An Englishman's Travels In America: His Observations Of Life And Manners In The Free And Slave States - 1857 - By J. Benwell.
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The Young Graduates Were Exercising In Parties On
The Parade Ground Under Officers, And Appeared Dressed In Dark Jackets
With Silver-Coloured Buttons, And Light Blue Trowsers.
We saw the
targets used by the graduates in artillery, who practise on the river
banks; at least, it was so stated by a fellow-passenger, who either was,
or pretended to be, acquainted with all the affairs of that college.
Beneath the summit of a high bluff, covered with wood, contiguous to
the college, I observed a monument or obelisk, which I ascertained to
have been erected to the memory of Kosciusko, a Polish patriot, who took
a prominent part in the annihilation of British rule in America. It had
a very picturesque effect, and was regarded with feelings of veneration
by many of the American passengers, one of whom paid a tribute to the
departed hero, which he wound up by observing with nasal emphasis and
lugubrious countenance, "If twarnt for that ere man, wher'd we be, I
waunt to know; not here I guess." This sentiment, although I could
scarcely see the point of it myself, elicited half-a-dozen "do tells"
and "I waunt to knows" from those around; expressions which, foolish as
they sound to English ears, are in common use in the northern and
eastern states, when an individual acquiesces in, or is anxious to know
more about, what is stated.
As the scenery on the Hudson, although picturesque and highly romantic,
savours somewhat of sameness, I shall forbear any further description of
it.
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