rter who accompanied us to the station across the
way, in return for two or three gold pieces, we shook off the dust of
Liverpool from our feet, turned our eyes from the splendors of St.
George's Hall, and set our faces steadfastly towards our destination.
There was a kind of luxury, notwithstanding our prejudices, in this
English railway carriage, with its cushions all about us, even beneath
our elbows; a restfulness unknown in past experience of travel, in the
ability to turn our eyes away from the flying landscape without, to the
peaceful quiet, never intruded upon, within. We did not miss the woman
who will insist upon closing the window behind you, or opening it, as
the case may be. Not one regret had we for the "B-o-s-t-o-n papers!" nor
for the last periodical or novel. The latest fashion gazette was not
thrown into our lap only to be snatched away, as we became interested in
a plan for rejuvenating our wardrobe; nor were we assailed by venders of
pop corn, apples, or gift packages of candy. Even the blind man, with
his offering of execrable poetry, was unknown, and the conductor
examined our tickets from outside the window. Settling back among our
cushions, while we mentally enumerated these blessings of omission,
there came a thought of the perils incurred by solitary females locked
into these same comfortable carriages with madmen. If the danger had
been so great for one solitary female, what must it be for two, we
thought with horror. We gave a quick glance at our fellow-passenger, a
young man with hair all aflame. Certainly his eyes did roll at that
moment, but it was only in search of a newsboy; and when he exclaimed,
like any American gentleman, "Hang the boy!" we became perfectly
reassured. He proved a most agreeable travelling companion. We exchanged
questions and opinions upon every subject of mutual interest, from the
geological formation of the earth to the Alabama claims. I can hardly
tell which astonished us most, his profound erudition or our own. Now, I
have not the least idea as to whether Lord John Russell sailed the
Alabama, or the Alabama sailed of itself, spontaneously; but, whichever
way it was, I am convinced it was a most iniquitous proceeding, and so
thought it safe to take high moral ground, and assure him that as a
nation we could not allow it to go unpunished. You have no idea what an
assistance it is, when one is somewhat ignorant and a good deal at a
loss for arguments, to take high mor