The Engines Drove The Unwieldy Fabric Through The Calm Water At The
Rate Of Fifteen Miles An Hour.
I have been thus minute in my description,
because this one will serve for all the steamers in which I subsequently
travelled in the United States and Canada.
The city of St. John looked magnificent on its lofty steep; and for some
time we had some very fine coast scenery; lofty granite cliffs rising
abruptly from the water, clothed with forests, the sea adjoining them so
deep, that we passed them, as proved by actual demonstration, within a
stone's throw. At one we arrived at Eastport, in Maine, a thriving-looking
place, and dinner was served while we were quiescent at the wharf. The
stewardess hunted up all the females in the ship, and, preceding them down
stairs, placed them at the head of the table; then, and not an instant
before, were the gentlemen allowed to appear, who made a most obstreperous
rush at the viands. There were about 200 people seated in a fetid and
dimly-lighted apartment, at a table covered over with odoriferous viands -
pork stuffed with onions, boiled legs of mutton, boiled chickens and
turkeys, roast geese, beef-steaks, yams, tomatoes, squash, mush, corn-
cobs, johnny cake, and those endless dishes of pastry to which the
American palate is so partial. I was just finishing a plate of soup when a
waiter touched me on the shoulder - "Dinner ticket, or fifty cents"; and
almost before I had comprehended the mysteries of American money
sufficiently to pay, other people were eating their dessert. So simple,
however, is the coinage of the United States, that in two days I
understood it as well as our own. Five dollars equal an English sovereign,
and one hundred cents make a dollar, and with this very moderate amount of
knowledge one can conduct one's pecuniary affairs all over the Union. The
simplicity of the calculation was quite a relief to me after the relative
values of the English sovereign in the colonies, which had greatly
perplexed me: 25s. 6d. in New Brunswick, 25s. in Nova Scotia, and
30s. in Prince Edward Island. I sat on deck till five, when I went down
to my berth. As the evening closed in gloomily, the sea grew coarser, and
I heard the captain say, "We are likely to have a very fresh night of it."
At seven a wave went down the companion-way, and washed half the tea-
things off the table, and before I fell asleep, the mate put his head
through the curtain to say, "It's a rough night, ladies, but there's no
danger"; a left-handed way of giving courage, which of course frightened
the timid. About eleven I was awoke by confused cries, and in my dawning
consciousness everything seemed going to pieces. The curtain was undrawn,
and I could see the hall continually swept by the waves.
Everything in our saloon was loose; rocking-chairs were careering about
the floor and coming into collision; the stewardess, half-dressed, was
crawling about from berth to berth, answering the inquiries of terrified
ladies, and the ship was groaning and straining heavily; but I slept
again, till awoke at midnight by a man's voice shouting "Get up, ladies,
and dress, but don't come out till you're called; the gale's very heavy."
Then followed a scene.
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