good, and looks
so agreeable ! I wanted to hear something about her ; I
should have liked to have been among the people who
scattered flowers over her, and have joined my shout of
" Welcome !" to theirs.
And Jenny Lind is actually on her way to America !
A terrific welcome awaits her ; she will be lucky if she
escapes with life ! The fame of her beneficence, and her
fine disposition, still more than that of her powers as a
singer, have opened all hearts and all arms to her, and an
angel from heaven is not as perfect as people imagine
Jenny Lind to be, and would not be half so welcome.
Ihe Americans are born enthusiasts, and I would be the
last to reproach them with it. No human being, and no
nation either, can ever become any thing great, if they are
not possessed of that overflowing power which finds its
vent in enthusiasm. That critical disposition belongs to
old people, or to little people.

550 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The letter from home, which I waited for here before I de
cided further upon my journeyings, made me so unspeak
ably happy that I could not help hastening down to Re
becca, that I might talk to her about its beloved contents,
and we embraced each other in the joy that it afforded,
and because we could still remain together for a while.
I shall now accompany the S.'s to Coney Island, an isl
and in the neighborhood of New York, where there is a
bathing establishment, and of which I shall again avail
myself. After that they will accompany me a short dis
tance on my way to the West, up the Hudson, to the com
munity of the Shakers at New Lebanon, where the young
Lowells will meet me, and with them I shall go to Niag
ara. The S.'s are not able to go so far, although they would
have liked it much. I shall not see my friends, the Down
ings, this time, for which I am sorry ; but the last week
of my stay in this country shall be reserved for them.
In Rose Cottage, in that good and almost perfect home,
every thing is good, peaceful, affectionate, as is its wont.
Ripe fruits surround Rose Cottage — peaches, apricots,
plums, grapes. All Brooklyn, and even New York, is at
this moment like a fruiterer's shop, full of peaches and
apricots: and such peaches ! — the fruit of Hesperia. Every
little lad and lass in the Union can eat their full of them.
Eddy is happy with a whole swarm of little rabbits, and
baby stands with its golden locks in the garden, and re
joices when the butterflies come and seat themselves on
their thrones, that is to say, on the flowers. The sweet
little fellow is, however, still delicate, and the parents go
to the sea-side principally for his sake.
I have found Marcus and Rebecca, and many of my
friends, greatly distressed by the new law respecting fu
gitive slaves, which has annihilated all security for these
unfortunates in the United States. Already are slave-
catchers from the South in active operation, and thousands
of slaves have now left their homes in these Northern

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 551
States, and have fled to Canada, or across the sea to En
gland. Just lately an escaped slave was seized in Bos
ton, and carried back into slavery. The people were in a
great ferment, but they made no open opposition. The
law commanded it, and they obeyed ; but the bells of the
city tolled as for a funeral. How I sympathized with my
friends in this their country's great sorrow — that now there
should not be a single spot of earth within the Union
which can be said to be an asylum for freedom! They
are exasperated, not against the South, but against that
portion of the people of the North who, for the interests
of Mammon, or the cotton interest, as the phrase is, have
given up this noblest right. The South has fought for an
ancient, half- won right ; the North has no such excuse.
I understand and I know their willingness to sacrifice
much, and to suffer much, in order to alter these unfor
tunate circumstances, the result of slavery. But I can
not, in all cases, participate in their views of the question.
I am more hopeful than they. I have more faith in the
victory of the nobler South and the nobler North. In the
great combat between God and Mammon, this slave-law
is, indeed, a lost battle ; but all is not lost with it. I be
lieve, with Clay and Webster, that it is one step back
ward, wliich has been demanded by the necessity of the
moment, but only preparatory to a greater advance on the
path of freedom. But of all this I have spoken with you
in Washington.
Shortly after Clay left Congress for the sea-side, nearly
all the measures were carried which he had proposed in
his Compromise Bill (the Omnibus Bill)— the omnibus,
so to speak, was unhorsed and left empty, and the votes
were taken on each separate measure, independently of
the rest, and were carried with only some small altera
tions. That great statesman, had probably hit upon the
only possible means of reconciliation between the North
and the South. Some of the Southern States are, howev-

552 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
er, still dissatisfied ; and South Carolina, as well as Mis
sissippi, demand a secession from the Union, and Caroli
na, it is said, is seriously preparing for war ! But this is
foolish, and can only be injurious to the Palmetto State,
who will find no coadjutors ; and one among the many
signifies nothing, and can accomplish nothing.
Among the many subjects which here interest the pub
lic mind at the present moment is the ultimate confession
of the murderer, Professor Webster, and his execution.
But where throughout the United States has not his crim
inal history been the subject of conversation ? In Charles
ton and Savannah, as well as in Boston and New York,
the public has universally given the closest attention to
the trial — old gentlemen, young girls, all, in short, were
either for or against Professor Webster ; and a most charm
ing young girl of fifteen, in Savannah, had taken it into
her head that a Mr. Littlefield, Webster's principal accu
ser, was the murderer of Parkman, and not Webster ; and
she argued for her view of the subject both earnestly and
spiritedly. In the mean time, Webster, after innumera
ble lies and prevarications, confessed himself to be the
murderer — confessed, it is said, in the belief that he
should receive mercy, as he maintained that the murder
was done in self-defense. Many circumstances, however,
seemed to contradict this, and Webster throughout the
whole affair had shown himself to be such an uncon
scionable prevaricator, that this part of his confession ob
tained no credence, and he was condemned to execution
by the judge of Massachusetts. The Unitarian minister,
Mr. Peabody, prepared him for death, which he met with
resignation. His wife and children, who, to the very last,
believed him innocent, have behaved most admirably.
They work for their maintenance, and have declined the
pecuniary assistance which the, widow of. the murdered
man had most nobly offered to them. One of the daugh
ters is married, and resides in Madeira; another is en-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 553
gaged to be married, and it is said that the whole family
will leave America for Madeira. I rejoice that they are
able to leave the country.
Spite of this murder having been clearly proved, and
of the low tone of morality in Webster, yet is the feeling
in these Northern States so strongly opposed to capital
punishment, that it has expressed itself, even in this case,
by various protests. One family, residing in a house just
opposite the prison, within the inner court of which the
criminal suffered, removed during that time from their
house, and left a placard on the door with these words —
" Opposed to Capital Punishment." Coney Island, August 26th.
Again by the sea ! Again I inhale the fresh breezes
of the great sea in company with my excellent friends.
Marcus is well, and enjoys life here. Baby improves
every day. The place is solitary, and has a wild charm.
The moon shines magnificently over the sea, which roars
loudly, agitated by the wind. I walk on the shore in the
evening with Marcus, and in doors Rebecca tells me in the
clear moonlight occurrences in the history of the inner
light, which prove the wonderful life and guiding of that
inner light, where the soul truly waits for it with quiet,
introverted attention.
Small fires, in rows and circles, shine out on the sands
by the sea, or among the trees on the shore. There are
brushwood fires in which the " clams," a kind of large
mussel, are roasted for suppers on the sands. They are
delicate in flavor, and to my taste superior to oysters.
The weather is cool, and bathing refreshing. We all en
joy ourselves, are all happy.
Before I left Brooklyn, we heard, one Sunday, a sermon
from young Mr. Beechnr. He had lately expressed his
feelings very strongly on the subject of the Fugitive Slave
Law, in an evangelical newspaper of which he is a co-
Vol. I.— A a

554 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
editor. Several of his congregation had taken great of
fense at this, and Beecher now delivered from the pulpit
his confession of faith as regardetLthe duty of a minister
with reference to his congregation*' and his conscience. It
was in few but powerful words, as follows : " If the law
of God and my own conscience bid me to do one thing,
and you, the people of the congregation, say that I must
not obey it, but you, if I would remain quiet among you
— in that case, then, I must^—go ! And I will go, if I
can not remain quiet among you with a good conscience."
The chapel was full to; overflowing, the congregation as
profoundly serious as the. minister. It was reality, and
no make-believe, with them all. But there is no danger
that Beecher will have to go. Hfe^s too much esteemed
and beloved for them riof to'::eohcede to him, When they
know that he is in reality right, at least in intention, if
not always in manner, ¦ '.'.]
August 21th. I now, my beloved child,, am preparing
to set off to the great West, which stands before me in a
kind of mythological nebulosity, half mist, half splendor,
and about which I know nothing rightly, excepting that
it is great, great, great! How? Why? In what way,?
Whether it is peopled by gods or giants, giants of frost
and hobgoblins, or by all those old mythological gentry
together — I have yet to discover. That Thor and Loke
yet wrestle vigorously in that fairy-tale-like Utgaerd, is
however, what I quite anticipate, and that the goblins
are at home there also, that I know, because of certain
" spiritual rappings or knockings," as they are called, of
which I have heard and read some very queer things
since I have been in this country. These are a standing
subject in the newspapers at this time, and are treated
partly in jest and partly in earnest. But I shall certainly
find Iduna with the apple of the Hesperides in that Eden
of the setting sun. Do not the Alleghany Mountains and
Niagara stand as giant watchers at its entrance, to open

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 555
the portals of that new garden of Paradise, the latest home
of the human race ? Those glorious cherubim forbid not
the entrance ; they invite it, because they are great and
beautiful. The people of Europe pour in through the cities of the
eastern coast. Those are the portals of the outer court ;
but the West is the garden where the rivers carry along
with them gold, and where stands the tree of Life and of
Death. There the tongue of the serpent and the voice of
God are again heard by a new humanity.
That great enigmatical land of the West, with its giant
rivers, and giant falls, and giant lakes ; with its valley
of the Mississippi and its Rocky Mountains, and its land
of gold and the Pacific Ocean ; with its buffaloes and its
golden humming-birds; the land which nourishes states
as the children of men, and where cities grow great in a
human life ; where the watch-word of existence is growth,
progress ! this enigmatic, promised land, this land of the
future, I shall now behold !
I long for it as for the oracle which shall give a response
to many of my spirit's questions. My little basket is fill
ed with bananas and peaches, my traveling-fairy is with
me, and the last letter of my beloved. God bless my
precious sister, her sea-bathing and her friends, and for
her sake also, her sister and her friend, Fredrika.
P.S. — How fervently .with my whole heart do I thank
my beloved mamma for that permission, so kindly given,
for me to remain over the winter in America. Those
kind, dear words will accompany me on my pilgrimage
like my mother's blessing. And be not uneasy for me,
my sweet mamma. Human beings continue to be in
finitely kmd to my mother's daughter ; and I meet with
good friends and good homes every where. Excepting in
my own country I could not find better homes, nor expe
rience kinder care, than here. I can not describe how
thankful I am for this journey, and Jhe effect which it has

556 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
on me. May I only be able some time to develop its gar
nered treasure in my Swedish home, and with my be-

LETTER XXIII.
Albany, on the Hudson, Sept. 2d.
Here, my little heart, amid a regular deluge of rain,
which prevents me from seeing any thing of the capital
of the Empire State and its Senate House, I continue my
conversation with you, that is to say, in writing, for the
silent communion goes on all the same.
In my last letter from Brooklyn, I told you, I think,
how that my friends, the S.'s, would go with me as far as
the Shaker Community at New Lebanon. And on an
unspeakably fine day I again ascended that beautiful
Hudson, again saw its wild, romantic Highlands, its rich
populated shores ; saw the turrets of the Downings' house
glancing forth from amid its wooded grounds, cast toward
it a look of love, and — enjoyed the life with nature and
Marcus, Rebecca, and Eddy, as we progressed in that
magnificent, comfortable steam-boat. Toward evening
we reached the little city of Hudson, where we landed,
and then took the stage, which in about two hours' time
brought us to the Springs of New Lebanon, a celebrated
watering-place half an English mile from the Shaker
village, and Marcus and I walked in the beautiful even
ing to look at it. We saw some pale yellow, two-storied
wooden houses, built in good proportion, and with tiled
roofs, standing on green slopes, surrounded at some dis
tance by yet higher hills, all covered with wood. It was
a very lovely and romantically idyllian scene. The views
from the houses were extensive, and the glass panes in
the windows were large. Life at New Lebanon did not
look to me so gloomy or so contracted as I had imagined.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 557
We saw some of the Shaker brothers out in the fields
making hay, and others, again, reaping, as I supposed.
Yesterday, Sunday, we were present at divine service
in the Shaker church, together with many other stran
gers. The church is a large hall, which would easily
accommodate from two to three thousand persons ; it has
very large windows, but not the slightest ornament. It is
very lofty and light. I was, on entering it, astonished by
the sight of a number of corpse-like female figures, attired
almost like shrouded corpses, sitting on benches placed
along the wall, rigid and immovable as mummies ; they
were the Shaker women. The sight of them was really
sad, and would have been much more so had not there
been a certain refreshment in the very novelty of the scene.
Where all ladies are dressed according to the same mode,
any who may vary from it become interesting from that
very cause.
The Shaker sisters were, however, all dressed alike, in
white or gray striped petticoats, high-heeled shoes, white
handkerchiefs so pinned over the bosom as to conceal its
natural form, and, indeed, the style of the attire seemed
intended to make the whole body look like a tree-stem,
without any curved outlines. They wore on their heads
a little cap like that of the Quaker women, the plain
border of which sat close to the face. I observed that
these caps were very much blued, which still more in
creased the death-like hue of the countenance. The cos
tume, at least the head-gear, was not unlike that of the
peasant women and girls of our Stockholm district. From
the other side of the hall marched in the Shaker brothers,
all in knee-breeches, stockings, and high-heeled shoes, in
waistcoats and shirt-sleeves, and with uncovered heads, '
their hair cut straight across their foreheads, and hanging
down behind ; the whole costume very like that of the
Swedish peasant in his every-day dress. .
The congregation, consisting of about one hundred per-

55-8: HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
sons of each sex, sat upon benches which they carried for
ward, the men for themselves, the women for themselves,
but opposite to each other. Two Shaker sisters came
kindly and silently forward, carrying one bench after an
other to the spectators, who occupied the whole of one
long side of the hall, and considerably exceeded in num
ber the Shakers themselves.
-All at once the Shakers rose up quickly, the benches
were put out of the way ; brother and sister stood for a
moment opposite each other, after which an elderly man
came forward and spoke for awhile, but I could not hear
what he said. After that the congregation began to sing
and dance, tripping forward and backward each one by
himself, but in symmetrical lines and figures, to a meas
ure, the principle of which seemed to me to be :

Amid all variations of the air constantly recurred the figure
 jTI, almost always marked by very energetic stamping
of the heels, and during the whole the hands were moved
in time, somewhat as a child is lulled to sleep. All at
once the dancing and singing ceased. The congregation
stood immovable for a moment, and then another preacher
stepped forth, after which singing and dancing began
afresh. Thus it went on for an hour in an uninspired
and mechanical way, as it seemed to me. And these
pale women, all attired alike, tripping, and see-sawing up
and down, and swinging about with downcast eyes, and
without any sign of joy or natural life, appeared to me in
a high degree unnatural. They had gentle but unmean
ing countenances ; I did not see one among them which
was beautiful. The men looked better and more natural*
both body and soul, and danced with more life, although
the effect was often ludicrous. Again all was still in the

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 559
assembly, and all resumed their seats on the benches.
And now a Shaker brother of about forty stood up ; he
was a man with a narrow forehead, and deep-set, dark,
glimmering eyes, whose whole exterior indicated the dom
inance of one idea, fanatically held. He placed himself
before the spectators, and addressed them somewhat in
this style :
" You behold us here assembled in a room which we
have built by our own labor, in which we may worship
God according to the law of our own conscience. If you
are come here to see us, and you desire to feel esteem for
our community and our mode of worship, and to behave
in accordance with it, then you are welcome ; if not, then
you are not welcome here. But I hope the former. And
let us now talk one with another, and let us see What it is
which lies between you and us, what it is which separates
us. Let us understand one another."
He then proceeded to describe the Shaker Community
in opposition to the worldly community ; the former as re
nouncing the world and living only for heaven, the latter
as living merely for selfish enjoyment and earthly advant
age. We had, every one of us, a very severely condem
natory sermon from brother Evans (for such was the name
of the Shaker brother), on account of our sins and our frail-
ties, interrupted merely by such admonitions as, "Come,
let us consider the matter together! Answer me!" and
so on. It would have been extremely easy to have an
swered the good brother, and to have retorted a great many
of his accusations, and, in particular, his Shaker self-com
mendation, and I wondered that no voice was raised to
do so from the so-much censured audience. But they took
it all in good part, and were silent. After this chiding
sermon the dancing recommenced with new vigor ; a cir
cle was formed, which constituted the choir, and around
it moved in a dancing ring, which seemed continually to
extend itself (and evidently did so with method and art),

560 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the whole Shaker congregation, two and two, and finally
three and three in a line, amid an incessant measured
stamping and striking with the feet, and waving with the
hands, and singing to a livelier tune than hitherto :
Oh, how I love this living way,
Where peace doth spread its cheering ray,
And like the brilliant orb of day
The truth of heaven is shining ;
Where souls in union daily meet,
Their vows and offerings to repeat,
Pure love makes their communion sweet,
'Tis like the dew of Hermon.
The dancing and the movements became more and
more animated the longer they continued, although it
never exceeded a jog-trot measure, and I saw sweat-drops
stand on many a countenance. The eyes of the women,
however, still continued cast down, and their expression
inanimate. The men appeared more lively and their dan
cing, especially the action of the hands, which in their in
creasing zeal resembled that of a harp-player, seemed easy
and becoming, or, at all events, not unbecoming their cos
tume, and not at all unnatural. It was not difficult to
understand that this circular dance might be intended as
a symbolic representation of the path of life, and I have
since been told that it represented the progress of the soul
on its journey through life. The choir in the middle of
the hall sang during the whole time, making a fanning
movement with their hands.
I, for my part, do not see why dancing might not con
stitute divine worship as well as singing and other modes
of action, and why it might not be a natural expression
for certain phases of the religious life. When King Da
vid danced for joy before the ark, and played upon his harp
as he sang songs of praise unto the Lord, he followed a
true inspiration ; nor have I any thing against this dan
cing of the Shaker congregation, excepting that this is pre
cisely the inspiration which it lacks. It is now merely a

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 561
work of tradition, of custom, and calculation. A few
years since it was different, and then, as I have heard
from Miss Sedgwick, extraordinary phenomena were ex
hibited, as, for instance, people spinning round like the
Fakirs of the East, till they fell down from sheer fatigue,
or in convulsive ecstasies. Such exhibitions are of rare
occurrence now, or care is taken that they do not occur
in public. The element of practical economy, which, as
well as religious enthusiasm, distinguishes the Shaker
sect, seems latterly to have taken the lead.
This religious service concluded as silently as it had
begun. The brothers and sisters carried away their
benches in the same way that they had brought them
forward, and then left the hall, each by their own en
trance. I was determined, however, to know more of
this sect and of its intention. I sought out, therefore, two
leaders of the congregation, told them my wishes, and re
quested to see them again and to converse with them.
They kindly consented, and invited me at once to dine
with them and to remain over the next day. I could not
do that, as I expected my young friends, the Lowells;
but in the afternoon, after I and the S.'s had dined at
Lebanon Wells, we returned alone to the Shaker village.
A deep silence now prevailed there. All the congregation
were away, and those cheerful yellow houses lay solitary
upon their green, sunlit hills.
We were received by two of the sisters, who conducted
us into a room where two elderly men and two elderly
women, as well as a few young girls, were present. The
cheeks of the latter bloomed like roses beneath blue- white
linen caps, and I now saw that the Shaker community
did not send its handsomest members into the dance.
These elderly men and women were elders, as they are
here called, and superintendents of the family in which
we found ourselves. The community of New Lebanon
is divided into two families, the " North Family" and the
A a2

