CONTENTS. ix 



Page 



footed horses. California!! fever. Influence of ancient gold 

 mines on the price of gold. To Robinstown in Maine. New 

 England forms of expression.- Breakneck driving Ellsworth. 

 Bangor. Land-speculating, farming and lumbering. Pine- 

 barrens of Georgia. Pitch and yellow pines. Lumber specu 

 lators from Maine. Section of the coast-line of Georgia. 

 Mutual relation of its woods, soils, and rocks. Connection 

 between the northern and southern States. Westward move 

 ment of the planters. Town of Waterville.- White houses 

 and new towns. Portland in Maine. St Lawrence and 

 Atlantic railways. The Irish in America. Immense takes 

 of the Menhaden in Long-Island Sound. Cooper s character 

 of the people of Connecticut. City of Albany. Old Dutch 

 houses. Roman Catholic party. Germans. State Legisla 

 ture. Rarity of re-elections. Professions of the members. 

 Predominance of English blood. Ages and weights of the 

 members. Opinions upon slavery. Equality of religious 

 sects. Common- school system. Its history. Free-school 

 system of 1849. Amount of school-tax. What a proportion 

 ate tax would be in Great Britain. Importance of education to 

 a free people. Can the voluntary principle secure it to all ? 

 Duty of Governments on the matter of education. Total 

 taxation in this State compared with that of Great Britain. 

 Different modes of making this comparison. Banking system. 

 Usury laws and legal interest in the several States. Moral 

 weight of the New-England character, . . . 214 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



CITY OF ALBANY AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



Churches in Albany, rivalry in building and ornamenting. 

 Hiring of the clergy and school teachers. Discussion at the 

 State Agricultural Society. Fear of each other in the States. 

 The Shakers at Watervliet. Their numbers and peculiar 

 doctrines. Slavery times on the Hudson. Effects of emanci 

 pation, and anti-slavery feeling in this State. Parallel between 

 Great Britain and the United States in their action as to 

 slavery. Reports of the State Agricultural Society distributed 

 gratuitously. Proposed agricultural college. Natural history 

 survey. Revision of the code of the State. Anti-renters. 

 Canvassing for public office. Albany penitentiary. City of 

 Troy. Railway to Canada. Annexation feeling in this State. 

 Dutch and other peculiar words, . 259 



