Eliza Lee Cabot Follen

“ Look up at the beautiful bas reliefs in bronze, on this noble column, giving the history of so many fierce battles and so much bloodshed, and at the military hero on the top, and then at these laughing, merry children at the foot, running after the tin carriages that go with the wind. Is it not a strange and moving contrast? Does it not tell a story that all of us hope may be one day true; when war shall belong only to history, and when peace shall possess the earth? ”

“ Only your whole soul is full of worship, peace, and joy. I could hardly keep from falling on my knees. Look at the fine engravings, and study it all out as well as you can; still you can form no adequate idea of the effect of those endless arches, of the exquisite carving in stone, of the flowers, strange figures, and in short every wild, every grotesque thing that you can or cannot imagine. Well has it been called a great poem in stone,—such grace, such aspiration, such power, such harmony. ”

“ On the tops of the arches and walls large flowering shrubs are growing; on the highest is a small tree, and within the walls are oak trees more than a century old. The abbey was built seven hundred years ago; and the ruins that are now standing look as if they might stand many centuries longer. The owner of the place has made all smooth and nice around it, so that you may imagine the floor of the church to look like green velvet. It seems as if the ivy and the flowers were caressing and supporting the abbey in its beautiful old age. ”

“ One morning, our friend, Miss S., was kind enough to accompany us to Greenwich, where, you know, is the Hospital for disabled sailors of the British navy. The day was warm and lovely, like what we call the Indian summer in America. We took an omnibus to London Bridge; from thence we proceeded by railway, and in a few minutes were in Greenwich. We entered the magnificent old Park, and wandered about for a long time, to our hearts' content, among the venerable old trees, admiring the graceful deer that were enjoying themselves all around us. ”

“ You are well paid for the fatigue of mounting these one hundred and seventy-six steps, when you get your breath and look down upon Paris glittering in the sunlight. What pleases me most, however, is the scene immediately below. All the people are in the streets. Sunday in Paris is a holiday. Whole families leave work, care,—all their troubles,—and come into the public places to enjoy themselves. There is no swearing, no drunkenness, no rudeness, no noise; the old folks seats themselves in chairs, and the children run about. ”

“ Such gushes of sweet sound, such joyful fulness of melody, such tender breathings of hope, and love, and peace, and then such floods of harmony filling all those sublime arches, ascending to the far distant roof and running along through the dim aisles—O, one must hear, to have an idea of the effect of such music in such a place. ”

“ It is as if the whole eight were sitting in friendly council for the good of Paris. How beautiful they are, with their grand expressionless faces, and their graceful attitudes, and their simple antique drapery. They are all sitting in their mural crowns,—the fortified cities on cannons, the commercial ones on bales of goods. Strasburg alone seems full of life. She has her arm akimbo, as if braving Germany, to which she once belonged. Look, north from the Obelisk, up the Rue de la Concorde, and the splendid church of the Madeleine bounds your sight. ”

“ A lady, whose love and admiration could not be so intimidated, came the next day in her carriage, which she filled with wreaths of flowers, and stood up in it, and threw wreath after wreath at the foot of the column, crying out, as each one fell, "Will you play your engine upon me?" ”

“ One thing struck me much in Paris, and most agreeably, and that is the good appearance of the children. This is not confined to the rich; you will see a very poor woman leading her child, really well dressed. You never see boys idling in the streets; you never hear them swearing and quarrelling. If you ask a boy to show you the way, his manner of doing it would grace a drawing room. I am told that the French are never severe with their children; that the French nature will not bear it; that strong excitement makes the children ill; that the law of love is the only one they will bear. ”

“ All along in the road you observe fine equipages of all sorts standing in waiting, while the gay world, or the poor invalids whom they brought to this place of enchantment, are walking about or sitting in chairs, courting health and amusement. Here is something still prettier than any thing you have seen—a beautiful little carriage that can hold four children and a driver, drawn by four white goats, with black horns and beards.
The French are peculiarly kind to animals. No law is necessary in France for the protection of animals from the cruelty of their masters. ”

“ No one of our party spoke, and the noise of the busy multitude without was like the waves of the ocean. I had heard the voice of many waters while coming over the Atlantic, and there is no exaggeration; it is just such a sound, such an ebbing and flowing, and yet such a full and constant roar, as the waves make after continued high winds. It was truly sublime, this concentrated sound of this living multitude of human beings, these breathings and heavings of the heart of the mighty monster, London. ”

“ The effect of the castle, seen through that long, long vista, is very fine. The English elm, though not so graceful as ours, is more grand and stately, and better for architectural effects. There were many deer in the park, which added much to its beauty. At last we were at the castle; it is a fine building, but would be far more picturesque in ruins than in its present perfect state. We went first into the chapel; this is exquisitely beautiful. The Gothic clusters of pillars springing up from the floor rise unbroken to the roof, and spread out like palm trees. ”

“ You cannot resist its influence. Let us go in and look at the flowers. The person who keeps the shop has the manners of a lady; she wishes you good morning; and, if you do not behave just as you would if you entered a lady's parlor, you are set down as an American or Englishman, who does not know how to behave. When you leave the shop also, you must remember to say, "Bon jour," or you commit an offence. How kindly the lady who keeps this flower shop shows us all her flowers! how she seems to love them, as if they were her children! ”

“ In a Gothic building, you think that the artist, who designed it, had in mind the idea of the solemn forest where the crossing branches produce all those beautiful lines and forms, which so delight your eye, and where the dim, mysterious light awakens and accords with the religious sentiment ”

