70 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



land passengers on the quays outside. The ferry-boats, of 

 which there are half a dozen lines crossing the Mersey, all 

 come to one large floating wharf, from which the ascent to 

 the quays is made easy at all times of tide, by a sufficiently 

 long, hinged bridge. 



There is a Sailor s Home now building here, which will 

 certainly be a noble record of the justice and liberality of the 

 merchants of the port to their humble associates on the sea. 

 It is situated in an open public place, not far from the Custom 

 House and City Hall. It is built of stone, in the Elizabethan 

 Gothic style, and was considered a design worthy of giving 

 Prince Albert honour in the laying of its corner-stone. It is 

 already a stately edifice. 



There are chapels for seamen in several (possibly in all) 

 of the docks.* 



Later. We have left Liverpool, and while breathing this 

 delicious fragrance of hawthorn and clover, it is hard to think 

 back to the stirring dusty town, but I will try for a few min 

 utes to do so, and then bring you with me (I wish I could !) 

 out into the country. 



A great deal that interested us at Liverpool I must omit 

 to tell you of. I should like to introduce you to some of the 

 agreeable acquaintances we met there, but in what we saw 

 of social life there, there was hardly any thing to distinguish 



* The laws of the port req.tire, That for three hours at high water, there 

 shall be an efficient person on the deck of every vessel in the docks or ba 

 sins : That the anchor shall be in-board, jib-boom run in, &c. : That no 

 article of freight shall be allowed to remain on the dock-quays for more 

 than forty-eight hours [penalty, $1.25 an hour] : That no light or fire shall 

 be allowed [without special permission] on any vessel in the docks or ba 

 sins at any time. This last regulation prevents cooking on board, and 

 makes it necessary for the crews to live on shore. The consequent cus 

 toms are very inconvenient, expensive, and demoralizing to the seamen. 



