The clear sky and bracing
air here, when they do come, give the folks good spirits; but the
extremes of heat and cold limit the time, and decrease the inclination
for exercise. Still the people are good-natured, merry fellows. In
England, the perpetual gloom of the sky affects the disposition of the
men. America knows no such temper as exists in Britain. People here
can't even form an idea of it. Folks often cut off their children
there in their wills for half nothing, won't be reconciled to them on
any terms, if they once displease them, and both they and their sons
die game, and when death sends cards of invitation for the last
assemblage of a family, they write declensions. There can't be much
real love where there is no tenderness. A gloomy sky, stately houses,
and a cold, formal people, make Cupid, like a bird of passage, spread
his wings, and take flight to a more congenial climate.
1 I wonder what Mr Slick would say now, in 1855?
Castles have show-apartments, and the vulgar gaze with stupid wonder,
and envy the owners. But there are rooms in them all, not exhibited.
In them the imprisoned bird may occasionally be seen, as in the olden
time, to flutter against the casement and pine in the gloom of its
noble cage. There are chambers too in which grief, anger, jealousy,
wounded pride, and disappointed ambition, pour out their sighs, their
groans, and imprecations, unseen and unheard.
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