562 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" South Family." Each family has its separate house,
overseers, and household management. I propounded my
questions to the elders, but it was soon clear to me that
they could hardly answer them. One of the men was a
wealthy man, who had left his wife and his family to
unite himself to the Shakers, to whom he had given a
part of his property. Afterward one of his daughters fol
lowed his example, and she was one of the pretty young
girls now present. He was an elderly, strong-built man,
with a good exterior, and a countenance which indicated
feeling to be stronger than intellect. The other elder had
a noble, ascetic, and patriarchal appearance. Neither of
them had mueh to say. The women seemed gentle, but
of circumscribed minds. They had sought for, and had
found a haven amid the storms of life. More they did not
desire. But now brother Evans entered, with the narrow, high
forehead, the dark, fanatically- gleaming eyes, and with
him the conversation became animated. I was astonish
ed to find in that fanatical preacher a very intelligent,
and, upon the whole, a man of a liberal, although not of
a profound mind, who understood the foundation and the
vital intention of the sect, and could render a reason for
all. The conversation with him became really interest
ing to me, and we both grew very earnest.
Of the questions and replies that passed between us I
shall merely give the following :
Question. What is the meaning of your dancing ? Is
it symbolical, or is it for discipline?
Answer. Both one and the other. We dance because
we can not help it, because we can not otherwise give
expression to the feelings of our hearts. Our dance is so
arranged that it may represent to us our duty and our
faith, and thus become to us a vitalizing sermon both to
soul and body.
Question. You say you represent something quite new

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 563
in the world ; nevertheless, I must observe, that sects
which separated themselves from the world, forsaking all
its pleasures, in order to lead a holy life, may be found in
all ages. How do you distinguish your community from
those orders of monks and nuns which were formed im
mediately after the introduction of Christianity, and which
are yet to be met with in many countries ?
Answer. There is the greatest difference in the world.
These orders will that the human being shall attain per
fection by the separation of man and woman, whom -God
created for a spiritual oneness. We, on the contrary,
maintain that it is only through this spiritual union be
tween man and woman that the perfected human being
can be produced.
Question. The fundamental idea of your community
is, then, that of spiritual marriage?
Answer. We do not_callritjnarriage. We merely say
that men and women can not become good and perfected
human beings excepting by means of reciprocal spiritual
union and daily intercourse, conformably with the' inten
tion of God, whereby they aid each other in the attain
ment of a perfect life.
Question. But if all the world were to be of your way
of thinking, and all the world, that is to say, our world,
were to become a community such as yours, without mar
riage and without children, there would soon be an end
of the world — it would then die out.
Elder Evans bethought himself for a little while, and
then said, that if the world came to an end in a good way,
if it made a good and a holy end, then it might just as
well happen soon as late, for that we, every one of us,
looked toward our transformation, and hoped that it might
be for the better.
On this I too bethought me for, a while, and then found
nothing to reply, excepting that it seemed to me that the
brother was not so far wrong. I had indeed, and still

564 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
have, my suspicion that we human beings have a greater
work to perform on this earth than we should have time
for if we all of us devoted ourselves to the life and death
of the Shaker community ; but I would not now agitate
the ocean, in which neither brother Evans nor I could
very well swim, but would content myself with endeav
oring to acquire a better knowledge of the organization
of the life and institution of the Shaker sect.
Its object is the spiritual development of the human
being by means of a spiritual, holy, social life ; the main
springs of this are Christian and kindly intercourse in
spirit and action, of men and women, in prayer and in la
bor, for and with each other ; the subjection of worldly
pleasures and a physically ascetic life being the means
which are to remove all impediments from the former.
" Are you really very fond of one another here ?" I in
quired from one of the young girls.
" Oh yes, indeed, that we are !" replied she, and her
beautiful, large, dark blue eyes beamed with a confirma
tion of her words.
The feeling which seemed to exist between these young
girls and those elderly men, as I observed on two occasions,
seemed to me to be especially beautiful and affectionate,
such as that between good daughters and their fathers.
In the midst of our conversation young Lowell came
bounding up the stairs and into the room where I sat
with the Shaker company, and his handsome, fresh, and
animated countenance, beaming with life and cordiality,
shone like a May sun in upon that pale, although kind
assembly. He and Maria were just arrived, and we had
a cordial meeting in the midst of the Shaker sisters, who
smiled gently and watched us, not without sympathy.
They now invited us all to come and take supper with
them, but the Lowells were going to the Lebanon Wells,
because Maria required rest. The S.'s and I, therefore,
went down with our Shaker friends into a hall, where a

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 565
table was spread for us, with tea, milk, bread and butter,
cakes, and preserves, and of all a great abundance. We
were waited upon by the sisters ; two of the brothers sat
down to table with us, but without partaking of any thing.
Rebecca S. said to one of the sisters who waited upon us,
as she bent down to offer her something, "You look so
good that I must kiss you !" Many sisters came in to see
us. I observed some middle-aged women with remark
ably good and noble countenances. A calm and mild
gravity distinguished them all. They made me feel as
during a mild but dull September day in Sweden. The
air is then pure, the fields still green ; it is agreeable and
it is calm, but a certain air of melancholy rests upon the
landscape ; it is wanting in sun, flowers, and the song of
the birds ; nothing grows, all stands still, and if by chance
a bird utters a little twittering song, it is soon at an end.
That mild, calm September atmosphere suits me very
well nevertheless, and the Shaker sisters seemed to see
with satisfaction the evident interest which we felt for
them and their society. They were heartily kind and
agreeable, much mora so than I could have believed as I
saw them during the occurrences of the forenoon.
When we took leave of them, I said, " I salute you all
with a spiritual kiss, because, I presume, that you will
not allow any other."
" Oh, we are not so particular as that," said a young
girl, who, smiling and bending forward her pretty head,
kissed me, and with that came forward the rest, and we
had a hearty kissing all round, Rebecca, and I, and the
Shaker sisters, and as they laughed at this, I said to them,
" I fancied that you could not laugh." And that made
them all laugh again ; and one of the elder women said,
" Oh, I would not, for a great deal, be without my good
laugh!" They were regularly charming and delightful, a thou
sand times more so than some worldly and thoughtless

566 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ladies at the hotel at Lebanon Wells, who set themselves
very high above " the poor Shakers."
Their society left a very good impression upon me, and
I have heard from persons who have had intercourse with
the Shakers for many years a great deal of good respect
ing them, in particular of their mutual life of Christian
love, as well as of their kindness to the poor — their tender
care of such children as are intrusted to them, sometimes
those of poor people who do not belong to their society,
sometimes of the families of members, but who live with
out acknowledging more than the spiritual connection with
the society. The care which is taken, also, of the old and
the sick of the community is said to be. excellent. I heard
the same from my little lady-doctor in Boston, Miss H.,
who is the physician of two or three Shaker establish
ments. She also told me of many an unhappy human
life in the world which has found a peaceful asylum
among the Shakers, of miserably married people, of lone
ly women, of men who have been severely tried by afflic
tion, who have here found a haven from th« tempests of
the day, who have found friends, protection, the comforts
of life, and the peace of life which they never could have
found in the world. These societies are conventual asso
ciations in a milder form, and, upon the whole, as it ap
pears to me, the most rational institutions, and the best
adapted for their purpose of any of this class, in every
thing excepting the dancing, which might be made con
siderably more rational, and much more accordant with
its object.
The elder Richard Bushrell gave me, at parting, a book
containing the history of the origin and organization of the
Millennium Church, or United Society of Believers called
Shakers. I see by it that the sect originated in France,
where, during a religious revival in Dauphine, about the
close of the fifteenth century, a number of men and wom
en were attacked by religious ecstasies, both of soul and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 567
body, which they regarded as the operations of the Holy
Spirit, they being accompanied by visions and powerful
inward admonitions to a holy, God-dedicated, ascetic life.
Disquieted and persecuted in France, some of them fled to
England. Anne Lee, the daughter of a smith, who seems
from her earliest years to have had visions and inspira
tions like those which are related in the history of the
Swedish saint, St. Brigitta, became known to these pious
French exiles; though she could neither read nor write,
yet she soon distinguished herself by her biblical and other
sacred knowledge. After long spiritual sufferings which
had emaciated her body, she fell into a state of religious
ecstasy, by which both soul and body regained new life,
and during which she became the centre, the teacher and
leader, of that little flock of scattered believers who had
faith in the higher inspiration of this ecstatic condition.
Strong faith and natural genius enabled this woman, de
void of all ordinary education, to reduce to a system that
which had hitherto been merely isolated phenomena and
mere conjecture. Through her, and under her influence,
the doctrines took a definite form, as thus. That as the
World fell by the first Eve, so would it reinstate itself by
the second Eve. Christ's second appearance should be,
through the influence of the Holy Spirit, in this second
Eve, in the woman, who would lead to life in God that
race which she had formerly led to its fall from him. Per
fect chastity is the principal condition of this state, togeth
er with the devotion of the whole life to God during
labor for the brethren. The Shakers saw in Anne Lee
this second Eve, this new revelation of God upon earth.
They called her Mother Anne Lee, and guided themselves
by her inspirations. They danced to the service of God
as she ordained, and when their ecstatic excitement be
came vehement — as is always the case in the youthful
life of religious excitement — they were attacked by the
mob, and Mother Lee and many of her adherents were

568 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
thrown into prison ; but in vain. Again they met togeth
er to sing and to utter praise, and the song became the
dance, and the songs of praise lifted them in jumps and
bounds from the earth. Disquieted and threatened in
England, the Shakers, like all the other persecuted en
thusiasts of Europe, cast their eyes across the sea to the
New World. Mother Anne Lee became inspired to found
there the association of New Lebanon. Accordingly, in the
year 1774, Anne Lee, with a small company of her adher
ents, commenced their voyage ; and as they were swayed
by the motion of the sea, they sang and danced in their
ecstatic worship of God. The captain of the vessel, who
could not understand such an extraordinai-y mode of wor
ship, threatened them that, if they would not desist, he
would have them thrown overboard. A storm arose; a
plank was torn loose from the ship's side, and the water
poured in. The captain, now desperate against the Shak
er company, and regarding their ungodly proceedings as
the cause of this misfortune, was just about to execute
his threat, when Mother Anne Lee exclaimed, " Be of good
courage, captain, for not a hair of your head shall suffer :
I see two angels by the mast of your vessel !"
"And at that very moment," continues the narrative,
"came a wave and struck the plank again into the ship's
side, so that the water flowed in no longer, and the people
at the pumps could make head against it."
The storm also soon abated, and the captain from this
time left the Shakers at peace. They continued to sing
and dance. Singing praises and dancing upon the wild
waves of the sea, they arrived at the New World.
Mother Anne Lee and her disciples purchased land not
far from the banks of the Hudson, cultivated the wilder
ness, built a house, and founded there, in September of the
year 1776, their first evangelical community, under the
name of New Lebanon. Mother Anne Lee's wedded hus
band, poor man, whom she had married before the time of

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 569
her religious awakening and who in the beginning also be
longed to her believers, became unfaithful, separated him
self from her, and fell into drunkenness and other vices.
The Shaker establishment at New Lebanon, however, flour
ished and prospered under the guidance of Mother Anne
Lee, and gave birth to new Shaker communities in other
states, which Anne Lee visited, in order to diffuse there
her doctrines. She died in extreme old age, universally
esteemed and beloved.
Such of her expressions and teachings as are preserved
in the book show a God-fearing and gentle disposition —
not without some little arrogance in the belief that she
was another Christ, as well as of a very prudent, mana
ging, and practical turn of mind. In the mean time, she re
ferred all rules of labor and frugality to God, as the giver
of all good. "It is," said she, "through the blessing of
God that every article of food is given, and therefore we
must not be careless even of the smallest things."
Of her exterior it is said, " Mother Anne Lee was some
what below the middle height of woman; she was toler
ably stout, but upright and well formed, both in person
and in features. Her complexion was fair and clear ; her
eyes blue and penetrating ; the expression of her counte
nance mild and full of soul, but at the same time solemn
and grave. Many persons in the world called her beauti
ful, and in the eyes of her faithful children she seemed
to be possessed of a high degree of beauty and celestial
amiability, such as they had never before seen in any mor
tal being. And when she was under the influence of the
Holy Spirit, her countenance beamed with the glory of
God, and her form and her actions seemed divinely beau
tiful and angelic. The power and influence of her spirit
at such times surpassed all description ; no one then could
contradict her, or oppose the power through which she
spoke." At the present time there are in the United States eight-

570 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
een Shaker communities, scattered over several states,
from New Hampshire to Ohio and Indiana. The sect is
said, however, not to exceed four thousand members in
number. The society of New Lebanon consists of from
seven to eight hundred persons. Each community has
its separate two or three families, and among these its
Church family or "Ministry," of elected, spiritually-gifted
men and women, who conduct the spiritual affairs of the
society ; the temporal affairs are under the government of
deacons and elders elected for that purpose. All the va
rious communities stand in a certain subordinate relation
ship to that of New Lebanon, which is called the mother
community. All property is in common ; no one in the
community possesses any thing for himself. All division
of property is objected to. Any person who, on entering
the community, brings in with him property, may, after a
time, draw it out again if he wishes to leave the commu
nity. But if it is given to the community after calm re
flection and with full consciousness of the act, it can not
again be resumed. Most of the Shaker associations are
in good circumstances, and that at New Lebanon is said
to be wealthy, and to be still more extending its posses
sions. It is maintained by agriculture and the rearing of
cattle. Every thing which is made by the Shakers is sub
stantial, but has something odd and devoid of taste in
form and color. The Shakers live well and Work leisure
ly, because they have neither pleasures nor superfluity,
and they work equally, and they work all. The sect in
creases slowly ; you hear no scandalous stories told of these
communities. Yet will it now and then happen that a
young couple there, a brother and sister, will elope in or
der to unite themselves as man and wife, beyond the pale
of the society. Nobody pursues them ; they are merely
considered as lost.
On one occasion, I have heard that a new-born child
was laid at the door of a Shaker house. It caused a great

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 571
excitement when it was found there the next morning,
and all the Shakers, men and women, young and old,
went forth to see that wonderful little thing, a baby !
" The baby" became the object of curiosity and interest
to the whole Shaker community; and " the baby's" well-
being, its growth and progress, the subject of general con
versation and general attention. " The baby" was for a
long time the chief personage in the Shaker community.
And now you must, indeed, have had enough of the
Shakers. I wish, however, to see more of them and of
their commonwealth, and hope yet to have an opportu
nity of doing so. Mother Anne Lee, how many of Eve's
daughters, and sons too, are there who might very well
go to sohool — if not exactly into the dancing-school —
with thee !
I passed the evening at Lebanon Wells with my friends,
the S.'s and L.'s, and bathed also in its crystalline, sul
phur-impregnated bath. Finally, I contended with the
S.'s, because — we had the old story over again — I wished
to pay my share of the expenses both of the journey and
our stay at the hotel, to which they would not consent.
They have a thousand amiable ways and expressions by
which to silence me, and to compel me to let them defray
traveling expenses. They are of a thoroughly kind and
liberal nature, and the sense of their pleasure in giving
caused me, in the end, to be silent, but with tears in my
eyes ; and they carried their point without my being able
to thank them. But I know that they understand my
feelings. I can not describe to you how amiable they
are, how careful they are of me, and how kindly anxious !
And all is done in such a simple and natural manner as
though they were my brother and sister. I am sincerely
attached to them, and am happy in having become ac
quainted with such people.
They returned to New York, and I continued my jour
ney with the Lowells, part of the way by the Hudson,

572 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
and the rest by rail-way ; but it rained terrifically, and in
our transit from one mode of conveyance to the other, we,
as well as our carpet-bags, got wet through. Drenched,
and amid pouring rain which rushed in torrents through
the streets of Albany, we arrived at our hotel, where they
refused to receive us. The agricultural fair was to be
held in two days in the city, and every room was engaged
by people coming to the fair. On our promising, however,
merely to remain there for one night, they gave us accom
modation ; and how charming it was to be able to dry
ourselves before good fires, and to have warm and re
freshing tea !
I am now in the centre of the most powerful state of
North America, with its population equal to that of the
whole of Sweden, and much richer ; but Sweden has a
wealth which the Empire State can never obtain, let it
be as rich as it may ; and yet it is not nearly so powerful
as it might and certainly will become.
New York State has no old memories, no origin of an
interest equal to that of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and
Georgia. It was trade which first populated this country.
Its earliest founders proceeded thence from Holland ; and
jthe country was called by them New Netherlands, and
the peninsula upon which New York stands was then
called Manhatten, a grand Indian name, by which I could
wish that New York might be rebaptized. It was at the
expense of the Dutch Company that Hudson went to
America and discovered the glorious river which bears his
name, and the country around it he described as " Het
shoonste land det men met voeten betreden Icon." Even
to this day the state is full of the Dutch, who live in a clan
like manner, and will not avail themselves of schools or
other great institutions which have been established by
the present lawgiving and dominant people. The State
of New York does not appear to have contributed to the
spiritual treasury of great ideas in the New World. Nev-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 573
ertheless, the idea of a Federal republic seems to have been
carried over to New York from the general states of Hol
land. And now good-by, my sweet sister! I am tired and
sleepy. Niagara, Sept. 7th.
I now write to you with the rivers from this grand,
renowned New World's wonderful water-fall roaring and
murmuring around me. And it is grand, and worthy to
be renowned and wonderfully beautiful, and yet, at the
same time, so simple and comprehensible in its grandeur,
that one at once receives the impression both into soul
and sense, and retains it indelibly. It astonished me less
than I expected, but it has become more to me. It has
grown with me, and — but I shall talk to you about it
another time.
It is now evening, and dark without. And now, by
lamplight, with the music of the rivers' roar beneath my
window, nay, almost beneath my feet — for we have our
rooms in the hotel, " Cataract House," above the rapids,
which with the speed of lightning shoot foaming past on
their way to the great fall — now then will I have a little
chat with you and give you an account of the events of
the last few days.
I wrote last to you from Albany. The rain kept us
prisoners the whole afternoon and evening. The morning
rose gray and cloudy. I looked, like a turkey-hen, up to
the sky in fear of rain ; but when I saw the gray clouds
breaking, the blue peeping through them, I knew that
all was right, and the day became glorious, and the jour
ney was glorious through the beautiful, fertile Mohawk
Valley, along the river of that name, a lively, roaring lit
tle river, with bright red-tinged waters, which went speed
ing along through verdant and rich meadows. The clouds
had taken to themselves wings, and' flown far aloft into
that blue vault, and there vanished like the small wings

574 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of the cherubim, leaving the firmament brilliant in its
deep blue. The fields were brilliant with sunflowers,
partly wild and partly planted around the small farm
houses. I never saw such an abundance of them, nor of
such a size. Many of them had heads of flower, and
were as tall as young trees. At one place I saw a little
house quite surrounded by tall sunflowers as by a wood ;
they were higher than the house ; but that, certainly, was
not very tall for a house. On all hands the land appeared
well laid out and cultivated. The sun shone brilliantly
over that beautiful, rich landscape, and the landscape
shone brilliantly back again after the rain ; every thing
looked fresh and rejoicing. And we flew along that ex
cellent rail-road, reposing in excellent arm-chairs, flew
toward the West, that rich land of promise, the evening
land of the sun ! Thus sped we along through many in
fant cities, such as Syracuse, Rome, Oswego, Auburn,
Vienna, Amsterdam, Schenectady, Oneida, Seneca Falls,
Genoa, and so on ; all pretty, all increasing, all abound
ing in lovely houses and gardens, with many churches,
built in a decorative style, and town-houses lording it over
the cities, both in situation and character — all testifying
to good order and prosperity, and each one very much like
another, spite of the dissimilar character which is suggest
ed by their appellations. I, for my part, like this appro
priation of all the celebrated names of the Old World by
the New, because I perceive in it an unconscious prophecy
to the people of that higher metamorphosis which is to be
produced by this country and this people, through which
the life of the Old World shall again come forth anew,
but with a higher or more spiritual significance. In these
names from all lands and all peoples, I hear the predic
tion of that great popular assembly of all the nations of
the earth, which is to take place in this country.
We sped on, and passed many lakes with their romantic
shores, Cayuga, Seneca, Canandaigua, Oneida, and many

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 57^
others. The scenery was not of a grand character, but was
infinitely pleasing and fertile. The orchards, which sur
rounded the well-built country houses and farms,were brill
iant with their splendid apples and peaches. I had heard
it said that the journey through the western valley of New
York was interesting by the spectacle whieh it presented
of luxuriant and flourishing vegetable life. And it is so.
It is a rural festival from one end to the other. My young
friends, James and Maria, enjoyed it as much as I did.
And as the day declined, the sun descended to the west
ern horizon toward which we were directing our course,
and the lower it sunk the more glowing became its col
or, the more warm and the deeper at the same time, and
we sped on directly toward the sun. I gazed toward it as
one of the daughters of Peru might have done ; I gazed
toward it like the sunflowers on our way, and felt myself
inwardly to stand in kinship to it.
In the evening we arrived at Utica, where we were to
remain one night. And while Maria rested, and James
made arrangements for our next day's journey to Trenton
Falls, I went out on an exploratory journey into the little
city with the old republican name. "I will go and look
after Cato," thought I to myself; "perhaps he walks here
once more."
And that he does, although in the metamorphosis ; that
is to say, I saw upon the corners of two houses a printed
placard, upon which I read, "The tailoresses of the city
of Utica call a meeting at  , next Wednesday, to con
sider what means can be taken to remove the oppressions
under which we labor, and also how we can best obtain
our rights."
Stern- old advocate of the rights of the people, who
wouldst not live where thou sawest them destroyed by the
hands of Caesar ! old magnanimous Cato, who didst die
for republican freedom — thou art the victor, after all!
That which thou desiredst, that for which thou foughtest,

