SECTION III. SECTION III. 
The manners of the Americans (in America) are the best I eversaw: and these are seen to the greatest advantage in their homes,and as to the gentlemen, in travelling. But for the drawback ofinferior health, I know of no such earthly paradise as some ofthe homes in which I have had the honour and blessing of spendingportions of the two years of my absence. The hospitality of thecountry is celebrated; but I speak now of more than usually meetsthe eye of a stranger; of the family manners, which travellershave rarely leisure or opportunity to observe. If I am asked whatis the peculiar charm, I reply with some hesitation: there are somany. But I believe it is not so much the outward plenty, or themutual freedom, or the simplicity of manners, or the incessantplay of humour, which characterise the whole people, as the sweettemper which is diffused like sunshine over the land. They havebeen called the most good-tempered people in the world: and Ithink they must be so. The effect of general example is here mostremarkable. I met, of course, with persons of irritabletemperament; with hot-tempered, and with fidgetty people:; withsome who were disposed to despotism, and others to contradiction:but it was delightful to see how persons thus afflicted wereenabled to keep themselves in order; were so wrought upon by thegeneral example of cheerful helpfullless as to be restrained fromclouding their homes by their moods. I have often wondered whatthe Americans make of European works of fiction in which ailingtempers are exhibited. European fiction does not represent suchin half the extent and variety in which they might be truly andprofitably exhibited: but I have often wondered what theAmericans make of them, such as they are. They possess theinitiatory truth, in the variety of temperaments which existsamong themselves, as everywhere else; and in the moods ofchildren: but the expansion of deformed tempers in grown peoplemust strike them as monstrous caricatures.
Of course, there must be some general influence which sweetensor restrains the temper of a whole nation, of the same Saxon racewhich is not everywhere so amiable. I imagine that the practiceof forbearance requisite in a republic is answerable for thispleasant peculiarity. In a republic, no man can in theoryoverbear his neighbour; nor, as he values his own rights, can hedo it much or long in practice. If the moral independence ofsome, of many, sinks under this equal pressure from all sides, itis no little set-off against such an evil that the outbreaks ofdomestic tyranny are thereby restrained; and that the respect formutual rights which citizens have perpetually enforced upon themabroad, comes thence to be observed towards the weak andunresisting in the privacy of home.
Some may find it difficult to reconcile this prevalence ofgood temper with the amount of duelling in the United States;with the recklessness of life which is not confined to thesemi-barbarous parts of the country. When it is understood thatin New Orleans there were fought, in 1834, more duels than thereare days in the year, fifteen on one Sunday morning; that in1835, there were 102 duels fought in that city between the 1st ofJanuary and the end of April; and that no notice is taken ofshooting in a quarrel; when the world remembers the duel betweenClay and Randolph; that Hamilton fell in a duel; and several moresuch instances, there may be some wonder that a nation where suchthings happen, should be remarkably good-tempered. But NewOrleans is no rule for any place but itself. The spirit of caste,and the fear of imputation, rage in that abode of heathenlicentiousness. The duels there are, almost without exception,between boys for frivolous causes. All but one of the 102 wereso. And even on the spot, there is some feeling of disgust andshame at the extent of the practice. A Court of Honour wasinstituted for the restraint of the practice; of course, withouteffectual result. Its function degenerated into choosing weaponsfor the combatants, so that it ended by sanctioning, instead ofrepressing, duelling. Those who fight the most frequently andfatally are the French creoles, who use small swords.
The extreme cases which afford the clearest reading of thefolly and wickedness of the practice,-- of the meanness of thefear which lies at the bottom of it,--are producing their effect.The young men who go into the west to be the founders of newsocieties are in some instances taking their responsibility toheart, and resolving to use well their great opportunity forsubstituting a true for a false, a moral for a physical courage.The dreadful affair at Philadelphia, never to be forgotten there,when a quiet, inoffensive young man, the only child of a widowedmother, was forced out into the field, against his strongestremonstrances, made to stand up, and shot through the heart,could not but produce its effect. One of the principal agents wasdegraded in the American navy, (but has been since reinstated,)and none of the parties concerned has ever stood as well withsociety as other men since. Hamilton's fall, again, has openedmen's eyes to the philosophy of duelling, and is working to thatpurpose, more and more. At the time, it was pretty generallyagreed that he could not help fighting; now, there are few whothink so. His correspondence with his murderer, previous to theduel, is remarkable. Having been told, on my entrance into thecountry, that Hamilton had been its "greatest man," Iwas interested in seeing what a greater than Washington could sayin excuse for risking his life in so paltry a way. I read hiscorrespondence with Colonel Burr with pain. There is fear inevery line of it; a complicated, disgraceful fear. He wasobviously perishing between two fears--of losing his life, and ofnot being able to guard his own honour against the attacks of aruffian. Between these two fears he fell. I was talking over thecorrespondence with a duelling gentleman, "O," said he,"Hamilton went out like a capuchin." So the"greatest man" did not obtain even that for which hethrew away what he knew was considered the most valuable life inthe country. This is as it should be. When contempt becomes thewages of slavery to a false idea of honour, it will cease tostand in the way of the true; and "greatest men" willnot end their lives in littleness.
Certain extreme cases which occur on the semi-barbarousconfines of the country come occasionally in aid of such lessonsas those I have cited. A passenger on board the "HenryClay," in which I ascended the Mississippi, showed inperfection the results of a false idea of honour. He belonged toone of the first families in Kentucky, had married well, andsettled at Natchez, Mississippi. His wife was slandered by aresident of Natchez, who, refusing to retreat, was shot dead bythe husband, who fled to Texas. The wife gathered their propertytogether, followed her husband, was shipwrecked below NewOrleans, and lost all. Her wants were supplied by kind persons atNew Orleans, and she was forwarded by them to her destination,but soon died of cholera. Her husband went up into Missouri, andsettled in a remote part of it to practice law; but with asuspicion that he was dogged by the relations of the man he hadshot. One day he met a man muffled in a cloak, who engaged withhim, shot him in both sides, and stabbed him with an Arkansasknife. The victim held off the knife from wounding him mortallytill help came, and his foe fled. The wounded man slowlyrecovered; but his right arm was so disabled as to compel him topostpone his schemes of revenge. He ascertained that his enemyhad fled to Texas; followed him there; at length met him, onefine evening, riding, with his double-barrelled gun before him.They knew each other instantly: the double-barrelled gun wasraised and pointed, but before it could be fired, its owner fellfrom the saddle, shot dead like the brother he had sought toavenge. The murderer was flying, up the river once more when Isaw him, not doubting that he should again be dogged by somerelation of the brothers he had shot. Some of the gentlemen onboard believed that if he surrendered himself at Natchez, hewould be let off with little or no punishment, and allowed tosettle again in civilised society; but he was afraid of thegallows, and intended to join some fur company in the north-west,if he could; and if he failed in this, to make himself a chief ofa tribe of wandering Indians.
