| Title: | O'Brien, Maria Wright to O'Brien (n. Greeves), Anne, 1840 |
|---|---|
| ID | 6080 |
| Collection | The Transatlantic Letters of an Irish Quaker Family_1818-1877 [B. Jackson] |
| File | quaker/106 |
| Year | 1840 |
| Sender | O'Brien, Maria Wright |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | student |
| Sender Religion | Quaker |
| Origin | NYC, USA |
| Destination | Lake Erie, NY, USA |
| Recipient | O'Brien (n. Greeves), Anne |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | daughter-mother |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 2168 |
| Genre | travelling |
| Note | |
| Transcript | New York 9th month, 2nd day, 1840 Dear Mother I arrived last night and as I know not how soon Wilson may return, I thought best to write today and send it to the office where he is to call before he leaves. I will first give thee an account of my journey. After parting with thee and rather at the T-House [in Buffalo?] I waited sometime there. At length Wilson came in and told me the Packet would not start until seven o'clock in the evening. He then went out and to pass the time took a walk out Main Street, returning by seven o'clock. We went on board the Packet Boat and started off very quickly, the horses going at a brisk trot and sometimes even faster. The next day at about four o'clock we got to Rochester where we changed Packets. Though the first boat was a very nice one this one was much nicer, being I think newly fixed up. The ladies cabin resembled an elegant parlour and all the accomodations were to correspond. The second day at four o'clock we arrived at Syracuse where we immediately took the rail cars which were all ready and waiting the arrival of the boat to take us to Utica. The Loco Foco delegation were in Syracuse that day and as it rained steadily all day I don't think I have ever seen any place so completely covered with mud, and there were such crowds of people that every place was completely filled with them. There were some persons on the boat who intended to have stayed there all night but could not get lodgings and so were obliged to go on the cars. I did not hear any computation of numbers but I should think there were thousands. However I hear that it was nothing compared to the Whig delegation. Some that were on it were on board the boat and talking about the differences. Indeed on the boat and in the cars and almost every where, even at breakfast this morning, I heard nothing but politics. They seem to be the all engrossing topic among the gentlemen, the ladies and even among the little children. As we came along the river almost every boat we met would give a cheer for Old Tip and the Log Cabin but when we got on the cars the tune was changed, as they were mostly filled with delegates from the convention, many of whom left in the cars although it was not over. I heard a gentleman who was in the same car with us say chat there were between three and four hundred passangers on board and I think he was quite right, as we had a train of seventeen cars and they were quite filled and many more were left for want of room. As we passed slowly out of the car office I saw a great many standing with their valises in their hands looking eagerly into every car as it passed them to see an empty seat there might be for them. We went along quite moderately at first as the rails were very wet and slippery from the rain, which continued with out stopping for the whole of the day. However, we soon increased our steam and in about half an hour we were flying along at a good rate, I assure thee. We got to Utica just at dusk where we stopped to take time to change cars. This train did not contain so many cars, therefore although many were left in Utica we were very much crowded. In each car there were six seats in pairs, facing each other, and each seat held four persons, so there were eight of us jammed together in a little place with hardly enough room to stir, much less breath. I happened to get a corner seat, which is much more comfortable, as one can lean and rest better, and another advantage is when I could breath no longer I could let down the window and get a little fresh air. But we were obliged to keep them closed most of the time on account of the rain blowing in, and the sparks and smoke from the locomotive were very annoying. However not with standing all the annoyances, we kept on the even tenor of running till we or the engineer saw some lights shining out ahead and took means to stop and send on to know the occasion. While they were gone someone came along and said the Whigs had been tearing up the rails to give the Locos an upset. But in a short time the messanger returned and seeded the fuss by celling that the rain had so risen the water in the stream that the bridge was washed away and they were busy in repairing it - so we were detained a while. Not long however as they had hurried and were nearly done. So in about half an hour we passed slowly over it and then to make up lost time they put on more steam and thee can not imagine unless thee saw it, the rate we went at. We arrived at Skennectedy [Schenectady] sometime in the night where we again changed cars and took those to Albany, where we arrived a short time after sun rise, having traveled all night without any sleep except such as we could get by nodding, as there was glass all around and no good chance to lean our heads. Just as we left the cars, the bell on the steamboat North America was ringing for the passengers to come on board, so we had Co almost run about half or a quarter of a mile to get there in time. In about five minutes we started. Wilson had some business to attend to in Albany. It would detain him two days, so, as I did not like to stay there on expense, I came on. He engaged a young man who came all the way from Buffalo with us to look