In travelling leisurely
from New Orleans to Boston (the whole length of the United States), and
sitting down at all sorts of tables, on land and on water, private and
public, I have never once seen even wine brought to the table. Nothing
but water was universally used!
At Pittsburg I bought three good-sized newspapers for 5 cents, or
twopence-halfpenny. One of them, _The Daily Morning Post_, was a large
sheet, measuring 3 feet by 2, and well filled on both sides with close
letter-press, for 2 cents, or one penny. The absence of duty on paper
and of newspaper stamps is no doubt one great cause of the advanced
intelligence of the mass of the American people. What an absurd policy
is that of the British Government, first to impose taxes upon
_knowledge_, and then to use the money in promoting _education_!
At Pittsburg the Ohio ends, or rather begins, by the confluence of the
Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. We ascended the latter to
Brownsville, about 56 miles. Having booked ourselves at an office, we
had to get into a smaller steamer on the other side of the bridge which
spans the river. The entire charge to Philadelphia was 12 dollars each.
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