This story may be useful to those (if such there be) for whomthe catastrophe of Hamilton is not strong enough. The two casesdiffer in degree, not in kind.
That such hubbub as this is occasioned by a false idea ofhonour, and not by fault of temper, is made clear by theamiability shown by Americans, in all cases where their idea ofhonour is not concerned. In circumstances of failure anddisappointment, delay, difficulty, and other provocation, theyshow great self-command. In all cases that I witnessed, from theNew York fire, and baffled legislation, down to the being"mired" in bad roads, they appeared to be proof againstirritation. Sometimes this went further than I could quiteunderstand.
While travelling in Virginia, we were anxious one day to pushon, and waste no time. Our "exclusive extra" drew upbefore a single bouse, where we were to breakfast. We told thelandlady that we were excessively hungry, and in some hurry, andthat we should be obliged by her giving us any thing she happenedto have cooked, without waiting for the best she could do for us.The woman was the picture of laziness, of the most formal kind.She kept us waiting till we thought of going on without eating.When summoned to table, at length, we asked the driver to sitdown with us, to save time. Never did I see a more ludicrousscene than that breakfast. The lady at the tea-tray, tossing thegreat bunch of peacocks' feathers, to keep off the flies, and assolemn as Rhadamanthus. So was our whole party, for fear oflaughter from which we should not be able to recover. Everythingon the table was sour; it seemed as if studiously so. Theconflict between our appetites and the disgust of the food wasridiculous. We all presently gave up but the ravenous driver. Hetried the bread, the coffee, the butter, and all were too sourfor a second mouthful; so were the eggs, and the ham, and thesteak. No one ate anything, and the charge was as preposterous asthe delay; yet our paymaster made no objection to the way we weretreated. When we were off again, I asked him why he had been sogracious as to appear satisfied.
"This is a newly-opened road," he replied; "thepeople do not know yet how the world lives. They have probably noidea that there is better food than they set before us."
"But do not you think it would be a kindness to informthem?"
"They did their lbest for us, and I should be sorry tohurt their feelings."
"Then you would have them go through life on bad food,and inflicting it on other people, lest their feelings should behurt at their being told how to provide better. Do you supposethat all the travellers who come this way will be as tender ofthe lady's feelings?"
"Yes, I do. You see the driver took it veryquietly."
When we were yet worse treated, however, just after, whenspending a night at Woodstock, our paymaster did remonstrate,(though very tenderly,) and his remonstrance was received withgreat candour by the master of the house; his wife being the onemost to blame.
With this forbearance is united the most cheerful and generoushelpfulness. If a farmer is burned out, his neighbours collect,and never leave him till he is placed in a better house than theone he has lost. His barns, in like case, are filled withcontributions from their crops. Though there is nothing that menprize there so much as time, there is nothing that they are moreready to give to the service of others. Their prevalentgenerosity in the giving of money is known, and sufficientlyestimated, considering how plentiful wealth is in the country.The expenditure of time, thought, and ingenuity, is a far bettertest of the temper from which the helpfulness proceeds. I amsorry that it is impossible to describe what this temper is inAmerica; its manifestations being too incessant and minute fordescription. If this great virtue could be exhibited as clearlyas it is possible to exhibit their faults, the heart of societywould warm towards the Americans more readily than it has everbeen alienated from them by their own faults, or the ill officesof strangers.
It seems to me that the Americans are generally unaware howone bad habit of their own, springing out of this very temper,goes to aggravate the evil offices of strangers. It is to me themost prominent of their bad habits; but one so likely to be curedby their being made aware of it, that I cannot but wish that someof the English vituperation which has been expended upon tobaccoand its effects had been directed upon the far more serious faultof flattery. It will be seen at once how the practice of flatteryis almost a necessary result of the combination of a false ideaof honour with kindliness of temper. Its prevalence is so greatas to tempt one to call it a necessary result. There is nogetting out of the way of it. A gentleman, who was a depravedschool-boy, a fiendish husband, father, and slave-owner, whosereputation for brutality was as extensive as the country, waseulogized in the newspapers at his death. Every book that comesout is exalted to the skies. The public orators flatter thepeople; the people flatter the orators. Clergymen praise theirflocks; and the flocks stand amazed at the excellence of theirclergymen. Sunday-school teachers admire their pupils; and thescholars magnify their teachers. As to guests, especially fromabroad, hospitality requires that some dark corner should heprovided in every room where they may look when their own praisesare being told to their own faces. Even in families, where, ifanywhere, it must be understood that love cannot be sweetened bypraise, there is a deficiency of that modesty, "simplicityand godly sincerity," in regard to mutual estimate, whichthe highest fidelity of affection inspires.
Passing over the puerility and vulgarity of the practice,--Ithink, if the Americans were convinced of its selfishness,--ofits being actually a breach of benevolence, they would exercisethe same command over their tongues that they do over theirtempers, and suppress painful praises, as they rise to the lips.It was pleaded to me that the admiration is real, the praisesincere. Be it so: but why are they to be expressed, more thanany other real thoughts whose expression would give pain? Let theadmiration by all means be enjoyed: but what a pity to destroysympathy with the person admired, by talking on the very subjectat which sympathy must cease! Is it not clear that if praise benot painful to the person praised, it must be injurious? If he bemodest, it is torture: if not, it is poison. Or, if there be athird case, and it is indifferent, such indifference to thepraise is very nearly allied to contempt for the praiser. Whenonce the decencies of friendship are violated, and the modesty ofmutual estimate is gone, the holiness of friendship is gone too;and there is every danger that selfish, conscious passion willoverbear unconscious, disinterested affection. Enough. I wouldonly put it to any person whether the friendship he values mostis not that which is least coarsened by praise; and in which heand his friend are led the least frequently to think of theiropinion of each other. I would put it to the intimates of such aman as Dr. Channing, for instance, whether their warmestaffections do not spring towards and repose upon him in thedelicious certainty, that while he is sympathising with everypure and true emotion, he will refrain from disturbing its flowby introducing a consciousness, a self and mutual reference, fromwhich it is the highest privilege in life to escape. Praise mayhelp some common-minded persons over the difficulties of a newand superficial intercourse: at least, so I am told: but intimatecommunion and permanent friendship require a purity and reposewith which the interchange of expressed admiration is absolutelyincompatible.
With regard to the spirit of intercourse, nothing more remainsto be said here, but that the frankness practiced in privatelife, within the doors of home, is as remarkable as the cautionand reserve which prevail elsewhere. Nothing can be moredelightful than the familiarity and confidence with which I wasinvariably treated; and to which I saw few exceptions in thecases of other persons. Everything was discussed in every house Istaid in: religion, philosophy, literature; and, with quite asmuch freedom, character, public and private, national andindividual. The language being the same as my own, I was apt toforget that I was on my travels, till some visitor dropped inwhose inquiries how I liked the country reminded me that I was aforeigner. Even now, having performed the voyage home, and havingall manner of evidence that I have left the country threethousand miles behind me, I find it difficult to bring in mypersonal friends as elements of the society whose condition I ampondering. They are too like brothers and sisters to be subjectsfor analysis: and I perpetually feel the want of them at hand, toassist me by their controverting or corroborating judgments. Theyand I know what their homes are, and how happy we have been inthem: and this is all that in my affection for them I can say oftheir domestic life, without putting a force upon their feelingsand my own.
