all these items, and a great many more; and that we all did ample
justice to it. And I know too, that, bating a certain tacit
avoidance of any allusion to to-morrow; such as may be supposed to
prevail between delicate-minded turnkeys, and a sensitive prisoner
who is to be hanged next morning; we got on very well, and, all
things considered, were merry enough.
When the morning – THE morning – came, and we met at breakfast, it
was curious to see how eager we all were to prevent a moment’s
pause in the conversation, and how astoundingly gay everybody was:
the forced spirits of each member of the little party having as
much likeness to his natural mirth, as hot-house peas at five
guineas the quart, resemble in flavour the growth of the dews, and
air, and rain of Heaven. But as one o’clock, the hour for going
aboard, drew near, this volubility dwindled away by little and
little, despite the most persevering efforts to the contrary, until
at last, the matter being now quite desperate, we threw off all
disguise; openly speculated upon where we should be this time tomorrow,
this time next day, and so forth; and entrusted a vast
number of messages to those who intended returning to town that
night, which were to be delivered at home and elsewhere without
fail, within the very shortest possible space of time after the
arrival of the railway train at Euston Square. And commissions and
remembrances do so crowd upon one at such a time, that we were
still busied with this employment when we found ourselves fused, as
it were, into a dense conglomeration of passengers and passengers’
friends and passengers’ luggage, all jumbled together on the deck
of a small steamboat, and panting and snorting off to the packet,
which had worked out of dock yesterday afternoon and was now lying
at her moorings in the river.
And there she is! all eyes are turned to where she lies, dimly
discernible through the gathering fog of the early winter
afternoon; every finger is pointed in the same direction; and
murmurs of interest and admiration – as ‘How beautiful she looks!’
‘How trim she is!’ – are heard on every side. Even the lazy
gentleman with his hat on one side and his hands in his pockets,
who has dispensed so much consolation by inquiring with a yawn of
another gentleman whether he is ‘going across’ – as if it were a
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Dickens, Charles – American Notes for General Circulation
ferry – even he condescends to look that way, and nod his head, as
who should say, ‘No mistake about THAT:’ and not even the sage Lord
Burleigh in his nod, included half so much as this lazy gentleman
of might who has made the passage (as everybody on board has found
out already; it’s impossible to say how) thirteen times without a
single accident! There is another passenger very much wrapped-up,
who has been frowned down by the rest, and morally trampled upon
and crushed, for presuming to inquire with a timid interest how
long it is since the poor President went down. He is standing
close to the lazy gentleman, and says with a faint smile that he
believes She is a very strong Ship; to which the lazy gentleman,
looking first in his questioner’s eye and then very hard in the
wind’s, answers unexpectedly and ominously, that She need be. Upon
this the lazy gentleman instantly falls very low in the popular
estimation, and the passengers, with looks of defiance, whisper to
each other that he is an ass, and an impostor, and clearly don’t
know anything at all about it.
But we are made fast alongside the packet, whose huge red funnel is
smoking bravely, giving rich promise of serious intentions.
Packing-cases, portmanteaus, carpet-bags, and boxes, are already
passed from hand to hand, and hauled on board with breathless
rapidity. The officers, smartly dressed, are at the gangway
handing the passengers up the side, and hurrying the men. In five
minutes’ time, the little steamer is utterly deserted, and the
packet is beset and over-run by its late freight, who instantly