14 EXCURSION TO LONG ISLAND. 



York. Next morning I was awoke from a sound sleep by a 

 loud knocking at my bedroom window, and on answering the 

 call, my disturber asked the hour. After looking at my 

 watch, I answered, twenty minutes past three o clock, and 

 added, he had surely made a mistake in coming to me. He 

 sharply answered, in a disagreeable nasal twang, &quot; I have 

 slept too long, that is all the mistake, I guess.&quot; In a few 

 minutes afterwards, all hands, including several of the family, 

 were engaged in milking cows ; and the produce of about 

 twenty was despatched for New York before five o clock, un 

 der charge of the person who awoke me, and I learned that 

 he had contracted for the milk during the season. We break 

 fasted at six o clock, and were immediately afterwards drawn 

 to the city by a pair of handsome chestnut geldings, at the 

 rate of eight miles an hour, and which would have graced any 

 barouche in Britain. Our vehicle was the common four- 

 wheeled waggon of the country, with two deals across for 

 temporary seats, and it was to return loaded with seed-pota 

 toes. We drove smack up to the Washington Hotel, one of 

 the most fashionable houses in the most celebrated street in 

 New York ; and in course of our progress I was amused at 

 the uneasiness of my friend, one of the best and plainest of 

 men, at being carried to our residence in such a mean-looking 

 carriage. During his short residence in the States, he had 

 not learned to shake off that aristocratic feeling which so ge 

 nerally pervades human nature, and has produced much mi 

 sery in the world. 



After changing our linens, we set out in a gig for Long 

 Island, proceeding by Way of Flushing, and returning by the 

 beautiful village of Jamaica. Long Island has been termed 

 the garden of the States a name which it may well merit 

 from its numerous orchards, but certainly not from the fertility 

 of the soil, or the management which it is under. The land 

 is generally of light texture, requiring constant supplies of 

 manure, and a considerable part of it is sand of the poorest 

 quality. The enclosures were small, the fences bad, and 

 every description of crop inferior. Parts of the surface were 

 covered with thriftless brushwood, and there were numerous 

 pools of water which might have been easily drained. Many 

 of the houses were composed of brick, others of wood, resem- 



