I Have Heard Men
Openly Boast, Before A Miscellaneous Company, Of Acts Of Dishonesty Which
In England Would Have Procured Transportation For Them.
Mammon is the idol
which the people worship; the one desire is the acquisition of money; the
most nefarious trickery and bold dishonesty are invested with a spurious
dignity if they act as aids to the attainment of this object.
Children
from their earliest years imbibe the idea that sin is sin - only when
found out.
The breakfast bell rang, and a general rush took place, and I was left
alone with two young ladies who had just become acquainted, and were
resolutely bent upon finding out each other's likes and dislikes, with the
intention of vowing an eternal friendship. A gentleman who looked as if he
had come out of a ball-room came up, and with a profusion of bows
addressed them, or the prettiest of them, thus: - "Miss, it's feeding time,
I guess; what will you eat?" "You're very polite; what's the ticket?"
"Chicken and corn-fixings, and pork with onion-fixings." "Well, I'm hungry
some; I'll have some pig and fixings." The swain retired, and brought a
profusion of viands, which elicited the remark, "Well, I guess that's
substantial, anyhow." The young ladies' appetites seemed to be very good,
for I heard the observation, "Well, you eat considerable; you're in full
blast, I guess." "Guess I am: its all-fired cold, and I have been an
everlastin long time off my feed." A long undertoned conversation followed
this interchange of civilities, when I heard the lady say in rather
elevated tones, "You're trying to rile me some; you're piling it on a
trifle too high." "Well, I did want to put up your dander. Do tell now,
where was you raised?" "In Kentucky." "I could have guessed that; whenever
I sees a splenderiferous gal, a kinder gentle goer, and high stepper, I
says to myself, That gal's from old Kentuck, and no mistake."
This couple carried on a long conversation in the same style of graceful
badinage; but I have given enough of it.
Lake Champlain is extremely pretty, though it is on rather too large a
scale to please an English eye, being about 150 miles long. The shores are
gentle slopes, wooded and cultivated, with the Green Mountains of Vermont
in the background. There was not a ripple on the water, and the morning
was so warm and showery, that I could have believed it to be an April day
had not the leafless trees told another tale. Whatever the boasted
beauties of Lake Champlain were, they veiled themselves from English eyes
in a thick fog, through which we steamed at half-speed, with a dismal fog-
bell incessantly tolling.
I landed at Burlington, a thriving modern town, prettily situated below
some wooded hills, on a bay, the margin of which is pure white sand, Here,
as at nearly every town, great and small, in the United States, there was
an excellent hotel.
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