576 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
is here, in this new republic, a living reality two thousand
years afterward. I see and read it here ; even the lowest
of the people may stand up for their rights, may make
their speeches in the state's forum, equally with the most
powerful, and obtain justice. Old republican, thou hast
conquered ! and thy spirit lives here mightier than in that
ancient Rome. " The tailoresses of the city of Utica"
prove this in the city which bears the name of thy birth
place. Pity only that they had not drawn up their adver
tisement better ! But that is of less consequence, as its
purport is clear.
Thus I returned home, glad to have met the spirit of
Cato, and to have seen in Utica many pretty and tastefully-
built houses surrounded by plantations. The streets in
the lesser cities of America are a succession of small de
tached villas, with their grass plots, elegant iron palisad
ing, and fine trees in front of the houses. It is only in
those portions of the towns in which shops are to be found
that the houses are built close together, and rather with
an eye to the advantage of business than for beauty. Still,
a handsome appearance and good proportion are never lost
sight of, and every where prevail order and neatness.
"Do you live happily and contentedly here in this
city ?" inquired I from a young shopman, who looked
particularly agreeable.
"Oh yes, indeed!" replied he, frankly and cordially;
" we have good friends, good neighbors, and every thing
good ! We could not wish it better !"
An unusual state of happiness and contentment !
The next day we went with a carriage and horses — a
mode of traveling which is beginning to be uncommon
here — to Trenton, in order to see jhe waterfall, which is
cousin to Niagara in reputation. It is a wild and violent
fall, hurling itself through an immense chasm of rock di
rectly down a height of certainly a quarter of an English
mile. The water, which has the color of clear sherry,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 577
leaps from between the lofty, dark walls of rock, like a
Berserk, from ledge to ledge in the wildest tumult, gleam
ing in the sun, tumbling into abysses, leaping up over
masses of rock and trunks of trees, rending down and
overwhelming every thing in its career, flinging forth
cascades of spray right and left into the wood, which
stands as if dumb and trembling while the mighty giant-
hero passes by. It is magnificent ; but too violent, too
headlong. One is deafened by the thundering roar, and
almost blinded by the impetuosity with which the masses
of water are hurled forward. One becomes wearied by it,
as one does by any thing extravagant, let it be as grand
as it may ; one can not hear one's own thoughts, much
less those of others, even if they are shouted into one's
ear. One is out-talked, outdone, out-maddened by the
giant's Berserker madness. Alone in its clear and glow
ing color could I see the divine fire, and when standing
on a rocky terrace by the side of the fall, I took off my
bonnet, and let the spray rain over me, as it was flung
down from the water like a mist; I then felt that the
mighty One could be even gentle and refreshing.
The scenery at Trenton is wild and picturesquely beau
tiful, but circumscribed. It is of a Berserker character.
We spent the whole day at Trenton, in company with
the giant and the scenery around. The inn was a good
and comfortable one, as are nearly all the inns in this
country, and was situated in a romantic stretch of dale
scenery. We ate well and we slept well, and the next
day we returned to Utica, and thence pursued our way
still further West. The sun was still with us, and tho
country rich and fertile as before. During our rapid jour
ney, however, something took fire in the train, in conse
quence of the friction of wood and iron, and we were
obliged to wait that it might be extinguished. We took
it all very coolly, enjoyed ourselves sitting in our luxuri
ous arm-chairs, with the sense of something like adven-
Vol. I.— B B

578 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ture, and watched how expertly and with how much calm
ness they set about to avert the danger. The train had
stopped just beside a large and beautiful orchard, which
was separated from the rail-road by a rather low wooden
fence. I had just called Maria Lowell's attention to the
really paradisaic beauty and perfection of some young
apple-trees, the fruit of which was brilliant with tho most
vivid red and golden yellow color, when, to my astonish
ment — and I must confess to my grief also — I saw a num
ber of young men, passengers of the train, from twenty to
thirty years of age, well dressed and well lookingwn all
respects, leap over the fence into the orchard, and in the
most merciless manner fall upon and despoil those beau
tiful fruit trees. Precisely those young, beautiful trees
which I had remarked became the prey of this robber-
greed, were dragged down, their branches broken, plucked
off amid the laughter and talk of the company, and then
came many others from the train and leaped over the fence
and into the orchard. But now a voice was heard in the
distance, and that voice must have sounded to those apple-
covetous sons of Adam something like the voice of the
Lord when it was heard in the Garden of Eden by the
first Adam after that first eating of the forbidden fruit,
although not perhaps quite so awfully. Certain, however,
it is, that they took to their heels, and threw over the fence,
on to the road, all the apples they could snatch from the
tree, and sprang laughing, and still throwing apples before
them, over the fence and into the carriages, leaving the
owner of the orchard to contemplate his despoiled and
injured trees, I confess that this apple-scene and the
spirit in which it was done very much astonished me.
" Is it possible," said I to James Lowell, " that gentle
men can act in this manner ?"
He shook his head silently; "And yet," said I, "these
young men looked like gentlemen. Many of them were
handsome besides being well dressed."

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD 579
I had many times heard of garden robberies of fruit
and flowers by young fellows in the neighborhood of
great cities, especially around Philadelphia, and I had
even asked my friends how this might be prevented.
They confessed that it was so, but excused it by saying
that fruit was so plentiful and so cheap in this country,
that nobody considered the taking of it as any thing very
important. And yet these young men, on this occasion,
had ran away at the sound of the proprietor's voice, like
any ordinary fruit thieves. The only difference between
the fruit thieves of Europe and those of the New World
seemed to be that the latter were not ashamed. Steal
ing fruit and destroying trees, as well as fleeing away
from the owner of the orchard, all were equally signs of
a low state of feeling.
About noon we arrived at Rochester, one of those great
arteries through which the trade and traffic of the West
flows into the Eastern States, and from these into the
West. The city is situated between Lake Ontario and
the River Genesee, the many falls of which turn its cele
brated flour-mills. By means of the great lakes Roches
ter has communication with all the states which are situ
ated round them, as well as with Canada; and by means
of the Genesee and Hudson, the Erie Canal, and innumer
able rail-roads, it is connected with the Eastern States.
Rochester is one of the children of the Great West in re
spect to growth. It was founded in 1812 by Nathaniel
Rochester, and some other emigrants from Maryland, and
in the year 1820 it contained 1500 inhabitants ; now, in
the year 1850, it contains 40,000. That may well be
called progress. Its staple trade is the grinding of flour :
its mills are said to grind daily five thousand barrels of
flour, which is said to be of a magnificent quality.
We were received at Rochester by some friends of the
Lowells, kind and agreeable people, who drove us in their
carriage to see the lions of the place. First, we went to

580 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the factories, which are situated upon the high banks of
the Genesee River. The water which turns these wheels
of labor is brought from the higher part of the river, and
again flows into it from the mills after it has perfectly ac
complished its labor. It rushes merrily along, in foaming
cascades over the flat rocks, like wild school-boys who,
now that school is over, bound forth full of the joy of life
into the open air; but if they had not done their work
they could not have played. The opposite banks, equally
lofty with that upon which the mills stood, were laid out
in pleasure-grounds by some Germans, as we were told ;
there were swings, a shooting ground, and other means
of amusement, and as a festival for eye and mind, a land
scape of prairie-like extent and character. On the ver
dant, open meadows, which were undivided by fences,
grazed peaceful flocks and herds. The descending sun
shone brilliantly over that cheerful scene. How good was
the thought, or how fortunate was the accident, which
introduced pleasure in the midst of labor, and furnished
for both this glorious open space. Maria Lowell and I
walked by the river side for an hour alone, she as much
affected as I was by the peculiar beauty and significant
life of the place, and I listening with delight to her intel
ligent remarks on the honor of labor, and the happiness
which is attendant upon it. Further down we came to
yet wilder falls, too wild and too beautiful to turn mills.
They were neither very large nor powerful, but of great
picturesque beauty, and leafy trees and shrubs grow
around them. Thus we proceeded till we came to a flour-
mill, which I saw from top to bottom, and shook hands
with the men of the mill, and became very dusty with-
flour. The streets of Rochester were animated with buyers
and sellers — with those who were driving, and those who
were walking; and, amid the crowd of the European race,
Indians might be seen in their white blankets, and with,

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 581
their uncovered, long, black, shaggy hair, passing in and
out of the shops.
The following day I made acquaintance with the so-
called " Rochester knockings," or that species of witch
craft which has so long revealed itself here and there in
the West — the goblin of the West, as I call it — and which
has now for some time been heard in Rochester, or
wherever the young women of the name of Fish may
chance to be. It is given out that these knockings are
the operation of spirits who attend these sisters, and who
are in communication with them. A number of persons
in the city had visited the sisters, heard the knockings,
seen tables walk off by themselves over the floor, and
many other wonderful things performed by these spirits.
Some believed in them, but the greater number did not,
considering the young women to be cunning impostors,
who themselves produced these noises and strange occur
rences. As these sisters, the Misses Fish, received payment for
letting the public see and hear them, it appears all the
more probable that this may be the case. Nevertheless,
they had themselves solicited investigation, had consented
to be bound hand and foot in the presence of a committee,
consisting of some of the most respectable people of the
city ; and during the whole time the noises and knock
ings were heard around them, and the committee publish
ed in the newspaper a declaration, signed by their names,
stating that nothing had been discovered which gave rea
son to suspect these young women of imposture. Since
then, they have been left at peace ; but the better class
of townspeople seem to regard it as a proof of bad taste
and want of judgment to visit these ghostly ladies. I
have from my earliest youth heard so much about spec
tral affairs, and have myself heard such things as I can
not explain by the ordinary, well-known powers of nature
— and I had so frequently, during my travels in America,

gg2 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
heard and read in the newspapers of " The Western Knock
ings and Rappings," that I was very curious to hear them
with my own ears. The young Lowells partook of my
curiosity, and our friends in Rochester conducted us,
therefore, to the place where, for the present, they were
to be heard. The first glance, however, of the two sisters
convinced me that, whatever spirits they might be in
communication with, they were not of a spiritually re
spectable class. Very different must be the appearance
of such persons as have communion with the higher spir
itual beings. For the rest, I came to the conclusion, from
what occurred during this visit, and which in certain re
spects was extraordinary enough, that the spirits did not
understand Swedish, for they ought not in any case to
have permitted themselves to be defied and threatened in
Swedish as they were by me ; that these wonderful
knockings and tricks were either effected by these young
sisters themselves — and they looked to me quite capable
of it, however incomprehensible it might seem that they
could manage to perform some of the tricks — or that they
were the work of spirits of a similar disposition to these
sisters,- and in rapport with them. I may call these spir
its the little Barnums of the spiritual world, who, like the
great Barnum of America, amuse themselves with lead
ing by the nose any persons who will be so led, and who
receive their pranks in serious earnest. I do not doubt
but that the spiritual world has its " humbugs," even as
our world has, and it does not seem to me extraordinary
that they endeavor to make fools of us. I am, however,
surprised that intelligent people can be willing to seek
for intercourse with their beloved departed through the
medium of these knocking spirits, as is often the case.
The sorrow of my heart and doubt of my mind might do
a great deal ; but it seems to me that rather would I nev
er hear upon earth any tidings of my beloved dead than
hear them through these miserable knockings. The in-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 583
tercourse of spirits, angelic communion, is of a higher and
holier kind.
From this scene, which produced a disquieting uncom
fortable impression (the young Lowells were extremely
angry with it), we drove to call on Frederick Douglas, a
fugitive slave from Maryland, who has become celebrated
by his natural genius, his talent as a public speaker, and
the eloquence with which he pleads the cause of his black
brethren. He is the editor of a paper called the " North
Star,"* which is published at Rochester : he was now here,
but confided to the house by bronchitis, which prevented
his calling on me.
I had great interest in him, principally from his auto
biography, which I had read, and which bears evidence
of a strong and profoundly sensitive spirit, as well as of
truth. And this is not always the case with some other
autobiographies of fugitive slaves, which are a mixture
of truth and fiction, and greatly overdrawn.
There is one part of this narrative which deeply affected
me by its beauty, and I will translate it for you. It will
give you some idea of the man and his condition as a
slave, during the severest period of his slave-life. He
was then a youth of seventeen.
" I was somewhat intractable when I came first to Mr.
Covey. But a few months of this discipline quite sub
dued me. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me in. I
was broken both body, soul, and spirit. My natural elas
ticity of mind was crushed ; my intelligence was dulled ;
the desire to read died within me ; the cheerful spaTkle
of my eye was gone ; the dark night of slavery lay heavy
upon me, and — behold a human being changed into a
mere chattel !
" Sunday was my only free time. I spent it in a sort
of animal stupidity, between sleeping and waking, under
a large tree. Sometimes I rose up ; a flash of energetic
* Now called " Frederick Douglas's Paper."

584 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
life — the life of freedom, passed through my soul, accom
panied by a gleam of hope, which lit it up for a moment,
and then again vanished. And again I sank down, sor
rowing over my condition. Sometimes I was tempted to
put an end to my life and to Covey's at the same time,
but I was withheld by a feeling both of hope and fear.
" Our house stood merely a few steps from Chesapeake
Bay, upon whose broad bosom always shone white sails
from all the countries of the habitable world. These beau
tiful vessels, in their shining white garments, so enchant
ing to the eye of the freeman, seemed to me like shrouded
spectres, who came to terrify and torment me with the
thought of my wretched state.
" Often, in the profound silence of a summer Sunday,
have I stood alone upon the lofty shores of this magnifi
cent bay, and with a heavy heart and tearful eyes follow
ed the innumerable crowd of sail floating out toward the
great ocean. The sight of these affected me powerfully.
My thoughts sought for expression, and there, in the ear
of the one Almighty Auditor, did my soul pour forth her
lament, though in a rude and untaught manner, as if ad
dressing the sailing ships : ' You are released from' your
bonds, and are free. I am enchained by my fetters, and
am a slave ! You speed on joyfully before the wind. I am
driven on painfully by the bloody whip. You are the swift-
winged angels of freedom, who fly around the world. I am
fettered by an iron chain. Oh that I were but free ! Oh
that I were but standing on one of your stately decks, be
neath the shadow of your protecting wings. Ah ! between
you and me rolls the pitiless sea ! Go ! go ! Oh that I
also could go ! If I could only swim. If I could but fly !
Oh why was I born a man to become a chattel! That
glad ship is gone ; it is losing itself in the dim distance.
I am left in the burning hell of endless slavery. Oh God,
save me ! God release me ! Let me become free ! Is
there a God ? Why am I a slave ? I will fly. I will not

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 585
endure it! Free or in bondage — I will attempt it — I
have only one life to lose. I may as well die running as
standing. Only think — one hundred miles directly north,
and I am free. Attempt it ! Yes ! so help me God ! I will
do it. It can not be intended that I should die a slave.
I will trust myself to the sea. This very creek shall bear
me to liberty ! A better day is in the future !' "
And he became free, although several years later.
Thank God, he succeeded in saving himself, in becoming
free ! His autobiography is one of the most interesting
books which any one can read. Douglas has entirely main
tained himself for some years as a literary man, always
working for his great object — the emancipation of the
slaves and the improvement of the free colored people.
I found him to be a light mulatto of about thirty, with
an unusually handsome exterior, such as I imagine should
belong to an Arab chief. Those beautiful eyes were full
of a dark fire. He suffered much from that affection of
the throat, and could speak only with difficulty. Some
bitter words were vehemently expressed against the cus
tom prevalent under the system of slavery, of robbing the
laborer of the wages which he earns. The case is this ;
slaves are hired out by their owners to work for certain
wages, perhaps for a dollar a day, or seven or nine dollars
a week, and this wage they must, at the end of the week
or the month, whichever it may be, take to their masters.
Many slaveholders maintain themselves by money thus
acquired by their slaves. On the other side, the master
generally provides clothes for the slaves, and is bound to
take care of them in sickness and old age. Many slaves,
however, earn so much by their labor that they could very
wetl do more than maintain themselves, if they might but
have that which they earn.
The wife of Douglas is very dark, stout and plain, but
with a good expression ; his little daughter, Rosetta, takes
after her mother. The governess is a white lady, who
Bb2

586 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
lives in the family. I can not but admire that force of
character which enables her to bear those trials which, in
such circumstances, she must have to bear from the prej
udiced white people ; and they are legion even in the Free
States. But possibly has that former slave, now the apos
tle-militant of freedom, that greatness of character which
makes such a sacrifice easy to an ardent soul. I saw too
little of him, and under circumstances too unpropitious for
me to obtain a clear impression. And if, in his case, bit
terness of spirit were more conspicuous than magnanim
ity, who can wonder ?
I must now say a few words about some knockings in
Rochester, which entertained me more than the so-called
spiritual ; these I heard in the telegraph office of the city.
I wished to know whether the former American minister
in Stockholm, Mr. Lay, who now lived in Batavia, a little
city in western New York, was at home, in which Case I
wished to pay a visit to him and his wife on my way back
to Niagara. Mr. Lay, who is still in a very suffering state
after an apoplectic attack, had, immediately on my arrival
in America, written to me very kindly, and sent a confi
dential person to take me to his house ; but as I was then
with the Downings, I was not able to avail myself of his
kindness. Now, however, I was come into the neighbor
hood of the Lays, and should be glad to see these amiable
people, my former friends in Sweden, if it were merely to
thank them. I wished, therefore, to send a message and
make inquiries at Batavia, about sixty miles distant from
Rochester. I was taken to the telegraph office, a handsome, well-
lighted room in a large, covered arcade, in which were
ornamental shops like those arched bazaar-arcades in Paris
and London. I gave my message to one of the gentleman
officials. He immediately caused some mystical knock
ings to take place, by means of which my message was
sent to Batavia. In a few seconds it knocked again. This

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 587
was the answer from Batavia, which said, " There is no
person here of that name." I requested it to knock back
again, "Yes, there certainly is. Mr. George W. Lay was
two years ago American envoy in Sweden, and now lives
in Batavia." In a few seconds more it was knocked back
from Batavia, " Wait a little ; we will inquire." I waited
now about five minutes, when again it knocked from Bata
via, and said, " Quite right. Mr. George Lay lives here,
but is at the present time with his wife in New York.
Miss Bremer will be gladly welcomed by such "of the
family as are now at home."
As my friends saw how much I was entertained by this
telegraphic conversation, a gentleman seated himself at a
small harpsichord, and played for a few seconds silently
upon its keys. He told me that he now sent to a city a
hundred miles off the intelligence, "Miss Bremer is in the
office." The next moment I saw, upon a sort of music-
desk, a strip of paper- unroll itself, upon which an invisible
hand had impressed these words in printed letters : " The
operator at Buffalo sends his compliments to Miss Bremer,
and hopes she is pleased with the experiment." Miss
Bremer replied through the harpsichord keys that she
was greatly pleased.
But I was now obliged to hasten to Ontario, where we
were next evening to take the steam-boat. Those amiable
friends who had made our visit in Rochester so agreeable,
accompanied us to the shore, after having presented us
with a great number of flowers and the most beautiful
fruits, really Hesperian in beauty and excellence. Roch
ester, with its varied scenes of mills and knockings of life
and lies, its good people and beautiful fruit, left upon us
an impression of vigorous life.
In a calm, dark night, with stars glimmering between
the clouds above us, we sped along Lake Ontario in a
splendid steam-boat, and in the dawn ascended the River
Niagara, a little, but romantically lovely daughter of the