If I am not much mistaken, society in the new world iswakening up, under the stimulus of the slave-question, to a senseof its want of practical freedom, owing to its too great regardto opinion. The examples of those who can and do assertand maintain their liberty in these times of fiery trial, arevenerable and beautiful in the eyes of the young. Those in thecities who have grown old in the practice of mistrust areunconscious of the extent of their privations: but the freeyeomanry, and the youth of the towns, have an eye for the right,and a heart for the true, amid the mists and subtleties in whichtruth and liberty have been of late involved. The young men ofBoston, especially, seem to be roused: and it is all-importantthat they should be. Boston is looked to throughout the Union, asthe superior city she believes herself to be: and nowhere is theentrance upon life more perilous to the honesty and consistencyof young aspirants after the public service. Massachusetts is thehead-quarters of federalism. Federalism is receding beforedemocracy, even there; but that State has still a federalmajority. A Massachusetts man has little chance of success inpublic life, unless he starts a federalist: and he has no chanceof rising above a certain low point, unless, when he reaches thatpoint, he makes a transition into democracy. The trial is toogreat for the moral independence of most ambitious men: and itfixes the eyes of the world on the youth of Boston. They arewatched, that it may be seen whether they who now burn withardour for complete freedom will hereafter "reverence thedreams of their youth," or sink down into cowardice, apathy,and intolerance, as they reach the middle of life.
If they will only try, they will find how great are the easeand peace attendant on the full exercise of rights, even thoughit should shut the career of politics, and possibly of wealth,against them for a time. If they will look in the faces of thefew who dare to live in the midst of Boston as freely as if theywere in the centre of the prairies, they will see in thosecountenances a brightness and serenity which a sense of meresafety could never impart. The pursuit of safety,--safety fromoutward detriment,--is of all in this world the most hopeless.The only attainable safety is that which usually bears anothername,--repose in absolute truth. Where there is a transparency ofcharacter which defies misrepresentation, a faith in men whichdisarms suspicion, an intrepidity which overawes malice, and aspirit of love which wins confidence, there is safety; and innothing short of all these. If any of them are deficient, in thesame proportion does safety give place to danger; and nosubstitution of prudence will be of more than temporary avail.Prudence is now reigning supreme over the elderly classes ofBoston generally, and too many of the young. Independence isanimating the rest. It remains to be seen which will havesuccumbed when the present youth of the city shall have becomeher legislators, magistrates, and social representatives.
As a specimen of the thoughts and feelings of some on thespot, I give the following.
"Liberty of thought and opinion is strenuouslymaintained: in this proud land it has become almost a wearisomecant: our speeches and journals, religious and political, aremade nauseous by the vapid and vain-glorious reiteration. Butdoes it, after all, characterise any community among us?Is there any one to which a qualified observer shall point, andsay, There opinion is free? On the contrary, is it not afact, a sad and deplorable fact, that in no land on this earth isthe mind more fettered than it is here? that here what we callpublic opinion has set up a despotism, such as exists nowhereelse? Public opinion,--a tyrant, sitting in the dark, wrapt up inmystification and vague terrors of obscurity; deriving power noone knows from whom; like an Asian monarch, unapproachable,unimpeachable, undethronable, perhaps illegitimate,--butirresistible in its power to quell thought, to repress action, tosilence conviction,--and bringing the timid perpetually under anunworthy bondage of mean fear to some impostor opinion, somenoisy judgment, which gets astride on the popular breath for aday, and controls, through the lips of impudent folly, the speechand actions of the wise. From this influence and rule, from thisbondage to opinion, no community, as such, is free; thoughdoubtless individuals are. But your community, brethren, based onthe principles which you profess, is bound to be so." *
So much for the spirit of intercourse. As for the modes inwhich the spirit is manifested, their agreeableness, or thecontrary, is a matter of taste. No nation can pretend to judgeanother's manners; for the plain reason that there is no standardto judge by: and if an individual attempts to pronounce uponthem, his sentence amounts to nothing more than a declaration ofhis own particular taste. If such a declaration from anindividual is of any consequence, I am ready to acknowledge thatthe American manners please me, on the whole, better than anythat I have seen.
Tbe circumstances which strike a stranger unpleasantly are theapparent coldness and indifference of persons in hotels andshops; the use of tobacco, and consequent spitting; the tone ofvoice, especially among the New England ladies; and at first, butnot afterwards, the style of conversation. The great charm is theexquisite mutual respect and kindliness.
Of the tobacco and its consequences, I will say nothing butthat the practice is at too bad a pass to leave hope thatanything that could be said in books would work a cure. If thefloors of boarding-houses, and the decks of steam-boats, and thecarpets of the Capitol, do not sicken the Americans into areform; if the warnings of physicians are of no avail, whatremains to be said? I dismiss the nauseous subject.
A great unknown pleasure remains to be experienced by theAmericans in the well-modulated, gentle, healthy, cheerful voicesof women. It is incredible that there should not, in all time tocome, be any other alternative than that which now exists,between a whine and a twang. When the health of the Americanwomen improves, their voices will improve. In the meantime, theyare unconscious how the effect of their remarkable and almostuniversal beauty is injured by their mode of speech.
The peculiarity is less remarkable in manly conversation. Theconversation of the gentlemen strikes one at first as being dulland prosy. They converse with much evenness of tone, slowly andat great length: so as to leave the observer without any surprisethat the Americans think English conversation hasty, sharp, andrough. I found also a prevalent idea that conversation is studiedas an art in England: and many of my friends were so positive onthis point as to make me doubt the correctness of my ownconviction that it is not so. If there be any such study, I canonly say that I have detected no instances of it; nor did theidea ever enter my mind except in reading of Lady AngelicaHeadingham, in 'Patronage.' In the whole course of my life,perhaps, I never met with so many particular instances of anartificial mode of conversing as during the two years that I wasin America: but I could see the reason in every case; and thatall were exceptions to the rule of natural though peculiarcommunication. The conversation of the great public men wasgenerally more instructive than pleasing, till they forgot thatthey were public men, and talked on other things than publicaffairs. One could never conceal that he designed to effect aparticular persuasion in your mind: a design against which allthe listener's faculties are sure to rise up in instantrebellion. Another did not intend you should see that he wasspeaking from a map of the subject in his brain; bringingcontrasts and comparisons to bear, as it might seem accidentally,upon your imagination. Two or three or more, willing to concealfrom themselves, I really believe, as well as from the stranger,that logic is not their forte, dart off after everywill-o'-the-wisp of an analogy; and talk almost wholly infigures. This is bad policy; for some of the figures were sobeautiful and apparently illustrative, as to fix the attention,instead of passing over the ear, and give one time to discoverthat they were not satisfactory. The most remarkable instances ofthis were in the south, where I had the pleasure of hearing moreof every thing than of logic. Perhaps the most singular style ofall was one which struck me so much that I wrote down pages of itfor subsequent study:--a slow, impressive style, a succession ofclever figures, a somewhat pompous humour, and a wrapping roundof inconvenient considerations with an impenetrahle cloud of theplainest-seeming words. The gushing talk of Judge Story, thebrimmings of a full head and heart, natural, lively, fresh,issuing from the supposition that you can understand, and wish tounderstand everything that is interesting to him, and from asimple psychological curiosity, is perfectly delightful after themeasured communications of some other public men.
