I Did Not Tell Him That His Illness Was Deserved As
Well As Natural, But Such Was My Feeling On The Matter.
I myself
happily escaped the evil consequences which his imprudence might
have entailed on me.
I again passed through Pittsburg, and over the Alleghany Mountains
by Altoona, and down to Baltimore - back into civilization,
secession, conversation, and gastronomy. I never had secessionist
sympathies and never expressed them. I always believed in the North
as a people - discrediting, however, to the utmost the existing
Northern government, or, as I should more properly say, the existing
Northern cabinet; but nevertheless, with such feelings and such
belief I found myself very happy at Baltimore. Putting aside
Boston - which must, I think, be generally preferred by Englishmen to
any other city in the States - I should choose Baltimore as my
residence if I were called upon to live in America. I am not led to
this, if I know myself, solely by the canvas-back ducks; and as to
the terrapins, I throw them to the winds. The madeira, which is
still kept there with a reverence which I should call superstitious
were it not that its free circulation among outside worshipers
prohibits the just use of such a word, may have something to do with
it, as may also the beauty of the women - to some small extent.
Trifles do bear upon our happiness in a manner that we do not
ourselves understand and of which we are unconscious. But there was
an English look about the streets and houses which I think had as
much to do with it as either the wine, the women, or the ducks, and
it seemed to me as though the manners of the people of Maryland were
more English than those of other Americans.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 258 of 531
Words from 69103 to 69402
of 142339
