ts predominate over the shalls. In the
event of your disobeying any of the numerous mandates set forth in this
document-such as not getting up very early-you will not be sent to the
penitentiary or put in the pillory, for that process of punishment would
imply a necessity for trouble and exertion on the part of the
richly-apparelled gentleman who does you the honour of receiving your
petitions and grossly overcharging you at the office-no, you have simply
to go without food until dinner-time, or to go to bed by the light of a
jet of gas for which you will be charged an exorbitant price in your
bill. As in the days of Roman despotism we know that the slaves were
occasionally permitted to indulge in the grossest excesses, so, under the
rigorous system of the hotel-keeper, the guest is allowed to expectorate
profusely over every thing; over the marble with which the hall is
paved, over the Brussels carpet which covers the drawing-room, over the
bed-room, and over the lobby. Expectoration is apparently the one saving
clause which American liberty demands as the price of its submission to
the prevailing tyranny of the hotel. Do not imagine-you, who have never
yet tasted the sweets of a transatlantic transaction-that this tyranny is
confined to the hotel: every person to whom you pay money in the ordinary
travelling transactions of life-your omnibus-man, your railway-conductor,
your steamboat-clerk-takes your money, it is true, but takes it in a
manner which tells you plainly enough that he is conferring a very great
favour by so doing. He is in all probability realizing a profit of from
three to four hundred-per cent. on whatever the transaction may be; but,
all the same, although you are fully aware of this fact, you are
nevertheless almost overwhelmed with the sense of the very deep
obligation which you owe to the man who thus deigns to receive your
money.

It was about ten o'clock at night when the steamer anchored at the wharf
at Boston. Not until midday. On the following day were we (the
passengers) allowed to leave the vessel. The cause of this delay arose
from the fact that the collector of customs of the port of Boston was an
individual of great social importance; and as it would have been
inconvenient for him to attend at an earlier hour for the purpose of
being present at the examination of our baggage, we were detained
prisoners until the day was far enough advanced to suit his convenience.
From a conversation whi