all well and prospering. We
embark, at nine to-morrow morning, in the "Canada" for Liverpool, where
I shall hope to add a few lines to this on landing.

_December 11th, off Cape Clear._--As it may be late to-morrow before we
land, and we may not have time to write from Liverpool, I shall close
this now, or at all events only add a line from that place. Barring a
severe gale of wind, our voyage has been tolerably prosperous since we
left Halifax; but I must not anticipate, as I wish to say a little more
about Boston, for I omitted in my last day's Journal to mention the
admirable arrangement on the Western Railway, by which we came from
Albany, as regards checking the luggage. This practice, as I have
already told you, is universal, but, generally speaking, one of the
_employes_ of the Packet Express Company takes charge of the checks
before the passengers leave the cars, and for a trifling charge the
luggage is delivered at any hotel the passenger may direct; where this
is not done, the checks are usually given to the conductor of the
omnibus, of which almost every hotel sends its own to the station. But
this latter practice leads to much noise, each conductor shouting out
the name of his hotel, as is done at Boulogne and elsewhere on the
arrival of the packets. On gliding into the spacious station at Boston
we were prepared to encounter this struggle, our checks not having been
given up in the car; but, to our surprise, there was a total absence of
this noisy scene, and on looking out we saw along the platform a range
of beautiful gothic recesses, over each of which was written the name of
an hotel, and we had only to walk along till we came to "Tremont House,"
when, without a word passing, we slipped into the hand of a man
stationed within, the checks for our baggage, he simply indicating "No.
2" as the omnibus we were to get into. Walking to the end of the
platform, we found a complete row of omnibuses, all consecutively
numbered, and marched in silence to No. 2, which in a minute or two
drove off with us and the other passengers destined for the Tremont
House; we found this, as before, a very comfortable hotel, and our
luggage was there within a few minutes after our arrival.

Before quitting the subject of the American hotels, we ought to state
that, from what we hear, unhappy single gentlemen meet with a very
different fate to that of persons travelling in company with ladies. One
poor friend greatly bewailed hi