588 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
great fall ; and just as the sun rose we stepped on land
and into a carriage to proceed thither. It was a glorious
morning, somewhat cool, but bright and cheerful. Two
hours later we were at the place ; heard the mighty, thun
dering voice of the monster long before we saw it, and as
there were now but few visitors at this advanced season,
we had the best room we could desire in " Cataract House,"
and then hastened out to see — the object.
It makes a grand and joyful impression, but has noth
ing in it which astonishes or strikes the beholder. As
you go toward the great fall, which is on the Canada
side, you see a broad mass of water which falls perpen
dicularly from a plane in a horseshoe or crescent form.
One might say that the water comes from an open em
brace. The water calm and clear, and of the most beau
tiful smaragdus-green color, arches itself over the preci
pice that breaks it, and it is then that the fury and wild
power of the fall first breaks forth, but even here rather
majestically than furiously. Trenton is a young hero,
drunken with youthful life and old sherry, which, in blind
audacity, rushes forth on its career, violent and terrible.
Niagara is a goddess, calm and majestic even in the ex
ercise of her highest power. She is mighty, but not vio
lent. She is calm, and leaves the spectators so. She has
grand, quiet thoughts, and calls forth such in those who
are able to understand her. She does not strike with as
tonishment, but she commands and fascinates by her
clear, sublime beauty. One sits by her knee, and still
can hear one's own thoughts and the words of others, yes,
even the falling water-drops from the green trees which
her waters have besprinkled. She is too great to wish to
silence, to wish to rule, excepting by her spiritual power.
She is — ah, she is what human beings are not, and which,
if they were, would make them godlike.
But those many thousand people who come hither
every year^it is said that the place is visited by 60,000

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 589
persons annually — must they not grow a little greater
and better by seeing this greatness, and reflecting them
selves in it ? I rejoice that so many people see Niagara in
the year.
From the unknown fountains of the St. Lawrence, and
from the four great inland lakes — Superior, Michigan,
Huron, and Erie, which together are said to hold a fourth
part of all the fresh water on the earth — flow the waters
of the Niagara Fall. The river on its way from Lake
Erie encounters, near the fall, an island called Iris, or
Goat Island, which divides it into two branches ; by the
one is formed the Canada fall ; by the other, which hurries
broad and thundering past our windows, is formed the
American fall. Between them are somewhat above twen
ty feet of flat rock, overgrown with brush- wood. The fall
on the Canada side is the richest and the most beautiful.
Its breadth is 1500 feet, its height 154 feet. The fall on
the New York side is 600 feet wide and 167 feet high.
The Canada fall, -with its beautiful half circle, lies just
in the middle of the stream. A lofty pyramid of spray-
mist ascends from the foaming abyss at its feet, and rises
toward heaven high above the level of the fall, like the
spirit of Niagara, whose cloudy, brow moves itself hither
and thither in the wind. The stream from the Canada
fall soon joins that of the American side. United they
form below what is called the "whirlpool." The stream
there makes a bend and the agitated water is swung
round. After that it flows on more calmly as the Niagara
River or Sound, twenty-five miles, pours itself through
Lake Ontario into the magnificent St. Lawrence — the
river of a thousand islands — and by it into the Atlantic
Ocean. Trollhatten, in Sweden, has neither the mass of
waters of Niagara nor its majesty, but it has more history,
more romantic life. Niagara is a grand scene, a sublime
action. Trollhatten is a, series of scenes and actions. Ni
agara is a hymn. Trollhatten is a Vala-song.

590 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
That which most surprised me in Niagara, because I
had not expected it, and that which charmed me every
day, was, besides the smaragdus-green color of the water,
the play of the rainbows over and around the fall, accord
ing as the sunbeams fell, or as the wind bore the water-
spirit's movable pyramid. This formed a succession of
brilliant scenes, continually varying and enchantingly
beautiful. There is a something about it which charms
and depresses me at the same time, because there is a
something in it which I wish to understand better. I
feel that Niagara has more to say to me than it has
yet said, or more than I have yet comprehended ; and
nothing can perfectly delight me until it has told me
its innermost thought. Even when young, dancing gave
me no pleasure, until I understood the meaning of dan
cing ; before then it had been to me an irrational hopping
about. We have been here for three days, and shall remain yet
two 01 three days longer. In the mornings I see the fall
from the American shore, that is to say, from the New
York side, when the sun, in its ascent, throws hundreds
of beautiful bridges over the cloud of spray ; in the after
noon and evening it ought to be contemplated from the
Canadian shore, when the sun descends on the British
side. In the forenoon I bathe in the stream, in the so-
called " Mammoth" stream-bath, where the river rushes
with such impetuosity into the bath-house that one can
with difficulty stand against it. It is very refreshing. In
the afternoon, directly after dinner, I sit with my young
friends in the piazza outside our room, and see the stream
rushing by, and listen to its music. I often stand for a
long time upon some one of the little bridges over the
stream, merely to inhale the fragrance of the water ; for
the water here has the most delightful freshness, that I
can compare to nothing with which I am acquainted.
But it feels like the spirit of a delicious, immortal youth-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 691
Yes, here it seems to me as if one might become young
again in body and in soul.
My young friends, however, do not enjoy the life here
as fully as I do. James is not very lively, and Maria,
who expects shortly to become a mother, dreams at night
that she sees little Mabel playing with her departed sis
ters, Blanche and Rose; and a telegraphic message, re
garding her health, which was expected yesterday, but
which did not arrive, has added to the uneasiness of the
affectionate parents on account of their only child, and
drawn away their regards from the great Niagara.
September. My friends are in better heart. Yesterday
came the telegraphic intelligence, " Mabel is well." And
after that a long letter from the amiable old father, Dr.
Lowell, full of anecdotes of home, and the warm, affec
tionate home-life. Yes, that is more than Niagara. But
Niagara is now my best beloved.
Last evening, James and I — Maria had a cold, and
could not venture out in the night air — went across to
the Canadian side, and walked backward and forward as
the sun descended. At every new bend or movement of
that misty water-spirit it presented new forms of light.
Still were the rainbows arched, like the airy bridge of
Bifrost, in the old Scandinavian mythology, the one over
the other; still glowed the light like kisses of fire, brill
iant with prismatic colors, upon the green waters in the
abyss ; it was an unceasing festival of light, perpetually
changing and astonishingly beautiful. What life, what
variations between earth and heaven ! And as the sun
sank, those splendid bridges arched themselves higher and
higher aloft in the ascending mist. The pyramidal light
red cloud floated in the pale blue heaven above the green
Niagara, and around it ; on the lofty shores stood the for
est in its brilliant autumnal pomp, such as is only seen
in the forests of America, and all was silent and still ex
cepting the thunder of the waterfall, to the voice of which
all things seemed to be listening.

592 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
September 9th. In the morning of time, before man
was yet created, Nature was alone with her Creator.
The warmth of His love, the light of His eye awoke her
to the consciousness of life ; her heart throbbed with love
for Him of whose life of love she had partaken, and she
longed to present Him with an offering, to pour out her
feeling, her life, for Him who gave it. She was young
and warm, with the fullness of primeval life ; but she felt,
nevertheless, her weakness in comparison with His power.
What could she give to Him from whom she received
every thing ? Her heart swelled with love and pain, with
infinite longing, with the fullness of infinite life, swelled
and swelled till it overflowed in — Niagara. And the spirit
of thanksgiving arose as the smoke of an eternal sacrifice
from the depth of the water toward heaven. The Lord
of heaven saw it, and His spirit embraced the spirit of
Nature with rainbows of light, with kisses of brilliant fire
in an eternal betrothal.
Thus was it in the morning of the earth's life. Thus
we behold it to this day. Still, we behold to-day the spirit
of nature ascend from Niagara toward heaven with the
offering of its life, as an unspoken yearning and song of
praise ; and still, to-day it is embraced by the light and
the flames of heaven, as by divine love.
Niagara is the betrothal of earth's life
With the heavenly life.
That has Niagara told me to-day.
And now can I leave Niagara. She has
Told me her word of primeval being.
September 10th, in the morning. To-day we shall pro
ceed on our journey. I am satisfied that it should be so,
for I have a little headache, and the unceasing thunder of
the fall, the continual restless rushing of the torrent past
my window is fatiguing to the nerves. Besides, one gets
accustomed to every thing, even to the great ; and when
by the side of this great fall we begin to hear and to be

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 593
occupied merely with our own little thoughts about every
day things, then we may go away.
I have not told you about the different scenes of life at
Niagara, of the steam-boat, the "Maid of the Mist," which
advances up to the very fall till it is wetted with its spray,
and then only turns back ; nor of my botanical rambles
around Iris island ; nor of the Indians whom one yet meets
roaming about here ; nor of the great iron bridge which,
strong and light at the same time, has been thrown across
the stream a little below the fall ; nor of many other re
markable things here ; but all these are petty in comparison
with that great waterfall, and that has been to me the es
sential thing. The Indians who live around Niagara be-
longjo the Seneca tribe. As this is the season when the
men are all out on their hunting grounds, I saw merely
some squaws, who offered their work for sale. This con
sists of embroidery done by hand, of flowers and animals,
drawn and finished in a childish manner, but yet well
done with dyed fibre of porcupine quills, small mats, bas
kets, moccasins, and children's rattles, made of a fragrant
kind of grass. There are many shops around here full
of their work, which is sold at a high price.
Two years ago Marcus and Rebecca S. were present at
a great solemnity which took place among an Indian tribe
here — the election of a new chief. They assembled in
the depths of the forest. The finest incident, however, on
this remarkable occasion was, that the young chief knelt
down before his old mother,, who laid her hands, with a
benediction, upon his head. Woman, who is treated in a
general way so horribly by the Indians, obtains, neverthe
less, respect from them when she is the mother of a dis
tinguished warrior; sometimes also, as among all savage
people, from her mystical, witch-like attributes, when she
is possessed of a powerful character. This, however, can
only very seldom be the case, considering the heavy yoke
which, from her very childhood, is laid upon her both spir
itually and physically.

594 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
I long to see and hear more of these, the New World's
aborigines, and hope to have opportunity of doing so dur
ing my journey in the West.
It has now become clear and certain to my mind,
though I do not know myself rightly how or when, that
I shall proceed up the Mississippi as far as St. Anthony's
Fall, that is to say, as far as the river is navigable, into
Minnesota, a young territory, not yet a state, which, for
the most part, is a wilderness, and the home of the wild
Indian tribes, and afterward down the Mississippi to New
Orleans. Why I should go to New Orleans I do not know ;
but one thing I know — I must go there. Something with
in me tells me so — something which I must call the in
ward light, the inward voice, and which guides me here
like a mysterious but absolute power. I do not hesitate
a moment in following its guidance, for it speaks so de
cidedly and clearly that I feel glad to obey. I know that
to me it is a Star of Bethlehem. From this place I go to
Chicago, and thence to the Swedish and Norwegian set
tlements in the States of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Among the memories of Niagara are some of a most
sorrowful character. One of these occurred this last sum
mer, when a young man and his sweet-heart, and her sis
ter, a little girl, visited the fall. As they stood beside it,
the young man took the little girl in his arms, and threat
ened playfully to throw her into it. The child gave a
sudden start of terror, which threw her out of his arms
*and into that foaming abyss. He sprang in after her.
Both vanished, and were only again seen as corpses.
il Oniaagarah," or " Ochniagarah," was the original
name of Niagara, and it is still called so by the Indians.
The word signifies " the thunder of the waters." It has
been shortened by the Europeans into Niagara.
I have now taken my farewell look of the great scene
and sight. The green color of the water, its inexpressibly
delightful, living odor, charms me as much as ever. I

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 595
shall always, in recalling it, think of the fountains of eter
nal youth. I am satisfied to leave it, but would wish to
come once more to see the fall in its winter magnificence,
when it crowns itself with flowers, and fruits, and a thou
sand fantastic adornments of ice ; when the full moon
shines and spans it with the lunar bow. We shall see !
But I am, nevertheless, infinitely thankful to have seen
Niagara. Its quiet grandeur and power, its color, its
spray, the rainbow's sport in that white, cloudy figure —
all this is and will remain a clear, living image in my
soul. And that eternal fullness of Nature's heart here —
ah ! that the human heart might resemble it, perpetually
filled anew, perpetually flowing, never weary, never scan
ty, never dried up !
My young friends, James and Maria — it grieved me to
part from them ; my amiable, lovely, charming Maria
looked at me with mournful glances, and — but now we
must be off! My young friends accompany me to Buf
falo. A kiss, my beloved, from Niagara; the next letter
from Chicago.

LETTER XXIV.
Chicago, Illinois, Sept. 15th.
Here, upon the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan,
sits your sister, my little Agatha, not, however, upon the
sandy shore, but in a pretty villa, built in the Italian
style, with Corinthian pillars, surrounded by beautiful
trees and flowers.
It was in the market of Buffalo, amid horses and car
riages, and throngs of people buying and selling, passing
hither and thither, amid chests and all sorts of baggage,
amid crowds and bustle, that I parted from my young
friends, who had become dear to me almost as brother and
sister. There was neither time nor space to say many
words in, the smoking iron-horse which was to speed them

596 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
away along the iron-road stood ready; iron-road, iron-
horse, iron-necessity, all were there ; the warm heart had
neither time nor language ; thus we kissed in silence from
our inmost hearts, and parted — perhaps forever ! The
Lowells intend to make a journey to Italy next year. I
saw them no longer, and was conducted out of the throng
in the market to an hotel by a respectable old gentleman,
Judge B., under whose care I am to continue my journey.
He had presented himself to me at Niagara with a letter
of introduction from Mr. E.
This excellent, vigorous old gentleman, yet quite youth
ful in spirit, one of the oldest pioneers of the West, and
who had taken part in the founding or laying out of many
of its most flourishing cities, as Rochester, Lockport, and
many others, was quite at home in all the districts through
which we were to travel, as far even as Lake Michigan,
and for that reason, and also because he was evidently a
good and cordial man, I was well satisfied to have him for
my companion.
At the hotel at Buffalo I was again tormented by some
new acquaintance with the old, tiresome questions, " How
do you like America ?" "How do you like the States?"
" Does Buffalo look according to your expectations?" To
which latter question I replied that I had not expected any
thing from Buffalo ; but yet, that I must say it struck me
as being one of the least excellent cities which I had seen
in America. Business ! business ! appeared to me to be
the principal life and character there. But the truth is,
that I did not see much of Buffalo.
Toward evening I went on board "The Ocean," a
magnificent three-decked steam-boat, which conveyed me
across Lake Erie, frequently a very stormy and dangerous
lake ; its billows, however, now resembled naiads sporting
in the sunshine.
"Erie," says M. Bouchette, a French writer, describing
this part of the country, "may be regarded as the great

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 597
central reservoir from which canals extend on all sides,
so that vessels from this point may go to every part of the
country inland, from the Atlantic Ocean on the east and
north to the countries and the sea of the south, and bring
together the productions of every land and climate." Em
igrants of all nations oross Lake Erie on their way to the
colonies west of those great inland seas. But to too many
of them has Erie proved a grave. Not long since a vessel
of emigrants, mostly Germans, was destroyed by fire on
Lake Erie, and hundreds of these poor people found a
grave in its waters. Among those who were taken up
were seven or eight couples, locked in each other's arms.
Death could not divide them. Love is stronger than
death. The helmsman stood at the helm steering the ves
sel toward land till the flames burned his hands. The
negligence of the captain is said to have been the cause
of this misfortune. He too perished. Only between thir
ty and forty passengers were saved.
For me, however, the sail across Lake Erie was like a
sunbright festival, in that magnificent steamer where even
a piano was heard in the crowded saloon, and where a po
lite and most agreeable captain took charge of me in the
kindest manner. My good old pioneer related to me va
rious incidents of his life, his religious conversion, his first
love and his last, which was quite recent; the old gen
tleman declaring himself to be half in love with. "that
Yankee woman, Mrs. L. ;" and I do not wonder at it. It
convinced me that he had good taste. He declared him
self to be "first and foremost a great ladies' man."
At four o'clock in the afternoon — that is to say, of the
day after we went on board; we reached Detroit, a city
first founded by the French upon that narrow strait be
tween the Lakes Erie and St. Clair, which separates Mich
igan from Canada. The shores, as seen from the vessel,
appeared to be laid but in small farms consisting of reg
ular allotments, surrounded by plantations. The land

598 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
seemed to^me low but fertile, undulating hill and valley.
Detroit is, like Buffalo, a city where business-life prepon
derates, yet still it looked to me pleasanter and more
friendly than Buffalo. I saw at the hotel some tiresome
catechisers, and also some very agreeable people, people
whom one could talk well and frankly with, and whom
one could like in all respects. Among these I remember,
in particular, the Episcopal bishop of Michigan, a frank,
excellent, and intellectual man ; and a mother and her
daughters. I was able to exchange a few cordial words
with them, words out of the earnest depths of life, and
such always do me good. The people of Detroit were, for
the rest, pleased with their city and their way of life there,
pleased with themselves, and with each other. And this
seems to me to be the case in most of the places that I
have been to here in the West.
The following evening we were at Anne Arbor, a pretty
little rural city. Here also I received visitors, and was
examined as usual. My good old pioneer did not approve
of traveling incognito, but insisted upon it that people
should be known by people, and could not comprehend
how any one could be tired, and need a cessation of intro
ductions and questions. In Anne Arbor, also, the people
were much pleased with themselves, their city, its situa
tion, and way of life. The city derived its name from the
circumstance that when the first settlers came to the place
they consisted principally of one family, and while the
woods were felled and the land plowed, the laborers had
no other dwelling than a tent-like shed of boughs and
canvas, where the mother of the family, "Anne," prepared
the food, and cared for the comfort of all. That was the
domestic hearth; that was the calm haven where all the
laborers found rest and refreshment under the protection
of Mother Anne. Hence they called the tent Anne's Ar
bor or Bower, and the city, which by degrees sprung up
around it, retained the name. And with its neat houses

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 599
and gardens upon the green hills and slopes the little city
looked, indeed, like a peaceful retreat from the unquiet
of the world.
We remained over night at Anne Arbor. The follow
ing morning we set off by rail-road and traveled directly
across the State of Michigan. Through the whole dis
tance I saw small farms, with their well-built houses, sur
rounded by well-cultivated land ; fields of wheat and maize,
and orchards full of apple and peach trees. In the wilder
districts the fields were brilliant with some beautiful kind
of violet and blue flowers, which the rapidity of our jour
ney prevented me from examining more closely, and with
tall sunflowers, the heads of which were as large as young
trees. It was splendid and beautiful. My old pioneer
told me that he never had seen any where such an afflu
ence of magnificent flowers as in Michigan, especially in
the olden times before the wilderness was broken up into
fields. Michigan is one of the youngest states of the
Union, but has a rich soil, particularly calculated for the
growth of wheat, and is greatly on the increase. The leg
islation is of the most liberal description, and it has abol
ished capital punishment in its penal code. Nevertheless,
I heard of crime having been committed in this state which
deserved death, or at least imprisonment for life, if any
crime does deserve it. A young man of a respectable fam
ily in Detroit, during a hunt, had shot clandestinely and
repeatedly at another young man, his best friend, merely
to rob him of his pocket-book. He had been condemned
for an attempt to murder, which he acknowledged, only
to twenty years' imprisonment. And in prison he was
visited by young ladies, who went to teach him French
and to play on the guitar ! One of these traveled with
me on the rail-road. She spoke of the young prisoner's
" agreeable demeanor !" There is a leniency toward crime
and the criminal which is disgusting, and which proves
a laxity of moral feeling.

