character of the people even of an old country, and it is a much harder task in a new country composed of inhabitants of different nations, and with different languages. There is indeed, in the Middle States, hardly any general or peculiar character.

In Pennsylvania, the Friends give a tone to society, especially to Philadelphia and some other towns, and the Germans have a similar influence in the country. New York, the great commercial emporium, has the character of all commercial cities. Trade assimilates one person to another. Philadel phia and Baltimore have escaped much more than New York, the moral evils that seem to be inseparable from great cities; and which appear to be the price that men pay for what advantages there are in living in large communities. In the larger cities of the Middle States, a great many people live at public hotels, and boarding houses. These are well regulated, and the price of board varies from three to 15 dollars a week. In a country where almost every one is engaged in active pursuits, little time is spent at table. The inmates of an hotel assemble at the sound of a bell, and in a few minutes, each one has retired, and resumed his occupation.

The domestic servants are better in states where there is slavery. The servants except those called 'Boots,' never expect, and seldom receive any gratuity, as they are well paid by their employers. In New York, there is a singular and a shocking custom, at law, by which swine are permitted to range freely about the city. Men tolerate great evils to which they are accustomed, rather than small ones that are new. If the swine are intended to act as the city scavengers, it is but a 'commutation of nuisance.' What is borne in New York, would be intolerable in Philadelphia.

In Baltimore and Philadelphia, the manner of life, is far more quiet and domestic than in New York, and in the latter city, the arts and sciences are more successfully cultivated. In Philadelphia the Wistar parties, or assemblies at gentlemen's houses, where the conversation is chiefly on scientific and literary subjects, are much praised by intelligent strangers.*

The following description of the reception of Lafayette at New York, will show how the people, when most excited and interested, retain their sedateness. It is thus related by a person just coming up the Narrows from Europe. 'Is there any news,' roared the Captain through his speaking trumpet; the answer came against the breeze, and was nearly indistinct. The words Cadmus in' were however affirmed by more than one eager listener to form a part of the reply. Another opportunity was not long wanting. A large coasting schooner passed within two hundred feet of us.

her quarter deck, both hands thrust into the bosom of his sea jacket, eyeing our ship A Tar was standing on with a certain understanding air, that need not be explained to one who claims himself to be so promising a child of Neptune. The individual proved to be the master of the and to him our captain again roared 'any news?' Aye; aye; all alive up in the

coaster,

bay.'

The vessels were sweeping by each other with great rapidity, and without paying the customary deference to nautical etiquette, some six or seven of the passengers united in bawling out, as with one voice, what news, what news.' The envious winds again bore away the answer, of which no more reached our ears, than the same perplexing words, of Cadmus in.'' When the pilot came on board, I was struck with the singular air of exultation with which he delivered himself of the intelligence with which he was evidently teeming. To the usual question, he gave a quick answer, and in nearly the same words 'Cadmus in' again rang in our ears, without leaving us any wiser. If' said our captain you think so much of the arrival of the Cadmus, in 30 days from France, what will you say to that of my ship in 21 from Liverpool?' 'Your them here, of all years.' owners may be glad to see you, but then you've not got the old man aboard.' 'We have been on the island with the vice president since yesterday. This morning he is to go Aye; aye; but you have no Lafayette in the ship. He has up to town, where he will be a welcome guest. The bay above is alive.'

I will acknowledge that I was touched myself, at the common feeling thus betrayed by so many differently constituted individuals, and at so simple an occurrence; even the native portion of the crew, suspended their labors to listen to what was said, with a gen

17. AMUSEMENTS. The amusements in the Middle States are more various than in the other sections of the country. As the three largest cities in the Union are distant one from the other but about a hundred miles, there are of course greater facilities and encouragement for scenic exhibitions ; and the theatres, especially in New York, are much attended. The actors are generally English, and the best English performers often come over for a season. There is a French opera company, also, who at times perform in the cities, where they give general pleasure, and the Italian opera had, for a time, some success in New York. In the latter city, there are several expensive public gardens, in which a great variety of costly fireworks, shows, and amusements are offered in the warm seasons; when lighted up at night, they are very brilliant, and they attract crowds of people. There are many small gardens, where refreshments are sold; and in Philadelphia the number of these is considerable, though some of them contain little else than a few alcoves, covered with creeping plants.

