FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140  
141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  
to further confuse me, I could never have kept the name by me at all. We left per Pennsylvania Railroad, at 8 A.M. April 18. 'EVENING. Speaking of dress. Grace and picturesqueness drop gradually out of it as one travels away from New York.' I find that among my notes. It makes no difference which direction you take, the fact remains the same. Whether you move north, south, east, or west, no matter: you can get up in the morning and guess how far you have come, by noting what degree of grace and picturesqueness is by that time lacking in the costumes of the new passengers,--I do not mean of the women alone, but of both sexes. It may be that CARRIAGE is at the bottom of this thing; and I think it is; for there are plenty of ladies and gentlemen in the provincial cities whose garments are all made by the best tailors and dressmakers of New York; yet this has no perceptible effect upon the grand fact: the educated eye never mistakes those people for New-Yorkers. No, there is a godless grace, and snap, and style about a born and bred New-Yorker which mere clothing cannot effect. 'APRIL 19. This morning, struck into the region of full goatees--sometimes accompanied by a mustache, but only occasionally.' It was odd to come upon this thick crop of an obsolete and uncomely fashion; it was like running suddenly across a forgotten acquaintance whom you had supposed dead for a generation. The goatee extends over a wide extent of country; and is accompanied by an iron-clad belief in Adam and the biblical history of creation, which has not suffered from the assaults of the scientists. 'AFTERNOON. At the railway stations the loafers carry BOTH hands in their breeches pockets; it was observable, heretofore, that one hand was sometimes out of doors,--here, never. This is an important fact in geography.' If the loafers determined the character of a country, it would be still more important, of course. 'Heretofore, all along, the station-loafer has been often observed to scratch one shin with the other foot; here, these remains of activity are wanting. This has an ominous look.' By and by, we entered the tobacco-chewing region. Fifty years ago, the tobacco-chewing region covered the Union. It is greatly restricted now. Next, boots began to appear. Not in strong force, however. Later--away down the Mississippi--they became the rule. They disappeared from other sections of the Union with the mud; no doubt they will dis
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140  
141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

region

 

tobacco

 

remains

 

chewing

 

loafers

 

effect

 

morning

 

country

 

important

 

accompanied


picturesqueness

 

obsolete

 

scientists

 
AFTERNOON
 

railway

 

uncomely

 
breeches
 
pockets
 

suddenly

 

stations


history

 

fashion

 
extends
 

extent

 

goatee

 

generation

 

observable

 

acquaintance

 

biblical

 

supposed


creation

 

suffered

 

belief

 

forgotten

 

running

 

assaults

 

strong

 

covered

 

greatly

 

restricted


sections

 

disappeared

 

Mississippi

 
entered
 

Heretofore

 

character

 

geography

 

determined

 
station
 
loafer