Stepping on board, we are at once in the midst of a tremendous crowd of luggage and passengers, ship's crew, stewards, and officers, mixed up in every direction. We have the number of our state-room, and get the steward and porter of the section in which it is situated pointed out to us by an obliging officer. Both of these individuals seem in too great a hurry to stop and hear us as we commence a request; but we have profited by experience. My hand is already in my pocket, a few hurried words, the quiet passage of her majesty's portrait in silver into the palm of the listener, and in five minutes the luggage for our state-room is there, and the porter touches his hat, and asks if there is "anythink else, sir," while the steward comes soon after to tell me to "call for George whenever we want anything." Such is the mysterious power of her majesty's coin on her subjects.
The reader need not have rehearsed again to him the experiences of the passage over, which differs but little from those already described in these pages, except that it was rougher, and, as the sailors say, "all up hill," while from America to England it is down, and that we counted the completion of each day's journey as so much nearer home. But when old Boston's spires came in sight, and the swelling dome of the State House rose to view, it seemed that we had looked upon no sight or scene in foreign lands, and visited no place over the ocean that was a more pleasant picture to look upon—its attraction in our eyes heightened, no doubt, by that charm that invests one's native land and childhood's home.
Transcriber's Notes
Hyphenation, punctuation, and spelling standardized when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise unchanged. When in doubt, end-of-line hyphens have been retained. Simple typographical errors remedied, but no changes made to quoted inscriptions.
Ditto marks replaced by actual text.
Cover for mobile devices created by transcriber, placed in the Public Domain.