The bluffs upon the Illinois shore, as we descend the Mississippi, become more bare and precipitous, and have a waterworn appearance as if the water had once flowed along their summits. The regular stratification of the sandstone and limestone of these cliffs, present the appearance of mason work, crowning the heights with castellated resemblances, so that we might imagine we were passing beneath some mountain fastness, with its frowning walls, dungeon keep, and warder’s tower. Occasionally masses of white limestone are strewed along the shore, or grouped upon the green sloping bank, as if some large city had there arisen upon the river’s side. Turning a sharp angle of one of those bluffs we found ourselves before a large imposing looking town, built upon the bank of the river, which came sloping down from the bluffs behind. This we learned was Alton. While our crew were mooring our boat upon the steep bank, we gazed with great curiosity and interest upon this place, larger than any we had seen since leaving Detroit fourteen hundred miles behind. To the left the rocks were crowned by a large solid looking building which we were told was the penitentiary. In front was a row of high ware-houses made of limestone, filled with goods and men; while a mass of houses and steeples at our right were brightly reflecting the rays of the sinking sun. The shore presented a busy scene; men and carts and horses were transporting goods or luggage, or busily employed Macadamizing the bank—a great improvement upon the wharves we had passed. A large brick building at our right hand, with a white porch and steps, bearing the sign of ‘Alton House,’ being our place of destination, we directed our course towards it. The keeper of the house being absent, and it being no one’s business to take care of us, we spent some time wandering about the well furnished parlors, and staring at the waiters who were washing up the tea things in the dining-room, ere we could find any one to listen to our wants. We had left behind us the land where a living is only to be obtained by effort, and where the landlord and porters are on the alert in order to catch the stranger and take him in. Here, the cool American manner obtains; and although to the hungry, tired traveller rather annoying, yet, when we reflect upon the peace, and independence, and plenty, which produces this indifference, he will do as we did, throw himself upon a sofa, keep cool, and quietly await the arrival of somebody.
While amusing ourselves looking around at the furniture, we observed a portrait of, as we afterwards learned, the master of the house. As much as we had heard of the wild independence, the devil-me-care manners of our western brethren, we were here taken by surprise. He was without his coat—actually painted in his shirt sleeves—having upon his head an old straw hat! It was probably a warm day, or he was in too much of a hurry to put on his coat when he went to sit; and besides, it was nobody’s business but his own how he was dressed, or if he were dressed at all, and I suppose we may be thankful he retained his white robe ‘any way.’ Luxury, refinement, and conventual forms may be carried to excess; but I am not prepared to say the other extreme is better. A boarder in the house happening to stray in, we told our wants, and he kindly sent a waiter for the master of the house. He came instantly and with the greatest alacrity and wish to oblige, took us up stairs. All the rooms proving full or engaged, except one too small, we were directed to another house, which, after a short moonlight walk, we reached. The Eagle tavern, a favorite name for hotels, I think, in our country, was a comfortable house, although not pretending to the style and fashion of the Alton House. And now having finished these last few lines, while our supper was preparing, I hasten to bid you good-night.
LETTER VIII.
Alton, July 11th.
