upon a canal boat; very slow
travelling you children would consider it, accustomed as you are to
whirling over the country in an express train; but at my romantic age,
this dreamy, delicious style of boat travel was the perfection of
happiness.

"At Rochester my friends left me, first placing me under the care of
the captain of the canal-boat, who promised to put me upon the
steamboat when we should reach Albany.

"The prospect of the day to be spent upon the Hudson possessed no
charms for me, but on the contrary, untold terror. I had never before
seen a steamboat, but they had been introduced upon Lake Erie, near
enough to my home for me to hear, with alarm, of all the accidents that
had so far befallen them upon that very turbulent sheet of water;
consequently, I embarked upon the 'Washington,' in the full conviction
that I was about to meet with my doom.

"All that day I sat motionless in a corner of the promenade deck,
reading my Bible. Perfectly oblivious alike to the magnificent scenery
that I was passing, and to the elegant toilettes such as my
country-bred eyes had never before beheld, by which I was surrounded; I
neither spoke to nor looked at any one, nor dared to leave my seat even
to go to dinner; but endeavored to gain, from the sacred volume in my
hands, strength for the terrible fate that I was confident awaited me.
I have often since wondered what my fellow-travellers thought of the
still, shy little figure whose eyes were never once lifted from her
Bible.

"About four o'clock a terrible explosion was heard, the boat was thrown
violently upon her side, and a scene of confusion, shrieks, and
fainting-fits then ensued. I did not faint--I was much too alarmed for
that; I merely turned very white, and trembled from head to foot. The
wheel-house had been blown away, I learnt before long, but no one
fortunately was injured, and after a delay of an hour or so the boat
was righted, and we proceeded upon our journey, at a snail's pace,
however.

"Owing to the accident, we did not reach New York until ten o'clock.
No one was at the pier to meet me, for brother had supposed that I
would arrive before sunset. As I did not appear, however, he concluded
that I had not left Albany at the time appointed. But my adventures of
the day were not yet over. I secured a cab, and drove to the address
he had given me, 123 Hudson Street, which in 1836 was by no means the
plebeian locality it is at present, but a fas