Horse racing, which in New England is almost unknown, is more honored in the Middle States; and some of the matches on Long Island and in Duchess county, have been attended by vast crowds of people. Boat races also are sometimes held in the calm waters about New York.

Skating is practised with great animation, and thousands of people collect on the Delaware at Philadelphia, when the stream is frozen. An ox on such occasions has sometimes been roasted on the ice, near the

eral air of satisfaction. After an absence of 40 years, Lafayette had returned to visit the land in which he had laid the foundation of his fame. That he had reached a country, where hearts and arms would alike be open to receive him was sufficiently manifest in the manner of all around me, and I could not but felicitate myself in being so fortunate as to have arrived at a moment likely to elicit some of the stronger emotions of a people, who are often accused of insensibility to all lively impressions, and most of whose thoughts, like their time, are said to be occupied in heedful considerations of the fu

ture.'

The traveller and his companions left the ship in a boat to see the pageant, in honor of Lafayette. At length the exclamation there they come' burst from the lips, and there they did come of a certainty, in all the majesty of a fine aquatic procession, and that too on a scale of magnificence that was admirably suited to the surrounding waters, and as an American would also probably say to the occasion. The procession was composed principally of steam-boats, and their decks exhibited solid masses of human heads. They were some of them nearly as large as frigates, and not painted as commonly in Europe a gloomy black; they are of lively and pleasing colors, without being gaudy, and have frequently wooden canopies that serve as additional decks in which the passengers may walk. The largest, when crowded will contain a thousand people.

There was one boat among the present collection, of great size that had been constructed to navigate the ocean, and which was provided with the usual masts and rigging of a ship. This was manned by seamen of the public service, and was gaily decorated with a profusion of flags. Our boat reached the wharf of the Lazaretto a few minutes after the procession. One of the largest of the vessels had stopped at this place, lying with her side to the shore, while the others were whirling, and sailing around the spot, giving an air of peculiar life and animation to the scene. Though the whole concourse seemed animated by a common sentiment of pleasure, I did not fail to observe an air of great and subdued sobriety in the countenances of almost all around me. As my companion had the address to obtain our admission into the steam-boat that had come to land, and which was intended to receive Lafayette in person, I was brought into immediate contact with its occupants; I found myself in the midst of a grave, orderly, well dressed, but certainly exulting crowd. I heard French spoken, and by the quick restless eyes, and elevated heads of some half dozen, I could see that France had her representatives in the throng, and that they deemed the occasion one on which they had no reason to blush for their country.

Lafayette entered the vessel amid a deep and respectful silence. A similar reception of a public man in Europe would be portentous of a waning popularity. Not an exclamation, not even a greeting of any sort was audible. A lane was opened through the mass of bodies that was nearly solid, and the visiter advanced slowly towards the stern. The expression of his countenance, through gratified and affectionate, seemed bewilder ed. His eye, remarkable for its fire even in the decline of life, appeared to seek in vain

Mariners' Hotel, which is the hull of a large vessel moored in the river. Skating is a very general amusement in the northern parts of the United States, and there are few boys who have not a pair of skates. Coasting is another winter pastime, in which, as in many other games, the labor seems to be at least equal to the pleasure. When the snow covers the earth, a troop of joyous boys assemble on the top of a long and steep hill, and each one sitting upon a little sled, gives it an impulse, which carries him to the bottom with accelerating velocity, and far into the plain below. The motion is sometimes so swift that it is like the sweep of an eagle. In the cities fatal, accidents occur in following this amusement, and there are generally penalties imposed by law for pursuing it there.

