were
delusive.

"I have been eighteen years in this country, sir."

"You appear to be quite _Americanised_!" thought I; but I made him no
answer.

"I went up to Patterson, sir," continued he (now turning round to me,
and speaking in my ear), "thinking that I could get to Philadelphia by
that route, and found that I had made a mistake; so I have come back. I
am _told_ there are some pretty falls there, sir."

"Would you were beneath them!" thought I; but I could not help laughing
at the idea of a man going to Patterson, and returning without seeing
the falls! By this time he had awakened his companion, who, being
American himself, and finding that there was to be no more sleep, took
him up, in the American fashion, and put to him successively the
following questions, all of which were answered without
hesitation:--"What is your name? where are you from? where are you
going? what is your profession? how many dollars have you made? have you
a wife and children?" All these being duly responded to, he asked my
companion who I might be, and was told that I was an operative artist,
and one of the first cotton spinners in the country.

This communication procured for me considerable deference from our new
acquaintance during the remainder of our journey. He observed in the
ear of my companion, that he thought I knew a thing or two. In a
country like America the Utilitarian will always command respect.

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT.

The 4th of July, the sixty-first anniversary of American independence!

Pop--pop--bang--pop--pop--bang--bang bang! Mercy on us! how fortunate
it is that anniversaries come only once a year. Well, the Americans may
have great reason to be proud of this day, and of the deeds of their
forefathers, but why do they get so confoundedly drunk? why, on this day
of independence, should they become so _dependent_ upon posts and rails
for support? The day is at last over; my head aches, but there will be
many more aching heads tomorrow morning!

What a combination of vowels and consonants have been put together! what
strings of tropes, metaphors, and allegories, have been used on this
day! what varieties and gradations of eloquence! There are at least
fifty thousand cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, spread over the
surface of America--in each the Declaration of Independence has been
read; in all one, and in some two or three, orations have been
delivered, with as much gunpowder in them