LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
25 
LETTER IL 
Dallas, May 20tli, 18 — . 
There is no solitude like that which is felt hy 
him who for the first time walks the streets of 
a busy city in which he is a total stranger. Crowds 
of human beings pass by, each possessed of the 
thoughts, feelings, and affections of a man ; yet not 
one stretches out the hand of friendship, not one 
bestows a nod of acquaintance, not one gives so 
much as a glance of recognition. In the gloom of 
the forest, in the silence of the wilderness, far 
from human abodes, my heart leaps for joy ; there 
I am not lonely, though alone ; there hundreds of 
objects meet my gaze, with which I have long 
been accustomed to hold sweet communion. 
Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears ; 
To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.” . 
Such thoughts as these obtruded on my mind, 
as, having landed from the vessel just as day was 
departing, a time that predisposes to depression, 
I walked unheeded and unknown through the city 
of Mobile. These thoughts, however, soon passed 
off, and gave way to curiosity and surprise. 1 was 
struck by an unusual character, a certain some- 
thing of a foreign appearance, which was forcibly 
evident, but which I cannot describe, in the streets 