The coasting is performed, however in the country upon a grander scale; the great ox sled, or sledge, is carried up with commendable perseverance and toil, and so covered with youth of both sexes that little of the timber appears. When fitted, it is launched, but when adrift it is more difficult to be guided than the single sledge, and the whole freight is sometimes turned topsy turvy into a snow bank half way down the hill. This however seems to increase the enjoyment. This practice of coasting is even more common in New England, than in the Middle States.*

18. EDUCATION &c. The means of education are not neglected in some of the Middle States, but there is not so much knowledge generally diffused as in New England. It is not common however except among the foreigners and their children, to find a person who cannot read and write. Though

the features of his ancient friends. At the extremity of the boat, last in the throng, stood a grey-headed and tottering veteran. By common consent, his countrymen had paid this tribute to his services and his age. The honor of receiving the first embrace was his. I should fail in power, were I to attempt a description of the effect produced by this scene. The old man extended his arms, and as Lafayette heard his name, he flew into them like one who was glad to seek relief from the feelings by which he was oppressed. They were long silently folded in each other's arms.

I know not, nor do I care, whether there were any present more stoical than myself; to me this sight, simple and devoid of pageantry, was truly affecting and grand, its very nakedness heightened the effect. There was no labored address, no ready answer, no drilling of the feelings in looks and speeches. Nature was trusted to, and well did she prepare her part. Greetings now succeeded to greetings, and the vessel now left the land. There was literally a maze of steam-boats, our own containing the object of the common interest, kept steadily on her way, quickening or relaxing her speed, to accommodate her motion to that of them in company, but scarce a minute passed that some one of the brilliant cortege, was not sweeping along one or the other of our sides, bearing a living burthen, which as it was animated by one spirit, seemed to possess but one eye, and one object to gaze at.

Castle Garden was the spot where Lafayette was to land. The ramparts of the castle, a terrace at the base of the work, and the whole of the fine sweep of the Battery, a distance of more than a quarter of a mile, were teeming with human countenances. The reception I had witnessed was only a prelude to a more imposing spectacle; the whole population having poured out to this spot, and standing in readiness to greet their guest. To my eye there seemed a hundred thousand souls. Our approach to the shore was now positively impeded by the boats. What passed about his person, in the following scene, I am unable to say, but I saw the rocking of the multitude, as he moved among them, and heard the shouts which, from time to time, escaped a people whose manners are habitually too self restrained.'

*The following extracts are from an account in the American Farmer, describing some of the manners and customs of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. The first relates to the clearing of land, after the forest trees have been girdled; the latter describes a custom, which also prevails in New England.

In eight or ten years the timber begins to fall rapidly. When the ground is pretty well covered with old logs, the farmer goes in to nigger off. This is effected by laying the broken limbs and smaller trees across the logs and putting fire to it. Boys or women follow to chunk up the fires. In a day or two the logs are niggered off at the length of twelve or fifteen feet; sometimes the entire tree is consumed. When the trees are thus reduced to lengths that can be handled by men, the owner has a log rolling. He gives the word to eighteen or twenty of his neighbors the day before the frolic, and when they

there are more books printed at New York and Philadelphia, than in all the rest of the republic, there are more houses without books or newspapers in the Middle States, than in New England. The newspapers however, from New York and Philadelphia, are circulated over the whole country. One of them printed in New York, a religious paper for the Methodists, has 25,000 subscribers.

19. RELIGION. The sects are far more various than in the Eastern States, and there is hardly a creed in Europe that has not a society in the Middle States. The Catholics are numerous. The sabbath is less strictly kept than in New England, yet in general it is not profaned; and in Philadelphia it is as much observed as in Boston.

20. LAWS. The peculiarities of the laws are less than in the other sections of the country, as in general the laws are not made like those of the West, for new countries; or have not descended as in New England from puritanic legislatures; or are not, as in the south, devised to meet the exigences of the system of slavery.

21. ARTS. In Philadelphia, there are several eminent artists and a general taste for the arts; but neither there nor in New York, is there such collection of paintings open to the public, as at the Atheneum in Boston. At Philadelphia there are many good pieces by West and others, though at New York a good gallery of pictures has had but little encouragement. The useful or mechanic arts, it is conceded, are in a higher state at Philadelphia than in any other city in the union.

