[16]
One marked improvement in the eastern over the western railways, is in
the gentlemen's special accomplishment of spitting being much less
active in the east, owing to their chewing tobacco less vigorously. In
the west it is dreadful to see and hear how this habit goes on during
the whole day, not out of window, but on the floors of the cars and
omnibuses, and all over the hall and passages of the hotels.
But to return to our journey from New York on the Hudson. It was a
beautiful day, and the scenery quite lovely. We had only twenty-seven
miles to go to Mr. Bartlett's, to whom we had brought letters from
England, and who asked us to pass the first night of our journey at his
country place near Tarrytown. On arriving at the station there, he drove
us to his house, which stands on an eminence three miles higher up the
river. The river here is rather more than three miles in width, but the
atmosphere was so clear that every house on the opposite bank could be
distinctly seen, and the opposite shore is so high, that we could hardly
imagine the river to be as wide as it is. The view from the house is
perfectly magnificent. The eye takes in a distance of thirty miles up
and down the river, there being here a long reach, having almost the
appearance of a lake, the river above and below not being more than from
a mile to a mile and a half in width.
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