journey. We traveled all night; reached Columbus at seven
in the morning; breakfasted; and went to bed until dinner-time. At
night we held a levee for half an hour, and the people poured in as they
always do: each gentleman with a lady on each arm, exactly like the
Chorus to God Save the Queen. I wish you could see them, that you might
know what a splendid comparison this is. They wear their clothes
precisely as the chorus people do; and stand--supposing Kate and me to
be in the centre of the stage, with our backs to the footlights--just as
the company would, on the first night of the season. They shake hands
exactly after the manner of the guests at a ball at the Adelphi or the
Haymarket; receive any facetiousness on my part as if there were a stage
direction 'all laugh;' and have rather more difficulty in 'getting off'
than the last gentlemen, in white pantaloons, polished boots, and
berlins, usually display, under the most trying circumstances.

"Next morning, that is to say, on Friday, the 22d, at seven o'clock
exactly, we resumed our journey. The stage from Columbus to this place
only running thrice a week, and not on that day, I bargained for an
'exclusive extra' with four horses; for which I paid forty dollars, or
eight pounds English: the horses changing, as they would if it were the
regular stage. To insure our getting on properly, the proprietors sent
an agent on the box; and, with no other company but him and a hamper
full of eatables and drinkables, we went upon our way. It is impossible
to convey an adequate idea to you of the kind of road over which we
traveled. I can only say that it was, at the best, but a track through
the wild forest, and among the swamps, bogs, and morasses of the
withered bush. A great portion of it was what is called a 'corduroy
road:' which is made by throwing round logs or whole trees into a swamp,
and leaving them to settle there. Good Heaven! if you only felt one of
the least of the jolts with which the coach falls from log to log! It is
like nothing but going up a steep flight of stairs in an omnibus. Now
the coach flung us in a heap on its floor, and now crushed our heads
against its roof. Now one side of it was deep in the mire, and we were
holding on to the other. Now it was lying on the horses' tails, and now
again upon its back. But it never, never was in any position, attitude,
or kind of motion, to which we are accustomed in coaches; or made the
smallest approach to our e