g issue from a fine large public building
to invite "ladies and gentlemen" to see "the magnificent picture of the
departure of the Israelites from Egypt,"--the canvas containing 2,000
square feet, and 2,000,000 of figures! How significant! It would have
been still more so, if the number of "figures" had been 3,000,000
instead of 2,000,000. What an "abolition" picture! It must have been
worse than "Jacob and his Sons," which was expunged from a catalogue of
the American Sunday-School Union, because, in reprehending the sale of
Joseph to the merchants, it reflected upon the _internal_ slave-trade!
Surely such exhibitions will affect the safety of the "peculiar
institution!"

LETTER IV.

A Sabbath in New Orleans--The First Presbyterian Church--Expectoration
--A Negro Pew--The Sermon.

Think of a Sabbath in New Orleans! Curious to know how people did
really pray and preach, with slavery and slave-trading in their vilest
forms around them, I set off in search of the "First Presbyterian
Church." It is a beautiful building; seldom, if ever, had I seen a
place of worship the exterior of which I liked so much. Being a quarter
of an hour too soon, I had opportunity for some preliminary researches.
Wishing to see whether there was a "Negro Pew," I went into the
gallery, and took a seat on the left side of the organ. The "church" I
found as beautiful inside as out. Instead of a pulpit, there was a kind
of platform lined with crimson, which looked very nice. Most of the
pews below, and some above, were lined with the same material. A
splendid chandelier, having many circles of glass brilliants, was
suspended from the ceiling. Altogether, the "church" was a very neat
and graceful structure,--capable, as I learned, of accommodating about
1,500 people. But the floor--the floor! What a drawback! It was stained
all over with tobacco juice! Faugh! Those Southern men are the most
filthy people in that respect I ever met with. They are a great
"spitting" community. To make it still more revolting to luckless
travellers, this nasty habit is generally attended with noises in the
throat resembling the united growling of a dozen mastiffs.

While the congregation was assembling, a greyheaded,
aristocratic-looking old negro came up into the gallery, walked along
"as one having authority," and placed himself in a front pew on the
right-hand side of the pulpit. Two black women shortly followed, taking
their seats in the same region. Ot