Chapter I: Foreword: And Notes by Andrew Hill Clark

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Prefatory and explanatory--The voyage out--The sentimental--The actual --The oblivious--The medley--Practical joking--An unwelcome companion-- American patriotism--The first view--The departure.

CHAPTER II.

An inhospitable reception--Halifax and the Blue Noses--The heat-- Disappointed expectations--The great departed--What the Blue Noses might be--What the coach was not--Nova Scotia and its capabilities--The roads and their annoyances--A tea dinner--A night journey and a Highland cabin --A nautical catastrophe--A joyful reunion.

CHAPTER III.

Popular ignorance--The garden island--Summer and winter contrasted--A wooden capital--Island politics, and their consequences--Gossip--"Blowin- time"--Religion and the clergy--The servant nuisance--Colonial society--An evening party--An island premier--Agrarian outrage--A visit to the Indians--The pipe of peace--An Indian coquette--Country hospitality--A missionary--A novel mode of lobster-fishing--Uncivilised life--Far away in the woods--Starvation and dishonesty--An old Highlander and a Highland welcome--Hopes for the future.

CHAPTER IV.

From St. George's Cross to the Stars and Stripes--Unpunctuality-- Incompetence--A wretched night--Colonial curiosity--The fashions--A night in a buffalo robe--A stage journey--A queer character--Politics-- Chemistry--Mathematics--Rotten bridges--A midnight arrival--Colonial ignorance--Yankee conceit--What ten-horse power chaps can do--The pestilence--The city on the rock--New Brunswick--Steamboat peculiarities --Going ahead in the eating line--A storm--Stepping ashore.

CHAPTER V.

First experiences of American freedom--The "striped pig" and "Dusty Ben" --A country mouse--What the cars are like--Beauties of New England--The land of apples--A Mammoth hotel--The rusty inkstand exiled--Eloquent eyes --Alone in a crowd.

CHAPTER VI.

A suspected bill--A friend in need--All aboard for the Western cars-- The wings of the wind--American politeness--A loquacious conductor-- Three minutes for refreshments--A conversation on politics--A confession--The emigrant car--Beauties of the woods--A forest on fire-- Dangers of the cars--The Queen City of the West.

CHAPTER VII.

The Queen City continued--Its beauties--Its inhabitants, human and equine--An American church--Where chairs and bedsteads come from--Pigs and pork--A peep into Kentucky--Popular opinions respecting slavery-- The curse of America.

CHAPTER VIII.

The hickory stick--Chawing up ruins--A forest scene--A curious questioner --Hard and soft shells--Dangers of a ferry--The western prairies-- Nocturnal detention--The Wild West and the Father of Rivers--Breakfast in a shed--What is an alligator?--Physiognomy, and its uses--The ladies' parlour--A Chicago hotel, its inmates and its horrors--A water-drinking people--The Prairie City--Progress of the West.

CHAPTER IX.

A vexatious incident--John Bull enraged--Woman's rights--Alligators become hosses--A popular host--Military display--A mirth-provoking gun --Grave reminiscences--Attractions of the fair--Past and present--A floating palace--Black companions--A black baby--Externals of Buffalo-- The flag of England.

CHAPTER X.

The Place of Council--Its progress and its people--English hearts-- "Sebastopol is taken"--Squibs and crackers--A ship on her beam-ends-- Selfishness--A mongrel city--A Scot--Constancy rewarded--Monetary difficulties--Detention on a bridge--A Canadian homestead--Life in the clearings--The bush on fire--A word on farming--The "bee" and its produce --Eccentricities of Mr. Haldimands--A ride on a troop-horse--Scotch patriotism--An English church--The servant nuisance--Richard Cobden.

CHAPTER XI.

"I've seen nothing"--A disappointment--Incongruities--Hotel gaieties and "doing Niagara"--Irish drosky-drivers--"The Hell of Waters"--Beauties of Niagara--The picnic party--The white canoe--A cold shower-bath--"The Thunder of Waters"--A magic word--"The Whirlpool"--Story of "Bloody Run"-- Yankee opinions of English ladies--A metamorphosis--The nigger guide--A terrible situation--Termination Rock--Impressions of Niagara--Juvenile precocity--A midnight journey--Street adventures in Hamilton.

CHAPTER XII.

A scene at starting--That dear little Harry--The old lady and the race --Running the Rapids--An aside--Snow and discomfort--A new country--An extemporised ball--Adventure with a madman--Shooting the cataract-- First appearance of Montreal--Its characteristics--Quebec in a fog-- "Muffins"--Quebec gaieties--The pestilence--Restlessness--St. Louis and St. Roch--The shady side--Dark dens--External characteristics--Lord Elgin--Mistaking a senator.

CHAPTER XIII.

The House of Commons--Canadian gallantry--The constitution--Mr. Hincks-- The ex-rebel--Parties and leaders--A street row--Repeated disappointments --The "habitans"--Their houses and their virtues--A stationary people-- Progress and its effects--Montmorenci--The natural staircase--The Indian summer--Lorette--The old people--Beauties of Quebec--The _John Munn_--Fear and its consequences--A gloomy journey.

CHAPTER XIV.

Concluding remarks on Canada--Territory--Climate--Capabilities--Railways and canals--Advantages for emigrants--Notices of emigration--Government-- The franchise--Revenue--Population--Religion--Education--The press-- Literature--Observations in conclusion.

CHAPTER XV.

Preliminary remarks on re-entering the States--Americanisms--A little slang--Liquoring up--Eccentricities in dress--A 'cute chap down east-- Conversation on eating--A Kentucky gal--Lake Champlain--Delaval's--A noisy serenade--Albany--Beauties of the Hudson--The Empire City.

CHAPTER XVI.

Position of New York--Externals of the city--Conveyances-- Maladministration--The stores--The hotels--Curiosities of the hospital-- Ragged schools--The bad book--Monster schools--Amusements and oyster saloons--Monstrosities----A restaurant--Dwelling-houses--Equipages-- Palaces--Dress--Figures--Manners--Education--Domestic habits--The ladies-- The gentlemen--Society--Receptions--Anti-English feeling--Autographs--The buckram Englishman.

CHAPTER XVII.

The cemetery--Its beauties--The "Potter's Field"--The graves of children-- Monumental eccentricities--Arrival of emigrants--Their reception--Poor dwellings--The dangerous class--The elections--The riots--Characteristics of the streets--Journey to Boston--The sights of Boston--Longfellow-- Cambridge University.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Origin of the Constitution--The Executive--Congress--Local Legislatures-- The army and navy--Justice--Slavery--Political corruption--The foreign element--Absence of principle--Associations--The Know-nothings--The press and its power--Religion--The church--The clergy.

CHAPTER XIX.

General remarks continued--The common schools--Their defect--Difficulties --Management of the schools--The free academy--Hallways--Telegraphs-- Poverty--Literature--Advantages for emigrants--Difficulties of emigrants-- Peace or war--Concluding observations.

CHAPTER XX.

The _America_--A gloomy departure--An ugly night--Morning at Halifax--Our new passengers--Babies--Captain Leitch--A day at sea--Clippers and steamers--A storm--An Atlantic moonlight--Unpleasant sensations--A gale-- Inkermann--Conclusion.

THE ENGLISHWOMAN IN AMERICA. [Footnote: It is necessary to state that this volume is not by the Authoress of the '_Englishwoman in Russia_.']