600 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The weather was glorious the whole day. The sun
preceded us westward. We steered our course directly
toward the sun ; and the nearer it sank toward the earth,
more brightly glowed the evening sky as with the most
transcendent gold. The country, through the whole ex
tent, was lowland, and monotonous. Here and there
wound along a lovely little wooded stream. Here and
there in the woods were small frame houses, and beside
one and another of them wooden sheds, upon which a
board was fastened, whereon might be read in white let
ters, half a yard high, the word " Grocery." The culti
vated districts were in all cases divided regularly, scat
tered over with farm-houses resembling those of our bet
ter class of peasant farmers. The settlers in the West
purchase allotments of from eighty to one hundred and
sixty or two hundred acres, seldom less and seldom more.
The land costs, in the first instance, what is called " gov
ernment price," one dollar and a quarter per acre ; and
will, if well cultivated, produce abundant harvests within
a few years. The farmers here work hard, live frugally,
but well, and bring up strong, able families. The children,
however, seldom follow the occupation of their fathers.
They are sent to schools, and after that endeavor to raise
themselves by political or public life. These small farms
are the nurseries from which the Northwest States obtain
their best officials and teachers, both male and female.
A vigorous, pious, laborious race grows up here. I re
ceived much enlightenment on this subject from my good
old pioneer, who, with his piety, his restless activity, his
humanity, his great information, and his youthfully warm
heart, even in advancing years, was a good type of the
first cultivators of the wilderness in this country. He
parted from me on the journey in order to reach his home
in the little city of Niles.
In company with an agreeable gentleman, Mr. H., and
his agreeable sister-in-law, I went on board the steamer

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 601
which crosses Lake Michigan. The sun had now sunk ;
but the evening sky glowed with the brightest crimson
above the sea-like lake. We departed amid its splendor
and in the light of the new moon. The water was calm
as a mirror.
On the morning of the 13th of September, I saw the
sun shine over Chicago. I expected to have been met at
Chicago by some friends, who were to take me to their
house. But none came ; and on inquiring, I learned that
they were not now there. Nor was this to be wondered
at, as I was two months after the appointed time. I now,
therefore, found myself quite alone in that great unknown
West. And two little misadventures occurring just now
with my luggage made it still less agreeable. But pre
cisely at the moment when I stood quite alone on the
deck — for my kind new acquaintance had left the steamer
somewhat earlier — my gladness returned to me, and I felt
that I was not alone ; I felt vigorous, both body and mind.
The sun was there too ; and such a heartfelt rejoicing
filled my whole being, in its Lord and in my Father, and
the Father of all, that I esteemed myself fortunate that I
could shut myself up in a little solitary room at an hotel
in the city, and thus be still more alone with my joy.
But my solitude was hot of long continuance. Hand
some, kind people gathered round me, offered me house,
and home, and friendship, and every good thing, and all
in Chicago became sunshine to me.
In the evening I found myself in that pretty villa, where
I am now writing to you, and in the beautiful night a
serenade was given in the moonlight gardens, in which
was heard the familiar Einsam bin ich nicht allein.
It was a salutation from the Germans of the city.
September l^th. Prairies ! A sight which I shall nev
er forget.
Chicago is situated on the edge of the prairie-land.
Yol. I.— C c

602 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
The whole State of Illinois is one vast rolling prairie (that
is to say, a plain of low, wave-like hills) ; but the prairie
proper does not commence until about eighteen miles
from the city. My new friends wished me to pass a day
of prairie-life. We drove out early in the morning, three
families in four carriages. Our pioneer, a dark, handsome
hunter, drove first with his dogs, and shot, when we halted
by the way, now and then, a prairie hen (grouse) on the
wing. The day was glorious ; the sky of the brightest
blue, the sun of the purest gold, and the air full of vitality,
but calm ; and there, in that brilliant light, stretched it
self far, far out into the infinite, as far as the eye could
discern, an ocean-like extent, the waves of which were
sunflowers, asters, and gentians. The plain was splendid
with them, especially with the sunflowers, which were
frequently four yards high, and stood far above the head
of our tallest gentleman.
We ate our dinner in a little wood, which lay like a green
shrub upon that treeless, flowery plain. It was an elevation,
and from this point the prairie stretched onward its softly
waving extent to the horizon. Here and there, amid
this vast stretch, arose small log-houses, which resembled
little birds' nests floating upon the ocean. Here and there,
also, were people making hay ; it looked like some child's
attempt, like child's play. The sun-bright soil remained
here still in its primeval greatness and magnificence, un
checked by human hands, covered with its flowers, pro
tected and watched alone by the eye of the sun. And
the bright sunflowers nodded and beckoned in the wind,
as if inviting millions of beings to the festival set out on
the rich table of the earth. To me it was a festival of
light. It was a really great and glorious sight ; to my feel
ing less common and grander even than Niagara itself.
The dark hunter, a man of few words but evidently of
strong feelings, leaned upon his gun and said softly, " Here
I often stand for hours and gaze on creation !"

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 603
And well he might That sight resembled an ecstasy
in the life of nature. It was bathed in light ; it reposed
blissfully in the bosom of light. The sunflowers sang
praitos to the sun.
I wandered about in the wood and gathered flowers.
The asters grew above my head. Nearly all the flowers
which now cover the prairies are of the class Syngenesia,
and of these the Solidago and Helianthus predominate.
The prairies are covered each different month with a dif
ferent class of flowers ; in spring white, then blue, then
purple, and now mostly of a golden yellow.
In the course of the day we visited one of the log-houses
on the plain. A nice old woman was at home. The men
were out getting in the hay. The house was one year
old, and tolerably open to the weather, but clean and or
derly within, as are houses generally in which live Amer
ican women. I asked the good woman how the solitude
of this great prairie agreed with her. She was tired of
it, " it was so monotonous," she said. Yes, yes, there is
a difference between seeing this sight of heaven and earth
for one day and for a whole year ! Nevertheless, I would
try it for a year.
We did not see a cloud during the whole of this day,
nor yet perceive a breath of air ; yet still the atmosphere
was as fresh as it was delicious. The Indian summer
will soon begin. The whole of that little prairie-festival
was cloudless, excepting that the hunter's gun went off
and shot one of our horses in the ear, and that a carriage
broke down ; but it was near the end of the journey and
was taken all in good part, and thus was of no conse
quence. Chicago, September 27th.
I have heard a great deal about the Indians from
Mr. and Mrs. K., in whose extremely agreeable family
I have now my home. Mr. K. is the government agent
in all transactions with the Indian tribes in these North-

604 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
western States, and he and his family were among the
earliest settlers in the wilderness there. Mrs. K., who
writes with facility and extremely well, has preserved in
manuscript many incidents in the lives of the first colo
nists, and of their contests with the Indians, and among
these many which occurred in her own family. The read
ing of these narratives is one of the greatest pleasures of
the evenings ; some are interesting in a high degree ; some
are full of cruel and horrible scenes, others also touchingly
beautiful, and others, again, very comic.
There is material for the most beautiful drama in the
history of the captivity of Mrs. K.'s mother and her free
restoration. I know nothing more dramatic than the first
terrible scene of the carrying off of the little girl ; then
the attachment of the Indian chief to the child, the affec
tion which grew up in his heart for her as she grew up
in his tent, and was called by the savage tribe " the White
Lily ;" the episode of the attempt to murder her by the
jealous wife of the chief; and, lastly, the moment when
the chief, after having for several years rejected all offers
of negotiation and gifts, both on the part of the parents
and the government, for the restoration of the child,
yielded at length to prayers, and consented to a meeting
of the mother and daughter, but on the express condi
tion that she should not seek to retain her ; and then,
when arrived at the appointed place of meeting, with all
his warriors in their complete array, he rode alone — spite
of all their remonstrances — across the little brook which
separated the camp of the whites from that of the Indians,
and saw the young girl and her mother throw themselves
into each other's arms with tears of joy, he stood overpow
ered by the sight and exclaimed, " The mother must have
her child !" turned his horse, recrossed the brook, and re
joined his own people without a glance at the darling of
his heart, "the White Lily," who now, in the fifteenth
year of her age, returned to her family ! What an excel-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 605
lent subject for dramatic treatment! I hope that Mrs. K.
will some day publish this beautiful narrative, together
with several others which I heard during these evenings.
The massacre of Chicago belongs to the unpleasing por
tion of the chronicle, and Chicago still retains fresh traces
of this event. Yet even that is ennobled by beautiful hu
man actions.
The wooing of my noble and gentlemanly host by the
Indian chief Fourlegs for his daughter, and the arrival of
the fat Miss Fourlegs on her buffalo hides in the city,
where she met with a refusal, belong to the comic portion
of the chronicle, and very much amused me. For the rest,
the gentle and refined Mr. K., like many others who have
lived much among the Indians, has a real attachment to
them, and seems to have an eye rather for the virtues than
the failings which are peculiar to this remarkable people.
The K.'s resided long in Minnesota, and only within the
last few years at Chicago (Illinois), where they have a
handsome house with a large garden.
Chicago is one of the most miserable and ugly cities
which I have yet seen in America, and is very little de
serving of its name, "Queen of the Lake;" for, sitting
there on the shore of the lake in wretched dishabille, she
resembles rather a huckstress than a queen. Certainly,
the city seems for the most part to consist of shops. One
sees scarcely any pretty country houses, with their gar
dens, either within or without the city — which is so gen
erally the case in American towns — and in the streets the
houses are principally of wood, the streets formed with
wood, or, if without, broad and sandy. And it seems as if,
on all hands, people came here merely to trade, to make
money, and not to live. Nevertheless, I have, here in Chi
cago, become acquainted with some of the most agreeable
and delightful people that I ever met with any where ; good
people, handsome and intellectual ; people to live with,
people to talk with, people to like and to grow fond of, both

606 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
men and women; people who do not ask the stranger a
hundred questions, but who give him an opportunity of
seeing and learning in the most agreeable manner which
he can desire ; rare people ! And besides that, people who
are not horribly pleased with themselves and their world,
and their city, and their country, as is so often the case in
small towns, but who see deficiencies and can speak of
them properly, and can bear to hear others speak of them
also. To-day and last evening also, a hot wind has been
blowing here, which I imagine must be like the Italian
sirocco. One becomes quite enervated by it ; and the air
of Chicago is a cloud of dust.
September 23d. But in the evening, when the sun de
scends, and the wind subsides, I go to some higher part
of the city, to see the sun set over the prairie land, for it
is very beautiful; and, beholding this magnificent spec
tacle, melancholy thoughts arise. I see in this sun-briiKl
western land thousands of shops and thousands of trad
ers, but no Temple of the Sun, and only few worshipers of
the sun and of eternal beauty. Were the Peruvians of a
nobler intellectual culture than this people ? Had they a
loftier turn of mind ? Were they the children of the light
in a higher degree than the present race who colonize the
western land of the New World ?
September 24th. I must now tell you of some agree
able Swedes who reside here. They are Captain Schnei-
dan and his wife, and Mr. Uneonius, now the minister
of the Swedish congregation of this district, and his wife.
They were among the earliest Swedish emigrants who
established themselves on the banks of the beautiful lake,
Pine Lake, in Wisconsin, and where they hoped to lead
an Arcadian, pastoral life. The country was beautiful,
but the land for the most part was sterile.
These Swedish gentry, who thought of becoming here
the cultivators and colonizers of the wilderness, had mis-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 607
calculated their fitness and their powers of labor. Besides
this, they had taken with them the Swedish inclination
for hospitality and a merry life, without sufficiently con
sidering how long it could last. Each family built for
itself a necessary abode, and then invited their neighbors
to a feast. They had Christmas festivities and midsum
mer dances. But the first year's harvest fell short. The
poorly tilled soil could not produce rich harvests. Then
succeeded a severe winter, with snow and tempests, and
the ill-built houses afforded but inadequate shelter ; on
this followed sickness, misfortunes, want of labor,- want
of money, want of all kinds. It is almost incredible what
an amount of suffering some of these colonists must have
gone through. Nearly all were unsuccessful as farmers ;
some of them, however, supported themselves and their
families by taking to handcraft trades, and as shoemakers
or tailors earned those wages which they would have been
unable to earn by agriculture. To their honor it must be
told that they, amid severe want, labored earnestly and
endured a great deal with patient courage without com
plaining, and that they successfully raised themselves
again by their labor. Neither were they left without aid
from the people of the country when their condition be
came known.
Margaret Fuller (Marchioness .Ossoli) made a journey
into the Western States in company with Mrs. Clarke (the
mother of those tall sons). Providence led her to the colo
nists on Pine Lake. Captain Schneidan was then lying
on his sick-bed with an injury of the leg, which had kept
him there for some months. His handsome young wife
had been obliged, during that severe winter, to do the
most menial work ; had seen her first-born little one frozen
to death in its bed in the room, into which snow and rain
found entrance. And they were in the midst of the wil
derness alone. They had no means of obtaining help,
which was extremely expensive in this district ; the maid-

608 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
servant whom they had for a short time had left them, and
their neighbors were too far off, or were themselves also
suffering under similar want. And now came the two la
dies from Boston.
Margaret Fuller thus writes of her visit in her " Sum
mer on the Lakes :" -'
"In the inner room the master of the house was seated;
he had been sitting there long, for he had injured his foot
on shipboard, and his farming had to be done by proxy.
His beautiful young wife was his only attendant and nurse,
as well as farm-house keeper; and how well she perform
ed hard and unaccustomed duties, the objects of her care
showed ; every thing belonging to the house was rude, but
neatly arranged; the invalid, confined to an uneasy wood
en chair (they had not been able to induce any one to
bring them an easy chair from town), looked as neat and
elegant as if he had been dressed by the valet of a duke.
He was of noble blood, with clear, full blue eyes, calm
features, a tempering of the soldier, scholar, and man of
the world in his aspect ; he formed a great but pleasing
contrast to his wife, whose glowing complexion and dark
mellow eye bespoke an origin in some climate more fa
miliar with the sun. He looked as if he could sit there a
great while patiently, and live on his own mind, biding
his time ; she, as if she could bear any thing for affection's
sake, but would feel the weight of each moment as it
passed. "Seeing the album full of drawings, and verses which
bespoke the circle of elegant and affectionate intercourse
they had left behind, we could not but see that the young
wife sometimes must need a sister, the husband a com
panion, and both must often miss that electricity which
sparkles from the chain of congenial minds 
"I feel very differently about these foreigners from
Americans ; American men and women are inexcusable if
they do not bring up children so as to be fit for all necessi-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 609
ties ; that is the meaning of our star, that here, all men be
ing free and equal, all should be fitted for freedom, and an
independence by his own resources, wherever the change
ful wave of our mighty stream may take him. But the
star of Europe brought a different horoscope." ....
I must now add that which Margaret Fuller has not
related, but which was told me ; namely, how nobly she
exerted herself with her friend on behalf of the unfor
tunate Swedes, and how in time a complete change was
wrought in their circumstances. They removed from that
solitary farm in the forest to Chicago. Schneidan ob
tained adequate surgical aid ; recovered, and is at this mo
ment the most skillful daguerreotypist, probably, in the
whole state, and, as such, has made considerable gains.
He is just now returned from New York, where he has
taken a large and excellent daguerreotype of Jenny Lind.
He is universally liked here. His lively, pretty wife now
relates, laughing and crying at the same time, the occur
rences of their life in the wilderness in a kind of medley
of Swedish and English, which is charming. Uneonius
and his wife removed hither also, but in better circum
stances than the former.
Uneonius is just now at New York ; he is gone to see
Mademoiselle Lind, and obtain from her money for the
completion of the Lutheran church at Chicago. I spent
an evening with his wife. That gay, high-spirited girl,
of whom I heard when she was married at Upsala to ac
company her husband to the New World, she had gone
through severe trials of sickness, want, and sorrow. She
had laid four children to rest in foreign soil. She had one
boy remaining. She was still pretty, still young, but her
cheerfulness — that was gone; and her fresh, courageous
spirit was changed into quiet patience. She had now a
small, new-built house, in a more healthy situation than
where they had formerly lived, and very near to the lit
tle Lutheran church. The church is very ornamental,
Cc2

610 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
but as yet unfinished internally. Here I saw somewhat
above thirty children, Swedish and Norwegian, assembled
to hear a lecture — a little company of kindly-looking, fair-
complexioned, blue-eyed children ! They were for the
most part children of persons in low circumstances, who
lived about the neighborhood on small farms. They learn
in the school to read and write, as well in English as in
their mother tongue. There are very few Swedes resident
here. At Milwaukee, and in that part of Wisconsin, there
are a great many.
I heard a good deal from Mr. Schneidan and his wife
respecting Eric Jansen, and the circumstances which oc
casioned his death, but shall defer speaking of them till
we meet. The man seems to have been of an enigmat
ical character, half a deceiver and half deceived (either by
himself or his demon).
I saw one evening, which I spent with Mrs. Schneidan
at her house, my " Belle of Baltimore," Hannah Hawkins ;
she is a pretty, quiet young girl, of that class of women
who are capable of the most beautiful actions without
having the least idea that they are doing any thing beau
tiful. They are themselves moral beauty, and they fol
low the impulses of their nature as flowers follow theirs.
There are a great number of Germans in Chicago, es
pecially among the tradespeople and handcraftsmen. The
city is only twenty years old, and it has increased in that
time to a population of twenty-five thousand souls. A
genuine "baby" of the Great West! but, as I have al
ready said, somewhat unkemmed as yet. There is, how
ever, here a street, or, more properly speaking, a row of
houses or small villas along the shore of the lake, stand
ing on elevated ground, which has in its situation a char
acter of high life, and which will possess it in all respects
some day, for there are already people here from different
parts of the globe who will constitute the sound kernel of
a healthy aristocracy.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 611
Chicago bears on its arms the name of "the City in the
Garden ;" and when the prairie land around it becomes
garden, there will be reason for its poetical appellation.
I have seen here, also, light and lofty school-rooms, and
have heard the scholars in them, under the direction of
an excellent master, sing quartettes in such a manner as
affected me to tears. And the children, how eager, how
glad to learn they were ! Hurra ! The West builds light
school-rooms where the young may learn joyfully, and
sing correctly and sweetly ! The Western ust progress no
bly. The building of the Temple of the Sun has already
commenced. My friends here deplored the chaotic state, and the
want of integrity which prevails in political affairs, and
which may be principally attributed to the vast emigra
tion of the rudest class of the European population, and
the facility with which every civil right is obtained in the
state. A year's residence in the state gives the immi
grant the right of a citizen, and he has a vote in the elec
tion of the governors both of the city and the state. Un
principled political agitators avail themselves of the igno
rance of immigrants, and inveigle them by fine speeches
to vote for the candidate whom they laud, and who some
times betrays them. The better and more noble-minded
men of the state are unable to compete with these schem
ers, and therefore do not offer themselves; hence it most
frequently happens that they are not the best men who
govern the state. Bold and ambitious fortune-hunters
most easily get into office ; and once in office, they endeav
or to maintain their place by every kind of scheme and
trick, as well as by flattering the masses of the people to
preserve their popularity. The ignorant people of Europe,
who believe that kings and great lords are the cause of
all the evils in the world, vote for that man who speaks
loudest against the powerful, and who declares himself to
be a friend of the people.

6] o HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
I also heard it lamented that the Scandinavian immi
grants not unfrequently come hither with the belief that
the State Church and religion are one and the same thing,
and when they have left behind them the former, they
will have nothing to do with the latter. Long compul
sion of mind has destroyed, to that degree, their powers
of mind ; and they come into the West very frequently, in
the first instance, as rejectors of all church communion
and every higher law. And this is natural enough for
people not accustomed to think greatly ; but is a moment
of transition which can not last very long in any sound
mind, and in a hemisphere where the glance is so clear
and alive to every thing which contributes to the higher
life of man or of society.
Illinois is a youthful state, with a million inhabitants,
but is able, with her rich soil, to support at least ten mill
ions. The climate, however, is not favorable to immi
grants from Europe, who during the first few years suffer
from fever and other climatic diseases.
In the morning I leave Chicago and cross Lake Michi
gan to Milwaukee, in Wisconsin. An agreeable young
man came last evening to fetch me there.
I have been merely a few days in Chicago, and yet I
have seen people there with whom I should like to live all
my days.
But these feelings for amiable people whom I meet with
now and then during my pilgrimage are to me as "a tent
of one night," under which I repose thankfully. I would
fain linger yet longer ; but I must the next morning re
move my tent and proceed still further — and I do so with
a sigh. Farewell, ye charming people in that ugly city ! Re
ceive my thanks, warm hearts of Chicago !
P.S. — Jenny Lind is in New York, and has been re
ceived with American furor — the maddest of all madness.
The sale by auction of the tickets for her first concert is

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 613
said to have made forty thousand dollars. She has pre
sented the whole of her share of profit from that first con
cert to benevolent institutions of New York. Three hund
red ladies are said to besiege her daily, and thousands of
people of all classes follow her steps. Hundreds of letters
are sent to her each day. Ah ! poor girl ! Hercules him
self would not be equal to that.

