Preliminary remarks on re-entering the States - Americanisms - A little
slang - Liquoring up - Eccentricities in dress - A 'cute chap down east -
Conversation on eating - A Kentucky gal - Lake Champlain - Delaval's - A noisy
serenade - Albany - Beauties of the Hudson - The Empire City.
It has been truly observed that a reliable book on the United States yet
remains to be written. The writer of such a volume must neither be a
tourist nor a temporary resident. He must spend years, in the different
States, nicely estimating the different characteristics of each, as well
as the broadly-marked shades of difference between East, West, and South.
He must trace the effect of Republican principles upon the various races
which form this vast community; and, while analysing the prosperity of the
country, he must carefully distinguish between the real, the fictitious,
and the speculative. In England we speak of America as "Brother
Jonathan" in the singular number, without any fraternal feeling however,
and consider it as one nation, possessing uniform distinguishing
characteristics. I saw less difference between Edinburgh and Boston,
than between Boston and Chicago; the dark-haired Celts of the west of
Scotland, and the stirring artisans of our manufacturing cities, have more
in common than the descendants of the Puritans in New England, and the
reckless, lawless inhabitants of the newly-settled territories west of the
Mississippi. It must not be forgotten that the thirty-two States of which
the Union is composed, may be considered in some degree as separate
countries, each possessing its governor and assembly, and framing, to a
considerable extent, its own laws. Beyond the voice which each State
possesses in the Congress and Senate at Washington, there is apparently
little to bind this vast community together; there is no national form of
religion, or state endowed church; Unitarianism may be the prevailing
faith in one State. Presbyterianism in another, and Universalism in a
third; while between the Northern and Southern States there is as wide a
difference as between England and Russia - a difference stamped on the very
soil itself, and which, in the opinion of some, threatens a disseverance
of the Union.
Other causes also produce highly distinctive features in the inhabitants.
In the long-settled districts bordering upon the Atlantic, all the
accompaniments and appliances of civilisation may be met with, and a
comparatively stationary, refined, and intellectual condition of society.
Travel for forty hours to the westward, and everything is in a transition
state: there are rough roads and unfinished railroads; foundations of
cities laid in soil scarcely cleared from the forest; splendid hotels
within sound of the hunter's rifle and the lumberer's axe; while the
elements of society are more chaotic than the features of the country.
Every year a tide of emigration rolls westward, not from Europe only, but
from the crowded eastern cities, forming a tangled web of races, manners,
and religions which the hasty observer cannot attempt to disentangle. Yet
there are many external features of uniformity which the traveller cannot
fail to lay hold of, and which go under the general name of Americanisms.
These are peculiarities of dress, manners, and phraseology, and, to some
extent, of opinion, and may be partly produced by the locomotive life
which the American leads, and the way in which all classes are brought
into contact in travelling. These peculiarities are not to be found among
the highest or the highly-educated classes, but they force themselves upon
the tourist to a remarkable, and frequently to a repulsive, extent; and it
is safer for him to narrate facts and comment upon externals, though in
doing so he presents a very partial and superficial view of the people,
than to present his readers with general inferences drawn from partial
premises, or with conclusions based upon imperfect, and often erroneous,
data.
An entire revolution had been effected in my way of looking at things
since I landed on the shores of the New World. I had ceased to look for
vestiges of the past, or for relics of ancient magnificence, and, in place
of these, I now contemplated vast resources in a state of progressive and
almost feverish development, and, having become accustomed to a general
absence of the picturesque, had learned to look at the practical and the
utilitarian with a high degree of interest and pleasure. The change from
the lethargy and feudalism of Lower Canada and the gaiety of Quebec, to
the activity of the New England population, was very startling. It was not
less so from the reposeful manners and gentlemanly appearance of the
English Canadians, and the vivacity and politeness of the French, to
Yankee dress, twang, and peculiarities.
These appeared, as the Americans say, in "full blast," during the few
hours which I spent on Lake Champlain. There were about a hundred
passengers, including a sprinkling of the fair sex. The amusements were
story-telling, whittling, and smoking. Fully half the stories told began
with, "There was a 'cute 'coon down east," and the burden of nearly all
was some clever act of cheating, "sucking a greenhorn," as the phrase is.
There were occasional anecdotes of "bustings-up" on the southern rivers,
"making tracks" from importunate creditors, of practical jokes, and
glaring impositions. There was a great deal of "liquoring-up" going on the
whole time. The best story-teller was repeatedly called upon to "liquor
some," which was accordingly done by copious draughts of "gin-sling," but
at last he declared he was a "gone 'coon, fairly stumped," by which he
meant to express that he was tired and could do no more. This assertion
was met by encouragements to "pile on," upon which the individual declared
that he "couldn't get his steam up, he was tired some." This word some
is synonymous in its use with our word rather, or its Yankee equivalent
"kinder." On this occasion some one applied it to the boat, which he
declared was "almighty dirty, and shaky some" - a great libel, by the way.
The dress of these individuals somewhat amused me.
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