American Life / A Narrative of Two Years' City and Country Residence in the United States

by Mrs. Felton

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Contents: [Preface] Chapter: [I.], [II.], [III.], [IV.], [V.], [VI]. Some typographical errors have been corrected; . (etext transcriber's note)

AMERICAN LIFE.
———
A NARRATIVE
OF
TWO YEARS’ CITY AND COUNTRY RESIDENCE
IN THE
U N I T E D S T A T E S.

By Mrs. FELTON.
Third Thousand.
BOLTON PERCY:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHORESS.
1843.

LEEDS:
PRINTED BY D. I. ROEBUCK, GRACE STREET.

PREFACE.

In submitting these few sheets to the public, the authoress wishes to be considered as presenting a faithful record of her observations, and of events as they occurred within the limits of her experience, during her continuance in the United States.

Whenever she has felt herself called upon to give an opinion, she has endeavoured impartially to comply; and when, in delineating characters, she has been compelled to draw upon fiction for names, in order to avoid inflicting an injury by an unnecessary exposure; it may be concluded with certainty that the names alone are fictitious, and that the individuals represented are correctly depicted in their proper colours.

While employed in preparing this small volume for the press, that opinion, so frequently expressed by the Americans, has often occurred to her: viz. “That should a book be written on their country, containing truth in its unalloyed simplicity, it would for ever lie on the shelves of the bookseller, as no encouragement would be given in England to any publication on such a subject, unless it were rendered palatable by libels and falsehoods.” Although sufficiently convinced herself, of the fallacy of this notion, still it has had some influence in inducing as much caution, as if these pages were about to be submitted as a test to decide the fate of some such experiment.