were not
acquainted" (as if, forsooth, one went to bed with all one's
acquaintance!) "but that he had but one room in the ladies' part of the
house."

Miss ---- immediately professed her readiness to take one in the
gentlemen's "part of the house," when it appeared that there was none
vacant there which had a fireplace in it. As the morning was intensely
cold, this could not be thought of. I could not take shelter in ----'s
room; for he, according to this decent and comfortable mode of lodging
travelers, had another man to share it with him. To our common dormitory
we therefore repaired, as it was impossible that we could any of us go
any longer without rest. I established Margery and the two babies in the
largest bed; poor Miss ---- betook herself to a sort of curtainless cot
that stood in one corner; and I laid myself down on a mattress on the
floor; and we soon all forgot the conveniences of a Wilmington hotel in
the supreme convenience of sleep.

It was bright morning, and drawing towards one o'clock, when we rose,
and were presently summoned to the "public dinner." The dirt and
discomfort of everything was so intolerable that I could not eat; and
having obtained some tea, we set forth to walk to the steamboat
_Governor Dudley_, which was to convey us to Charleston. The midday sun
took from Wilmington some of the desolateness which the wintry darkness
of the morning gave it; yet it looked to me like a place I could sooner
die than live in,--ruinous, yet not old,--poor, dirty, and mean, and
unvenerable in its poverty and decay. The river that runs by it is
called Cape Fear River; above, on the opposite shore, lies Mount
Misery,--and heaven-forsaken enough seemed place and people to me. How
good one should be to live in such places! How heavenly would one's
thoughts and imaginations of hard necessity become, if one existed in
Wilmington, North Carolina! The afternoon was beautiful, golden, mild,
and bright,--the boat we were in extremely comfortable and clean, and
the captain especially courteous. The whole furniture of this vessel was
remarkably tasteful, as well as convenient,--not forgetting the
fawn-colored and blue curtains to the berths.

But what a deplorable mistake it is--be-draperying up these narrow
nests, so as to impede the poor, meagre mouthfuls of air which their
dimensions alone necessarily limit one to. These crimson and yellow, or
even fawn-colored and blue silk suffocators, are a poor compensati