It was a little rigorous with us, as requiring us
to have a clear mind; but it was not unfriendly, not unkind, and it was
patient from long experience. In New York there are no elderly hackmen;
but in Boston they abound, and I cannot believe they would be capable of
bad faith with travellers. In fact, I doubt if this class is anywhere as
predatory as it is painted; but in Boston it appears to have the public
honor in its keeping. I do not mean that it was less mature, less
self-respectful in Portsmouth, where we were next to arrive; more so it
could not be; an equal sense of safety, of ease, began with it in both
places, and all through New England it is of native birth, while in New
York it is composed of men of many nations, with a weight in numbers
towards the Celtic strain. The prevalence of the native in New England
helps you sensibly to realize from the first moment that here you are in
America as the first Americans imagined and meant it; and nowhere in New
England is the original tradition more purely kept than in the beautiful
old seaport of New Hampshire. In fact, without being quite prepared to
defend a thesis to this effect, I believe that Portsmouth is preeminently
American, and in this it differs from Newburyport and from Salem, which
have suffered from different causes an equal commercial decline, and,
though among the earliest of the great Puritan towns after Boston, are
now largely made up of aliens in race and religion; these are actually
the majority, I believe, in Newburyport.
Pages:
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135