On the river the steamboats strike gongs or ring bells to give warning of
their approach. There are lamps burning in the counting-rooms and
lobbies of the warehouses, and they gleam distinctly through the windows.
The other day, at the entrance of the market-house, I saw a woman sitting
in a small hand-wagon, apparently for the purpose of receiving alms.
There was no attendant at hand; but I noticed that one or two persons who
passed by seemed to inquire whether she wished her wagon to be moved.
Perhaps this is her mode of making progress about the city, by the
voluntary aid of boys and other people who help to drag her. There is
something in this--I don't yet well know what--that has impressed me, as
if I could make a romance out of the idea of a woman living in this
manner a public life, and moving about by such means.
November 29th.--Mr. H. A. B. told me of his friend Mr. ------ (who was
formerly attache to the British Legation at Washington, and whom I saw at
Concord), that his father, a clergyman, married a second wife. After the
marriage, the noise of a coffin being nightly carried down the stairs was
heard in the parsonage. It could be distinguished when the coffin
reached a certain broad lauding and rested on it. Finally, his father
had to remove to another residence. Besides this, Mr. ------ had had
another ghostly experience,--having seen a dim apparition of an uncle at
the precise instant when the latter died in a distant place.
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