outs of applause. The suppliant
Southerners, midst sobs and tears, plead for mercy, and in vain, until
the happy thought occurs to one of them, to break forth into a wondrous
tale of the atrocities inflicted upon the starving and naked slaves of
English mines and factories, proving by contrast the superior happiness
of the nigger and the greater mercifulness of his treatment. The
indignant abolitionist drops the upraised cowhide, the sobs and tears of
the Southerners cease, the whole house thunders forth the ecstasy of its
delight, the curtain drops, and the enchanted audience adjourn to the
oyster saloons, vividly impressed with British brutality, the charms of
slavery, and the superiority of Abolitionism.

How strange, that in a country like this, boasting of its education, and
certainly with every facility for its prosecution--how strange, that in
the very Athens of the Republic, the deluded masses should exhibit as
complete ignorance as you could find in the gallery of any
twopenny-halfpenny metropolitan theatre of the old country!

Another of the lions of Boston which I determined to witness, if
possible, was "spirit-rapping." A friend undertook the arrangement for
me; but so fully were the hours of the exhibitor taken up, that it was
five days before we could obtain a spare hour. At length the time
arrived, and, fortified with a good dinner and a skinful of "Mumm
Cabinet," we proceeded to the witch's den. The witch was a clean and
decent-looking girl about twenty, rather thin, and apparently very
exhausted; gradually a party of ten assembled, and we gathered round the
witch's table. The majority were ladies--those adorers of the
marvellous! The names of friends were called for; the ladies took the
alphabet, and running over it with the point of a pencil, the spirit
rapped as the wished-for letter was reached. John Davis was soon spelt,
each letter probably having been indicated by the tremulous touch of
affectionate hope. Harriet Mercer was then rapped out by the obliging
spirit. The pencil and the alphabet were then handed to me, and the
spirit being asked if it would answer my inquiries, and a most
satisfactory "Yes" being rapped out, I proceeded to put its powers to
the test. I concentrated my thoughts upon a Mr. L---- and his shop in
Fleet-street, with both of which being thoroughly familiar I had no
difficulty in fixing my attention upon them. The pencil was put in
motion, powerful rappings were heard as it