Here And There
Were Gardens Filled With Young Fruit-Trees; Among The Largest And Hardiest
In Appearance Was The Peach-Tree, Which Here Spreads Broad And Sturdy
Branches, Escapes The Diseases That Make It A Short-Lived Tree In The
Atlantic States, And Produces Fruit Of Great Size And Richness.
One of my
fellow-passengers could hardly find adequate expressions to signify his
high sense of the deliciousness of the Cleveland peaches.
I made my way to a street of shops: it had a busy appearance, more so than
usual, I was told, for a company of circus-riders, whose tents I had seen
from a distance on the lake, was in town, and this had attracted a throng
of people from the country. I saw a fruit-stall tended by a man who had
the coarsest red hair I think I ever saw, and of whom I bought two or
three enormous "bough apples," as he called them. He apologized for the
price he demanded. "The farmers," said he, "know that just now there is a
call for their early fruit, while the circus people are in town, and they
make me pay a 'igh price for it." I told him I perceived he was no Yankee.
"I am a Londoner," he replied; "and I left London twelve years ago to
slave and be a poor man in Ohio." He acknowledged, however, that he had
two or three times got together some property, "but the Lord," he said,
"laid his hand on it."
On returning to the steamer, I found a party of country people, mostly
young persons of both sexes, thin and lank figures, by no means equal, as
productions of the country, to their bough apples. They passed through the
fine spacious cabin on the upper deck, extending between the state-rooms
the whole length of the steamer. At length they came to a large mirror,
which stood at the stern, and seemed by its reflection to double the
length of the cabin. They walked on, as if they would extend their
promenade into the mirror, when suddenly observing the reflection of their
own persons advancing, and thinking it another party, they politely made
way to let it pass. The party in the mirror at the same moment turned to
the same side, which first showed them the mistake they had made. The
passengers had some mirth at their expense, but I must do our visitors the
justice to say that they joined in the laugh with a very good grace.
The same evening, at twelve o'clock, we were at Detroit. "You must lock
your state-rooms in the night," said one of the persons employed about
the vessel, "for Detroit is full of thieves." We followed the advice,
slept soundly, and saw nothing of the thieves, nor of Detroit either, for
the steamboat was again on her passage through Lake St. Clair at three
this morning, and when I awoke we were moving over the flats, as they are
called, at the upper end of the lake.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 113 of 206
Words from 58209 to 58719
of 107287