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THE

AMERICAN PASTOR IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER I.

INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE.

A Storm-The Persia--The Passengers-A Wreck-A FogWorship-"The Cerrrcle'-Sunrise-Anchorage-An Attack of Bacchus-An Arrest-A Fatal Accident-A Warning to Smokers-Warm Reception on Shore.

To break the dull monotony

Of an Atlantic trip,

Sometimes, alas! we ship a sea,

And sometimes see a ship.
FRANCIS OSGOOD.

It was past midday, on the 6th of December, 1856, when we took tender leave of our friends in Charleston, and stepped on board the steamship Nashville, as happy and hopeful a triad as ever embarked for a voyage. The wind blew rough and cold from the north-east, and dull leaden clouds hung over the sea, prophetic of a stormy passage. And well did Boreas redeem his pledge. Seldom I imagine, without actual shipwreck, have three seafarers suffered more in three days than we. But amidst it all, hope hung the heavens with rainbows, and every billow blossomed as it broke. Sallie heard Mozart's Zauber-Flöte in the wailing of the winds, and steeped her soul in seas of German melody. Jennie saw Raffaelle's Transfiguration of the Redeemer, or Domenichino's Communion of Saint Jerome, in every cloud that sailed across the sky; and Venuses, and Apollos, and Mercurys, and Jupiters constantly springing from the surf. As for the scribe, while he lay in the slumberous delirium of the mal de mer, or looked out from his little window upon the seething floods,

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every surge became a Brent-Knoll, and every sound of the waters brought the sweet murmur of Burnham Beach, and the wind that so fiercely contested our progress seemed odorous with the breath of cowslips from Lympsham, and primroses from Bleadon, and wallflowers from his grandmother's garden.

On the morning of the 9th we are in New York, early enough to secure good state-rooms in the Persia, and enjoy an evening with Bishop Janes and his family, and some hours with sundry other friends of former years; and at six the next evening, under a fair breeze and a full moon, with a sea as calm as the Cayuga, we stand bravely out to the broad Atlantic. How majestically beautiful is this floating palace, three hundred and ninety feet long, and built in four compartments, any one of which is deemed sufficient to keep her afloat if the others should fill with water! On the deck, at the table, in the state-rooms, how admirable is the order observed, inspiring in the passengers a delightful confidence of security, and giving an attractiveness even to the sea! Her population, exclusive of officers, sailors, and servants, is a hundred and seventy souls, chiefly English, Irish, and Scotch, a few French and German, with a sprinkling of New England salt. There is a Roman Catholic bishop on board-quite plethoric enough for the profession-a talkative, intelligent, and altogether agreeable man; with his brother, a well-informed gentleman, but rather too frank for a Jesuit, who eight or ten years ago accompanied the enterprising prelate on his 'American mission,' in the character of a priest, rather by way of frolic than otherwise,' and appears to have kept up his clerical fun ever since. We have also Mr. Osgood, the American artist, in our company; a man of genial mood and various knowledge, with a history which ought to be written attended by his wife, an amiable lady, who has enjoyed the advantages of extensive travel. Opposite us at the table sit three British officers from Canada, one of them a son of the Lord Primate of Ireland, two of them well freighted with incidents of the Crimean campaign, and all of them overflowing with genuine Irish wit. A lady who has evidently seen something of the world, and is now returning to her home in the land of potatoes and

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of hearts, affords us much amusement with the accounts she gives us of her countrymen, whom she very seriously pronounces the most generous, the most eloquent, and the most deceitful people in the world.' Last, though not least, if you may judge from the attention shown him, especially by officers and stewards of the ship, here is Tom Thumb, alias Charles Stratton, nearly twenty years old, but less than three feet high, and as diminutive in intellect as in stature, with his mother, brother-in-law, and a fiscal agent, on his way to England, where he is to spend the next two years in exhibiting his insignificance.

Few were the incidents of our voyage. Some of us, chiefly the ladies, were pretty well occupied, especially when the weather was a little rough, with their own personal matters; and with the rest, conversation and reading made the time pass pleasantly. On the evening of the third day out we passed the hull of a large schooner, dismasted and apparently abandoned by her crew; but did not pause, I know not why, to investigate her condition. On the banks of Newfoundland, as generally happens, we were enveloped in a dense fog, through which a sail could not possibly have been seen a hundred yards; yet the Persia never slackened her speed, but two men with tin horns at the bows blew perpetual warning to whatever might chance to be in our way, and every fifth minute the great steam-whistle sent terrific cautions over the deep.

The Sabbath dawned. Worship, according to the ritual of Her Majesty's church, was performed on board Her Majesty's steamships. But in this instance, where is the clergyman? There is none, and the captain must officiate. All hands are summoned, by the tolling of the bell, to the long dining-saloon. Most of the passengers are present, and as many of the sailors and stewards, I suppose, as can be spared from duty, making in all about three hundred persons. The bishop and the frolicking priest are not of the company, though evidently they ought, in all consistency, to recognize the principle which ignores the clerical character of the present scribe. We are all furnished with prayer-books, and the service is solemnly read, and the responses are general and hearty. In the midst of the prayers, the lay-parson very properly interpolates the

petition of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the President of the United States, and all others in authority. Then follows a sermon from Dr. Blair: Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Very appropriate, certainly; but no one can deny that Captain Judkins prays better than he preaches; and I flatter myself, all ungowned as I am, I might have read that sermon quite as well myself. A very serious thought it is, that never in this world shall we all worship together again; and most sincerely is the prayer breathed, at least by some of the worshippers, that we may all hereafter meet in heaven.

Travellers on shipboard have often to pay for their inexperience. One day I went to the bow, and stood looking out over the sea. When I turned around, a sailor stood at my side, with a wrinkle of ineffable mischief in his face. D'ye see, Serrr,' said he, pointing to a chalk line which he had drawn around me upon the deck, 'I've put ye in the 'Oh no,' I replied, that is not a circle-only

cerrrcle!'

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a semicircle.' Faith,' rejoined he, and sure it isn't the likes of yer honour that'll be getting off in that way: I thought yer honour wouldn't mind giving a pore fellow the price of a terrrkey for Christmas.' And what is the price of a turkey?' I demanded. Oh, the matther of a dollar in Leverpole, or a dollar and a quarther for a fat one.' I handed him fifty cents. Indade, yer honour,' said he, with something akin to a sigh, and ye wouldn't be afther putting us off with half a dollar: it isn't like yer counthry entirely. But I fear you will spend that for whiskey,' I answered. I'm sure I never dhrinks a dhrop, yer honour, nor haven't for these seven years agone; and besides, I've got a wife and fower children in Corrrk.' For his eloquence, more than his wit, I duplicated the fifty cents; and enjoyed the giving quite as much, I doubt not, as he the receiving.

It was the last morning of our voyage. A calmer sea, and a clearer sky, could not well be imagined. We were gliding along the coast of the Emerald Isle. With one of the young officers aforesaid, I went on deck to look at the fragments of an ancient castle. At the same moment the sun on the opposite side began to emerge from the watery

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