American Notes for General Circulation Vol. 1 (hosted by John)

[Kathleen]

Thank you, John and Jean, for all the introductory information, you’ve made me very interested in reading along. I’m curious as to how this book intersects with Forster’s books. I read the first volume, but, for some unknown reason, didn’t finish the second. I think all of this trip is in the first volume.

[Kathleen]

I especially enjoyed the photo of his stateroom. I’ll be on a cruise ship, for awhile, as we read this book, but mine will be more comodious!

[John]

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "I found Chapter 1 so funny! Dickens has such a way with words. Like you, Jean, I had to laugh when Dickens compared the ease of getting a portmanteau through the cabin door to persuading a giraffe ..."

A thin mattress spread like a surgical plaster on a most inaccessible shelf is another favorite of mine.

[John]

Bionic Jean wrote: "John wrote: "I have a suggestion for ebook readers. If you use Kindle or Nook, you can download a Free Sample of the Modern Library version of American Notes.

Contained within your Free Sample is ..."

Jean, these days I only read off my iPad. I am fond of Nook from Barnes & Noble, but I also have the Kindle app. I miss print books, especially trade paperbacks, but my iPad is just how I read these days and my Nook library numbers approximately 800 books. The free samples are almost a necessity for me prior to a purchase because I wish to see something of the book before I purchase. Once in a while, you get enough pages to include, for instance, an introduction. It seems a fair trade off every now and then.

I also was not familiar with Hitchens writing about Dickens, but I do recall a particularly good introduction he wrote for a Kingsley Amis book.

[John]

I was struck by the provisions, including a cow for milk. And the further along we go you will see that in terms of alcohol this ship was rather drenched.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sam wrote: "Try this link Jean,

https://books.google.com/books?id=pwg.. ..."

Thank you Sam! Yes, I can read the essay on my laptop now 😊 (Sorry, we crossposted so I've only just seen this.)

John - "It seems a fair trade off every now and then" - Oh yes, absolutely!

Kathleen - "I’ll be on a cruise ship, for awhile, as we read this book, but mine will be more comodious!" That's perfect! Wouldn't you just love to see Dickens's face if he could see it now?

[Bridget]

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "'it comes to very much the same thing in the end.' ". (Was this a delicate referral to the effects of seasickness?) Did that make me chortle!

I totally missed that was a reference to sea sickness. Thank you, Shirley! that's hilarious!

I liked the descriptions of the people. The "wild stewards, with elfin hair" and the captain a "dapper little fellow; with a ruddy face which is a letter of invitation to shake him by both hands at once".

[Petra]

This chapter was hilarious! I loved the imagery throughout. Dickens is very observant and sees the humor in every situation and person. The lazy man without luggage or friends was amusing....allso sad, if "no friends" is true. I hope it isn't.....and I do hope he has some luggage somewhere.

I loved the confusion at the end of the chapter, with people "disposing themselves comfortably in wrong cabins".

This chapter was a perfect start to this journey.

[Sam]

I was curious to see what kind of persona Dickens would choose for a narrator and what style that narrator would use to voice his opinions and observations. There has to be a little arrogance and flippancy and sarcasm to make things enjoyable, but sometimes the authors go too far in elevating themselves that they spoil the read, like Mark Twain did in The Innocents Abroad, Or, the New Pilgrims' Progress. I am happy so far with Dickens' approach. His indulgence in criticisms is no more than a normal passenger and the style is not overwritten.

[Kelly]

Late to the party, but as they say, better late than never! I'm looking forward to jumping in. I can't say I've read too many classic travelogues, but I did read Steinbeck's Travels with Charley: In Search of America (and loved it) and practically all of Bill Bryson's travel books save a couple. I do enjoy armchair travel!

[John]

VOLUME ONE
Chapter The Second

The Passage Out

I think one word can best describe this chapter: harrowing. It can also be distilled down to perhaps three items of note: 1. The terrible seasickness; 2. The stormy winter seas; and 3. Quiet, placid arrival to Halifax and Boston, where feet on earth are a relief.

Dickens' description of seasickness may be the best ever written. I was reminded of how Kinglsey Amis in Lucky Jim described Jim Dixon reeling through a terrible hangover. Dickens is superb with such an awful, naseous feeling: I read in bed (but to this hour I do not know what) a good deal; and reeled on deck a little; drank cold brandy and water with an unspeakable disgust and ate hard biscuit perseveringly; not ill, but going to be.

