expectation that my next absence would be a long one i divided with him my and with in my pocket and very little extra clothing in my i set my face toward new york it was now � dry and hot i had but one friend on my rather long route and i resolved to pay him a visit he lived at nearly forty miles westward of and i traversed on foot the dusty ridge road eastward from the day before i reached him that day was quite hot and the water i was incessantly compelled to drink seemed very hard by nightfall i fancied that it had covered my mouth and throat with a scale like that often found a long used tea kettle the region was gently rolling and very fertile but i should have more enjoyed a over new england hills and rocks by draughts from new england and springs it was saturday night when i reached my friend and i remained with him tiu afternoon when we down to the canal and waited long for a boat none came till after nightfall when i dismissed my friend confident that a boat must soon appear after waiting in vain till near midnight i started down the tow path and walked through the darkness to some fifteen miles repeatedly the head light of a boat moving westward came in sight when i was obliged to plunge down the often rugged off bank of the tow path to avoid being caught by the tow line and hauled into the not quite transparent and inviting drink though the made that night short it seemed to me quite long and i very gladly hailed and at a boat eastward my sleepy tendencies amused my fellow passengers thence to to whom sunday night afforded a ready and natural explanation xl my in new york reaching from by line boat � my sixth and last on the raging canal � i about p m and took the for i think a railroad between the two cities first and last named was completed soon afterward but i believe not a mile of iron track was then in the state if in fact anywhere in america save the little affair constructed to freight granite from the at mass to boston night fell when i was about half way over so i sought rest in one of the many indifferent that then lined the in question and was directed to sleep in an room through which people were passing i declined and gathering up my handful of walked on half a mile farther i found another tavern not quite so and managed to stay in it tiu morning when i rose and walked on to having never been in that city before i missed the nearest way to the day boat and when i reached the landing it was two or three on its way to new york having left at a m i had no choice but to wait for another which started at a m a on either side and reached in twenty hours the where i after a good view of the city as we passed it down the river landed near at a m new york was then about one third of her present size but her business was not one fourth so great as now and her real size � counting her and considering the of thousands who find employment in and earn here recollections of a busy life though sleeping outside of her limits � was not one fifth that of no single railroad pointed her no line of ocean brought passengers to her hotels nor goods to her from any foreign port in the world her relative rank was higher but her absolute importance was scarcely greater than that of or san is to day still to my eyes which had never till yesterday gazed on a city of even inhabitants nor seen a sea going vessel her miles square of mainly brick or stone houses and her of and yards afforded ample to a wonder and admiration akin to awe it was if i recollect aright the th of august i was twenty years old the preceding february tall slender pale and with ten dollars in my pocket summer clothing worth perhaps aa much more nearly all on my back and a decent knowledge of so much of the art of as a boy will usually learn in the ofi ce of a country newspaper but i knew no human being within two hundred and my rustic manner and address did not favor that immediate command of employment which was my most urgent need however the world was all before me my personal estate tied up in a pocket handkerchief did not at all me and i stepped lightly off the boat and away from the detested hiss of escaping steam walking into and up broad street in quest of a boarding house i found and entered one at or near the comer of wall but the price of board given me was s per week so i did not need the s candidly kind suggestion that i would probably prefer one where the charge was more moderate wandering thence i cannot say how to the north river side i halted next at west street where the sign of boarding on a edifice fixed my attention i entered and was shelter and at per week which seemed more rational and i closed the bargain my host was mr edward his place quite as much shop as boarding house but it was quietly decently my first experiences in new york kept while i stayed in it and he and hia family were kind and friendly i regret to add that liquor proved his ruin not many years afterward my first day in new york was a friday and the family being catholic no meat was eaten or provided which 