by taking
the longer route, as the road went round the heads of the lakes, and in
one case, indeed, crossed the head of the lake where these beautiful
little towns are situated. The views of all these lakes, but especially
of lake Cayuga, and of lake Seneca on which Geneva is situated, are very
lovely. They stretch "right away" between high banks, varying from two
to five miles apart, each forming a beautiful vista, closed up by
distant blue hills at the further end. These lakes vary from thirty to
forty miles in length, and by means of steamboats form an easy
communication, though a more tedious one than the railways, between this
and the southern part of the State of New York. We had a capital
cicerone to explain all that we saw as we went along, in a Yankee, who
told us he was "raised" in these parts, though he lived in "Virginny."
He looked like a small farmer, but had a countenance of the keenest
intelligence. He told papa, before he had spoken five minutes with him,
that it was quite right a person of his intelligence should come to this
country. When we came to Auburn, he quoted "'Sweet Auburn, loveliest
village of the plain;' a beautiful poem, sir, written by Goldsmith, one
of your own poets." We told him we thought of going to St. Paul, beyond
the Mississippi, when he said, "Oh yes! that's a new country--that's a
_cold_ country too. If you are there in the winter, it will make you
_snap_."

At Rochester we stopped for an hour to dine. We had intended to sleep
there, but none of us being tired, we changed our plan in order to come
on here last night. During this hour we went to see the Falls of the
Genessee, which in some respects surpassed Trenton, as the river is very
broad, and falls in one sheet, from a height of ninety-six feet, over a
perpendicular wall of rock. We dined, and then papa and I took a rapid
walk to the post office, to post a letter to Alfred O., at Toronto. The
streets, as usual, were very wide, with spacious "stores" running very
far back, as they all seem to do in America. I asked when the letter
would reach Toronto, and the man answered, "It ought to do so to-morrow,
but it is uncertain when it will." Papa asked our guide from the hotel
where he was "raised," (papa is getting quite a Yankee), to which he
replied, "in Ireland." I slept, wonderful to say, through part of our
journey here, in one of those most uncomfortable cars, but woke up as
we approached the station. The night was splendi