The next stage of the chapter is the terrible storm. He is awakened at night by the dismal shriek of Catherine asking if there is any danger. He finds their cabin flooded. He cannot believe the violent tossing the ship endures for days and questions how anything could get tossed that violently without sinking. They gather at times in the cabins to eat boiled potatoes, roasted apples, and various meats. They all seem beaten down and mostly sick, as the ship plunges up, down, and sideways continuously for days.

The last part of the chapter is the smoother and quieter evening arrival to Halifax, where the ship runs aground, and then on to Boston, where Dickens finds the hotel Tremont House to be wonderful.

[John]

Some memorable lines:

The water jug is plunging and leaping like a dolphin; all the smaller items are afloat, except my shoes, which are stranded on a carpet bag, high and dry, like a couple of coal barges.

And so she goes on staggering, heaving, pitching, wrestling, jumping, leaping, diving, throbbing, rolling, and rocking... until one feels disposed to roar for mercy.

Not seasick in the ordinary acceptation of the terms; I wish it had been; but in a form which I have never seen or heard described.

The laboring of the ship in the troubled sea on this night I shall never forget. Will it ever be worse than this!

It was strange enough, in the silence of midnight, and the dead stillness that seemed to be created by the sudden and unexpected stoppage of the engine that had been clanking and blasting in our ears incessantly for so many days.

A sharp keen wind blew dead against us; a hard frost prevailed on the shore; and the cold was most severe. Yet the air was so intensely clear and dry and bright that the temperature was not only endurable but delicious.

[Connie]

I'm a little late getting to this book due to eye surgery, but I've been lurking and enjoying all the background information, John.

The second chapter was terrifying as the ship took on water in the violent waves. Seeing the land when they came into Canadian waters must have been an unforgettable experience. Dickens left us with some humor with his encounter with the waiter at the Tremont. I hope they have a few calm days in Boston before they travel again.

[Kathleen]

Just as I expected, Dickens' 1842 American trip is described in the first book of John Forster's The Life of Charles Dickens, beginning with chapter XIX. I might follow both accounts.

[John]

Connie (on semi-hiatus) wrote: "I'm a little late getting to this book due to eye surgery, but I've been lurking and enjoying all the background information, John.

The second chapter was terrifying as the ship took on water in ..."

I hope everything is okay with your eyes, Connie. I had surgery three years ago for a torn retina in my right eye. Recently my left eye has been acting up. So far, no sign of a tear, but I have another visit with the surgeon this month.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Wasn't the description of seasickness terrific? Quite nauseating-inducing, and John you picked out some of the lines I found most memorable too!

Kathleen - I too have been wanting to read this ever since we read the parts John Forster advised him to take out. We have Charles Dickens's own words from his letters within John Forster's bio as you say, so it seems strange to me that nobody has actually collated them and reprinted an "unexpurgated" account. Like this, they are well worth reading - great idea to read them in tandem.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I really must look at these places on a map. I know the originals of Halifax (in West Yorkshire, but the US one sounds prettier!) and Boston (Lincolnshire) but that isn't helping! Are we really in Canadian waters already Connie? (And hugs to you on your recovery xx)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I did find the ending of this chapter rather abrupt, which adds to the journal-like feel.

Did another notice the reference to "Astleys". We've come across that a couple of times in the novels, and also in our "Dramatic Dickens reads. It was a favourite London amphitheatre, credited as being the first circus arena: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astley%...

[John]

Although I have read a good number of biographical works about Dickens, I have never read a word of Forster. And I have not read Peter Ackroyd’s Dickens, which seems to be the most detailed of the later biographies. Eventually I will get to these two.

As for now, my favorite of the biographies is Jane Smiley’s Charles Dickens. Her book is less a biography and more of a critical appraisal of each work within the context of his life. Each work is studied side by side with where he was with his life. I liked it because she brought a novelist’s eye to the study of his works.

[John]

When I think of this crossing, I try to imagine what must have been pure terror. And in those days, if there was a real problem, they could not radio anyone. I am not even certain if the ship contained lifeboats. It was, as my grandmother might say, too many marbles in one basket. It was all or nothing with this ship and it must have gone through Dickens’ mind that the ship could have just broken apart. Then what? He writes of the creaking and groaning of the timber, which sounded like rifle shots. We are very lucky that he survived — think of the works like Bleak House and Great Expectations that we’d never know if this ship had not held up.

