Travels in the United States, etc.,: during 1849 and 1850./ By the Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley.

TRAVELS JN AMERICA.
must have imagination indeed, must out-Shakspeare Shakspeare,
the myriad-minded, and the very lord of imagination, to deal in
hyperbolical extravagance here. What would be exaggeration in
other countries, is here the simplest moderation, and in all proba bility lags behind the reality. The fact is, they feel their destiny,
and their country's destiny, and they would be stocks and stones
if they did not; and if, in England, we are disposed to think they
"greatly daring" talk, we should remember a little what a pros pect lies before them. Nature, their present, their fiuture-all is
in such an exaggerated mood here, all on such a stupendous scale'
For them to have little views, and entertain trifling projects, or
hold petty opinions, with regard to their mighty country's advancement and progress, would be as absurd as to see a party of giants
in go-carts or in pinafores, and playing at "Tom Thumb" and
"Goody Two Shoes."
People take different views of things. Our little Swedish waiter
seems to think America was especially designed and provided by
Nature as a vast receptacle and a sort of asylum for destitute or
somewhat needy Swedes; a kind of country of ease for Sweden in
particular, who kindly allowed her advantages to be shared by a
Jew other refugees from a few other nations. Regarded in this
rather modest light, it appeared to give him tolerable satisfaction,
on the whole; though on some points he seemed inclined to think,
a little change would be beneficial, such as having a Swedish
l)resident here, and trifles of that sort. However, he was an excellent waiter, and labored most zealously in his vocation; always
at hand, always active, attentive, and in good-humor: he must be
invaluable to the master of this busy hotel.
We have a great fancy for tasting and trying all sorts of unearthly, half-supernatural dishes. Wve had found bear excellent
in the West; sometimes a wild buffalo capital. Had it been -the
country for such animals we should have ordered hippopotamus-)ie, or a leg of camelopard, or chimpanzee chops, or a few slices
of rattlesnake, with orang-outang sauce. As it was, we asked for
wvild turkey, and wild geese, and wild raccoons, or "possums." I
b)elieve these things (I do not know about the last) are accounted
very good, and it amused us trying and experimentalizing on them.
T.he recherchee cuisine of the hotel did not admit of such "curiosities of cookery;" so very frequently, and with regret, our poor
little Swede was constrained to bring us tame beef and miutton,
and other such common-place dishes instead. however, he did his
lest, and brought, triumrnphantly, the other day, wvild ros bief (buf
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