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NEW ORLEANS TO NEW YORK. ix

are composed, has already given it the aspect of age, and to
the eye, it would seem the most ancient city in the United
States. The streets are broad, and the plan of the city is
perfectly rectangular and uniform. There are in the limits
of the city three malls, or parade grounds, of no great extent,
and not yet sufficiently shaded, though young trees are
growing in them. They serve as parade grounds, and in the
winter have a beautiful carpet of clover, of a most brilliant
green. Royal and Charter streets are the most fashionable
and splendid in the city. The parade ground, near the basin,
which is a harbour, dug out to receive the lake vessels, is the
most beautiful of the parades."

"In respect to the manners of the people, those of the
French citizens partake of their general national character.
They have here their characteristic politeness and urbanity ;
and it may be remarked, that ladies of the highest standing
will show courtesies that would not comport with the ideas
of dignity entertained by the ladies at the North. In their
convivial meetings there is apparently a great deal of cheerful
familiarity, tempered, however, with the most scrupulous ob-
servances, and the most punctilious decorum. They are the
same gay, dancing, spectacle-loving race, that they are every
where else. It is well known that the Catholic religion does
not forbid amusements on the Sabbath. They fortify them-
selves in defending the custom of going to balls and the
theatre on the Sabbath, by arguing that religion ought to
inspire cheefulness, and that cheerfulness is associated with
religion."

"The Americans come hither from all the states. Their
object is to accumulate wealth, and spend it somewhere else.
But death–which they are very little disposed to take into
the account–often brings them up before their scheme is
accomplished. They have, as might be expected of an as-
semblage from different regions, mutual jealousies, and
mutual dispositions to figure in each other's eyes ; of course
the New Orleans people are gay, gaudy in their dress,
houses, furniture, and equipage, and rather fine than in the
best taste.

There are some fifty steam-boats lying in the harbour.
A clergyman from the North made with me the best enu-
meration that we could, and we calculated that there were

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