Here They Stand A Better Chance, But, In Many Instances, The Prejudice, It Is Said, Follows Their Course, And Southern Influence Occasions Their Bankruptcy Or Non-Success.

The practice, so common in the slave states, of the citizens congregating at the bars of hotels or cafes

In the towns and cities to while away the time, renders attendance at such places the readiest means of ascertaining the state of the public mind on any engrossing subject, opinions being here freely discussed, not, however, without bias and anger; on the contrary, the practice is most sectarian, and frequently involves deadly feuds and personal encounters, these latter being of every-day occurrence. Ever since I had been in the southern states, my attention had been attracted to the swarms of well-dressed loungers at cafes and hotels. At first, like many other travellers, I was deluded by the notion that these idlers were men of independent means, but my mind was soon disabused of this fallacy. I ascertained that the greater portion of these belong to that numerous class in America known as sporting gentlemen; in plainer terms, gamblers. Some of these men had belonged to the higher walks of life; these were the more "retiring few" who (probably through a sense of shame not quite extinguished) felt rather disposed to shrink from than to attract attention. The majority of these idlers were impudent-looking braggarts, who, with jaunty air and coxcombical show of superiority, endeavoured to enforce their own opinions, and to silence those of every one else.

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