AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



creosote have some rare antiseptic and preservative 

 qualities, as doubtless they have, that are efficacious in 

 the human physiology. It is no doubt true, also, that 

 the people do not tan in this climate, as in ours, and 

 that the delicate flesh tints show more on that ac- 

 count. 



I speak thus of these things with reference to our 

 standards at home, because I found that these stand- 

 ards were ever present in my mind, and that I was un- 

 consciously applying them to whatever I saw, and 

 wherever I went, and often, as I shall have occasion to 

 show, to their discredit. 



Climate is a great matter, and no doubt many of the 

 differences between the English stock at home and its 

 offshoot in our country, are traceable to this source, 

 Our climate is more heady and less stomachic than the 

 English ; sharpens the wit, but dries up the fluids and 

 viscera ; favors an irregular, nervous energy, but ex- 

 hausts the animal spirits. It is, perhaps, on this ac- 

 count that I have felt since my return how much easier 

 it is to be a dyspeptic here than in Great Britain. 

 One's appetite is keener and more ravenous, and the 

 temptation to bolt one's food greater. The American 

 is not so hearty an eater as the Englishman, but the 

 forces of his body are constantly leaving his stomach 

 in the lurch, and running off into his hands and feet 

 and head. His eyes are bigger than his belly, but an 

 Englishman's belly is a deal larger than his eyes, and 

 the number of plum puddings and amount of Welsh 