I may here mention Dr. Channing's conversation. I do sobecause it has been the occasion of his being much misunderstoodand consequently misrepresented. I never knew a case where theconversation of an individual did him so much injustice at first,and such eminent service in the affections of his hearers atlast. Unfortunately, those who report him generally see him onlyonce or twice; and then they are pretty sure to leave him withless real knowledge of him than they probably had three thousandmiles off. This circumstance may justify my speaking here of onewhom I revere and regard too much to feel it easy to say anythingof him publicly beyond the mere testimony which it is an honourto bear to such men. Dr. Channing has an unfortunate habit ofsuiting his conversation to the supposed state of mind of theperson he is conversing with, or to that person's supposedknowledge on a subject on which he wants information. Theadaptation, not being natural, cannot be true, and something isthus given out which is the reflection of nobody's mind; and theconversation is fruitless or worse. This is merely a habit of drawingout. If the visitor goes away upon this, he reports thethings which are reported of Dr. Channing's opinions; which areno more like his than they are like Aristotle's. If the visitorstays long enough, or comes again often enough to catch some ofhis thoughts as they issue from his heart, he finds a strangepower in them to move and kindle. His words become deeds whenthey proceed from impulse. Not a tone nor a syllable can be everforgotten. The reason is that unseen things are to him realities;and material things are but shadows. After continued and opencommunication with him, it becomes an inexplicable wonder thatanything but truth, justice, and charity should be made objectsof serious pursuit in the world.
Mr. Madison's conversation has been already mentioned as beingfull of graces. The sprightliness, rapidity, and variety wereremarkable in a man of eighty-four, confined to two rooms, andsubject to various infirmities. He was a highly favourablespecimen of the accomplished gentleman of the revolutionarytimes.
There are persons whom it seems to myself strange to name inthis connexion, when there are things in them which I value muchmore highly than their eloquence. But as eloquent beyond allothers, they must be mentioned here. I refer to Dr. and Mrs.Follen, late of Boston.--Dr. Follen is a German: well known inGermany for his patriotism; as troublesome to its princes asanimating to their subjects. He has been thirteen years inAmerica, and seven years a citizen of Massachusetts. His masteryof the language has been perfect for some years: but, as hebrought a rich and matured mind to the first employment of it, heuses it differently from any to whom it is the mother tongue. Itis an instrument of extraordinary power in his hands, as a mereinstrument. But he is a man of learning which I do not pretend toestimate in any department. The great mass of his knowledge isvivified by a spirit which seerms to have passed through allhuman experiences, appropriating whatever is true and pure, andleaving behind all else. With not only a religious love ofliberty, but an unerring perception of the true principle ofliberty in every case as it arises, with an intrepidity whichexcites rage where his gentleness is not known, and a gentlenesswhich disarms those who fear his intrepidity, he is the mostvaluable acquisition that the United States, in their presentcondition, can well be conceived to have appropriated from theOld World, in the person of an individual citizen. I certainlythink him the most remarkable, and the greatest man I saw in thecountry. Dr. Follen has pledged himself to the anti-slaverycause; and declared himself in other ways in favour of freedom ofthought, action, and speech, so as to make himself feared,--(orrather his opinions, for no one can fear himself,)--by some ofthe society of his State in whom the idea of honour most wantsrectifying: but, as he becomes more known to the true-heartedamong his fellow-citizens, he will be regarded by them all withthe pride and admiration, mixed with tender affection, which heinspires in those who have the honour and blessing of being hisfriends. He has married a Boston lady; a woman of genius, and ofthose large and kindly affections which are its naturalelement. What the intercourses of their home are, their guestscan never forget; nor ever describe.
The most common mode of conversation in America I shoulddistinguish as prosy, but withal rich and droll. For some weeks,I found it difficult to keep awake during the entire reply to anyquestion I happened to ask. The person questioned seemed to feelhimself put upon his conscience to give a full, true, andparticular reply; and so he went back as near to the Deluge asthe subject would admit, and forward to the millennium,taking care to omit nothing of consequence in the interval. Therewas, of course, one here and there, as there is everywhere, totell me precisely what I knew before, and omit what I mostwanted: but this did not happen often: and I presently found theinformation I obtained in conversation so full, impartial, andaccurate, and the shrewdness and drollery with which it wasconveyed so amusing, that I became a great admirer of theAmerican way of talking before six months were over. Previous tothat time, a gentleman in the same house with me expressedpleasantly his surprise at my asking so few questions: sayingthat if he came to England, he should be asking questions all daylong. I told him that there was no need of my seeking informationas long as more was given me in the course of the day than myhead would carry. I did not tell him that I had not power ofattention sufficient for such information as came in answer to myown desire. I can scarce believe now that I ever felt such adifficulty.
They themselves are, however, aware of their tendency tolength, and also to something of the literal dulness whichCharles Lamb complains of in relation to the Scotch. They havestories of American travellers which exceed all I ever heard ofthem anywhere else: such as that an American gentleman, returnedfrom Europe, was asked how he liked Rome: to which he repliedthat Rome was a fine city; but that he must acknowledge hethought the public buildings were very much out of repair. Again,it is told against a lady that she made some undeniably trueremarks on a sermon she heard. A preacher, discoursing on theblindness of men to the future, remarked "how few men, inbuilding a house, consider that a coffin is to go down thestairs!" The lady observed with much emphasis, on comingout, that ministers had got into the strangest way of choosingsubjects for the pulpit! It was true that wide staircases are agreat convenience: but she did think Christian ministers mightfind better subjects to preach upon than narrow staircases. Andso forth. An eminent Senator told me that he was too often on theone horn or the other of a dilemma: sometimes a gentleman gettingup in the Senate, and talking as if he would never sit down: andsometimes a gentlemen sitting down in his study, and talking asif he would never get up.
Yet there is an epigrammatic turn in the talk of those whohave never heard of "the art of conversation" which issupposed to be studied by the English. A reverend divine,--noother than Dr. Channing,--was one day paying toll, when heperceived a notice of gin, rum, tobacco, &c, on a board whichbore a strong resemblance to a grave-stone. "I am glad tosee," said the Dr. to the girl who received the toll,"that you have been burying those things."--"Andif we had," said the girl, "I don't doubt you wouldhave gone chief mourner."
