LOUISVILLE HOTEL. 273 



them swore and stormed at the waiters in a manner I never 

 witnessed elsewhere in America, which was perhaps owing to 

 this being a slave state, and the individuals themselves slave 

 owners. The waiters were chiefly people of colour ; and much 

 as I did feel disgusted at the language which in two or three 

 instances was directed to them, yet I had often heard waiters 

 in Britain similarly addressed. 



My bed was in a small apartment, indifferently lighted, in 

 which w r ere two bedsteads. The Exchange-room was as 

 well filled in the morning with expectants for breakfast as it 

 had been in the preceding evening ; and although Louisville 

 is in a slave state, and the establishment of the hotel chiefly 

 composed of such beings, a white person, well dressed and 

 of good appearance, stood at the entrance of the house with 

 the room, and brushed every gentleman s coat and hat who 

 required his services. 



Having seen the town before nightfall, I at one time thought 

 of visiting the theatre, for the purpose of seeing Mr Forrest, 

 a celebrated native actor, of whom the people of the States 

 are extremely proud. On referring to the playbill in the 

 Exchange-room, I observed a line in small type at the bot 

 tom, intimating that people of colour were not admitted. This 

 appeared to me so absurd, to distinguish human beings at a 

 place of public amusement by their complexion, and so illi 

 beral, that I altered my intention. In walking through the 

 streets in the evening, I was surprised at seeing so few peo 

 ple, and so many rats. These creatures were swarming, and I 

 saw more of them in half an hour than I had seen in the 

 previous course of my life. 



Next morning, I embarked on board the Champlain for 

 Cincinnati, where I found Mr Gemble and another passenger 

 from the Helen Mar. The Champlain was an excellent 

 vessel, with the cabin in the bow, which is much more agree 

 able than when it is in the stern, by allowing objects to be 

 seen when approaching, instead of receding from them. The 

 steam-boats on the eastern waters of the United States, and 

 the Canadas, have their cabins in the hull of the vessel like 

 those of Britain, and a deck above where passengers sit or 

 walk. A different arrangement is followed on the western 



