page_0012

11

to the North; we are at the best hotel in the place, and I
suppose the accomodations are considered superfine
but I look in vain for Northern neatness and comfort; you
see such a swarm of greasy negroes filling the houses &
streets, it is enough to put one out of conceit with everything;
the houses look in general, old & inelegant, interspersed
everywhere with negro huts. The trees however, look beautiful
in verdue, and yesterday the air had all the blandness
of summer; today it is chill and raining, and a good fire is
a comfortable companion. I preferred writing home to
attending church, and Mr Hentz asked the landlord for ink
and paper, after rummaging the whole house. I suppose, he
gave him an old sheet of brown paper, but could find no ink.
So Mr. Hentz unpacks his books, draws out a sheet of paper,
& rules off some India Ink, with which I have traced these
lines. I think they cannot be great letter writers in this
place, nor very religious, for I have heard the report of
several guns since the bells have rung for church. I have
endeavored, my dear mother and sisters, to give you an outline
of our journey, that you may follow our steps in imagination,
without feel the fatigue which has afflicted us -- I
think, however, that we have every reason to be grateful for
the protection of Heaven so far -; we have been carried in safety
through the whole; the child is well, & improving in fatness &
blitheness, though exposed to irregular diet, and damp, stormy
weather, I have had the assistance of an excellent girl, and