“ I arrived in York at half past two o'clock at night. All was dark in the city, save the lights in the large station, where we were let out of our boxes with our luggage. We had contrived occasionally to lie down on the hard wooden seats, resting our heads on our carpet bags, and, by a little entreaty, had secured a box to ourselves, so that we were not quite so weary as we might have been, and were in good spirits for what was before us, which was to hunt up a lodging place for the remainder of the night, for all the inns were closed. ”

“ We passed by "Ellen's Isle," as it is called, the most exquisite little island ever formed, a perfect oval, and all covered with the purple heather, the golden gorse, and all sorts of flowers and exquisitely beautiful trees. O, what a little paradise it is! A number of little row-boats, with fine-looking Highland rowers and gay companies of ladies and gentlemen, were visiting the island as we passed. They show the oak tree to which they say Ellen fastened her boat. ”

“ Ambleside is a beautiful country town in the valley of the Rotha, and not far from Lake Windermere. Around the town rise high hills, which perhaps may be called mountains. These mountains are not, like many of ours, clothed to the summit with thick wild forests, but have fewer trees, and are often bare at the summit. The mixture of gray rock and green grass forms such a beautiful coloring over their graceful and sometimes grotesque outline that you would not have them other than they are.
The Ambleside houses are of dark-gray stone, and almost all of them have ivy and flowers about them. ”

“ In the centre is the magnificent column, made in imitation of the column of Trajan, and surmounted by a bronze statue of Napoleon in his military dress. At first he was placed there in his imperial robes; but when he fell, so did his statue, and it was melted up to help make an equestrian statue of Henry IV. In 1833, the present statue was erected; and the people are very proud of the Little Corporal, as they call him, as he stands up there, looking over their glorious city, as if born to lead men to conquest, and to govern the world. ”

“ I was prepared for the appearance of Manchester. So I was not astonished at the number of tall chimneys, nor at the quantity of smoke that issued from them. And I could quite enter into the feelings of the friend who told me that nothing was more melancholy than to see a clear atmosphere over the town; the blacker it looked the more prosperity was indicated, and the more cause for rejoicing.
My kind friend took me to one of the great print factories. My principal wish for going was to see how the factory people looked, whether they seemed well and happy. I observed them ”

“ You drive up to the house through a shrubbery of laurels, and roses, and fuschias, and other plants,—young trees and flowers,—to the beautiful little porch, covered with honeysuckles and creeping plants. The back of the house is turned to the road, and the front looks out over the loveliest green meadows, to the grand, quiet hills, sometimes clear and sharp in their outline against the blue sky, and at others wreathed with mist ”

“ You cannot say too much against slavery; but I call myself an abolitionist, and while I live, I mean to say and do all I can against it. There are many people in America, also, who feel as I do, and we hope to see it abolished. ”

“ As we walk along, we shall see many others, containing every thing you can imagine.
I bought many things in the streets,—combs, saucepans, clothes-brushes, &c. Look into this shop window; see these lovely flowers, and, in the midst of them, a small fountain is playing all the time to keep them fresh. Look at those immense bunches in the windows,—of pansies, violets, hyacinths of all colors, ixias, wall flowers, tulips, geraniums, narcissus; and O, this is not half the variety of flowers! look into the shop; there are bushels of them and other flowers, all ranged round the wall ”

“ One may stand below, and look up at the rushing stream, or above, on the top of the fall. Here, long ago, in the time of the crusades, stood a pair of lovers; and here grows an old oak which was their trysting tree. The lady was of noble birth, and lived in a castle near by; and her true knight used to come at the still hour of evening to meet her at the Ara Force.
At length the lover was called away to the Holy Land. As he left his lady, he vowed to be her true knight, and to return and wed her. Many long days passed away, and the lady waited in vain for her true knight. ”

“ Of course, seeing one prosperous factory and the fortunate workmen in it, in Manchester, cannot enable one to form any adequate judgment of the condition of the working people.
I visited the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, which appeared to me to have an admirable teacher. One of his best aids is a young man who was his pupil. The teacher desired me to ask of this young man the meaning of some word that had an abstract meaning. ”

“ Your soul, in short, is full of unutterable delight. It was a sort of relief to laugh at the legend as we passed the little island on which is the Mouse Tower, so named from the history of Bishop Hatto, who it is said was eaten up by rats because he refused corn in a time of scarcity to the starving poor, when he had a plenty rotting in his storehouses. ”

“ These little tin carriages run well across this wide platform; and you might imagine that the tin horses carried them. It is a pleasant thing to see the delight of the children, and a lesson in good nature and good manners, to see how carefully all the passers by turn aside, so as not to interrupt the progress of these pretty toys. ”

“ So, instead of six hundred and fifty ignorant, reckless vagrants, the community receives that number of well-instructed, well-brought-up individuals, who can support themselves decently and respectably. ”

“ When King Kenneth ruled in Scotland, he was beaten in a great battle by the Danes, and his army scattered among the hills, while the enemy was marching home in triumph. A man in the Scottish army said that he knew a pass through which the victor must go, where one man might stop a thousand, and offered himself and his two sons to defend it. ”

“ Their mothers or nurses are sitting under the trees, while the children run about at will. There are thousands playing at ball, driving hoops, jumping ropes, shouting, laughing, merry as children will be and ought to be. ”

“ They have a large place to wash themselves, with a sufficient number of separate, fixed basins, arranged to admit and let off water, a towel and piece of soap for each child; and they are obliged to wash their faces and hands three times a day. There are great tanks where they are all bathed twice a week. ”