attributable to the non-existence there of an established church:
indeed, I think the temper of the people, if it admitted of such an
Institution being founded amongst them, would lead them to desert
it, as a matter of course, merely because it WAS established. But,
supposing it to exist, I doubt its probable efficacy in summoning
the wandering sheep to one great fold, simply because of the
immense amount of dissent which prevails at home; and because I do
not find in America any one form of religion with which we in
Europe, or even in England, are unacquainted. Dissenters resort
thither in great numbers, as other people do, simply because it is
a land of resort; and great settlements of them are founded,
because ground can be purchased, and towns and villages reared,
where there were none of the human creation before. But even the
Shakers emigrated from England; our country is not unknown to Mr.
Joseph Smith, the apostle of Mormonism, or to his benighted
disciples; I have beheld religious scenes myself in some of our
populous towns which can hardly be surpassed by an American campmeeting;
and I am not aware that any instance of superstitious
imposture on the one hand, and superstitious credulity on the
other, has had its origin in the United States, which we cannot
more than parallel by the precedents of Mrs. Southcote, Mary Tofts
the rabbit-breeder, or even Mr. Thorn of Canterbury: which latter
case arose, some time after the dark ages had passed away.
Page 167
Dickens, Charles – American Notes for General Circulation
The Republican Institutions of America undoubtedly lead the people
to assert their self-respect and their equality; but a traveller is
bound to bear those Institutions in his mind, and not hastily to
resent the near approach of a class of strangers, who, at home,
would keep aloof. This characteristic, when it was tinctured with
no foolish pride, and stopped short of no honest service, never
offended me; and I very seldom, if ever, experienced its rude or
unbecoming display. Once or twice it was comically developed, as
in the following case; but this was an amusing incident, and not
the rule, or near it.
I wanted a pair of boots at a certain town, for I had none to
travel in, but those with the memorable cork soles, which were much
too hot for the fiery decks of a steamboat. I therefore sent a
message to an artist in boots, importing, with my compliments, that
I should be happy to see him, if he would do me the polite favour
to call. He very kindly returned for answer, that he would ‘look
round’ at six o’clock that evening.
I was lying on the sofa, with a book and a wine-glass, at about
that time, when the door opened, and a gentleman in a stiff cravat,
within a year or two on either side of thirty, entered, in his hat
and gloves; walked up to the looking-glass; arranged his hair; took
off his gloves; slowly produced a measure from the uttermost depths
of his coat-pocket; and requested me, in a languid tone, to ‘unfix’
my straps. I complied, but looked with some curiosity at his hat,
which was still upon his head. It might have been that, or it
might have been the heat – but he took it off. Then, he sat
himself down on a chair opposite to me; rested an arm on each knee;
and, leaning forward very much, took from the ground, by a great
effort, the specimen of metropolitan workmanship which I had just
pulled off: whistling, pleasantly, as he did so. He turned it
over and over; surveyed it with a contempt no language can express;
and inquired if I wished him to fix me a boot like THAT? I
courteously replied, that provided the boots were large enough, I
would leave the rest to him; that if convenient and practicable, I
should not object to their bearing some resemblance to the model
then before him; but that I would be entirely guided by, and would
beg to leave the whole subject to, his judgment and discretion.
‘You an’t partickler, about this scoop in the heel, I suppose