CHAPTER XIV. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

This is a territory of ten miles square, under the immediate government of Congress. It is divided into two counties, and three cities; the counties and cities being separate. The cities are Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown; the counties, Washington and Alexandria. This district lies on both sides of the Potomac, 120 miles from its mouth, between Maryland and Virginia, and was ceded to the general government by those states in 1790. The seat of government of the United States, was established within its limits in 1800. It has never yet been represented in Congress. The capitol at Washington, from which American geographers often compute their meridian, is in 38° 58′ N. lat. and 76° 55′ 30′′ W. lon. from Greenwich, 79° 15′ 45" W. lon. from Paris, and 58° 52′ W. lon. from Ferro. The population of the District is 39,858.

assemble they generally divide the force into two companies. A captain is chosen by acclamation for each company, and the captains choose their companies, each naming a man alternately. When the whole is formed they set to work, provided with handspikes, and each company exerts itself to make more log heaps than the other. Nothing is charged for the work, and the only thing exceptionable in these frolics is the too immoderate use of whiskey. In general great hilarity prevails; but these meetings, like all others in this country, are sometimes disgraced by dreadful combats between the persons composing them.

The corn husking is done at night. The neighbors meet at dark; the corn has been previously pulled, and hauled in a pile near the crib. The hands join it, the whiskey bottle goes round, the story, the laugh, and the rude song is heard. Three or four hundred bushels are husked by 9 or 10 o'clock-a plentiful supper is provided, and sometimes the frolic ends with a stag dance; that is, men and boys, without females, dance like mad devils, but in good humor, to the time of a neighbor's cat-gut and horse-hair, not always drawn with the melody and judgment of Guilliaume.'

1. CITIES. Washington, the seat of government of the United States, stands in the centre of the district, upon the north bank of the Potomac, between the river and one of its tributaries, called the East Branch. The actual city occupies a spot about a mile and a half above the junction of the two streams, although the original plan embraces the whole extent below. The plan of the city combines regularity with variety, and is adapted to the variations of the surface, so that the spaces allotted to public buildings, occupy commanding positions, and the monotonous sameness of a rectangular design is avoided, while all its advantages are secured. The minor streets run at right angles, but the larger avenues diverge from several centres, intersecting the streets with various degrees of obliquity, and opening spaces for extensive squares. The smaller streets run N. and S. or E. and W. and are from 90 to 110 feet wide. The grand avenues are from 130 to 160 feet in width, and are planted with trees. Several of the largest unite at the hill on which the capitol is situated. These bear the names of the several states of the Union. Such is the outline of the city of Washington, according to its original plan, although its tardy growth has yet filled up but a small portion of this great skeleton of a national metropolis. The buildings which it contains are in three distinct parts, one portion being in the neighborhood of the navy yard, another in that of the Capitol, and another in the Pennsylvania Avenue, which extends from the Capitol to the President's house. The city presents the appearance of a group of villages, the spaces between the inhabited parts not being occupied or marked out.

The

The Capitol is a large and magnificent building of white freestone, 352 feet long, in the shape of a cross, with the Representatives Hall and the Senate Chamber in the two wings, and a spacious rotunda in the centre. The Representatives Hall is semicircular, 95 feet in length, and 60 in height, lighted from the top, and adorned with a colonnade of pillars of breccia, beautifully polished; it is one of the most elegant halls in the world. Senate Chamber is of the same shape, and 74 feet long. The Rotunda is 96 feet in diameter, and 96 feet high, to the top of the dome within. It is all of marble, and the floor is beautifully paved; the whole has a most grand and imposing effect. Several pieces of sculpture are placed in niches in the walls, representing events in American history. The sound of a single voice uttered in this apartment, is echoed from the dome above, with a rumbling like distant thunder. The National Library is contained in the Capitol, and embraces also a series of national paintings by Trumbull.