[Connie]

Bionic Jean wrote: "I really must look at these places on a map. I know the originals of Halifax (in West Yorkshire, but the US one sounds prettier!) and Boston (Lincolnshire) but that isn't helping! Are we really in Canadian waters already Connie..."

Halifax is in Canada, and they visited the Canadian government buildings. (There is a another smaller Halifax near Boston so it can be confusing.) Most of the Bay of Fundy is also in Canada, and is very famous for its powerful tides. I know someone who was injured when he was swimming in the Bay of Fundy, and the rushing tide slammed him against a dock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Wow! Thanks Connie. Those are great links, and it all looks so big to me!

And now I can understand why they were trapped until ... what was it 3am? I thought it was hilarious that the crewman in the rowing boat had to uproot a small tree to bring back to prove to the travellers that there was land close by! It shows some forethought, as of course it (sadly) had to be something alive.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

John - I think the lifeboat was split apart in the storm, wasn't it? I remember being surprised that they only had one, and thinking that it must really have been a terrible storm and not just normal bad weather for that to happen, and not greatly exaggerated by Charles Dickens for effect.

I too like Jane Smiley's bio for the reasons you say 😊

Peter Ackroyd's was acknowledged to be the best of his decade, and he broke new ground for the style of biographies. However he has written many books on Dickens over the years, including ones based on his classic one! So be careful to get the one which is over a thousand pages, anyone who wants the original tome, and does not want one of Peter Ackroyd's later shortened ones.

Ditto the John Forster bio, which is is 3 volumes. I have it on kindle (free) for ease of handling, but also a great illustrated one which is huge, but still abridged. This is the definitive bio of course, and the one others use (plus his letters) as a source book. I think we read it before you were a member John, so do take a look at our three threads on it when you come to read it (and anyone else of course).

[Julie]

John wrote: "A thin mattress spread like a surgical plaster on a most inaccessible shelf is another favorite of mine."

Same!

I very much enjoyed the whole depiction of the boarding process, right down to bringing on "the milk."

To me, yes they sound excited but also terrified (so far I have only read the first Chapter and people's comments on that). I enjoyed the section where passengers' popularity is established by how willing they are to say anything about the prospect of the ship going down--for instance:

this lazy gentleman of might who has made the passage (as everybody on board has found out already; it’s impossible to say how) thirteen times without a single accident! There is another passenger very much wrapped-up, who has been frowned down by the rest, and morally trampled upon and crushed, for presuming to inquire with a timid interest how long it is since the poor President went down. He is standing close to the lazy gentleman, and says with a faint smile that he believes She is a very strong Ship; to which the lazy gentleman, looking first in his questioner’s eye and then very hard in the wind’s, answers unexpectedly and ominously, that She need be. Upon this the lazy gentleman instantly falls very low in the popular estimation, and the passengers, with looks of defiance, whisper to each other that he is an ass, and an impostor, and clearly don’t know anything at all about it.

My husband and I have both taught study abroad and we have both cut back on trips on occasion because we don't like being away from the kids for long. Imagine being away as long as the Dickenses were, with *four* tiny kids at home, and the additional unpredictability and danger of travel. No wonder Catherine didn't want to go.

But also, I have heard the stories about people lining up in America to get the new numbers of Old Curiosity Shop, and I didn't realize that was happening while Dickens still had no royalties from the books! I can see why he would have felt it necessary to go--for himself, at least.

[Sam]

First, although it does not have much approval today, I have loved how the battle of the sexes has been depicted in literature in the past

I lay there, all the day long, quite coolly and contentedly; with no sense of weariness, with no desire to get up, or get better, or take the air; with no curiosity, or care, or regret, of any sort or degree, saving that I think I can remember, in this universal indifference, having a kind of lazy joy— of fiendish delight, if anything so lethargic can be dignified with the title—in the fact of my wife being too ill to talk to me.

And human behavior at a time of perceived crisis can also be entertaing...