LETTER XXV.
Watertown, Wisconsin, Oct. 1st.
The most glorious morning ! How I have enjoyed it
and a solitary ramble on the banks of Rock River (a small
tributary of the Mississippi), on which the little town
stands. Many a thought also winged its way homeward,
and said, " Good-morning to my beloved, and I would
that I could bear to them, and, above all, to you, my
Agatha, this air, this sun of the New World's Indian sum
mer !"
Watertown is a little, newly sprung-up, infant town of
two thousand inhabitants. The small, neat houses, most
of them of wood and painted white, and very smart and
clean, were scattered upon the green slopes between the
wood and the river. Columns of smoke ascended from
their chimneys in the quiet morning, and the sun shone
over them and the mirror-like river. " Are you sun
flowers ?" asked I (of course in petto). " Are the people
within you like the inner blossoms of the sunflower, each
bearing seed in itself?" Thus, of a certainty, will it be
come sometime in this country, which raises itself like a
giant sunflower above the waves of the ocean ; but the
further I advance into the West, the more clear it be
comes to me that as yet it is not so generally, and that
people in the great West are as yet principally occupied
in the acquisition of the material portion of life, in a word,

614 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
by " business !" People have not as yet time to turn
themselves to the sun.
But the churches, the schools, and the asylums which
are in progress of erection, and those small houses and
homes which are beginning to adorn themselves with
flowers, to surround themselves with gardens — they prove
that the light-life is struggling into being. First were
the Hrimthursar (the giants of frost) — then the giants
and dwarfs ; to these succeeded the gods and goddesses.
Thus say the Vala songs,^
I wrote to you last from Chicago. From Chicago I
went by steamer across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee,
escorted by a pleasant and warm-hearted young man, Mr.
R. The proprietor of the steamer would not allow me to
pay for my passage. The voyage was sun-bright and ex
cellent. We kty to at small infant towns on the shore,
such as Southbord, Elgin, Racine, all having sprung up
within the last seven or eight years, and in a fair way- of
growing great under the influence of trade and the navi
gation of the Lake.
I was met at Milwaukee by Herr L., a Swedish gen
tleman resident there as a merchant, who had invited me
to his house, and who now conducted me thither, where
I was most kindly received by his wife, a little, good-
tempered Irish lady. That was in the evening. The
next morning was rainy, but afterward cleared up, and
became one of the most lovely days. The whole of the
forenoon I was obliged to enact the lioness to an inces
sant stream of callers, ladies and gentlemen, received from
them presents of flowers, books, verses, and through all
was obliged to be polite, answer the same questions over
and over again, and play over and over again on the piano
the same ballads and polkas. Some of these people were
evidently interesting people, from whose conversation I
could have derived pleasure and profit; but ah! this
stream carries all pearls along with it.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 616
I was this forenoon in a large ladies' school, where I
saw many handsome young girls, made them a speech,
and congratulated them on being Americans ; I also saw
some agreeable teachers, and then, again, more gentlemen
and ladies. An important reformation in female schools
is taking place in these Western States at the present
time under the guidance of a Miss Beecher, sister to the
highly-gifted young minister at Brooklyn, and who is a
kind of lady-abbess in educational matters. In the after
noon I was driven about to see all the lions of the place
in a carriage, which a gentleman of the town had placed
at my disposal. It was very agreeable, for the town is
beautiful — has a charming situation on elevated ground,
between Lake Michigan and Milwaukee River, and in
creases with all its might. Four great school-houses,
one in each quarter of the town, shone in the sunlight
with their ascending cupolas. They are as yet in prog
ress of erection, are all alike, and in a good style of
architecture — ornamental without pomp. I saw some
handsome, well-built streets, with handsome shops and
houses, quite different to those of Chicago. Nearly all
the houses in Milwaukee are built of brick, a peculiar
kind of brick, which is made here from the clay of the
neighborhood, and which makes a brick of a pale yellow
color, which gives the city a very cheerful appearance, as
if the sun were always shining there. I saw also lovely
country houses in the outskirts, with splendid and extens
ive prospects over lake and land. Milwaukee, not Chi
cago, deserves to be called " Q,ueen of the Lake." She
stands a splendid city on those sunny heights, and grows
and extends herself every day. Nearly half of the in
habitants are Germans, and they occupy a portion of the
city to themselves, which is called " German Town."
This lies on the other side of the River Milwaukee. Here
one sees German houses, German inscriptions over the
doors or signs, German physiognomies. Here are pub-

616 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
lished German newspapers ; and many Germans live here
who never learn English, and seldom go beyond the Ger
man town. The Germans in the Western States seem,
for the most, to band together in a clan-like manner, to
live together, and amuse themselves as in their father
land. Their music and dances, and other popular pleas
ures, distinguish them from the Anglo-American people,
who, particularly in the West, have no other pleasure than
" business." This reminds me of a conversation I had on
one occasion — I think it was at Augusta, in Georgia — in
a shop where I went to purchase something. A middle-
aged woman stood behind the counter, and I heard by her
mode of speaking that she was a German. I asked her,
therefore, in German, how she liked this New World.
" Oh yes !" she replied, with a sigh, " it is all very
well for business, and for making money. But when I
have worked all day and the evening is come, I can not
here have any ' plaisir.' In the Old Country, though one,
perhaps, might not get so much by work, yet one could
have some 'plaisir' when it was done. But here nobody
has any idea of any 'plaisir,' but just business, business,
day out and day in ; so that one's life is not very amus
ing." That was in the South, where immigration exists to a
much less extent. In the Northwestern States the Ger
mans come over in immense crowds, and band themselves
together and have "plaisir" enough, and their music finds
its way now and then, with a bewitching tone, to the
ears of the Anglo-Americans, and those strong, blooming
German girls sometimes attract them so irresistibly as
to occasion an approximation in search for " plaisir"
and whatever more there may be, also, in that German
realm. In the ovening I supped at the house of the mayor of
the city, where I saw many very agreeable people. One
amiable young lady took a bracelet from her arm and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 617
clasped it around mine. I shall bear her memory in my
heart. The house of the mayor was upon a hill, extremely pic
turesque, looking down upon a deep valley, where also
people lived and were building. That is one of the dan
gers of building a house upon a hill. You have, for in
stance, bought a piece of land upon a hill, a piece large
enough for a house and a little garden ; and you have
built a beautiful house, and planted* trees and flowers
around it, rejoiced in your house and in your magnifi
cent view, which extends over the whole lake and great
part of the country. This is to-day. To-morrow you hear
that the ground adjoining your house is purchased by
somebody, who intends to cut it down many fathoms,
and to build a street directly below your house. You
protest, and declare that your house will fall down if the
hill is undermined just below its walls ! There is no help
for it ! The day after to-morrow you see that the dig
ging and the delving have begun just outside your walls,
and you have in a while the agreeable prospect of seeing
the sand-hill tumble down, and your house tumbling down
with it, make a summerset into the new street at its feet,
and, if it has good luck, demolishing in its descent the
house which your grave-digger had built. But this is a
gloomy picture ! Nevertheless, I beheld it with my own
eyes in Milwaukee. I would very willingly live for a
time in Milwaukee, upon its beautiful heights, among its
kindly, lively people, but as to building a house there —
No, I thank you !
A DAY AMONG THE SWEDES AT PINE LAKE.
On the morning of the 29th of September I arrived at
this, the first Swedish colony of the West. Herr Lange
drove me there in a little carriage, along a road which
was any thing but good, through a solitary region,' a
distance of somewhat above twenty miles from Milwau-

618 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
kee. It was on a Sunday morning, a beautiful sunshiny
morning. There remain still of the little Swedish colony of Pine
Lake about half a dozen families, who live as farmers in
the neighborhood. It is lake scenery, and as lovely and
romantic as any may be imagined — regular Swedish lake
scenery ; and one can understand how those first Swedish
emigrants were enchanted, so that, without first examin
ing the quality of the soil, they determined to found here
a New Sweden, and to build a New Upsala! I spent the
forenoon in visiting the various Swedish families. Nearly
all live in log-houses, and seem to be in somewhat low
circumstances. The most prosperous seemed to be that
of the smith ; he, I fancy, had been a smith in Sweden,
and had built himself a pretty frame house in the forest;
he was a really good fellow, and had a nice young Norwe
gian for his wife : also a Mr. Bergman, who had been a gen
tleman in Sweden, but who was here a clever, hard-work
ing peasant farmer ; had some acres of good land, which
he cultivated ably, and was getting on well. He was of a
remarkably cheerful, good-tempered, and vigorous Swedish
temperament ; he had fine cattle, which he himself at
tended to, and a good harvest of maize, which now stood
cut in the field to dry in the sun. He had enlarged his
log-house by a little frame-house which he had built up
to it ; and in the log-house he had the very prettiest, kind
est, most charming young Swedish wife, with cheeks as
fresh as red roses, such as one seldom sees in America, and
that spite of her having a four-weeks' old little boy, her
first child, and having, with the assistance only of her
young sister, to do all the work of the house herself. It
was a joyous and happy home, a good Swedish home, in
the midst of an American wilderness. And the dinner
which I had there was, with all its simplicity, exquisitely
good, better than many a one which I have eaten in the
great and magnificent hotels of America. We were ten

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 619
Swedes at dinner; most of the number young men, one
of whom was betrothed to the handsome young sister of
the mistress of the house. Good milk, excellent bread
and butter, the most savory water-fowl an '. delicious tarts,
cordial hospitality, cheerfulness and good feeling, crown
ing the board ; and, besides all the rest, that beautiful
Swedish language spoken by every one — these altogether
made that meal a regular festival to me.
Our young and handsome hostess attended to the table,
sometimes went out into the kitchen — the adjoining room
— to look after the cooking, or to attend to her little baby
in the cradle, which cried aloud for its dinner, then came
back again to us, and still the roses bloomed freshly on
her cheeks, and still the kind smile was on her lips, spite
of an anxious look in those clear blue eyes. Both sisters
were blonde, with round countenances, blue eyes, light
hair, fair complexions, regular white teeth, lovely and
slender figures — true Swedes, especially the young wife, a
lovely specimen of the young Swedish woman.
In the afternoon she took me by a little path through
the wood, down to the wonderfully beautiful Pine Lake,
on the banks of which, but deeper still in the woods, her
home was situated, and near to which the other Swedish
houses also stood. On our way I asked her about her life,
and thus came to hear, but without the least complaint on
her part, of its many difficulties. The difficulty of obtain
ing the help of servants, male and female, is one of the
inconveniences and difficulties which the colonists of the
West have to encounter. They must either pay for labor
at an enormously high rate — and often it is not to be had
on any terms — or they must do without it; and if their
own powers of labor fail, either through sickness or any
other misfortune, then is want the inevitable consequence.'
There is need of much affection and firm reliance for
any one, under such circumstances, to venture on settling
down here ; but these both lived in the heart of the young

620 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
Swede, and her eyes sparkled as she spoke of her husband,
his kind, good heart, and his vigor both of mind and body.
While we were standing beside that quiet lake, garlanded
by thick branching trees and underwood, splendid with
the coloring of autumn, we heard the husband's voice as
he drove the oxen down to water, and soon we saw their
huge horns pushing a way through the thick foliage. Our
cheerful, well-bred host was now a brisk ox-driver.
After this we betook ourselves to the oldest house of the
colony on Pine Lake, where lived Mrs. Bergvall's mother,
the Widow Petterson, and who expected us to coffee ; and
thither we drove, Mr. Lange and I, in our little open car
riage, the other Swedish families driving there also, but
with oxen. A young Swede, who had married a fat, eld
erly American widow, was of the company. I saw them
going on through the wood, she sitting with her parasol
on the carriage, while her young husband drove the oxen.
One of Mrs. Petterson's sons, a young man of about twen
ty, rode before us as a guide through the labyrinths of the
wood. Thus we arrived at a log-house, resembling one
of the peasant cottages around Aersta, standing upon a
green hill, commanding the most beautiful view over the
lake, which was here seen in nearly its whole extent.
Mrs. Petterson, a large woman, who in her youth must
have been handsome, came out to receive me, bent double
and supported on a crutch-stick, but her open countenance
beaming with kindness. She is not yet fifty, but is aged
and broken down before her time by severe labor and
trouble. I saw in her a true type of the Swedish woman
of the middle class, with that overflowing heart which
finds vent in tears, in kind looks and words, and who
does not measure by any niggard rule either what the
hand gives or the tongue speaks ; a regularly magnificent,
warm-hearted gossip, who loves to entertain her friends
with good cheer as much as she loves her life. She re
galed us with the most delicious coffee, and flavored that
warm beverage with warm, kind looks and words.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 621
Her husband began here as a farmer, but neither he
nor his wife were accustomed to hard work ; their land
was poor (with the exception of Bergvall's farm, all the
land around Pine Lake appears to be of a poor quality),
they could not get help, and they were without the con
veniences of life ; they had a large family, which kept
increasing ; they endured incredible hardships. Mrs. Pet
terson, while suckling her children, was compelled to do
the most laborious work ; bent double with rheumatism,
she was often obliged to wash for the whole family on her
knees. Her husband was at last obliged to give up farm
ing ; he then took to shoemaking, and at this trade suc
ceeded in making a livelihood for himself and his family.
He had now been dead a few years, and his widow was
preparing to leave the little house and garden, which she
could no longer look after, and remove to her son-in-law,
Bergvall's. She felt herself worn out, old, and finished
'before her time, as she said ; but still did not regret hav
ing come to America, because, as regarded her children
and their future, she saw a new world opened to them,
richer and happier than that which the mother country
could have offered them, and she would have been glad
to have purchased this future for them at the sacrifice of
her own life ; she would be well contented to go down to
the grave, even before her time, and there to have done
with her crutch. Their children, four sons and four
daughters — the two youngest born here, and still children
— were all of them agreeable, and some of them remark
ably handsome, in particular the two youngest boys —
Knut and Sten. Sten rowed me in a little boat along the
shores of the charming lake ; he was a beautiful, slender
youth of seventeen ; and as he sat there in his white shirt
sleeves, with his blue silk waistcoat, with his clear, dark-
blue eyes, and a pure, good expression in that lovely,
fresh, youthful countenance, he was the perfect idea of a
shepherd in some beautiful idyll. The sisters, when we

622 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
were alone, praised Knut and Sten as sincerely kind and
good lads, who would do any thing for their sisters and
their home.
We rowed along the wooded shores, which, brilliant in
their autumnal coloring, were reflected in the mirror-like
waters. And here, npon a lofty promontory covered with
splendid masses of wood, was New Upsala to stand — such
was the intention of Uneonius and his friends wLm they
first came to this wild region, and were enchanted with
its beauty. Ah ! that wild district will not. maintain Up-
sala's sons. I saw the desolate houses where he, Une
onius, and Schneidan struggled in vain to live.
But the place itself was delightful and lovely — charac
terized by a Swedish beauty, for dark pines towered up
among the trees, and the wood grew down to the very
edge of the lake, as is the case in our Scandinavian lakes,
where the Neck sits in the moonlight, and plays upon the
harp, and sings beneath the overarching verdure. The
sun set ; but even here, again, all wore a Northern aspect ;
it was cold, and without that splendid glow of coloring
which is so general in American sunsets.
Returning to the log-house, we spent the evening — ond-
and-twenty Swedes altogether — in games, songs, and dan
cing, exactly as if in Sweden. I had, during the whole „
time of my journey to the West, been conning over in my
mind a speech which I would make to my countrymen in
the West ; I thought how I would bear to them a saluta
tion from their mother country, and exhort them to create
a new Sweden in that new land ! I thought that I would
remind them of all that the Old Country had of great and
beautiful, in memory, in thought, in manners and cus
toms ; I wished to awaken in their souls the inspiration
of a New Scandinavia. I had often myself been deeply
affected by the thoughts and the words which I intended
to make use of. But now, when I was at the very place
where I longed to be, and thought about my speech, I

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 623
could not make it. Nor did I make it at all. I felt my
self happy in being with my countrymen, happy to find
them so agreeable and so Swedish still in the midst of a
foreign land. But I felt more disposed for merriment than
solemnity. I therefore, instead of making my speech, read
to the company that little story by Hans Christian Ander
sen called " The Pine-tree," and then incited my coun
trymen to sing Swedish songs. Neither were those beau
tiful Swedish voices lost here in the New World, and I
was both affected and impressed with a deep solemnity
when the men, led by Bergvall, sang, with their fresh,
clear voices, " Up, Swedes ! for king and fatherland,"
and after that many other old national songs. Swedish
hospitality, cheerfulness, and song live here as vigorously
as ever they did in the Old Country.
The old lady, Petterson, had got ready a capital enter
tainment ; incomparably excellent coffee, and tea especial
ly; good venison, fruit, tarts, and many good things, all
as nicely and as delicately set out as if on a prince's table.
The young sons of the house waited upon us. At home,
in Sweden, it would have been the daughters. All were
cordial and joyous. When the meal was over we had
again songs, and after that dancing. Mrs. Petterson joined
in every song with a strong and clear, but somewhat shrill
voice, which she said was " so not by art, but by nature,
since the beginning of the world !" The good old lady
would have joined us too, in the dances and the polkas,
if she had not been prevented by her rheumatic lameness.
I asked the respectable smith to be my partner, and we
two led the Nigar Polka, which carried along with it
young and old, and electrified all, so that the young gen
tlemen sprang up aloft, and the fat American lady tum
bled down upon 'a bench overpowered by laughter ; we
danced, finally, round the house.
After that we went in the beautiful evening down to

624 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the shore of the lake, and the star-song of Tegner was
sung beneath the bright, starry heavens. Somewhat lat
er, when we were about to separate, I asked Mrs. Petter
son to sing a Swedish evening hymn, and we all joined
in as she sang, " Now all the earth reposeth."
We then parted with cordial shaking of hands and mu
tual good wishes, and all and each returned to their homes
in the star-bright night.
I was to remain at Mrs. Petterson's, but not without
some uneasiness on my part as to the prospect of rest ; for,
however sumptuous had been the entertainment of the
evening, yet still the state of the house testified of the
greatest lack of the common conveniences of life ; and I
had to sleep in the sister's bed with Mrs. Petterson, and
six children and grandchildren lay in the adjoining room,
which was the kitchen. Among these was young Mrs.
Bergvall, with her little baby and her little step-son ; for,
when she was about to return home with Herr Lange,
his horses became frightened by the pitch darkness of the
night and would not go on, and she herself becoming
frightened too, would not venture with her little children.
Bergvall, therefore, set off alone through the forest, and I
heard his wife calling after him : " Dear Bergvall, mind
and milk the white cow well again to-night." (N.B. — It
is the men in this country who milk the cows, as well as
attend to all kinds of out-of-door business.) He replied
to her with a cheerful " Yes." And Mrs. Bergvall and
her mother prayed me to excuse there being so many of
them in the house that night, &c. — me, the stranger, and
who was the cause of this throng ! It was I who ought
to have asked for exouse ; and I would rather have slept
outside the house than not have appeared satisfied and
pleased with every thing within it. And when Mrs. Pet
terson had lain down, she said,
"Ah, Miss Bremer, how much more people can bear

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 625
than can be believed possible !" I sighed, and said, "Yes,
indeed !" gave up the search for an extinguisher, which
could not be found, put out the candle, therefore, with
a piece of paper, and crept into my portion of the bed,
where, though my sleep was nothing to speak of, I yet
rested comfortably. I was glad the next morning to feel
well, and to rise with the sun, which, however, shone
somewhat dimly through the mist above the beautiful
lake. It was a cool, moist morning ; but these warm
hearted people, the warm and good coffee, and the hospi
table entertainment, warmed both soul and body.
It was with heartfelt emotion and gratitude that I,
after breakfast, took leave of my Swedish friends. Mrs.
Petterson would have given me the only valuable which
she now possessed — a great, big gold ring ; but I could
not consent to it. How richly had she gifted me already !
We parted, not without tears. That amiable young moth
er, her cheeks blooming like wild roses, accompanied me
through the wood, walking beside the .carriage silently
and kindly, and silently we parted with a cordial pressure
of the hand and a glance. That lovely young Swede was
the most beautiful flower of that American wilderness.
She will beautify and ennoble it.
Heartfelt kindness and hospitality, seriousness and
mirth in pure family life — these characteristics of Swedish
life, where it is good — should be transplanted into the
Western wilderness by the Swedish colonists, as they are
in this instance. That day among the Swedes by Pine
Lake ; that splendid old lady ; those handsome, warm
hearted men; those lovely, modest, and kind young wom
en ; that affectionate domestic life ; that rich hospital
ity in poor cottagers — all are to me a pledge of it. The
Swedes must continue to be Swedes, even in the New
World ; and their national life and temperament, their
dances and games, their star-songs and hymns, must give
to the western land a new element of life and beauty.
Yol. I.— D p

