Harvard memorial biographies ...

178

Harvard Memorial Biographies.

"Will you please take particular notice in the streets, and see if
chafs (I can't say young men, and boys won't do at all) of my age
wear hats or caps? If hats are the fashion, I shall come with a
leather hat-box like father's! "
After going to a fancy ball in female attire, he writes, February, 1855:"It's really true that everybody at the ball thought I was a lady
until I spoke in my own voice; then it was very funny to see
their astonishment. I was introduced to a great many ladies and
gentlemen, and not one has recognized me since. The dress made
me look about as tall Aunt M-; the powdered, curled hair
made my features look finer and my forehead very white; my
cheeks were flushed; and all put together made me a very goodlooking lady, to judge from the compliments. I never enjoyed
myself so much. Don't compare me with any of my aunts. I
surpassed Aunt M- by half..1 only wish you could have seen
me. I don't think you would have known me at all. It's a sad
truth that I was obliged to shave, the prominence of my beard and
moustache being an obstacle to my appearing as a woman. But
without joking, it would have showed, especially by candle-light, so
I took it off.
" A New York Tribune came yesterday, and in it I read a long
account of the new ' Abolition Society of New York and its Vicinity,' and also an account of a slave having been burnt alive in Alabama. I did not think this last would ever happen again."
During the spring of 1855 he made a tour through Sweden
and Norway, with two companions, and enjoyed it to the
utmost.
On September ioth he wrote:"What awful riots there have been in America lately! I don't
know how the country seems to those who are living in it; but
looking at it through the newspapers, both American and German,
it looks pretty bad. But then, if you ever read anything about
America written in Germany, you may be pretty sure that all the
dark side of the case will be shown up; and if there is anything
good in it, that will be kept out of sight as much as possible: at
least it always strikes me so. In no country where I have been is
there such a prejudice against America as here; and whenever I
read German newspapers, I get into a rage. I 've met a great