PROSTITUTES. 37 



stood on the rear car, and moved his hand round as if turning an 

 imaginary driving-wheel, the engine at the other end being gov- 

 erned by his motions forward slower slower faster slower 

 stop back. The train stopped, the doors were unlocked by 

 men in uniform, and there was a rush of passengers to secure 

 good seats. Women with bundles and band-boxes were shoved 

 this way and that, as they struggled to hoist themselves into the 

 doors ; their parcels were knocked out of their hands, porters 

 picked them up and threw them in, reckless where. 



Going into the street again, we wandered on till it was quite 

 dark, with no other object but to get a general impression of the 

 character of the town. We looked into a few houses where we 

 saw a sign of " Clean and well-aired beds," and found that we 

 should have no difficulty in getting comfortable lodgings at a very 

 moderate price. From nine until twelve we were waiting at the 

 dock for the ship to haul in, or trying in vain to get a boat to go 

 on board of her. There were many vessels lying near the great 

 gates, all standing by, when they should be opened at high-water, 

 to be hauled in. 



The broad promenade outside the dock walls was occupied by 

 the police, stevedores, watermen, boarding-house keepers, and a 

 crowd of women, waiting to help in the ships or to receive their 

 crews when the tide should have risen enough to admit them. I 

 was surprised at the quietness and decency of these " sailors' 

 wives," as they called themselves ; they were plainly and gener- 

 ally neatly dressed, and talked quietly and in kind tones to each 

 other, and I heard no loud profanity or ribaldry at all. Whether 

 this was owing to the presence of the police, I cannot say, but I 

 am sure it would be impossible to find, in America, vice, shame, 

 and misery, so entirely unassociated with drunkenness or excite- 

 ment and riot. They were not as young as girls of the same sort 

 in the streets of New York, and in the strong gas light their 



