and as soon as some more convenient point could be found for the New Orleans steamers, St. Mark's doom would be sealed. She even then was but a shadow; her shanties were falling to pieces, her vacant lots littered by firetwisted machinery and singed bricks, and her faithless inhabitants were deserting her. We could get nothing to eat there (poor St. Mark's!) and so we waited patiently until we reached Tallahassee once more, and gained the shelter of the "Noah's Ark." By the time supper was ready, we were quite ready for it, too; having been travelling for twenty-six hours without food.

The beauties of Republicanism were well illustrated on board the lighter. We had a Lord Bishop, a Secretary of State, and a poor, infirm, old lady of eighty. There was no respect of persons. The boat was filled and piled up with whisky-barrels, barrels of molasses, and flour-barrels ; and when any one was unfortunate enough to perch first on one and then on the other, the state of dresses and coat-tails may be imagined. After we had been floating round and round the steamer for two hours or more, at the distance of a mile or so, a sudden storm of rain poured down, and the cabin-accommodation of the lighter became a matter of anxious solicitude. It was kitchen, dining-room, sleeping

apartment, and smoking saloon combined, and it was free to either crew or passengers. It was capable of "accommodating" two people-on a pinch it would hold four-but when the rainstorm came on, six were crowded into it, and the remainder crouched under the tarpaulin, which was intended not for their benefit but for that of the casks and barrels.

Next to the difficulty of getting out of that cabin, the difficulty of getting into it was greatest. After the old lady had been handed down, with her umbrella, bonnet-box, and lunch-basket, and had twice sat down in a frying-pan, which some hardy mariner, after cooking his breakfast bacon, had left on a chair, the remainder of the passengers-that is five of them-followed. The ladies come down first, then their petticoats, next followed the gentlemen's hats, after them their boots, and lastly the gentlemen themselves. The first comer of the male sex placed his foot upon the old lady's lunch-basket, and the destruction of the lunch and several bottles of water was the consequence. About the same time we became conscious of some more of the sailors' evil habits, a strong smell of spirits being found to pervade the apartment. Some of the first attempts at acrobatic feats we had witnessed since leaving

Europe was performed in this descent; two of the gentlemen, in coming down, standing on the ladies' heads below; the crowding behind, however, prevented the continuance of the performance.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

AMERICAN

MARRIAGES.

N American marriage differs so much from an English marriage in legal and

conventional particulars, that it must be classed as foreign alike in the ceremony, method, and sentiment. It is by law a civil contract, dissoluble generally, like other contracts, by the consent of parties; but in some of the States it can be dissolved by the will of one party only. Catholics adhere to the sacrament of marriage, and many fashionable American Episcopalians are copying the English custom of marrying in the church. I believe this fashion is a mere question of opportunity for the display of lace veils and long silk trains to an admiring crowd. Religion has as little to do with it as law. Formerly the Scotch system of marrying in the house was considered the proper thing, and altogether it is the most usual one. Through it the United States mar

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25

riage is cleared of all the bugbears by which it is surrounded in Europe.

People are at liberty to marry when, how, and where they please. Bigamy and obedience are alike obsolete. It is not worth a man's while to commit bigamy, to ill-use his wife, or poison her, in order to be rid of her. He is tired of her; she knows it; he comes to an understanding with her; tells her he guesses they cannot pull in the same harness any longer. This is very much more reasonable than fracturing her skull, or strangling her. It enables her to take a practical view of her position, and haggle as to what allowance he will make for herself and children. marriage laws differ in many of the States, and also the age of parties allowed to marry, without consent of parents or guardians.

The

A young couple having been married in a neighbouring State, a friend chanced to meet them as they left the court, and knowing it was a clandestine marriage, went directly to the magistrate.

"This is all wrong, sir; that girl wants two years of the right age, and her mother will be wild when she knows it."

"Well," said the magistrate, "that's unfortunate; she said she was full age; but it is not much odds, for the marriage is only good till they reach the next State !"