the roof of which was being piled
a Babel of luggage, the inside being already full. Into another vehicle,
our party--i.e., three of us--entered, and ere long both the carriages
were on the banks of the river, where the steamer was puffing away,
impatient for a start. The hawsers were soon cast off, and we launched
forth on the bosom of the glorious Hudson, whose unruffled surface
blazed like liquid fire beneath the rays of the rising sun. I purposely
abstain from saying anything of the vessel, as she was an old one, and a
very bad specimen. The newer and better class of vessel, I shall have to
describe hereafter.

On leaving New York, the northern banks of the river are dotted in every
direction with neat little villas, the great want being turf, to which
the American climate is an inveterate foe. Abreast of one of these
villas, all around me is now smiling with peace and gladness; alas! how
different was the scene but a few months previous; then, struggling
bodies strewed the noble stream, and the hills and groves resounded with
the bitterest cries of human agony, as one of the leviathan steamers,
wrapped in a fierce and fiery mantle, hurried her living cargo to a
burning or a watery grave.

We had a motley collection of passengers, but were not overcrowded. Of
course, there was a Paddy on board. Where can one go without meeting one
of that migratory portion of our race! There he was, with his "shocking
bad hat," his freckled face, his bright eye, and his shrewd expression,
smoking his old "dudeen," and gazing at the new world around him. But
who shall say his thoughts were not in some wretched hovel in the land
of his birth, and his heart beating with the noble determination, that
when his industry met its reward, those who had shared his sorrows in
the crowded land of his fathers, should partake of his success in the
thinly-tenanted home of his adoption. Good luck to you, Paddy, with all
my heart!

I was rather amused by a story I heard, of a newly-arrived Paddy
emigrant, who, having got a little money, of course wanted a little
whisky. On going to the bar to ask the price, he was told
three-halfpence. "For how much?" quoth Paddy. The bottle was handed to
him, and he was told to take as much as he liked. Paddy's joy knew no
bounds at this liberality, and, unable to contain his ecstasy, he rushed
to the door to communicate the good news to his companions, which he did
in the following racy sentence: "Mike! Mike,