Nor was it less amusing to remark how desperately unpopular the poor pilot became in one short minute. He had had his passage out from Liverpool, and during the whole voyage had been quite a notorious character, as a teller of anecdotes and cracker of jokes. Yet here were the very men who had laughed the loudest at his jests, now flourishing their fists in his face, loading him with imprecations, and defying him to his teeth as a villain!

[Petra]

I also loved the description of seasickness. Only Dickens could have described it so perfectly.

The storm must have been a doozy! As John stated, the courage it took to cross the ocean on a small ship (large, perhaps, in those days), was large. These dangers would have been in the forefront of the passengers' minds during the storm. Terrifying time.

Sam, I laughed at the quote of lazy joy while poor Catharine was so ill, too.

Other quotes that had me chuckling:
..the oranges and so forth are rolling about according to their fancy and the ship's way
I can imagine items rolling about on deck. They'd be a minefield for any person walking along.

And, while the passengers are so sick, the captain goes laughing out into the weather as merrily as to a birthday party.

And everyone's joy at reaching shore in Halifax:
We came to a wharf, got alongside, and were made fast....; darted, a score of us along the gangway, almost as soon as it was thrust out to meet us, and before it had reached the ship - and leaped upon the fird glad earth again!

the House of Assemby withdrew from the bar to say a great deal among themselves and do a little

And getting everyone back onboard, including tow or three choice spirites, who, having indulged too freely in oysters and champagne, were found lying insensible on their backs in unfrequented streets.

[Petra]

I found myself rolling through the long passages with an involuntary imitation of the gait of Mr. T. P. Cooke, in a new nautical melodrama

I laughed at that picture of Dickens getting his land legs back and curious about who Mr. T. P. Cooke was.

He was a sailor who became an actor, He lived from 1786-1864, so Dickens probably saw him on stage. After years at sea, perhaps he had a rather rolling gait, even on stage.

[Julie]

Just read through Chapter 2. I love it. I enjoy sailing novels generally and have read a ton of them, but I don't know that I've ever read anything as evocative as this. The masts dipping into the waves! As everyone's said, it was terrifying, but it was also laugh-out-loud funny. That moment when he's trying to give some brandy to three women on a couch, and how they keep sliding from one side of the couch to the other and he has to chase them back and forth! And the way Dickens describes being up on deck, not knowing how he got there and utterly incoherent, until the Captain gathers what state he's in and somehow has him dispatched back downstairs.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Julie - Here's the chalk portrait of their 4 children I mentioned earlier, and the room it usually hangs in https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/explo...

(To be honest it's not a very good reproduction, so if I get to Doughty St before this read finishes I'll try to take a better one.) It's lovely, and by Charles Dickens's friend Daniel Maclise, who had also painted the oil "Nickleby portrait" for him a little earlier.

Catherine loved it so much that she took it with her to Canada and America, and hung it on the wall of every place they stayed in!

I'm really enjoying everyone's quotations, which so often are ones I laughed at as well. (Except for the rather jaundiced one about Catherine which Sam picked out. Not your fault at all Sam, but I know who I think would have been easier to live with out of these two! 🤔)

EDIT:

Here's a wiki one, which seems to have been "improved"

[Julie]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Julie - Here's the chalk portrait of their 4 children I mentioned earlier, and the room it usually hangs in https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/explo......"

I'll bet she took that with her everywhere! Poor Catherine.

[Lee]

John, would you possibly write out a timetable for our reading? That would make it easier not to read too far ahead……It is Feb 1 about 8pm in the evening in Texas, and I see I need to complete quickly Ch 2so I can make contributions in the comments.

[John]

Lee wrote: "John, would you possibly write out a timetable for our reading? That would make it easier not to read too far ahead……It is Feb 1 about 8pm in the evening in Texas, and I see I need to complete quic..."

Lee, that is a good idea. This evening I will work on a schedule. For now —

Feb 4: Chapter 3.
Feb 7: Chapter 4.

[John]

SCHEDULE FOR VOLUME ONE

January 29: Chapter the First
February 2: Chapter the Second
February 5: Chapter the Third
February 9: Chapter the Fourth
February 13: Chapter the Fifth
February 17: Chapter the Sixth
February 21: Chapter the Seventh
February 25 Chapter the Eighth

I thought I would post a schedule for Volume 1, which takes us to the end of February. According to my Nook book, this is approximately 125 pages, so it is not a voluminous read. When we get near the end of February, I will post a schedule for Volume 2 and the Appendixes, which should get us to the end of March. The Appendixes are mostly short and can be covered within the timeframe for a chapter.

