Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1855-09-12

} discontented too.
For what reason / was detained at Brussels
it is unnecessary to inquire some delay il
remittanccs, If / remember Alright, had THEN
share in the cause. Whoever travelled without
having cursed his banker, or his agent or bis
uncle. or his guardian, or somebody in short,
who had deal of money belonging to him in
his hands, and would not send it forward In
all my long experience of travelling and ira
velers, | don't remember meeting with one
person, who, if it were not for such mischau-
ces, would not have been amply supplied with
cash. Some, with knowing wink, throw the
blame on the governors" others, more opep-
~ indignant, will confound Coutts and Drum
mond stray Irshman VIII now and then
damn the '.tenantry that havn't paid up the
last Noyember;'' but none, no matter how
! much their condition bcspeakS the out-o-the
/ elbows habit, which q ..ways and means2 style
/ Of life contracts, viii ever confess to the fact
that their expectations are as blank as their
bankers book, and that the only land they
I are ever to pretend to, is post obit right in
some six feet by two in a church-yard. And
vet the world is full Of such people-well in
1 formed, pleasant, good ioOd looking folk, who
inhabit first rate hotels-drink, dine and dress
well-frequent theatres and promcnades-
spend their winters at Paris, Florence or
Rome-thcir summers at Baden, Ems or In
terlachen; have strange half intimacy with
men in the higher circles; occasionally dine
with them; are never heard Of in any dubious
or unsafe affair; are reputed safe fellows to
tall, to know cy cry one--!rom the horse
dealer who will give credit, 10 the Jew who
will advance cash and notwithstanding that
they never gamble, nor bet, nor speculate,
yet contrvc to liye-ay, and well too-with-
out any known resources whatever. If Eng
lish--and they are for the most part so-they
arc usually called by some rel-kuown name
of aIistocratic reputation in England they
are thus Yiliiers, or Paget, or Seymour, or
Percy, which on the continent are already
kind Of half nobility at once eand tkc qucs-
tion which seemingly needs no relly-.AR cous
etcs parent Dc me lord is a receipt in full for
rank any where.
These mcn-und who that knows any thing
Of the continent has notmet such everywhere?
are the great riddles of orr country; and I'd
rather give reward for their secret than all
the discoveries about perpetual motion, or
longitude, or St. john Longism that ever was
heard Of; and strange it is too, no enc has ey-
er blabbcd. Some have emerged from this
misty state to inherit large fortunes and live
in the best style; yet have never heard Of
single man having turned kings evidence on
his fellows And yet what tllen. theirs must
,.-l,, Inc, ,St .
three posts for a remittance without any Ii
dings Of its arrival, thinl, Of the hundred and
one petty arnoyauccs and ironies to which he
is suhiect he fancies that the very walters
knew that he is ga sec - thar the landlord
looks sour and the landlady austere the clerk
in the post-olIice appears to say ''no letter for
you, sir, with q jbing and impertinent tone.
From that moment too a dozen expensive
tastes that he never dreamed Of before enter
his head he wants to purchase hack, or
give a dinner party, or bet at a race course,
principally because hclas not get sous in his
pocket. and he is afraid it may be guessed
by others; such is the fatal tendency to strive
or pretend TO something that has no other val
ne in our eyes than the effect it may have on
our acquaintancos, regardless Of what sacrif-
ccs it may demand the exercise.
Forgive, pray this long DEPRESSION, which,
although, hope, not without its advantages,
should scarcely have ventured into were it not
apropos to myself; and to go back-I began to
feel excessively uncomfortable at the delay of
my money. My first care every morning was
to repair to the post Office; sometimes arriv-
ed before it was open, and had to promenade
up and down the gloomy 'sRue de PEyecque"
till the clock struck, sometimes the mail wo'd
be late-a foreign mail is generally late when
the weather is peculiarly fine and the roads
good-but always the same answer came
:: Rien pour voas, Monsieur O'Leary;' and at
last I imamgined from the way the fellow
spoke that he had set the response to a tune,
and sung it.
Beranger has celebrated in one of his very
prettiest lyrics show happy one is at twenty in
garrett have no doubt, for my part, that
the vicinity of the states and the poverty of
the apartment would have contributed to my
peace of mind at the time / speak of. The
fact of magnifcently furnished salon, asplon-
did dinner every day, champagne and Seltzer
promiscuously, cab fares and theatre tickets
innumerable beng all scored against me, were
sad dampers to my happiness, and from being
one of the cheeriest and most light-hearted of
fellows, l sank into state offdgety and rest
less impatience, the nearest thing L ever re-
membered in my life to low spirits.
Such was I one day. when the post, which |
had been watching anxiously from midday,
had not arrived at five clock. Leaving word
with the commissionaire to wait and report to