626 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
They must continue to be such a people in this country
that earnestness and mirth may prosper among them, and
that they may be pious and joyfulat the same time, as
well on Sundays as on all other days. And they must
learn from the American people that regularity and per
severance, that systematizing in life, in which they are
yet deficient. A new Scandinavia shall one day bloom in
the valley of the Mississippi in the great assembly of peo
ples there, with men and women, games, and songs, and
dances, with days as gay and as innocent as this day
AMONG THE SWEDES AT PlNE LAKE !
During this day I put some questions to all the Swedes
whom I met regarding the circumstances and the pros
pects of the Swedes in this new country, as compared with
those of the old, and their answers were very nearly sim
ilar, and might be comprised in the following:
"If we were to work as hard in Sweden as we do here,
we should be as well off there, and often better.
"None who are not accustomed to hard, agricultural
labor ought to become farmers in this country.
" No one who is in any other way well off in his native
land ought to come hither, unless, having a large family,
he may do so on account of his children ; because children
have a better prospect here for their future than at home.
They are admitted into schools for nothing ; receive good
education, and easily have an opportunity of maintaining
themselves. "But the old, who are not accustomed to hard labor,
and the absence of all conveniences of life, can not long
resist the effects of the climate, sickness, and other hard
ships. "Young unmarried people may come hither advanta
geously, if they will begin by taking service with others.
As servants in American families they will be well fed and
clothed, and have good wages, so that they may soon lay
by a good deal. For young and healthy people it is not

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 627
difficult to get on well here ; but they must be prepared
to work really hard, and in the beginning to suffer from the
climate and from the diseases prevalent in this country.
" The Norwegians get on better in a general way than
the Swedes, because they apply themselves more to work
and housewifery, and think less of amusement than we
do. They also emigrate in larger companies, and thus
can help one another in their work and settling down."
The same evening that I spent at Mrs. Petterson's, I
saw a peasant from Norrland, who had come with his son
to look at her little farm, having some thought of pur
chasing it. He had lately come hither from Sweden, but
merely, as he said, to look about him. He was, however,
so well pleased with what he saw, that he was going back
to fetch his wife, his children, and his movables, and then
return here to settle. The man was one of the most
beautiful specimens of the Swedish peasant, tall, strong-
limbed, with fine, regular features, large, dark blue eyes,
his hair parted above his forehead, and falling straight
down both sides of his face — a strong, honest, good, and
noble countenance, such as it does one good to look upon.
The son was quite young, but promised to resemble his
father in manly beauty. It grieved me to think that such
men should leave Sweden. Yet the new Sweden will be
all the better for them .
With that ascending September sun, Mr. Lange and I
advanced along the winding paths of the wood till we
reached the great high road, where we wore to meet the
diligence by which I was to proceed to Madison, while
Mr. Lange returned to Milwaukee. Many incomparably
lovely lakes, with romantic shores, are scattered through
this district, and human habitations are springing up along
them daily. I heard the names of some of these lakes —
Silver Lake;\Nobbmaddin Lake, as well as Lake Naschota,
a most beautiful lake, on the borders of which I awaited
the diligence. Here stood a beautiful newly-built coun-

628 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
try house, the grounds of which were beginning to be laid
out. Openings had been made here and there in the
thick wild forest, to give fine views of that romantic lake.
The diligence came. It was full of gentlemen ; but they
made room. I squeezed myself in among the strangers,
and, supported by both hands upon my umbrella, as by a
stick, I was shaken, or rather hurled, unmercifully hither
and thither upon the new-born roads of Wisconsin, which
are no roads at all, but a succession of hills, and holes, and
water-pools, in which first one wheel sank and then the
other, while the opposite one stood high up in the air.
Sometimes the carriage came to a sudden stand-still, half
overturned in a hole, and it was some time before it could
be dragged out again, only to be thrown into the same po
sition on the other side. To me that mode of traveling
seemed really incredible, nor could I comprehend how, at
that rate, we should ever get along at all. Sometimes we
drove for a considerable distance in the Water, so deep that
I expected to see the whole equipage either swim or sink
altogether. And when we reached dry land, it was only to
take the most extraordinary leaps over stocks and stones.
They comforted me by telling me that the diligence was
not in the habit of being upset very often ! And, to my
astonishment, I really did arrive at Watertown without
being overturned, but was not able to proceed without a
night's rest. Madison, October 5th.
I proceed with my letter in the capital of Wisconsin, a
pretty little town (mostly consisting of villas and gardens)
most beautifully situated between four lakes, the shores
of which are fringed with live-oaks. I am here in a good
and handsome house on the shore of one of the lakes, sur
rounded by all the comforts of life, and among kind, culti
vated people and friends. At Watertown I discovered that
the Public Conveyance Company had given orders that I
was to have free transit through all parts of the state, and

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 629
the host of the hotel, where every thing was very good and
excellent, would not be paid for my entertainment there,
but thanked me for " my call at his house." That one
may term politeness !
At Watertown I became acquainted with some Danes
who resided there, and spent a pleasant evening with one
of them, just married to a young and charming Norwegian
lady. They were comfortable, and seemed to be doing
well in the city, where he was engaged in trade. An eld
erly Danish gentleman, however, who also was in trade in
the city, did not seem to get on so well, but complained of
the want of society and of some cheerful amusement in
the long and solitary evenings. He was a widower, and
widowers, or indeed men without wives and domestic life
in America, lead solitary lives, particularly in small towns
and in the country.
I left that kind little city with regret, in order to be
shook onward to Madison. My portmanteau had been sent
on by mistake from Watertown, by some diligence, I knew
not how or whither, but thanks to the electric telegraphs,
which sent telegraphic messages in three directions, I re
ceived again the next day my lost effects safe and sound.
It is remarkable that in all directions throughout this
young country, along these rough roads, which are no
roads at all, run these electric wires from tree to tree, from
post to post, along the prairie-land, and bring towns and
villages into communication.
The road to Madison was difficult, but having a great
er resemblance to a road than that between Milwaukee
and Watertown. There were but few passengers in the
diligence, and I was able, therefore, to place myself a lit
tle more comfortably; a bright Aurora Borealis shone
across the prairie-land as we drove along in that starlight
night, and the glow-worms glimmered in the grass which
bordered the road. The journey was not unpleasant.
The vast, solitary, verdant, billowy extent, embraced by

630 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
the vast, star-lit firmament, had in it something grand
and calm. I sat silent and quiet. At half past eleven I
reached Madison, where it was with difficulty that room
could be found for me at the inn, or that any body would
take charge of me. The next day, however, I found both
house, and home, and friends, and every thing excellent.
I am with a family of the name of F. The master of
the house, who is a judge of the state, is now from home ;
but his wife and their young married daughter, who re
sides with her parents, have given me the most agreeable
reception. And it is hardly possible to imagine a more
charming picture than that which is here presented by
the three generations — mother, daughter, and grandchild.
The elderly lady is delicate and graceful, and still hand
some ; the daughter, with a certain look of Jenny Lind
about her, and an expression of unspeakable goodness in
her blonde countenance, is the most charming of young
women, and her little girl is one of those loveable little
creatures, which not merely mother and grandmother, but
every stranger even, must regard as quite out of the com
mon way, gifted, even while in the cradle, with unusual
powers and more than earthly grace. When in the morn
ing I saw the young mother standing with her little child
in her arms, and embraced by her mother — that little
group standing quietly thus in the sunlit room, all three
reposing happily in each other's love — I could not but
think, Why do Iseek for the Temple of the Sun shining
aloft over earth? Is not each sunflower a temple more
beautiful than that of, Peru or of Solomon ? And these
people, who love and who worship in spirit and in truth,
are not they true sunflowers — the Temple of the Sun upon
earth ?
The male portion of the family consists for the present
of the young son of the house, and this young lady's
husband. October. I have just returned from church. The min-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 631
ister preached a sermon strongly condemnatory of the gen
tlemen of the West. All his hope was in the ladies, and
he commended their activity in the Western country. To
this not very reasonable and not very judicious sermon
succeeded the Lord's Supper, silent, holy, sanctifying,
pouring its gracious wine into the weak, faulty, male
communicants with the word — not the word of man ;
with power — not the power of man.
After divine service, the Sunday scholars assembled,
and young and handsome ladies instructed each her class
of poor children. And how maternally they did it, and
how well, especially my young hostess, Mrs. D., whom I
could not but observe with the most heartfelt pleasure in
the exercise of her maternal vocation.
The weather was bright and sunny, although cold, and
I wished to avail myself of the afternoon for an excursion
on the beautiful lake, and the observation of its shores.
" But — it is Sunday," was the answer which I received
with a smile, and on Sundays people must not amuse
themselves, not even in God's beautiful scenery. But
sleep in church — that they ma*y do !
October 1th. I had heard speak of a flourishing Nor
wegian settlement, in a district called Koskonong, about
twenty miles from Madison, and having expressed a wish
to visit it, a kind young lady, Mrs. C, offered to drive me
there with her carriage and horses.
The next day we set off in a little op'en carriage, with
a Norwegian lad as driver. The weather was mild and
sunny, and the carriage rolled lightly along the country,
which is here hilly, and, having a solid surface, makes
naturally good roads. The whole of the first part of the
way lay through new and mostly wild, uncultivated land,
but which every where resembled an English park, with
grassy hills and dales, the grass waving tall and yellow,
and scattered with oak wood. The trees were not lofty,
and the green sward under them as free from underwood

632 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
as if it had been carefully uprooted. This is attributed
to the practice of the Indians to kindle fires year after
year upon these grass-grown fields, whereby the bushes
and trees were destroyed ; and it is not many years since
the Indians were possessed of this tract of country.
As we proceeded, however, the land became a little
more cultivated. One saw here and there a rudely-built
log-house, with its fields of maize around it, and also of
new-sown wheat. We then reached a vast billowy prai
rie, Liberty Prairie, as it is called, which seemed inter
minable, for our horses were tired, and evening was com
ing on ; nor was it till late and in darkness that we reach
ed Koskonong, and our Norwegian driver, who came from
that place, drove us to the house of the Norwegian pastor.
This, too, was merely a small log-house.
The Norwegian pastor, Mr. P., had only left Norway to
come hither a few months before. His young and pretty
wife was standing in the kitchen, where a fire was blaz
ing, boiling groats as I entered. I accosted her in Swed
ish. She was amazed at first, and terrified by the late
visit, as her husband was from home on an official journey,
and she was here quite alone with her little brother and
an old woman servant; but she received us with true
Northern hospitality and good-will, and she was ready to
do every thing in the world to entertain and accommodate
us. As the house was small, and its resources not very
ample, Mrs. C. and her sister drove to the house of an
American farmer who lived at some little distance, I re
maining over night with the little Norwegian lady. She
was only nineteen, sick at heart for her mother, her home,
and the mountains of her native land, nor was happy in
this strange country, and in those new circumstances to
which she was so little accustomed. She was pretty, re
fined, and graceful ; her whole appearance, her dress, her
guitar which hung on the wall, every thing showed that
she had lived in a sphere very different to that of a log-

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 633
house in a wilderness, and among rude peasants. The
house was not in good condition ; it rained in through
the roof. Her husband, to whom she had not long been
married, and whom for love she had accompanied from
Norway to the New World, had been now from home for
several days ; she had neither friend nor acquaintance
near nor far in the new hemisphere. It was no wonder
that she was unable to see any thing beautiful or excel
lent in. " this disagreeable America." But a young crea
ture, good and lovely as she is, will not long remain lone
ly among the warm-hearted people of this country. Her
little nine- years- old brother was a beautiful boy, with
magnificent blue eyes and healthy temperament (although
at the present moment suffering from one of the slow, fev
erish diseases peculiar to the country), and he thought
yet of becoming a bishop " like his grandfather in Nor
way, Bishop Nordahl Brun"- — for this young brother and
sister were really the grandchfldren of Norway's celebrated
poet and bishop, Nordahl Brun, whom Norway has to thank
for her best national songs. They had come hither by
the usual route of the Western emigrants, by the Erie
Canal from New York, and then by steamer down the
lakes. They complained of uncleanliness»and the want
of comfort in the canal-boats, and that the people there
were so severe with the little boy, whom they drove out
of his bed, and often treated ill.
The young lady gave me a remarkably good tea, and
a good bed in her room ; but a terrific thunder-storm,
which prevailed through the whole night, with torrents of
rain, disturbed our rest, especially that of my little hostess,
who was afraid, and sighed over the life in "this dis
agreeable country."
Next morning the sun shone, the air was pleasant and
mild ; and after breakfast with the young lady, during
which I did all in my power to inspire her with better
feelings toward the country, and a better heart, I went out
Dd2

634 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
for a ramble. The parsonage, with all its homely thrift-
iness, was, nevertheless, beautifully situated upon a hill,
surrounded by young oaks. The place, with a little care,
may be made pretty and excellent. I wandered along the
road ; the country, glowing with sunshine, opened before
me like an immense English park, with a background of
the most beautiful arable land, fringed with leafy woods,
now splendid with the colors of autumn. Here and there
I saw little farm-houses, built on the skirts of the forest,
mostly of log-houses ; occasionally, however, might be seen
a frame house, as well as small gray stone cottages. I
saw the people out in the fields busied with their corn-
harvest. I addressed them in Norwegian, and they joy
fully fell into conversation.
I asked many, both men and women, whether they were
contented — whether they were better off here than in old
Norway? Nearly all of them replied " Yes. We are bet
ter off here; we do not work so hard, and it is easier to
gain a livelihood." One old peasant only said, *' There
are difficulties here as well as there. The health is better
in the old country than it is here !"
I visited also, with Mrs. P., some of the Norwegian peas
ant houses. It may be that I did not happen to go into
the best of them ; but certainly the want of neatness and
order I found contrasted strongly with the condition of the
poor American cottages. But the Norwegians wisely built
their houses generally beside some little river or brook, and
understand how to select a good soil. They come hither
as old and accustomed agriculturists, and know how to
make use of the earth. They help one another in their
labor, live frugally, and ask for no pleasures. The land
seems to me, on all hands, to be rich, and has an idyllian
beauty. Mountains there are none ; only swelling hills,
crowned with pine- wood. About seven hundred Norwe
gian colonists are settled in- this neighborhood, all upon
small farms, often at a great distance one from another.

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 635
There are two churches, or meeting-houses, at Kosko-
nong. The number of Norwegian immigrants resident at this
time in Wisconsin is considered to be from thirty to forty
thousand. No very accurate calculation has, however,
been made. Every year brings new immigrants, and they
often settle upon tracts of country very distant from the
other colonists. They call a colony "a settlement," from
the English word settlement. I have heard of one called
"Luther's Dale," nearer to the limits of Illinois, which is
said to be large and remarkably flourishing, and under the
direction of an excellent and active pastor, Mr. Claussen.
If I could have made the time, I would have gone there.
It is said to be difficult to give to one portion of these
Norwegian people any sense of religious or civil order ;
they are spoken of as obstinate and unmanageable ; but
they are able tillers of the ground, and they prepare the
way for a better race ; and their children, when they have
been taught in American schools, and after that become
servants in the better American families, are praised as
the best of servants — faithful, laborious, and attached ;
merely difficult to accustom to perfect cleanliness and or
der. The greater number of domestic servants in these
young Mississippi States come from the Norwegian col
onies scattered over the country. In a general way, the
Norwegians seem to succeed better here than the Swedes.
A Norwegian newspaper is published at Madison, called
" The Norwegian's Friend," some copies of which I have
obtained. After an excellent breakfast, at which our young host
ess, at my request, regaled us also with the songs of her
native land, sung to the guitar with a fresh, sweet voice,
we took our leave of that amiable lady, who will now find
a good friend in Mrs. C, and, through her, many other
friends in Madison. We drove home in a shower of rain,
stopping now and then by the way to talk with the Nor-

636 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
wegian people in the fields, and reached Madison as the
sun sank amid the most unimaginable splendor, over that
beautiful lake district and the city. The prevalence of
sunny weather in America makes it easier, and more agree
able, to travel there than any where else. One may be
sure of fine weather; and if a heavy shower does come,
you may depend upon its soon being over, and that the
sun will shortly be out again.
In Madison I have seen a good many people, and some
tiresome interrogators (and these I place among the goats),
with the usual questions, " How do you like the United
States ? How do you like Madison ? Our roads ? Do you
know Jenny Lind personally?" and so on. Some inter
esting and unusually agreeable people I also saw (and
these I place among the sheep), who have enough to say
without living by questions, and who afforded me some
hours of very interesting conversation. Foremost among
these must I mention the Chanoellor of the University of
Wisoonsin, Mr. Lathrop, an agreeable and really intellect
ual man, full of life, and a clear and intelligent sense of
the value of that youthful state in the group of the United
States, and their common value in the history of the world.
I derived much pleasure from his conversation, and from
the perusal of a speech which he made a short time since
in the Capitol here, on his installation as Chancellor of
the University. This, together with another speech on
the same occasion, by Mr. Hyatt Smith, one of the direct
ors of the Educational Committee, shows a great under
standing of the social relationship in general, and of that
of the New World in particular; of the relationship of the
past with the present, and of the present with the future,
and both speeches breathe the noblest spirit. I have heard
it remarked, that the characteristic of the speeches of the
New World, which distinguishes them from those of Eu
rope, is, that they embrace a much larger extent of sub
ject, and take much broader views, and generally aim at

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 637
comprehending the whole past, present, and future, and
the whole of the human race. They take an immense
range, place their subjects in large groups, and obtain
large views of the relationship of these to the divine law
of progressive advance. And to this I may add also, as
characteristic-, that they do it all by railway, or with rail
way speed, which brings together the near and the remote
with incredible rapidity, and presents the greatest possi
ble opposite to that German circumstantiality which never
reaches its goal. I seem to find these characteristics, in a
high degree, in those speeches delivered on the prairie-land
of the West, in the youngest state of the Union.
Chancellor Lathrop discovers that all material develop
ment on the earth which is derived from art and science,
has ultimately the effect of throwing back the soul upon
itself. The discipline of its powers during the labor which
is requisite to obtain possession of the physical world for
itself, strengthens and animates it for new conquests in
the spiritual world. And a more perfect knowledge of
the law of this, prepares us again for a more perfect do
minion over the world without us.
" The history of philosophy testifies to this mutual and
friendly relation between the sciences of matter and of
mind ; and in no period have the spiritual tendencies of
the race been more observable than in this, stigmatized
though it has been, as the mechanical, the material, the
iron age of the world. The science of mind has ceased
to be regarded as a subject of barren speculation. Its
practical bearings are felt and acknowledged. The treas
ured results of metaphysical inquiry in past ages, since
the injunction,, ' know thyself,' first opened to the pupil
and the philosopher a region of mystery and doubt, will
pass to coming generations enriched by the contributions
of the present, and distinguished by the sunlight which
our own gifted intellects are shedding on the science of
mind.

638 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
" But to tarry no longer in the vestibule, let us enter
the inner temple. The prosecution of physical, metaphys
ical, or mathematical truth derives, after all, its chief
value from its bearing on, and connection with, the social
principle in man. It is the social part of his constitution,
in which is centered mainly the value of an individual,
either to himself as a sensitive being, or to the universe
as one of its component parts.
" In all questions relative to human progress, therefore,
the burden of the inquiry must respect the social advance
ment of man.
" This inquiry presents a two-fold aspect — the consid
eration of man, first, as a portion of the universal empire
o'f God ; and, secondly, as a political or national society.
The constitutions and laws which concern him under the
former aspect are moral constitutions and laws ; those
which concern him under the latter aspect are political
constitutions and laws.
" Ask we, then, the ages what historical report they have
to bring in of the progress of those moral arrangements,
by which God is inviting and enabling man to work out
the moral regeneration of his species, to prepare himself
for that spiritual life which is to follow his trial here, for
the service, the society, and the felicity of that glorious
inner temple, to which this physical scene, with its thou
sands of revealed and still hidden mysteries, is but the
court and the vestibule.
" They point us, in reply, to the schools of the philoso
phers, those earth-born laboratories of ethical truth, to the
constitutions of the Hebrews, divine in their original, and
to the more glorious and efficacious arrangements of the
Christian dispensation, remedial in its nature, and adapted
with a divine precision to the moral diseases of man. And
under this latter dispensation, in further exemplification
of the law of progress, they point us to the canons of the
Fathers, to the reformations of Germany and England, to

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 639
the dissent of the Puritans, to the rook of Plymouth, to
the thousand clustering institutions and associations of
this latter day, subsidiary to the instructions of the pulpit
and the labors of the evangelist — all intended, and becom
ing more and more adapted, to render the prevalence of
the Christian faith as universal, as its spirit is intelligent,
and rational, and catholic, and benign. They exhibit, in
strong contrast, the moral darkness which enveloped our
pagan ancestry, with the sunlight which rests on the more
favored portions of the Christian world, enabling1 the be
liever with a brightening faith, and with a growing knowl
edge of his manifold duties and high destiny, to discover
and to pursue the pathway which leads to the companion
ship of angelic natures in his spiritual home.
" Ask we, too, the ages what they have done to develop
the true theory of political organization, to improve the
mechanism of the social system, to impart practical wis
dom to its ministrations, in order that the state may dis
charge its high duty to the citizen, for whose sake it ex
ists, and whose allegiance it claims. They point us, in
reply, to the council of the Amphictyons, to the laws of
Lycurgus and of Solon, to the tables of the Roman law
givers, to the body of the civil law, to Magna Charta, to
the Bill of Rights, and to the American Constitution —
those precious records of mind, which stand up as pillared
inscriptions in the shadowy past, along the lengthened
line of civil progress. They exhibit in contrast the wild
war of anarchy, with the beneficent reign of social order
— the unmitigated despotism of the earlier governments,
with the checks and balances of the constitutional mon
archies of the day — the wild, unformed democracies of
the past, those first experiments of young freedom, with
the written constitutions, the perfect action, of the mod
ern representative republics.
" How manifest it is, then, that our age is an age of
' results,' the causes of which lie far behind us in the
stream of time."

