10 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



tainly, not confined to their trade), that a space in which one 

 could not stand erect, or a berth like a coffin, was very roomy, 

 and so forth. 



Finally we were taken in by the perfect impudence and 

 utter simplicity in falsehood of one of them, an underling of 

 &quot; a respectable house&quot; advertised passenger agents of the 

 ship which, on the lie being represented to it, thought proper 

 to express its &quot; regret&quot; at the young man s error, but could 

 not be made to see that it was proper for them to do any 

 thing more, the error not having been discovered in time for 

 us to conveniently make other arrangements. 



We had engaged a &quot; family-room&quot; exclusively for our 

 selves, in the very large and neatly-fitted cabin of a new, 

 clean first-class packet. We thought the price asked for it 

 very low, and to secure it beyond a doubt, had paid half the 

 money down at the agent s desk, and taken a receipt, put 

 some of our baggage in it, locked the door, and taken the key. 

 The ship was hauling out from her pier when we went on 

 board with our trunks, and found the spacious second cabin 

 had been stored half full of cotton, and the remaining space 

 was lumbered up with ship stores, spare sails, &c. The ad 

 joining rooms were occupied by steerage passengers, and the 

 steward was trying keys to let them into ours. The mate 

 cursed us for taking the key, and the captain declared no one 

 had been authorized to make such arrangements as had been 

 entered into with us, and that he should put whom he pleased 

 into the room. 



We held on to the key, and appealed first to the agents 

 and then to the owners. Finally we agreed to take a single 

 room-mate, a young man whom they introduced to us, and 

 whose appearance promised agreeably, and with this compro 

 mise were allowed to retain possession. The distinction 

 between second cabin and steerage proved to be an imagina- 



