There was a
cheerful fire in the grate, a straw carpet on the floor, a mahogany
sideboard, and a mahogany table in the middle of the room; and, on the
walls, the portraits of mine host (no doubt) and of his wife and
daughters,--a very nice parlor, and looking like what I might have found
in a country tavern at home, only this was an ancient house, and there is
nothing at home like the glimpse, from the window, of the church, and its
red, ivy-grown tower. I ordered some lunch, being waited on by the girl,
who was very neat, intelligent, and comely,--and more respectful than a
New England maid. As we came out of the inn, some village urchins left
their play, and ran to me begging, calling me "Master!" They turned at
once from play to begging, and, as I gave them nothing, they turned to
their play again.
This village is too far from Liverpool to have been much injured as yet
by the novelty of cockney residences, which have grown up almost
everywhere else, so far as I have visited. About a mile from it,
however, is the landing-place of a steamer (which runs regularly, except
in the winter months), where a large, new hotel is built. The grounds
about it are extensive and well wooded. We got some biscuits at the
hotel, and I gave the waiter (a splendid gentleman in black) four
halfpence, being the surplus of a shilling. He bowed and thanked me very
humbly. An American does not easily bring his mind to the small measure
of English liberality to servants; if anything is to be given, we are
ashamed not to give more, especially to clerical-looking persons, in
black suits and white neckcloths.
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