Some young men, travelling on horseback among the WhiteMountains, became inordinately thirsty, and stopped for milk at ahouse by the road-side. They emptied every basin that wasoffered, and still wanted more. The woman of the house at lengthbrought an enormous bowl of milk, and set it down on the table,saying, "One would think, gentlemen, you had never beenweaned."
Of the same kind was the reply made by a gentleman of Virginiato a silly question by a lady.
"Who made the Natural Bridge?"--"God knows,madam."
I was struck with repeated instances of new versions,generally much improved, of old fables. I think the following animprovement upon Sour Grapes. Noah warned his neighbours of whatwas coming, and why he was building his ark; but nobody mindedhim. When people on the high grounds were up to their chins, anold acquaintance of Noah's was very eager to be taken into theark: but Noah refused again and again. "Well," said theman, when he found it was in vain, "go, get along, you andyour old ark! I don't believe we are going to have much of ashower." I tried to ascertain whether this story wasAmerican. I could trace it no further off than Plymouth,Massachusetts.
There cannot be a stronger contrast than between the fun andsimplicity of the usual domestic talk of the United States, andthe solemn pedantry of which the extremest examples are to befound there; exciting as much ridicule at home as they possiblycan elsewhere. I was solemnly assured by a gentleman that I wasquite wrong on some point, because I differed from him. Everybodylaughed: when he went on, with the utmost gravity, to inform usthat there had been a time when he believed, like other people,that he might be mistaken; but that experience had convinced himthat he never was; and he had in consequence cast behind him thefear of error. I told him I was afraid the place he lived in mustbe terribly dull,--having an oracle in it to settle everything.He replied that the worst of it was, other people were not soconvinced of his being always in the right as he was himself.There was no joke here. He is a literal and serious-minded man.Another gentleman solemnly remarkecl upon the weather of latehaving been "uncommonly mucilaginous." Another pointedout to me a gentleman on board a steam-boat as "a bluestocking of the first class." A lady asked me many questionsabout my emotions at Niagara, to which I gave only one answer ofwhich she could make anything. "Did you not," was herlast inquiry, "long to throw yourself down, and mingle withyour mother earth?"-- " No." --Another asked mewhether I did not think the sea might inspire vast and singularideas.--Another, an instructress of youth, in examining myear-trumpet, wanted to know whether its length made anydifference in its efficiency. On my answering, "None atall"--"O certainly not," said she, verydeliberately; "for, sound being a material substance, canonly be overcome by a superior force." The mistakes ofunconscious ignorance should be passed over with a silent smile:but affectation should be exposed, as a service to a youngsociety.
I rarely, if eser, met with instances of this pedantry amongthe yeomanry or mechanic classes; or among the young. The mostnumerous and the worst pedants were middle-aged ladies. Oneinstance struck me as being unlike anything that could happen inEngland. A literary and very meritorious village mantua-makerdeclared that it was very hard if her gowns did not fit theladies of the neighbourhood. She had got the exact proportions ofthe Venus de Medici, to make them by: and what more could she do?Again. A sempstress was anxious that her employer should requestme to write something about Mount Auburn: (the beautiful cemeterynear Boston.) Upon her being questioned as to what kind ofcomposition she had in hcr fancy, she said she would have MountAuburn considered under three points of view:--as it was on theday of creation,--as it is now,--as it will be on the day ofresurrection. I liked the idea so well that I got her to write itfor me, instead of my doing it for her.
As for the peculiarities of language of which so much has beenmade,--I am a bad judge: but the fact is, I should have passedthrough the country almost without observing any, if my attentionhad not been previously directed to them. Next to the well-knownuse of the word "sick," instead of "ill," (inwhich they are undoubtedly right,) none struck me so much as thefew following. They use the word "handsome" much moreextensively than we do: saying that Webster made a handsomespeech in the Senate: that a lady talks handsomely, (eloquently:)that a book sells handsomely. A gentleman asked me on theCatskill Mountain, whether I thought the sun handsomer there thanat New York. When they speak of a fine woman, they refer tomental or moral, not at all to physical superiority. The effectwas strange, after being told, here and there, that I was aboutto see a very fine woman, to meet in such cases almost the onlyplain women I saw in the country. Another curious circumstanceis, that this is almost the only connexion in which the wordwoman is used. This noble word, spirit-stirring as it passes overEnglish ears, is in America banished, and "ladies" and"females" substituted: the one to English taste mawkishand vulgar; the other indistinctive and gross. So much fordifference of taste. The effect is odd. After leaving the men'swards of the prison at Nashville, Tennessee, I asked the wardenwhether he would not let me see the women. "We have noladies here, at present, madam. "We have never had but twoladies, who were convicted for stealing a steak; but, as itappeared that they were deserted by their husbands, and in want,they were pardoned." A lecturer, discoursing on thecharacteristics of women, is said to have expressed himself thus."Who were last at the cross? Ladies. Who were first at thesepulchre? Ladies."
A few other ludicrous expressions took me by surpriseoccasionally. A gentleman in the west, who had been discussingmonarchy and republicanism in a somewhat original way, asked meif I would "swap" my king for his. We were often toldthat it was "a dreadful fine day;" and a girl at ahotel pronounced my trumpet to be "terrible handy."**In the back of Virginia these superlative expressions are themost rife. A man who was extremely ill, in agonizing pain, sentfor a friend to come to him. Before the friend arrived, the painwas relieved, but the patient felt much reduced by it. "Howdo you find yourself?" inquired the friend. "I'mpowerful weak; but cruel easy."
The Kentucky bragging is well known. It is so ingenious as tobe very amusing sometimes: but too absurd in the mouth of a dullperson. One such was not satisfied with pointing out to me howfine the woods were, but informed me that the intimate texture ofthe individual leaves was finer and richer in Kentucky thananywhere else. I much prefer the off-hand air with which adashing Kentuckian intimates to you the richness of the soil;saying "if you plant a nail at night, 'twill come up a spikenext morning."
