Here I Found Assembled A Large Company Of Pleasure-Seekers In Holiday Attire, Some Lounging Under The Trees, Others In Groups At Pic-Nic, And Not A Small Proportion Of The Gentlemen Regaling Themselves At The Refreshment Stalls Or Temporary Cafes, Erected On The Grounds, On Mint Juleps And Iced Sangarees.

The grounds are interspersed with park, woodland, and forest scenery, and are kept in admirable order, the managers studying

To maintain the appearance of original nature, and to impress on the mind of the visitor, that he is ruralizing, far from city life, amongst primeval forest shades; the contiguous scenery is not, however, calculated to carry out the idea. It is quite the custom for American husbands to leave their families for the day, and enjoy relaxation in their own way, a practice that I apprehend would not be sanctioned by our English ladies, any more than it would be resorted to by English gentlemen, from motives of kindly and very proper feeling. Here, in a retired spot, is the duelling ground, which has attained no little notoriety in that latitude, as the spot where many a knotty point has been quietly solved by the aid of a pair of pistols or Colt's rifles; although, for the credit of the citizens of New York and its neighbourhood, it must be recorded that they are not so ready to fly to this disgraceful alternative as their ensanguined brethren in the Southern or Slave States.

My stay in New York being limited by previous arrangements, I was anxious to get back to the city, although a day might well be taken up in ruralizing, and exploring the Arcadian beauties of Hoboken, the favourite resort of the citizens of New York. So, after a pretty general though cursory survey of its attractions, I recrossed, as I had come, in a ferry propelled by steam. The construction of this boat, a whole fleet of which description were busily plying to and fro, being unique, and unlike any I had seen before, I must not pass it over without remark. In principle it consisted of two barge-like vessels placed side by side, a platform being laid on the top, for the engine, passengers, and steersman; the latter, as in all American steam-vessels, of whatever size, being perched in an elevated round-house on deck. The stem and stern of this vessel were alike, the necessity of turning being thus altogether obviated, as in some of the steam-boats on the Thames.

A practice prevails amongst newspaper publishers in America, which is, I believe, only resorted to in England in cases of public emergency or unusual excitement, and that but seldom; I mean that of posting on large placards the latest arrival of news, home or foreign: thus, whenever you return home after a sojourn in the city, the eager inquiry is sure to be, "Any news up town?" This custom keeps up a lively interest in passing events, and disseminates amongst the citizens at large, the current news of the day, and if it has no other beneficial effects, prevents rumours, that commonly circulate in times of public excitement to the detriment often of many individuals in crowded communities.

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