Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1849-04-06
From the Charleston Evening News.
SCRAPS FROM MY NOTE BOOK.
BY LAURIE TODD.

BY LAURIE TODD.
When contemplating voyage across the
Atlantic, the thoughts of three months idle /
ness was terror 10 my mind. My books
were in the hold. shut up However / soon
found employment enough. The Captain Sc
lected every seventh man as head of mess, |
who was to receive flom the mate, on Mon
day morning, the biscuit for the week, and di-
vide it in seven equal shares, giving every
man his due he was also 10 receive from the
cook the boiled beef and potatoes for dinner.
was one of the seventh men, and thus had
something to do. / also assisted the cook and
the steward in the cabin, and so lived sump-
tuously every day, dining on roast pigs and
fowls with these two subordinates, while my
fellows in the steerage were chewing junk beef
and hard biscuits; thus time passed easy.
| On the 9th of June. at 10 a. M, We came
to anchor in the East River. New York made
very poor appearance in those days-all the
stores we've frame buildings, one only excep-
ted, it belonged to Gov. - and Kimbe, in
Governeur's Lane. The city contained only
sixty thousand inhabitants. Three steeples
were all that could be seen from the wafer,
viz: Trinity, Middle Dutch, (now the Post
Offce,) and St. Georges Chapel, in Beekman
street. St. Paul's Steeple had just common
ced building that summer. Most of the hou-
ses were frames, covered with shingles. The
City Hotel, in Broadway, erected in 1894,
was the first house covered with states in
America
The first night slept on shore was at No.
8 Dutch street, in a miserable garnet covered
with shingles. The night was hot, 9TH of
June,) the garnet was alive with feas, flies,
bugs. and musquitos-I could not sleep
Midnight commenced with a tremendous
; storm the thunder rolled, the winds blew,
and the rain beat on the roof. My head lay
, within eighteen inches of the shingles, and it
, was the first time | had heard rain fall on
shingles. l knew not what it meant-such
> blazing of lightning, such rattling of thunder;
we have none such in Scotland. I thought
, heaven and earth was contending; it put me
in bodily fear, and | wished myself at home
again. In fifty minutes this war of elements
ceased. but fear had driven sleep from my
, eyes.
arose at daylight, then 3 m, sore in
person, depressed in spirits, with headache
to crown the whole. Not liking to disturb
the family at an hour so early, to amuse the
time unpacked my box OF books, not with
the intention of reading, but TO see their con-
dition, and to give them the air, (for they had
!, been thirteen weeks in the hold of the vessel)
The box had been packed by the hands of my
father, and the first book on the top was a
small Pocket Bible. l opened the book mere
ly to see if the paper was miIdewed by long
and damp confinement / was thinking Of
him who placed this best of books where it
must draw my first attention. "My son.
were the first words-Q fancied my father
spoke) read on, more and more interested
by every verse, till | came to the end. On
looking up found had been reading in the
third chapter OF the Proverbs. Now Mister,
Mistress, or Miss reader. take up thy Bible,
and imagine myself in my situaton-a hoy of
twenty, yet child in appearance, and as re-
5 CARDS men and their manners, babe-never
n till this having been twenty miles from the
: cottage of my birth, without friend to coun-
j sci or direct, and funds reduced to three En-
glish coppers-(happily | was engaged to
work. Now you may read the chapter. |
know not what you think, but IN my singular
e situation, had scroll, written within and
7 without, been blown from the clouds through
1 the open easement in my bedroom, containing
t the words of that chapter, could not more
t have looked on it as an immediate message
e from heaven. Be it as it may, it revived my
A dropping spirits, drove the pain from the
$ bones, and the aching from my head. | grasp
f ed my hammer and went forth with light
d heart TO commence a new career, resolving TO
S take the Bible for my pilot, and this chapter
e for my chart / now have in my store in
n King street this sei-same identical Bible, from
! whence read this, my first chapter in Amer
d ica.* On the second day after our landing
d my brother and | commenced nail -making in
the same shop. The weather was very hot
n Blowing at the fire, and hammering red-ho
= iron, thought, was more than could endure
lie resolved that as soon as | earned money
ID enough to pay my passage, would return tc
s, Scotland. You will see in the sequel that The
is plan | was following to take me out of tht
ID country, was the means which Providence
t, employed 10 keep me in the country. | wa!
n, paid ten cents per pound for making nails
e. and that might sooner earn my passage mo
he ney. rose early. One morning at A. M.
lie while going 10 work, | perceived young
:; woman coming along in contrary direction
IN We met at the corner of Liberty street AM
Il. Broadway. She turned the corner and pur
is sued her course onward towards the battery
ht | stood looking after her few minutes, an
y, wondering in my heart what should occasion
I'd young woman so we'll dressed to be abroa
'e so early At this period, the dress of a youn
e. woman consisted of long flowing robe
u drawn together and tied under the neck wit
f. silk cord, and again tied round the wals
ed with ribbon it terminated in a long trail Q
IT, train. such as you have seen in printings Q
re the Goddess of Liberty, on tall, handsom
st shape-I think it more became the ladies tina
mt any fashion. either before or since-the hea
he was adorned with small black beaver ha
IF, the rim turned up On each side, so as to shos
ed the ears. The greater the profuslon OF hal
yh the more it was thought fashionable 1t wa
off combed to its full length, tied at the extrem
TX point; this point fastened on the crown wit
as pin, leaving broad fold to rest between th
be shoulders. This young woman was tall, a
OIL straight as an Indian arrow, and walked wit
ng measured step, like sentry before the ste
of his General; her hair was layen, her cour
"a tenance pale and sedate, with faint, Lad
he Humelike blush on her cheek. In short,
Ter thought she was the most perfect specimen I
natures female grandeur I ever had behel
II was enough for me that thought so, th
es; Mr.. Bachelor may have thought otherwis
III We met on the same spot, and the same ear
:al hour, three mornings in succession, she turl
ne ing her steady step to the battery, gazing
eu ter and wondering what should arouse Il
-; II gentle being SO early But how, without ar
u, u, generalization, / one night met her in comp
Il" ny, the negotiation, the declaration and su
- sequent contest, will appear in No. 4.
in Some time in 1904, when conversing with Mr.. Tho
as Paine about the influence of the Bible society