e than ours; but, on
examination, we were disappointed with their contents. The streets seem
badly paved, and are consequently noisy, and there are few fine
buildings or sights of any kind; but the dwelling-houses are not
unfrequently built of white marble, and are all handsome and
substantial. In our drive to-day we were much struck with the general
appearance of the streets and avenues, as the streets which run parallel
to Broadway are called. The weather has been sultry, but with a good
deal of wind; and the ladies must think it hot, as most of them appear
at breakfast in high dresses with short sleeves, and walk about in this
attire with a slight black lace mantle over their shoulders, their naked
elbows showing through. We go to-morrow to West Point, on the Hudson
River, to spend Sunday, and return here on Monday, on which day William
leaves us to make a tour in the White Mountains, and he is to join us at
Boston on Monday week.

You must consider this as the first chapter of my Journal, which I hope
now to continue regularly.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The admiration thus claimed for the scenery was sometimes so
extravagant as to make us look for a continuance of it, a reproach of
this kind being so often made against the Americans; but we are bound to
add this note, to say that we very seldom met afterwards with anything
of the kind, and the expressions used on this occasion were hardly,
after all, more than the real beauty of the scenery warranted.

LETTER II.

WEST POINT.--STEAMER TO NEWPORT.--NEWPORT.--BISHOP
BERKELEY.--BATHING.--ARRIVAL AT BOSTON.

Brevoort House, 5th Avenue, New York,
8th Sept., 1858.

My letter to you of the 3rd instant gave you an account of our voyage,
and of our first impressions of this city. In the afternoon of the 4th,
William went by steamboat to West Point, on the river Hudson, and we
went by railway. This was our first experience of an American Railway,
and it certainly bore no comparison in comfort either to our own, or to
those we have been so familiar with on the Continent. The carriages are
about forty feet long, without any distinction of first and second
classes: the benches, with low backs, carrying each two people, are
arranged along the two sides, with a passage down the middle. The
consequence is, that one may be brought into close contact with people,
who, at home, would be