My dear E.—Harassed by no compunctious visitings for the enormous package which I dismissed to you this morning through the Alton post-office, I have seated myself deliberately before my little desk to prepare you another. We have spent a delightful day among our friends here, and are very much pleased with the towns of Alton, for there are two of them. We are now, four o’clock, waiting for the steamboat to take us to St. Louis, and I employ the time in making a few sketches of the place for you. Alton is built as I told you, upon a sloping bank. This ground is very uneven, and upon some of the elevated portions are the public buildings. The churches here are well built and numerous, I think seven or eight; the streets wide and airy; places reserved for public squares, and several handsome private dwellings. The town has arisen rapidly, and from a small town in 1832, it has now fine streets, and houses, two hundred being built last year; merchants who transact business to the amount of several hundred thousand dollars, and even half a million in some instances. Eight or ten steamboats are owned here, and two railroads in contemplation, and the great national road it is thought will be conducted through this place. There are several religious societies here, each having houses of worship; among them the baptist church is spoken of as being nicely fitted up in the interior; it is built of stone. Every convenience and comfort of life is at hand; coal in profusion in the vicinity of the town, which is sold very cheap; limestone, freestone, and water lime, besides other mineral productions abound. The markets are stored with wild game—deer, partridges, prairie hen, and water-fowl; fruits both wild and cultivated; various sorts of fish; corn, beef, pork, and vegetables of the finest order. Madison county, in which it stands, is one of the richest in the State, being most of it upon the American bottom. It contains seven hundred and ninety square miles, and the value of its productions, exclusive of capital invested, and cost of buildings, amounts to two millions three hundred and sixty-nine thousand one hundred and fifty-one dollars and eighty cents. Of bushels of wheat, they have raised one hundred and sixty-five thousand five hundred and twenty. Corn one million three hundred and four thousand three hundred and thirty-five bushels. Tobacco, eleven thousand two hundred and eighty pounds. Capital invested in manufactures, two hundred and ten thousand four hundred and thirty-five dollars. But I suppose you do not care for these details. If I should come here again in a few years, I expect to see Alton three times its size, for although it may not rival St. Louis, as the inhabitants imagine, it must be the most considerable place after it, west of Cincinnati. The Illinois brings to it the produce of the northern lakes and States—the Mississippi waft to its doors the exports of the west, and takes it over to the Ohio, and to the gulf of Mexico, from which last it is only four or five days distant. The interests of religion and education employ the benevolent inhabitants to a remarkable degree and many thousands are expended every year for the furtherance of these objects. Among these are Shurtliff College, Alton Theological Seminary, Alton Female Seminary. But enough of statistics, you will say, and I hasten to our own personal adventures. We ordered a carriage to-day to take us to Upper Alton, to visit our friends there, and were quite pleased to see as nice a coach and pair of horses as we could see in our own Broadway. After leaving the town we drove through some rich prairie land, interspersed with trees, through which we obtained fine views of the swift rolling Mississippi, and across it the verdant plains of Missouri, with green swelling hills beyond. A drive of two miles brought us to Upper Alton, a pretty small looking village, with spires and neat dwellings peeping through the trees. This place is very pleasantly situated upon an elevated plateau of ground about two miles from the lower town. Families here enjoy great advantages, in regard to the education of their children, as colleges and schools abound in its neighborhood. The society of this place is very superior, and its situation healthy.
We found our friends in a large picturesque house in the cottage style, surrounded by piazzas, whose pillars were wreathed with the clustering Michigan rose, and shaded by the graceful cotton wood, and pretty red bud and locust. Here indeed was a western paradise! upon the Mississippi banks we found realized, those visions so many have sighed after, a lodge in the vast wilderness, a secluded retreat from the haunts of men, where the confusions and follies of the world are only remembered as a troubled dream. A charming young family, and a well selected library, render this retirement most delightful. A seminary upon a new plan had been lately erected near their abode, and with a view of showing us every thing of interest around them, our friends drove us in their carriage through a pleasant road in an oak forest, to the Monticello Female Seminary. The building is of limestone of that region, four stories in height. It stands within a lawn ornamented with groups of trees, and a fine garden is laid out in the rear. This extensive establishment was founded by Benjamin Godfrey, Esq., a gentleman of Alton, who, to this benevolent purpose devoted a large share of his property. While a resident of the west, many examples had come before his eyes, of the miseries arising from the imperfect education of the young women who settle here. The dearth of servants rendered it necessary for the young wives around him to superintend, if not assist in household labor, and he saw how much better it was they should come prepared for these duties, and quite able to perform them, instead of wearing themselves out, and pining away over tasks, which, by being new, appear much more arduous than they are in reality. As the evil lay in a defective system of education, this generous individual at once saw how great a desideratum an institution would be, uniting useful with ornamental accomplishments. With a public spirit to be much applauded, Mr. Godfrey erected this spacious building, for educating ‘wives for the west.’ Eighty young ladies is the limited number, all to be over fourteen years of age. With the course of scientific study usual in female seminaries, the pupils are taught music, instructed in religion, and in various household duties. Among other lessons, they are taught to set a table, arrange their rooms, even sweep and scrub them; wash, starch and iron all their clothes. Some young ladies, who had been bred in idleness, or who had come from the indulgent homes of Alton, or luxurious mansions of St. Louis, where slaves await their nod, were very reluctant at first to undertake these menial employments; but the advantage which so good a school presented in its other departments, rendered their mothers deaf to their complaints. They were soon, however, broken in, and sing as merrily over their wash tubs, as the other pupils. As gain is not the object of its generous founder, the price of admission is placed low, still there are some, whose means are too straightened for even this, and these are allowed to pay for their instruction, by labor in the house. The eagerness to get admittance for young persons, is very great, and many thus receive instruction who are of high respectability, and are enabled to attend to the younger branches of the family, or even, if required, teach others. Some of these young persons are beneficiaries of a benevolent society, called the ‘Ladies’ Association for Educating Females.’ The object of this society is to ‘encourage and assist young females to qualify themselves for teaching, and to aid in supporting teachers in those places where they cannot otherwise be sustained.’ Young females of all ages are selected from poor families and placed in schools, where they are watched over by these benevolent ladies, their tuition paid, and to each, every year, is addressed a circular letter of advice, with the donation of an appropriate, instructive book. When prepared, they are placed in situations where they can support themselves. Several have become missionaries, and at this school are two of the Cherokee tribe who are preparing to be teachers among their people. The great amount of good performed by these ladies entitle them to the hearty wishes of the benevolent and patriotic. The Rev. J. Spalding, in his address before the seventh annual meeting at Jacksonville, says: ‘Since its commencement it has aided one hundred and forty-seven young ladies in their preparation for usefulness and heaven, thirty-one of whom are professed followers of the Lamb.’ Now that I have thoroughly described the institution, we will leave the carriage and enter the house. We were shown into a neatly furnished parlor, where we were soon joined by the principal of Monticello, the Rev. Theron Baldwin, a gentleman of great information and piety. He kindly explained to us the principle upon which the seminary was conducted, and then offered to show us the house. Every thing was arranged with the greatest order and neatness. The dining, school, and recitation rooms, were large, clean and airy, and the bed rooms commodious. Upon the ground floor was a chapel fitted up with the beautiful black walnut of their woods; here divine service is performed, by the Rev. Mr. Baldwin, to the school and people of the neighborhood, who assemble there every Sunday. You see the Illinois people are determined their people shall enjoy the blessings of education; and when we reflect how much the destiny of our nation depends upon the next generation, we cannot devote our time or our money to a better purpose, than furthering such institutions. We left the seminary, pleased with its arrangements, and wishing all success to the generous individual who originated the establishment. It is delightful to see wealth so well employed, to behold the ‘just steward’ thus ably disposing of his master’s property. Such disinterestedness shone out in bold relief from the selfish and reckless waste of fortune which we had beheld in our pilgrimage, like one of his own ‘oak islands,’ upon a sunny and treeless prairie.
Once more we experienced the pains of parting, and were forced to leave our friends that afternoon. We returned to our hotel where we are awaiting the arrival of our steamboat which is to take us to St. Louis. When I look around in this interesting country, and upon such towns as Alton, I wonder why our Atlantic cities are so full of people. How many young men do I know there, and indeed, whole families, who are struggling for a living, and denying themselves every comfort that their spare income may suffice, to give them a showy appearance in public; crammed into crowded boarding houses, narrow, hot, dusty streets, when there is here in this wide beautiful land, room, fresh air, fine scenery, employment, everything to be enjoyed, at half the expense they are forced to lay out among so many discomforts. The steamboat bell warns me to put up my note book, and I will resume when aboard.