However much may be the fault of strangers, in regard to thecoldness of manners which is complained of in those who servetravellers in America, and however soon it may be dissipated by agenial address on the part of the stranger, it certainly is verydisagreeable at the first moment. We invariably found ourselveswell treated; and in no instance that I remember failed todissipate the chill by showing that we were ready to helpourselves, and to be sociable. The instant we attacked thereserve, it gave way. But I do not wonder that strangers who arenot prepared to make the concession, and especially gentlementravelling from hotel to hotel, find the constraint extremelyirksome. It should never be forgotten that it is usually a matterof necessity or of favour, seldom of choice, (except in thetowns,) that the wife and daughters of American citizens renderservice to travellers. Such a breaking in upon their domesticquiet, such an exposure to the society of casual travellers, mustbe so distasteful to them generally as to excuse any apparentwant of cordiality. Some American travellers, won by the empressementof European waiters, declare themselves as willing to pay forcivility as for their dinner. I acknowledge a different taste. Ihad rather have indifference than civility which bears areference to the bill: but l prefer to either the cordialitywhich brightens up at your offer to make your own bed, mend yourown fire, &c.--the cordiality which brings your hostess intoyour parlour, to draw her chair, and be sociable, not only byasking where you are going, but by telling you all that interestsher in her neighbourhood. A girl at a Meadville hotel, inPennsylvania, urged us to change our route, that we might visitsome friends of hers,--"a beautiful bachelor that had latelylost his wife, and his fine son"--to whom she would give usa letter of introduction. At Maysville, Kentucky, the landladysent repeated apologies for not being able to wait on us herself,her attendance being necessary at the bedside of her sick child.On our expressing our concern that, in such circumstances, sheshould trouble herself about us, her substitute said we were veryunlike the generality of travellers who came. The ladies wereusually offended if the landlady did not wait upon them herself,aud would not open or shut the window with their own hands; butrang to have the landlady to do it for them. Such persons haveprobably been accustomed to be waited on by slaves; or, perhaps,not at all; so that they like to make the most of theopportunity. Our landlady at Nashville, Tennessee, treated usextremely well; and on parting kissed the ladies of the party allround.
I had an early lesson in the art of distinguishing coldnessfrom inhospitality. Our party of six was traversing the State ofNew York. We left Syracuse at dawn one morning, intending tobreakfast at Skaneatles. By the time we reached Elbridge,however, having been delayed on the road, we were too hungry tothink of going further without food. An impetuous youngCarolinian, who was of the party, got out first, and returned tosay we had better proceed; for the house and the people looked socold, we should never be able to achieve a comfortable meal.Caring less, however, for comfort than for any sort of meal, wepersisted in stopping.--The first room we were shown into waswet, and had no fire; and we were already shivering with cold. Icould discern that the family were clearing out of the next room.It was offered to us, and logs were piled upon the fire. Two ofthe young women, in cotton gowns and braided and bowed hair,followed their mother into the cooking apartment, sailing aboutwith quiet movements and solemn faces. Two more staid in theroom; and, after putting up their hair before the glass in ourpresence, began to arrange the table, knitting between times. Oneor another was almost all the while sitting with us, knitting,and replying with grave simplicity to our conversation.Presently, one of the best breakfasts we had in America wasready: a pie-dish full of buttered toast, hot biscuits andcoffee; beef-steak, applesauce, hot potatoes, cheese, butter, andtwo large dishes of eggs. We were attentively waited upon by thefour knitting young ladies and their knitting mother, and kindlydismissed with a charge of only two dollars and a quarter for thewhole party. "Did you ever see such girls?" cried theyoung Carolinian, just landed from Europe: "stepping aboutlike four captive princesses!" We all called out that wewould not hear a word against the young ladies. They had treatedus with all kindness; and no one could tell whether their reservewas any greater than their situation and circumstances require.
So much more has naturally been observed by travellers ofAmerican manners in stages and steam-boats than inprivate-houses, that all has been said, over and over again, thatthe subject deserves. I need only testify that I do not think theAmericans eat faster than other people, on the whole. Thecelerity at hotel-tables is remarkable; but so it is instage-coach travellers in England, who are allowed ten minutes ora quarter of an hour for dining. In private houses, I was neveraware of being hurried. The cheerful, unintermitting civility ofall gentlemen travellers, throughout the country, is verystriking to a stranger. The degree of consideration shown towomen is, in my opinion, greater than is rational, or good foreither party; but the manners of an American stagecoach mightafford a valuable lesson and example to many classes of Europeanswho have a high opinion of their own civilisation. I do not thinkit rational or fair that every gentleman, whether old or young,sick or well, weary or untired, should, as a matter of course,yield up the best places in the stage to any lady passenger. I donot think it rational or fair that five gentlemen should ride onthe top of the coach, (where there is no accommodation forholding on, and no resting-place for the feet,) for some hours ofa July day in Virginia, that a young lady, who was slightlydelicate, might have room to lay up her feet, and change herposture as she pleased. It is obvious that, if she was not strongenough to travel on common terms in the stage, her family shouldhave travelled in an extra; or staid behind; or done anythingrather than allow five persons to risk their health, andsacrifice their comfort, for the sake of one. Whatever may be thegood moral effects of such self-renunciation on the tempers ofthe gentlemen, tbe custom is very injurious to ladies. Theirtravelling manners are anything but amiable. While on a journey,women who appear well enough in their homes, present all thecharacteristics of spoiled children. Screaming and trembling atthe apprehension of danger are not uncommon: but there issomething far worse in the cool selfishness with which theyaccept the best of everything, at any sacrifice to others, andusually, in the south and west, without a word or look ofacknowledgment. They are as like spoiled children when thegentlemen are not present to be sacrificed to them;-- in tbe innparlour, while waiting for meals or the stage; and in the cabinof a steam-boat. I never saw any manner so repulsive as that ofmany American ladies on board steam-boats. They look as if theysupposed you mean to injure them, till you show to the contrary.The suspicious side-glance, or the full stare; the cold,immovable observation; the bristling self-defence the moment youcome near; the cool pushing to get the best places,--everythingsaid and done without the least trace of trust orcheerfulness,--these are the disagreeable consequences of theladies being petted and humoured as they are. The New Englandladies, who are compelled by their superior numbers to dependless upon the care of others, are far happier and pleasantercompanions in a journey than those of the rest of the country.This shows the evil to be altogether superinduced: and I alwaysfound that if I could keep down rny spirit, and show that I meantno harm, the apathy began to melt, the pretty ladies forgot tbeirself-defence, and appeared somewhat like what I conclude they areat home, when managing their affairs, in the midst of familiarcircumstances. If these ladies would but inquire of themselveswhat it is that they are afraid of, and whether there is anyreason why people should be less cheerful, less obliging, andless agreeable, when casually brought into the society of fiftypeople, whose comfort depends mainly on their mutual goodoffices, than among half-a-dozen neighbours at home, they mightremove an unpleasant feature of the national manners, and addanother to the many charms of their country.
Much might be said of village manners in America: but MissSedgwick's pictures of them in her two best works, "Home," and " 'The Rich Poor Man, and the Poor RichMan," are so true and so beautiful, and so sure of beingwell-known where they have not already reached, that no more isnecessary than to mention them as some of the best and sweetestpictures of manners in existence. To the English reader they arefull as interesting, as to Americans, from the purity andfidelity of the democratic spirit which they breathe throughout.The woman who so appreciates the blessing of living in such asociety as she describes, deserves the honour of being the firstto commend it to the affections of humanity.