640 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
I have given so much of this speech, because I think
that it affords a good specimen of the tendency and im
pulse of speeches in this country, and especially in the
Western country, where society evidently feels itself to
belong in a high degree to the citizenship of the world ;
to be universal, because it is composed of people of all
nations flowing in hither by emigration ; and perhaps
also because the immense stretch of landscape in these
states of the prairies, leads the soul to take an extensive
flight. After his great railway tour round the world,
Lathrop finally comes, in his speech, to the duties which
the government of the young state of Wisconsin has to
fulfill, in order that it may accomplish its great vocation
as a home for various nations — Anglo-Saxons, Celts, Ger
mans, Scandinavians, all directing its being by new ele
ments of life.
" Free schools and public education have every where,
in the United States, shown themselves to be the great
principle of the popular elevation and development. The
American mind has caught the idea, and will not lose
sight of it, that the whole of the states' property, public
or private, is holden subject to the sacred trust of provid
ing the means of education for every child in the state.
" Unless we adopt this system, that political equality
of which we boast is only a dream, a pleasing illusion.
Knowledge is the true equalizer ; it is the true democracy ;
it equalizes by elevating, not by bringing down."
The speaker, in recommending the class of education
which the University ought to afford, observed, that the
character and position of the teacher must be elevated ;
that the want of efficient teachers was a subject of uni
versal complaint ; and that, therefore, a normal school
should be established for the preparation of effioient teach
ers for the University.
And that the aim of the library should be to contain
every work which is worthy of being possessed, in every

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 641
language and of every age ; the whole amount of human
thought, and of the experience of society.
"Wisconsin, the youngest state of the Union, established
under the most favorable circumstances, able to avail itself
of the experience of the older sister-states, rich in a new
population composed of various races ; rich in its fertile soil,
and its advantageous position between the great lakes and
the great river — the arteries of the world's commerce —
Wisconsin must, Minerva-like, advance in existence, and
take the initiative in popular progress and in social life !"
There is here, however, vigorous life, Agatha, and vig
orous life must make itself felt, otherwise so young a
state could not become a leader ; nevertheless, the leaders
here have not gone further than to school, and the educa
tion of schools, which, as the principal requirement for the
people, is on the right system ; and beyond that the Amer
ican mind has in a general way not advanced.
But it must advance further still if it would reach the
fountain-heads — the springs of life, wherefrom peoples and
states ought to drink the renewing life of youth !
The State of Wisconsin is merely two years old — a
very hopeful "baby" of the West, is it not? Seventeen
years since the state first became territory ; and it is only
three or four years since the last great battle was fought
in the country with the Indians, and their brave chief,
Black Hawk. He and his people were finally taken cap
tive on these prairies, and carried as trophies to New York.
There are now no longer Indians in Wisconsin; its white
population is rapidly on the increase. Wisconsin has no
hills, but on all sides uncultivated, and for the most part
fertile land, abounding in lakes and rivers. It is a state
for agriculture and the rearing of cattle ; the land in many
parts, however, and in particular around Madison, where
it is appropriated by the Federal government to the sup
plying an income to the state's University, is already very
dear. It has been purchased by speculators at the gov-

642 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
ernment price, a dollar and a quarter per acre, and resold
by them for not less than ten or twelve dollars per acre.
"And who will give so much for it?" inquired I of
Chancellor Lathrop.
" Your countrymen," replied he, quickly. " Your coun
trymen, whose sons will be freely educated at our Univer
sity." _
I visited, in company with Chancellor Lathrop and his
cheerful, intelligent wife, the University which is in prog
ress of erection, and which will now be soon finished. It
stands upon an elevation, " College Hill," as it is called,
and which commands an open and extensive view; it is a
large building, without any unnecessary pomp of exterior,
as in Girard College at Philadelphia, but internally it has
ample and spacious room. Many of the windows struck
me, lighted up, as they were, by the setting sun. Such,
after all, ought the Temple of the Sun to be on the West
ern prairies ! And if it fulfills its expectation, a Temple
of the Light in spirit and in truth, more glorious than
that of Peru !
It is only a few years since the Indians dwelt around
these beautiful lakes ; and they still come hither annually
in the autumn to visit the graves of their ancestors, and
to lift up their cry of lamentation ! Blue Mound, Oct.
I now write to you from a little log-house, in the midst
of prairie-land, between Madison and Galena. The log-
house belongs to a farm, and is, at the same time, post-
house, and a sort of country inn. Mr. D., the son-in-law
of my good hostess in Madison, had the kindness to drive
me hither himself, in a little open carriage, by which means
I made the journey much more comfortably than by the
stage, which comes here in the night.
Blue Mound is one of the highest hills in Wisconsin,
and derives its name from its fine dark blue color when
seen from afar. It appears then as if enveloped in a clear

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 643
purple veil, and is seen at many miles' distance, shining
out thus against the soft blue sky. It resembles Kimkulle
with us, but is more steep; like Kimkulle, it is covered
with pasture-fields and wood.
When I arrived here I was so enchanted with the vast,
glorious landscape, and with the view which it afforded
over the prairie on all sides, that I resolved to remain here
for a couple of days, in order that I might, in peace and
solitude, become acquainted with the prairie and the sun
flowers. The house possessed but one guest chamber, and that a
little garret within a large garret, in which were lodged
half a dozen laboring men. But I was assured that they
were very silent and well-behaved, and I was furnished
with a piece of wood, with which to fasten the hasp of
my door inside, as there was no lock. The room was clean
and light, although very low and badly arranged; and I
was glad to take up my abode in it, spite of the break
neck steps by which it was reached.
I spent nearly the whole of yesterday out in the prairie,
now wandering over it, and gazing out over its infinite
extent, which seemed, as it were, to expand and give wings
to body and soul ; and now sitting among sunflowers and
asters, beside a little hillook covered with bushes, reading
Emerson, that extraordinary Ariel, refreshing, but evanes
cent, and evanescent in his philosophic flights as the fugi
tive wind which sweeps across the prairie, and brings forth
from the strings of the electric telegraph melodious tones,
which sound and die away at the same moment. His phi
losophy is like that wind ; he himself is something much
beyond it, and much better. It is his own individuality
which gives that wonderfully bewitching expression to
these imperfect concords.
How grand is the impression produced by this infinite
expanse of plain, with its solitude and its silence ! In
truth, it enables the soul to expand and grow, to have a

644 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
freer and deeper respiration. That great West! Yes,
indeed ; but what solitude ! I saw no habitations except
the little house at which I was staying; no human beings,
no animals ; nothing except heaven and the flower-strewn
earth. The day was beautiful and warm, and the sun
advanced brightly through heaven and over earth, until
toward evening, when by degrees it hid itself in light
clouds of sun-smoke, which, as it descended, formed belts,
through which the fiery globe shone with softened splen
dor, so that it represented a vast pantheon, with a cupola
of gold, standing on the horizon above that immeasurable
plain. This Temple of the Sun was to me one which I
shall never forget.
To-morrow or the day following I shall leave this place,
and on Monday I hope to be on the Mississippi.
I shall now write a few words to young Mrs. D., my
beloved sunflower at Madison. I must tell you that the
cook in her family, a respectable, clever Norwegian, would
not on any terms receive money from me for the trouble
she had had on my account. The Log-House, October 9th.
It was cloudy this morning, and I was afraid of rain ;
but for all that, I went out "a la bonne aventure." And
to set out thus by one's self is so delightful. I followed a
little path which wound through low boscage over the
prairie. I there met some little children, who, with their
mat-baskets in their hands, were wandering along to sohool.
I accompanied them, and came to a little house built also
of logs, and extremely humble. This was the school-house.
The school-room was merely a room in which were some
benches ; the children, about a dozen in number, were rag
ged — regular offspring of the wilderness. But they seem
ed willing enough to learn ; and upon the log walls of the
room hung maps of the globe, upon which the young
scholars readily pointed out to me the countries I men
tioned ; and there were also in that poor school-house such

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 645
books as the " National Geography," by Goodrich, Smith's
" Q,uarto Geography," which contains views of the whole
world ; while in the reading-book in common use I found
gems from the literature of all countries, and particularly
from that of England and North Amerioa. The school
master was an agreeable young man. His monthly sti
pend was fifteen dollars.
I went onward, the sun broke through the clouds ; the
day became glorious, and again I spent a lovely day alone
on the prairie.
The host and hostess of my log-house are of Dutch ori
gin, and not without education. The food is simple, but
good ; I can have as much excellent milk and potatoes as
I desire (without spice or fat, and potatoes in this country
are my best food), as well as capital butter and bread.
Every thing is clean in the house, but the furniture and
the conveniences are not superior to such as are to be met
with in common Swedish peasant-houses. I sit at table
with the men and maid-servants of the. family, just as
they come in from their work, and not over clean, as well
as with thousands of flies.
The further I advance into the West the earlier become
the hours of meals. What do you say to breakfasting at
six in the morning, dining at twelve, and having tea at
half past six in the evening? I do not dislike it. It is
a thousand times better than the fashionable hours for
meals in New York and Boston-
It is evening. It has begun to rain and blow, and it
is no easy thing to keep the wind and rain out of the win
dow, which I am sometimes obliged to open on account
of the oppressive heat occasioned by an iron pipe, whieh
goes through the room from an iron stove in the room be
low. I am beginning to feel not quite so comfortable, and
shall be glad to go in the morning to Galena, As far as
my neighbors are concerned, I do not hear a sound of
them, so silent are they. Log-houses are in general warm,

646 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
but very dusty ; so at least I have heard many people say,
and I can myself believe it. Galena, October 11th.
You now find me here, a few miles from the great Mis
sissippi, in a little town, picturesquely situated among
hills beside a little river, called Five River, which, with
many sinuosities, winds through the glens. The town is
supported by its lead mines, which are general in this
highland district; by mining, smelting, and the export of
this heavy, dark metal. A leaden sky hung over the town
as I entered it, and I see in the street old madams wad
dling about in dull gray-colored cloaks and old bonnets,
very much like poor old madams in shabby bonnets and
cloaks in the streets of Stockholm in gray autumn weath
er; gentlemen too, or semi-gentlemen, in ragged coats —
but less annoyed by them than they would be with us.
Every thing looks dolefully gray; and it is as cold as it
is in November with us. Yesterday it was quite other
wise. Yesterday was a most glorious summer day.
It rained when at dawn I left Blue Mound, but soon
afterward cleared up; the wind chased the clouds across
the immense plain, and the play of light and shadow over
it, and those glorious views — I can not express how much
I enjoyed that day's journey ! The road along that high
prairie-land was hard and level as the roads with us in
summer. The diligence in which I sat, for the most part
alone, rolled lightly across the plain, and seemed to fly
over it, approaching every moment nearer to the giant
river, the western goal of my journey. The wind was as
warm as with us in July ; and these western views, which
increased in grandeur the nearer we approached the great
river, produced an unspeakable effect. I never experi
enced any thing similar produced by a natural object.
As the day wore on the roads became worse, and late
in the evening I arrived, excessively weary, at the little
town of Waterville, if I rightly remember the name. It

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 647
was very dark, although the sky was brilliant with stars.
I was hungry and tired, and wished to remain all night
at the hotel, partly that I might rest, and partly that I
might perform the remainder of the journey by daylight,
and thus see the great giant plain.
But the hotel was occupied by gentlemen who were
now assembled here in convention on educational ques
tions, and were just at this moment in session. There
was no room for me ; and when I spoke of my fatigue,
and my reluotance to travel by night along roads which
frequently were no roads at all, and upon which the dili
gence was overturned six times in the week, the landlord
replied by telling me about the great and important Con
vention which was sitting in the city, and of the remark
able men who were assembled here on that occasion, and
who were lodged in his house. He was so important, and
so full of the great Convention, and the members of which
Were lodged in his house, that he had neither ear nor
heart for the poor, weary traveling lady, who prayed for
a little room merely for one night. I talked of the home
of yesterday ; and he talked about the parsonage, and
between the two there was no comparison. " This ho
tel," said he, "was properly no hotel for ladies, but mere
ly for gentlemen." There was, however, another hotel in
the town, and he offered me a guide to show me the way.
But this also was occupied by the distinguished mem
bers of the Convention. "And in any case, I must travel
by night, as the diligence did not go to Galena at any oth
er time. I might depend upon having, to-night, the most
steady driver ; the night was beautiful, and — I should get
very safely and very well to Galena !" So said the landlord .
As this meeting of the distinguished men of the great
Convention was likely to last till late at night, and as the
diligence was going to set off immediately, I had no hope
of being able to speak with any of them, and to ask from
them that politeness and hospitality which the landlord

648 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
of the hotel was so wholly deficient in. I was compelled
to set off.
J1 My good friend," said I, beseechingly, to the driver of
the diligence, "I am a stranger from a distant country,
and I am alone. Promise not to overturn me !"
" That I can not promise you, ma'am," replied he; "but
I will promise to do my best to bring you safely to the
end of your journey."
It was a rational answer, and was spoken in a voice
which inspired me with confidence. I took my seat in
the diligence, and left the first inhospitable, unfriendly
place which I had found in America. There were three
or four gentlemen in the diligence ; I was the only lady.
It was so dark that I could not see their countenances ;
but their voices and their inquiries told me that they were
young and of an uneducated class.
" Are you scared, Miss Bremer ?"
" Are you afraid, ma'am ?" and so on, were the excla
mations with which they immediately overwhelmed me,
in a good-tempered and cheerful, but somewhat rude style.
I replied to their questions by the monosyllable " No !"
and was then left in peace. I was not, however, without
uneasiness as regarded the nocturnal journey. I had
heard of the diligence being lately overturned, of one lady
having broken an arm ; of another receiving so severe an
injury in the side that she still lay sick in consequence
of it at Galena ; of a gentleman who received a blow on
the head that left him insensible for several hours, and
various other such occurrences.
Several of the young men were unknown to each other,
but they soon became acquainted. One of them was go
ing to be the schoolmaster somewhere not far from the
Mississippi. He stammered woefully, and his pronuncia
tion was broad and like the bleating of a sheep. One of
the other gentlemen asked him whether he could solve a
mathematical problem " in water." The schoolmaster

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 649
seemed to be completely nonplused by this question, and
his new teacher began to describe the experiment to him
circumstantially, in a way which certainly would very
much have amused Fabian Wrede. The schoolmaster
put various questions which showed that he was not at
all familiar with this water art, and when, soon after, he
left the diligence his teacher exclaimed, " Ar'n't he green
for a schoolmaster ?" and all burst out into laughter.
They were evidently green altogether, though harmless
and good-tempered. They began singing negro songs,
and sang "Oh Susanna," "Dandy Jem from Caroline,"
and others very well, and in character. After this they
slept. The night was beautiful and clear, and the road
not so very bad ; the driver evidently good and careful.
Once only did we stick fast, and then the young fellows
were obliged to get out and help us along.
About half past twelve we arrived at our journey's end
without any disaster. All the world of Galena seemed to
be fast asleep ; even at the hotel all was silent and dark.
The porter of the "American House," an old man with
a strongly-marked English countenance, bushy eyebrows,
prominent nose and chin, with an expression of humor
and something gentlemanlike in his aspect and demeanor,
came out with a candle in his hand, and very soon took
me and my effects in charge. He showed me into a nice
little room ; but when I looked to see if the door would
lock I found that the key would not turn. On this dis
covery, I called to my old gentleman and showed him my
difficulty. He replied that I need only set my little port
manteau against the door to secure it. " That was all
that I needed for my security," he said. But when I in
sisted upon it that this was not enough to satisfy me, he
began working at the lock, till at length the double lock
suddenly shot out, and the door was fast. That was very
good, so far ; but now, when he wished to unlock it to de
part, it was just as immovable as before. He turned and
Vol. L— E e

650 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD.
turned, and could not move it the least in the world. The
old gentleman and I were locked in the room, for there
was no other means of egress but by this door. Very
agreeable this !
At this discovery he made such a comical grimace that
I could not help bursting out into a hearty peal of laugh
ter ; and when he, during a few minutes, had exerted all
his art and all his strength to no purpose, and the door re
mained as firmly closed as ever, I tried what I could do.
And, first, I examined the lock very minutely, and was
not long in discovering a little spring, upon which I press
ed my finger, and immediately the bolt sprang back, and
opening the large door, I allowed the old gentleman to es
cape, who did not look much less pleased than I did to
have got so well out of this adventure.
Later. I was here interrupted by a visit and the ne
cessity to go out into "the ladies' parlor." A handsome
young lady was sitting there, and singing so false, that it
tortured me to the very soul to hear her ; nor did she seem
as if she would ever come to an end. A young gentle
man, who sat beside her and turned over the leaves of the
music, must have been altogether without an ear, or al
together over head and ears in love.
I heard an interesting account from a married couple
whom I received in my room, and who are just now come
from the wilderness beyond the Mississippi, of the so-call
ed Squatters, a kind of white people who constitute a por
tion of the first colonists of the Western country. They
settle themselves down here and there in the wilderness,
cultivate the earth, and cultivate freedom, but will not
become acquainted with any other kind of cultivation.
They pay no taxes, and will not acknowledge either law
or church. They live in families, have no social life, but
are extremely peaceable, and no way guilty of any viola
tion of law. All that they desire is to be at peace, and
to have free elbow-room. They live very amicably with
the Indians, not so well with the American whites. When

HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. 651
these latter come with their schools, their churches, and
their shops, then the Squatters withdraw themselves fur
ther and still further into the wilderness, in order to be
able, as they say, to live in innocence and freedom. The
whole of the Western country beyond the Mississippi,
and as far as the Pacific Ocean, is said to be inhabited by
patches with these Squatters, or tillers of the land, the
origin of whom is said to be as much unknown as that of
the Clay-eaters of South Carolina and Georgia. Their way
of life has also a resemblance. The Squatters, however,
evince more power and impulse of labor ; the Clay-eaters
subject the life of nature. The Squatters are the repre
sentatives of the wilderness, and stand as such in stiff op
position to cultivation. Galena, October 12th.
Again up and again well, after two days of severe head
ache, during which I was waited upon and cared for in
the kindest manner by a kind-hearted little Irish girl be
longing to the house. I could scarcely have been better
attended to in my own home. And no one could possibly
perform that uneasy journey through Wisconsin without
having something to remember as long as he lived ; but
with it the severest part of my Western journey is accom
plished. And I am sound in body and limb, have posses
sion of reason and of all my senses, and every thing has
gone on so well, and I now feel myself so perfectly restored
to my usual good state of health, that I can only be heart
ily contented and thankful.
I shall not leave Galena until Monday,because the good
steam-boat Menomonie, so called from an Indian tribe, does
not proceed up the Mississippi to St. Paul's before that day.
I shall, in the mean time, enjoy my liberty at this excel
lent hotel, and my rambles among the picturesque hills
of the neighborhood. Good-night, beloved ! I embrace
mamma and you, and greet cordially all my good friends
both in and out of the house.
END OF VOL. I.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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