ch side, too
high for us to look out without standing up. It was crowded with people,
apparently of all nations. There were plenty of beds and cradles,
containing screaming and kicking babies. Every other man had a cigar or
pipe in his mouth, and jugs of whiskey were handed round freely. The fumes
of the whiskey and the dense tobacco smoke were sickening to my senses, and
my mind was equally nauseated by the coarse jokes and ribald songs around
me. It was a very disagreeable ride. Since that time there has been some
improvement in these matters.
XXXII. The Meeting Of Mother And Daughter.
When we arrived in New York, I was half crazed by the crowd of coachmen
calling out, "Carriage, ma'am?" We bargained with one to take us to
Sullivan Street for twelve shillings. A burly Irishman stepped up and said,
"I'll tak' ye for sax shillings." The reduction of half the price was an
object to us, and we asked if he could take us right away. "Troth an I
will, ladies," he replied. I noticed that the hackmen smiled at each other,
and I inquired whether his conveyance was decent. "Yes, it's dacent it is,
marm. Devil a bit would I be after takin' ladies in a cab that was not
dacent." We gave him our checks. He went for the baggage, and soon
reappeared, saying, "This way, if you plase, ladies." We followed, and
found our trunks on a truck, and we were invited to take our seats on them.
We told him that was not what we bargained for, and he must take the trunks
off. He swore they should not be touched till we had paid him six
shillings. In our situation it was not prudent to attract attention, and I
was about to pay him what he required, when a man near by shook his head
for me not to do it. After a great ado we got rid of the Irishman, and had
our trunks fastened on a hack. We had been recommended to a boarding-house
in Sullivan Street, and thither we drove. There Fanny and I separated. The
Anti-Slavery Society provided a home for her, and I afterwards heard of her
in prosperous circumstances. I sent for an old friend from my part of the
country, who had for some time been doing business in New York. He came
immediately. I told him I wanted to go to my daughter, and asked him to aid
me in procuring an interview.
I cautioned him not to let it be known to the family that I had just
arrived from the south, because they supposed I had been at the north seven
years. He told me there was a colored woman in Brooklyn who came from the
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