American Notes for General Circulation, Volume 2 |
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Common terms and phrases
abolitionist ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS America appearance beautiful Belleville BLACK DRIVER boat breakfast bright BROWN BROWN HAT cabin called canal captain chair CHARLES DICKENS cheerful Cincinnati cloth coach coachman coloured course dark deck dinner distance Doctor Crocus door England English eyes gentleman GEORGE CRUIKSHANK GNOMONIC PROJECTION Grant county hand Harrisburgh head horses hour Indians Jiddy Johnny Cake journey kind Kingston ladies Lebanon light little woman live look looking-glass luggage meal ment miles Mississippi Montreal morning nearly negro never Niagara night o'clock passed passengers Phrenology pistol PITTSBURG pretty Public opinion rienced river road rolling roof round Sandusky scar seemed Shaker ship shot side sits slavery slaves soon stage-coach steamboat stopped STRAW street THREE MAPS tion took town travelling trees vessel village Vinyard walk wharf wind window
Popular passages
Page 178 - Then, when I felt how near to my Creator I was standing, the first effect, and the enduring one - instant and lasting - of the tremendous spectacle, was Peace. Peace of Mind, tranquillity, calm recollections of the Dead, great thoughts of Eternal Rest and Happiness: nothing of gloom or terror. Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart, an Image of Beauty; to remain there, changeless and indelible, until its pulses cease to beat, for ever.
Page 64 - On Sunday morning we arrived at the foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. There are ten inclined planes; five ascending, and five descending ; the carriages are dragged up the former, and let slowly down the latter, by means of stationary engines; the comparatively level spaces between being traversed, sometimes by horse, and sometimes by engine power, as the case demands. Occasionally the rails are laid upon the extreme verge of a giddy precipice ; and looking from the carriage window,...
Page 204 - In many a noble mansion lives a man, the best of husbands and of fathers, whose private worth inboth capacities is justly lauded to the skies. But bring him here, upon this crowded deck. Strip from his fair young wife her silken dress and jewels, unbind her braided hair, stamp early wrinkles on her brow, pinch her pale cheek with care and much privation...
Page 12 - ... itself, which is a series of alternate swamps and gravel-pits. A tremendous place is close before us, the black driver rolls his eyes, screws his mouth up very round, and looks straight between the two leaders, as if he were saying to himself, ' We have done this before, but now I think we shall have a crash.
Page 172 - I to find fault with a funny old lady who was an upper domestic in this establishment, and who, when she came to wait upon us at any meal, sat herself down comfortably in the most convenient chair, and producing a large pin to pick her teeth with, remained performing that ceremony, and steadfastly regarding us meanwhile with much gravity and composure (now and then pressing us to eat a little more), until it was time to clear away. It was enough for us, that whatever we wished done was done with...
Page 293 - America, without first grovelling down upon the earth, and bending the knee before this monster of depravity; when any private excellence is safe from its attacks; when any social confidence is left unbroken by it, or any tie of social decency and honour is held in the least regard; when any man in that free country has freedom of opinion, and presumes to think for himself, and speak for himself, without humble reference to a censorship which, for its rampant ignorance and base dishonesty, he utterly...
Page 102 - As we were riding along this morning, I observed a little incident between two youthful pigs, which were so very human as to be inexpressibly comical and grotesque at the time, though I dare say in telling, it is tame enough. "One young gentleman (a very delicate porker with several straws sticking about his nose, betokening recent investigations in a dunghill...
Page 135 - ... the setting sun, there lay, stretched out before my view, a vast expanse of level ground ; unbroken, save by one thin line of trees, which scarcely amounted to a scratch upon the great blank ; until it met the glowing sky, wherein it seemed. to dip : mingling with its rich colours, and mellowing in its distant blue. There it lay, a tranquil sea or lake without water, if such a simile be admissible...
Page 292 - ... and advancing knowledge in all other forms walk through the land with giant strides : but while the newspaper press of America is in, or near, its present abject state, high moral improvement in that country is hopeless. Year by year, it must and will go back ; year by year, the tone of public feeling must sink lower down; year by year, the Congress and the Senate must become of less account before all decent men ; and year by year, the memory of the Great Fathers of the Revolution must be outraged...