We found ourselves in a small steam-boat, which makes regular trips between this town and St. Louis, twenty-five miles. Alton looked very pretty when we turned to bid a sorrowful adieu, and we regretted our time would not allow us to remain in this interesting place. We are now all eagerly looking out, for the giant Missouri, whose junction with the Mississippi is but two miles below Alton. At length the point is in view, all gather upon the guards, and bend our eyes towards the right shore,—we are now before the mouth and behold an extraordinary scene. The Missouri does not, as travellers tell us, come rushing, and bounding, and dashing along, striking the Mississippi with such a concussion that volumes of mist arise in the air,—we beheld nothing so wonderful—a broad stream rolled down between its verdant banks, rapidly, and very like a torrent, but in quite a decent and proper manner. Its color—alas, for our pellucid lakes—is a tint not often recognized by artists, but generally called gruel or soap-suds hue. It holds in solution such an extraordinary quantity of clay, that one wonders how the steamboat can force its way through it. Its rapid current is distinguished by the curls and little whirlpools among the mud. Where it meets the Mississippi is a small ridge of clay, and thick masses push themselves under the clear brown water, coloring it more and more with its impurity, until at last, the unhappy Mississippi, after struggling for some time, is completely lost in the clayey stream, as some pure young heart, striving against temptation, but lost at last. The streams continue separate for some miles below St. Louis, and there the river takes the Missouri character. I looked up the vista of this grand stream, as we passed its mouth, with sentiments of awe. A mighty mass of water—it came rolling down nearly four thousand miles from its source in the wild recesses of the Rocky Mountains, bearing upon its bosom, not a fleet of Argosies, but materials for their construction in whole forests of gigantic trees.
Such an admirer of water as you know I am, you may be sure I regretted the soiling of my bright brunette Mississippi. To watch the foam of our vessel had been a favorite pastime, but alas, what a change from the diamond and emerald of our lakes, the topaz of the Illinois, the Zircon of the Mississippi to the soapsuds of the Missouri. I have called the Mississippi coffee color; it is now coffee-au-lait, and indignant must the father of waters be under so great an oppression. Several green islands adorn the stream, and the shores are spotted with a few houses, and now chimney, and roof, and tower, piled up against each other, proclaim a city, and we are soon in sight of the city of St. Louis. An old castellated Spanish mansion is the first relic we have seen of that brave Castilian race which once reigned over these broad lands. It is, I think, their ultima thula, their most northern point. The appearance of St. Louis, from the water, is very much like Albany, as it is built upon rising ground, consisting of two plateaus of land, the last elevated several feet above the other, but its water craft gave it quite a different character. We are used in our cities to behold the water front, bristling with masts, but here we saw steamboats alone, there being about seventy moored at the wharves, which gave a novel and western appearance, to the scene. The flat boat, is fast disappearing, and steamboats, are the only style of boat, with few exceptions, which we see; of these, five hundred and eighty-eight have been built upon the western waters.[21] The city of St. Louis stretches a mile along the elevated shore, and nearly the same distance back. We almost fancied ourselves in New York again, so great was the stir upon the wharf. The ware-houses, of brick or limestone, made of the rock upon which they stand, appeared filled with goods and customers, boxes and bales, carts and barrows were floating about, and every one seemed active except the negro slaves who were plodding about their work with the usual nonchalant gait of this merry but indolent nation. We missed our good wharves at home, and even the paved bank of Alton, for a shower had rendered the shore muddy. Surely some Yankee might contrive a more commodious landing; something that might rise and fall with the river, or a long pier. We drove to the Missouri House, where we arrived in time for tea, and at night were lulled to sleep by a Spanish guitar, and chattering of French voices from the shops and cafes in our neighborhood.