[Kathleen]

Thank you, John. Since I will not have internet access for some chunks of February, the actual dates will help me keep track, rather than to remember which day is the third day.

[Kathleen]

John Forster, in his Dickens biography, does not add much to Dickens own depiction of his journey to Boston; essentially Forster just reports that the private letters to him gave him more details. By just reading Forster, we miss the pleasure of Dickens own choice of words with their humor or pathos.

[Luffy Sempai]

Late to chapter 2 here.

I reckon American Notes already wants me to live in America. Not because I am sold on the place, but because I currently live on a small island and I don't want to risk going near any boat or ship. The rite of passage for gaining steady legs is certainly not worth it in my opinion.

I also love how Dickens comes across as someone who hides his genius well and seems a mortal who is trying the make the best of it.

[John]

It seems to me that when they were able to, they ate and drank well. It seems as if from wine to brandy to porter, things were well-stocked. And potatoes and hams and collops, too — though the deserts of apples or oranges or grapes seemed in Dickens’ words to be rather moldy.

[Peter]

While I was not on the ‘Britannia’ with Dickens I could certainly feel his anguish and disorientation. He missed many of the amenities of his London life and I have great sympathy. My wife and I arrived in Portugal on January 31st after a much more calm flight than his passage to America only to discover that our airb&b’s internet was not working. Anyway, it is now working so like Dickens, I too feel grounded now.

Halifax is still the capital of Nova Scotia. In 1842 Dickens found it and its government to be much the same as England’s although in a delightful way said it was like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. By English standards Halifax was certainly a very miniature Westminster. By arriving in Canada first, rather than the US, Dickens was reminded one last time of England before experiencing the US.

Historically, I should note that Canada had not been formed yet. We did not become a country until 1867. But enough history for now. On to Dickens’s adventures!

[Kelly]

I have been enjoying catching up and reading everyone's favorite quotations from Chapter 2. I'm not sure anyone yet mentioned the line the captain said about the weather always being better tomorrow on a ship. That made me smile.

I liked the way you broke down this chapter, John. The turbulence and seasickness and grounding of the boat was so chaotic followed by the placid ending. Good choice of word there. I felt the calm of the passengers and am as excited as they are to get off of the boat and explore Boston.

[John]

Kelly wrote: "I have been enjoying catching up and reading everyone's favorite quotations from Chapter 2. I'm not sure anyone yet mentioned the line the captain said about the weather always being better tomorro..."

Kelly, you can tell how delighted he is by seeing Boston and I think his initial reaction also had something to do with being off the ship and on firm ground. They were on that ship for 21 days and I would venture to say that only three of those days had calm seas.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

First of all, thank you, John, for the reading schedule for Volume One. That is really going to help keep me on track!

Also, thank you, everyone for adding to my voluminous TBR list. LOL. That book by Jane Smiley really looks interesting, and I would like to read it when I have read Forster's.

Chapter Two was so good - so visual and visceral! I wonder if Dickens got nauseated all over again when he was writing this chapter. As a child, I made several transatlantic crossings with my parents - my father preferred that mode of transportation (we lived in France and visited relatives in North Carolina every three years). I got seasick on more than one occasion, and Dickens' descriptions made me quite queasy at times remembering those episodes. It's funny how a memory can be recorded through all the senses. And Dickens hit every one of them. 😳

I love how, on Day 1 in Boston, Dickens already experienced a language barrier. Dickens told the hotel waiter he wanted dinner "as quick as possible", and both Dickens and the waiter had a different interpretation of the meaning of "right away". That made me laugh. It's the same language, but with a twist. I wonder how many more of these episodes we're going to be able to chuckle at.

[John]

VOLUME ONE
Chapter the Third

Boston

This chapter is slightly longer than the previous two chapters, so I thought I would at least start an introduction to it today and then give ourselves to the 9th of February to complete it. The nice thing about American Notes is the chapters are solitary in nature and can be read independently for the most part without losing narrative direction.

Dickens is quite taken with Boston and finds it beautiful and captivating. The homes are large and elegant, the shops good, and the public buildings impressive. I would say his praise is effusive and real. He loved the city.