after my baggage and get a porter in N.Y. So I got along without any difficulty at all. We had a delightful passage down the Hudson. The scenery along the river is truly sublime. There was a young lady on board with us who had just returned from a tour of sixteen months in Europe who said we had heard a great deal said of the scenery of the Rhine and the Gaudelquiver [Guadalquivir, in Spain], which were to some beautiful, very beautiful, but nothing compared with the Hudson. She was very interesting and a small group of us gathered around her with her vivid discripcions of the places she had seen in her travels. She seemed to dwell on the beauty of Switzerland the most as a country, but Edinburg as a city she said was the most interesting. The contrast between the old and the new town produced such a striking effect as you approached it. In speaking of the Swiss she said that they were such a happy honest hearted people that seemed incapable of not thinking but that everyone was like themselves in that respect. The Scotish were to speak in a general sense, the most moral and best informed people she met with. She seemed to like them and their manners and characters very much. She affected the Scotch fashions in wearing a cloak of a soft kind of large plaid and for a breast pin a small portrait of Mary Queen of Scotts. She was dressed very neat and plain and she was all together the most interesting person I have ever met. When at home she resides at Philadelphia but was staying a few days in N.Y. after just returning from Bristol in the Great Western. She had been up the river as far as West Point and came on board there. We arrived at N.Y. at five o'clock. I got a porter at the wharf who carried my trunk up to the office where we went in and inquired for the dwelling house. James was in the office, and he gave me a card with the street and number on it. It was a long walk, I think not far from a mile and I had to almost run to keep pace with the porter. I was very tired when I arrived. The porter rang the bell of the sale door and the servant girl opened it and he told her there was a young lady that wished to see the Missus. Rebecca and Mary both came and bad me a hearty welcome to N.Y. I was ushered into an elegant back parlor where the girls and Willy were alone. James and John Wright (a clerk) being still at the office, and Abram was upstairs in his room. I sat a short time to rest and then Rebecca took me upstairs to take off my things. Abram came into the parlour a few minutes after we came down and in a short time James and John came from the office and we went downstairs to tea. 1 was very tired. Abram told me to go to bed early as he would talk too much to me. I went to bed before 9. The room in which I slept contained two beds. Mary and Anne slept in one and Rebecca and I in the other. We were up before seven o'clock and when we went down breakfast was nearly ready. After breakfast Abram and the young men went to the office and Willy went to school so the girls and I were left alone. I believe they keep just one girl. I have seen but one yet. Rebecca says it is sweeping day so she has been busy sweeping. Mary getting some apples (of which they have plenty on their farm) ready to stew and Anne is darning stockings. Twelve o'clock - I have just been down to lunch. They do not dine here until three. The girls wear calico in the morning. Yesterday, when I came in, they were dressed very tidy. Rebecca had a black crepe, Mary brown silk, and Anne a Moutier Derbur. Though I expected to see everything elegant, it far surpassed anything I could imagine. Thee may tell Charlotte [a Collins neighbour?] if thee choses that her house and all her fine furniture would hardly be seen by Abram. The room I am in is very large. It is used as a back parlour but connects by very large folding doors with the front parlour so that when they want to open it it is simply like one very large room. One of them is about twice the size of that room we were in in Buffalo. The rooms are furnished very nearly alike, so that to sit in one and look into the other would almost make one think they saw as it were the other in a large mirror. There are in every room an elegant sofa, a settee, a table, a mirror with gilt frame set over marble display tables - the mirrors themselves are as large as a common door - a richly carved mahogany chair, a large chair. In each room are fire places with black mantels and coal grates. In one corner stands an elegant bookcase, with a very large mirror in the door and in the other a sideboard. All the furniture is of Mahogany very heavy and richly carved. All I have ever heard and read about such things are hear more than realized. Abram has a great many newspapers. One of the tables was covered with them, so I think I can send you some: however, I have as yet said nothing about it. I was very much disappointed in James Bell. He has dark brown hair - instead of red- sandy whiskers which he wears very large in fashion. He makes one think of Samuel Healy only a little taller and in features not any better looking. I have fourteen dollars and five shillings left of my money. It took more than it would if I had gone by the canal all of the way, as I had to board myself on the railroad and the steamboat. However I bought but one regular meal on the way, but after I used up the cake thee gave me, I got another and a kind of small cracker. Please remember me to all who may inquire of me. Give my love to Cloe H. and Julia and Susan C. if thee sees them. Give my love to Father, Joseph, Thomas together and wish you all to write in one letter - full as this and I wish better. This is just as I could get time before I had to dress for dinner. Thy affectionate Daughter Maria W. O'Brien Rebecca desires to be kindly remembered to thee, Father and the children. |