The manners of the wealthy classes depend, of course, upon thecharacter of their objects and interests: but they are not, onthe whole, so agreeable as those of their less opulentneighbours. The restless ostentation of such as live for grandeurand show is vulgar;--as I have said, the only vulgarity to beseen in the country. Nothing can exceed the display of it atwatering-places. At Rockaway, on Long Island, I saw in one largeroom, while the company was waiting for dinner, a number ofgroups which would have made a good year's income for a clevercaricaturist. If any lady, with an eye and a pencil adequate tothe occasion, would sketch the phenomena of affectation thatmight be seen in one day in the piazza and drawing-room atRockaway, she might he a useful censor of manners. But the taskwould be too full of sorrow and shame for any one with the truerepublican spirit. For my own part, I felt bewildered in suchcompany. It was as if I had been set down on a kind of debatableland between the wholly imaginary society of the so-calledfashionable novels of late years, and the broad sketches ofcitizen-life given by Madame D'Arblay. It was like nothing real.When I saw the young ladies tricked out in the most expensivefinery, flirting over the backgammon-board, tripping affectedlyacross the room, languishing with a seventy-dollar cambrichandkerchief, starting up in ecstasy at the entrance of a baby;the mothers as busy with affectations of another kind; and thebrothers sidling hither and thither, now with assiduity, and nowwith nonchalance; and no one imparting the refreshment of anatural countenance, movement, or tone, I almost doubted whetherI was awake. The village scenes that I had witnessed rose up instrong contrast;--the mirthful wedding, the wagon-drives, theofferings of wildflowers to the stranger; the unintermitting,simple courtesy of each to all;--and it was scarcely crediblethat these contrasting scenes could both be existing in the samerepublic.
Such watering-place manners as I saw at Rockaway areconsidered and called vulgar on the spot:--of course, for themajority are far superior to them. They deserve notice no furtherthan as they are absolutely anti-republican in their wholeprinciple and spirit: and no deviation from the republicanprinciple in any class should be passed over by the moralistwithout notice. The brand of contempt should be fixed upon anyunprincipled or false-principled style of manners, in a communitybased upon avowed principles. The contempt thus inflicted uponthe mode may possibly save the persons who would otherwise renderthemselves liable to it. The practice of ostentation may belessened in America, as that of suicide was in France, byridicule and contempt. It is desirable for all parties that thisshould be the method. The weak and vain had better be deterredfrom entering upon the race of vanity, than exposed when it istoo late: and, for those of clearer and stronger minds, it issafer to despise things than persons: for, however necessary andvirtuous the contempt of abstract vice and folly may be, there isno mind clear and strong enough to entertain with safety contemptof persons.
The best sort of rich persons, those whose principles andspirit are democratic, their desires moderate, their pursuitsrational, drop out of sight of tbe mind's eye in considering themanners of the rich. Their wealth becomes only a comparativelyunimportant circumstance connected with them. They support morebeneficent objects than others, and perhaps have houses andlibraries that it is a luxury to go to: but these things are notassociated with themselves in the minds of their friends, as longas they are not so in their own. They fall into the ranks of thehonourable, independent, thorough-bred classes of the country,(its true glory,) just as if they were not rich. The next bestorder of rich people,--those who put their time and money to gooduses, but who are not blessed with the true democratic spirit offaith, have manners,--infinitely better shall the Rockawaystyle,--but not so good as those of more faithful republicans.They are above the vanity of show and the struggle for fashion:but they dread the ascendancy of ignorance, and distrust theclasses whom they do not know. They are readers: theirimaginations live in the Old World; and they have insensiblyadopted the old-world prejudice, that "the people" mustbe ignorant, passionate, and rapacious. The conversation of suchgives utterance to an assumption, and their bearing betrays anuneasiness, which are highly unfavourable to good manners. Thissmall class are so respectable in the main, and for some greatobjects so useful, that it is much to be desired that they couldbe referred back perpetually to the democratic principles whichwould relieve their anxiety, and give to their manners thatcheerfulness which should belong to honest republicans who haveeverything to hope, and little to fear.
One of the most remarkable sights in the country is thePresident's levee. Nothing is easier than to laugh at it. Thereis probably no mode in which a number of human beings canassemble which may not be laughable from one point of view oranother. The President's levee presents many facilities forridicule. Men go there in plaid cloaks and leather belts, withall manner of wigs, and offer a large variety of obeisance to thechief magistrate. Women go in bonnets and shawls, talk about thecompany, stand upon chairs to look over people's heads, and stareat the large rooms. There was a story of two girls, thus dressed,being lifted up by their escorting gentlemen, and seated on thetwo ends of the mantel-piece, like lustres, where they couldobtain a view of the company as they entered. To see such peoplemixed in with foreign ambassadors and their suites, to observethe small mutual knowledge of classes and persons who thus meeton terms of equality, is amusing enough. But, amidst much thatwas laughable, I certainly felt that I was seeing a finespectacle. If the gentry of Washington desire to do away with thecustom, they must be unaware of the dignity which resides in it,and which is apparent to the eye of a stranger, through anyinconveniences which it may have. I am sorry that its recurrenceis no longer annual. I am sorry that the practice of distributingrefreshments is relinquished: though this is a matter of lessimportance and of more inconvenience. If the custom itself shouldever be given up, the bad taste of such a surrender will beunquestionable. There should be some time and place where thechief magistrate and the people may meet to exchange theirrespects, all other business being out: of the question: and Ishould like to see the occasion made annual again.
I saw no bad manners at the President's levee, except on thepart of a silly, swaggering Englishman. All was quiet andorderly; and there was an air of gaiety which rather surprisedme. The great people were amused at the aspect of the assembly:and the humbler at the novelties that were going on before theireyes. Our party went at eight o'clock. As we alighted from thecarriage, I saw a number of women, well attended, going up thesteps in the commonest morning walking dress. In the hall, wereparties of young men, exhibiting their graces in a walk from endto end: and ladies throwing off their shawls, and displaying themost splendid dresses. The President, with some members of hiscabinet on either hand, stood in the middle of the first room,ready to bow to all the ladies, and shake hands with all thegentlemen who presented themselves. The company then passed on tothe fire-place, where stood the ladies of the President's family,attended by the Vice-president, and the Secretary of theTreasury. From this point, the visitors dispersed themselvesthrough the rooms, chatting in groups in the Blue-room, orjoining the immense promenade in the great East room. After twocircuits there, I went back to the reception-room; by far themost interesting to an observer. I saw one ambassador afteranother enter with his suite; the Judges of the Supreme Court;the majority of the members of both Houses of Congress; andintermingled with these, the plainest farmers, storekeepers, andmechanics, with their primitive wives and simple daughters. Somelooked merry; some looked busy; but none bashful. I believe therewere three thousand persons present. There was onedeficiency,--one drawback, as I felt at the time. There were nopersons of colour. Whatever individuals or classes may choose todo about selecting their society according to rules of their ownmaking, here there should be no distinction. I know the pleasthat would be urged,--the levee being held in a slave district;the presence of slave-holders from the south; and many others;but such pleas will not stand before the plain fact that thislevee is the appointed means by which citizens of the UnitedStates of all degrees may, once in a time, meet together, to paytheir equal respects to their chief magistrate. Every man ofcolour who is a citizen of the United States has a right to asfree an admission as any other man; and it would be a dignityadded to the White House if such were seen there. It is not toits credit that there is any place in the country where itspeople are more free to meet on equal terms. There is such aplace. In the Catholic cathedral in New Orleans, I saw persons ofevery shade of colour kneeling on the pavement, withoutseparation or distinction. I would fain have seen also some onesecular house where, by general consent, all kinds of men mightmeet as brethren. But not even in republican America is there yetsuch an one.
