nd
elsewhere. The solitary system is maintained, the prisoners never being
allowed to see each other, nor could we see them. One poor man had been
in confinement sixteen years out of twenty, to which he had been
condemned. Any one remembering Dickens's account of this prison, must
shudder at the recollection of it, and it was sad to feel oneself in the
midst of a place of such sorrow. When here a few days ago, we had left
our letters of introduction for Mr. Starr. He called to-day, and gave
Papa some interesting information about the revivals. He takes great
interest in the young _gamins_, whom I have described as "pedlering" in
the railway cars, selling newspapers and cheap periodicals; they are a
numerous class, and often sharp little fellows. Mr. Starr takes much
pains in trying to improve their moral and religious characters. But I
have no time at present for more. We returned to New York to-day, and
are passing our last evening with William, who is to sail early
to-morrow, and will be the bearer of this letter.

LETTER VII.

WILLIAM'S DEPARTURE.--GREENWOOD CEMETERY.--JOURNEY TO
WASHINGTON.--ARRANGEMENTS FOR OUR JOURNEY TO THE FAR WEST.--TOPSY.

Washington, 16th Oct. 1858.

I closed my last letter to you on the 12th, and gave it to William to
take to you. On the following day we bade him a sorrowful farewell, made
all the more melancholy by the day being very rainy, which prevented our
seeing him on board. We so very rarely see rain, that when it comes it
is most depressing to our spirits, without any additional cause for
lamentation; but it never lasts beyond a day, and is always succeeded by
a renewal of most brilliant weather.

To console ourselves next day, although papa said it was an odd source
of consolation, we went to see the Greenwood Cemetery, which is one of
the four remaining sights of New York, the fifth, the Crystal Palace,
being, as I wrote to you, burnt down. The cemetery, however, proved a
great "_sell_," as William would have called it; for it is not to be
compared to the one at Philadelphia; and instead of the beautiful white
marble, surrounding each family plot, we found grey stone, or, still
more commonly, a cast iron rail. Moreover, it had to be reached by an
endless series of steamer-ferries and tramways, which, though they did
not consume much money (under 1_s._ a head), occupied a great deal more
time than the thing was wort