Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-03-06
MISS MURRAY ON AMERICA.

MISS MURRAY ON AMERICA.
Writing from Newport, on the 18th of
August, she says:
"There is certainly great beauty and re-
fnement of feature among the mass of the
people, but it is accompanied by fragility
of look which raises painful feelings. As far
as I can judge at present, this is owing part
ly to hereditary causes, partly to actual hab-
its. The excitement and anxietics of bust
ness life in new country probably entail
constitutional delicacy upon the children Of
parents so eagerly occupied, and the sedenta-
ry city education and pursuits of the young
of the last and present generation, unfavo-
rable to out-of-door interests and amusements,
do not harden and strengthen the nerves and
muscles.
Il am already tempted to controvert the
attention of American ladies, that their gen.
orally delicate health is to be attributed to
climate. They may have severer winters and
warmer summers than ours, but these are ac-
companied by the advantages of less damp,
and of brighter sunshine. I have not had
an hour too warm for exercise during any
part of the day; for though the sun is bright
er, it does not always beam so furiously as
with us. The climate of Massachusetts,
seems to me charming one, and I believe
another generation will discover its merits,
because entertain hopes that the children
now growing up will acquire more hardy hab-
its. The evil 1 am speaking of cannot be rem
edied in day; and I find American ladies
are at this moment so little informed with
regard to natural productions, and so untitled
for country pursuits, that their ignorance Of
these matters is at once the evidence and the
cause of their lack of physical strength"
At Newport, she was introduced to Gov
ernor Seymour, of New York, whose guest
she was during considerable part of her stay
in this country, and whose hospitalities and
courtesies are celebrated in very cordial
terms. Writing from Boston, about the
same time, she again alludes to the sickly
looks of the haggard friends she has made
in New England, and suggests that cure
may be found in the restoration of the law of
primogeniture.
ri should particularly dread any epidemic
falling upon people, which, as general
rule, looked so ovcr-worked, and fragile, and
thin, as these Northern Americans. DR..
Howe says it is climate; as yet I am incred-
ulous upon this point My friend, Mr..
j., confessed he was almost in his grave
when, eight years ago, he bought his pretty
place. Now, with the revivifying influence
of his farm and garden, (although he does
not entirely give up his legal Duties he looks
as strong and healthy as any sexagenarian
upon our side of the Atlantic. I should like
to transplant all the sick dyspeptic men and
women of New York and Boston into gar
dens and fields, before I will admit that this
pleasant climate is to blame. I am rather
inclined to assert that mental excitement,
and money making, and sedentary employ
ments, are the real criminals, and that some
thing is due to the laws of inheritance, even
in this unentailing country"
At Boston she begins to speculate on the
subject of slavery, which she thinks "Chris-
tianity must and will subdue;" adding that
no "individual selGshness, and no political
intrigues can prevent the wished for consum-
nation )" and expresses her firm belief "that
there are few, very few, even in the South,
who will pot hail with joy the moment of
emancipation" These views she afterwards
finds occasion to modify.
On a journey made about this time to
Mount Washington, the following compari-
sou between New and Old England is drawn:
"The difference between us appears to be
that our higher classes have more principle,
elegance and refinement; the women more
energy and activity, and the men more ath-
letic amusements; while our middle and
lower classes are less highly educated, per-
haps rather more narrow-minded, and physi-
cally work harder, althoug h in some respects
think the Americans themselves are lower,
those occupied in manufactures
and commercial affairs. The race and ap-
pcarance of horsesis an example which seems
throughout any they bear. There are none
so perfect as our most perfect but the ami
mails generally go better and are better fed
than second and third-rate horses in Eng
land"
At Niagara, Miss Murray after having
met with nothing but civility and kindness
among the people of the United States, be-
gins to experience treatment of another sort.
She enters with young lady aroom in which
sit circle of strangers from various places,
not one of whom rises to offer her CHAIR
which "could not have occurred in the old
At the same place, while engaged
in sketching, she feels hand familiarly laid
on hershoulder, and is addressed in strange
voice, and turning round, finds that the lib
erty was taken by perfect stranger, ayoung
lady apparently but twenty, just arrived, who
goes on to remark upon her sketch With the
most perfect coolness. At another time the
wish is expressed to her that ''the old eoun-
try might get thoroughly whipped durins the
present war" Thereupon Miss Murray sets
it down in her tablet, not without some pro-
vocation, we admit, that "the Americans
mistake rudeness for republicanism, and in
civility for independence"
CAT Cleveland, she visited DR.. Kirkland,
living in the neighborhood, who has obtain
ed a name among pomologists, by the fine