The Americans possess an advantage in regard to the teachingof manners which they do not yet appreciate. They have beforetheir eyes, in the manners of the coloured race, a perpetualcaricature of their own follies; a mirror of conventionalism fromwhich they can never escape. The negroes are the most imitativeset of people living. While they are in a degraded condition,with little principle, little knowledge, little independence,they copy the most successfully those things in their superiorswhich involve the least principle, knowledge, and independence;viz. their conventionalisms. They carry their mimicry far beyondany which is seen among the menials of the rich in Europe. Theblack footmen of the United States have tiptoe graces, stiffcravats, and eye-catching flourishes, like the footmen in London:but the imitation extends into more important matters. As tbeslaves of the south assume their masters' names and militarytitles, they assume their methods of conducting tbe courtesiesand gaieties of life. I have in my possession a note ofinvitation to a ball, written on pink paper with gilt edges.***When the lady invited came to her mistress for the ticket whichwas necessary to authorise her being out after nine at night, shewas dressed in satin with muslin over it, satin shoes, and whitekid gloves:--but, the satin was faded, the muslin torn: the shoeswere tied upon the extremities of her splay feet, and the whitegloves dropping in tatters from her dark fingers. She was acaricature, instead of a fine lady. A friend of mine walked amile or two in the dusk behind two black men and a woman whomthey were courting. He told me that nothing could be moreadmirable than the coyness of the lady, and the compliments ofthe gallant and his friend. It could not be very amusing to thosewho reflect that holy and constant love, free preference, and allthat makes marriage a blessing instead of a curse, were here outof the question: but the resemblance in the mode of courtship tothat adopted by whites, when meditating marriage of a notdissimilar virtue,--a marriage of barter,--could not beoverlooked.
Even in their ultimate, funereal courtesies, the coloured raceimitate the whites. An epitaph on a negro baby at Savannahbegins, "Sweet blighted lily!"--They have few customswhich are absolutely peculiar. One of these is refusing to eatbefore whites. When we went long expeditions, carrying luncheon,or procuring it by the road-side, the slaves always retired withtheir share behind trees or large stones, or other hiding-places.
The Americans may be considered secure of good mannersgenerally while intellect is so reverenced among them as it is,above all other claims to honour. Whatever follies andfrivolities the would-be fashionable classes may perpetrate, theywill never be able to degrade the national manners, or to makethemselves the first people in the republic. Intellect carriesall before it in social intercourse, and will continue to do so.I was struck by the fact that, in country villages, the mostenlightened members of a family may be cultivated asacquaintance, without the rest. They may be invited to a superiorparty, and the others left for an inferior one. As for thecities, Washington, with its motley population in time ofSession, is an exception to all rules; and I certainly saw someuncommonly foolish people treated with more attention, of atemporary kind, than some very wise ones. But in other cities Iam not aware of having seen any great influence possessed bypersons who had not sufficient intellectual desert. A Washingtonbelle related to me the sad story of the death of a young man whofell from a small boat into the Potomac in the night, --it issupposed in his sleep. She told where and how his body was found;and what relations he had left; and finished with "he willbe much missed at parties." Washington is a place where ayoung man may be thus mourned: but elsewhere there would havebeen a better reason given, or none at all. In the capitals ofStates, men rank according to their supposed intellect. Manymistakes are made in the estimate; and (far worse) manypernicious allowances are made for bad morals, for the sake ofthe superior intellect: but still the taste is a higher one, thegradation a more rational one, than is to be found elsewhere:and, where such a taste and a gradation subsist, the essentialsof good manners can never be wanting. It is refreshing to witnessthe village homage paid to the author and the statesman, as tothe highest of human beings. Whatever the author and thestatesman may be, the homage is honourable to those who offer it.It is no less refreshing in the cities to see how the vainestfops and the most solid capitalists readily succumb before menand women who are distinguished for nothing but their minds. Theworst of manners,-- those which fly off the furthest from nature,and do the most violence to the affections--are such as arisefrom a surpassing regard to things outward and shadowy: the bestare those which manifest a pursuit of things invisible and real.The Americans are better mannered than others, in as far as theyreverence intellect more than wealth and fashion. It remains forthem to enlarge their notions, and exalt their tests ofintellect, till it shall identify itself with morals. Nationalmanners, national observances of rank graduated on such aprinciple would be no subject of controversy, but would commandthe admiration, and gradually form the taste, of the world. Icannot but think that a beginning of this change is visible inthe intercourses of those Americans who have rejected theprevalent false idea of honour, and in the spirit of love bornewitness to unpopular truths. The freedom, gentleness, andearnestness of the manners of such offer a realisation of gracewhich no conventional training can secure. A southern gentlemanwas on board a steam-boat, proceeding from New York toPhiladelphia. He engaged in conversation with two unknowngentlemen; and soon plunged into the subject of slavery. He was aslave-holder, and they were abolitionists. With one of them, hewas peculiarly pleased; and they discussed their subject for agreat length of time. He at last addressed the other abolitionistthus: "How easy and pleasant it is to argue this matter withsuch a man as your friend! If all you abolitionists were likehim, how soon we and you might come to an understanding! But youare generally so coarse and violent! You are all so likeGarrison! Pray give me your friend's name."
"You have just spoken it. It is Mr. Garrison."
"Impossible! This gentleman is so mild, sogentlemanly."
"Ask the captain if it be not Mr. Garrison."
It was an important point. The captain was asked. This mild,courteous, simple, sprightly, gentlemanly person was Garrison.
* Sober Thoughts on the State of the Times. Boston, 1835,p.27.
** This reminds me of a singular instance of confusion ofideas. The landlady of a hotel declared my trumpet to be the bestinvention she had ever seen: better than spectacles. Query,better for what?
*** "Mr. Richard Masey requests the pleasure of Mrs.Mikens, and Miss Arthur's company, on Saturday evening at seveno'clock, in Dr. Smith's long brick-store."
From Harriet Martineau, Society in America, VolumeIII, Part III, Chapter I, Section III - "Intercourse."London: Saunders and Otley, 1837, pp. 53-104.
Forward to Society in America, VolumeIII, Part III, Chapter II, "Woman."
Back to Society in America, VolumeIII, Part III, Chapter I - Section II - "Property."
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