The next part of this chapter covers the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum of the Blind. Dickens is quite taken with it and meets Laura Bridgman, a blind and deaf girl. It should be noted that Dickens was the first writer, or person for that matter, to bring Bridgman to acclaim. His writing led to the discovery of Annie Sulivan, who taught Helen Keller. There is almost a dynastic succession of teachers and pupils, thanks to Dickens. He does quote extensively from the clinical notes for Bridgman.

He goes on to the State Hospital for the Insane and writes carefully and vividly about its set up. He also visits the House of Industry for paupers, the Boylston School for Boys, the House of Correction, and closes the chapter discussing the Transcendentalists -- Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to name two. He also finishes by discussing the hotel where he stayed and items that caught his interest.

[John]

The clinical notes for Laura Bridgman were quoted extensively by Dickens. She was the first American who was blind and deaf that learned the English language.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura...

The description of the wards in the Aslyum brought back a memory for me. Over forty years ago, I did a non medical internship at one of the first psychiatric hospitals in New Jersey. The buildings dated back to the early 1800s. It is long gone now — perhaps sadly — but I lived that memory with this chapter.

Interestingly enough, Lucinda Hawksley in her Dickens and Travel: The Start of Modern Travel Writing does not mention the visit to the institutions at all when discussing Boston. I found it a bit odd — was I reading the same chapter? Perhaps she did not find the extensive use of clinical notes for Bridgman helpful or interesting. Thoughts?

[John]

Of further interest: Dickens writes that if he were a Bostonian, he would be a Transcendentalist. Now, I love Thoreau and Emerson, but I have never properly understood Transcendentalism. I think the reason for that is it is not easy to define and seems as capacious as its devotees. Here is a fairly concise idea of it:

People are inherently good.
Intuition is more important than logic.
People are best when they are independent and self-reliant.
Divine experience can be found in everyday life.
People should have a close relationship with the universe and nature.

[Peter]

John wrote: "The clinical notes for Laura Bridgman were quoted extensively by Dickens. She was the first American who was blind and deaf that learned the English language.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura..."

Yes. The Laura Bridgman comments by Dickens were fascinating.

We see in the early days of ‘American Notes’ how Dickens’s concerns about the poor, the prison systems, the school systems and the individual daily struggles of people that were reflected in his novels continue to be his concerns and focus in the early days in America. There can be no doubt about the fact that Dickens was not only a novelist but a student of society and of those people who formed the forgotten or the underclass of society.

I have a great respect for Lucinda Hawksley. Could some of her curious omissions be due to the fact that Hawksley’s focus was directed onto the concept of finding in ‘American Notes’ how that book was the start of modern travel writing with the central focus on travel places rather than personalities found during one’s travels. It will be interesting to see how and if Dickens’s perspective changes as we read through the book.

[John]

Peter wrote: "John wrote: "The clinical notes for Laura Bridgman were quoted extensively by Dickens. She was the first American who was blind and deaf that learned the English language.

https://en.m.wikipedia.o..."

Peter, I agree with you about Hawksley. It then occurred to me that the basis for her book was travel writing. Which would explain the omission. Hawksley does do a great job — her observations side by side with American Notes I found to be wonderful.

[Luffy Sempai]

Chapter 3 is absolutely peachy. Dickens softens but teaches us hard lessons. It was imperative for me to suspend my disbelief regarding the sanitary routine of the mad. At least I did a conscious effort to suspend said thing. Otherwise I thought the length of each subject matter was suitably and closely portioned.

My short attention span absorbed what Dickens had to tell. Telling is the right word. That is because the preaching was just an epitaph, a small print if you will, in this chapter.

I can pay Chapter 3 no higher praise than say that it disarmed me so much that it made me regress in my English back to my former, more purple, prose.

[Sam]

Chapter three left me with a couple of questions.

First, I may have missed how they got from Nova Scotia to Boston, which I presume was by sail. Ignorant of me, but I don't even know if there was much of a commercial land route at this time, but cannot think it would be too transversable in January of this period.

Second, the jump from what I consider travel prose to what I'll call social condition reporting seemed abrupt and the reporting was detailed and informative, making comparisons with U.S. and English methods. I am curious--was Dickens reporting on his own or in connection with other groups or sponsors? Also my assumption is that access to these institutions was prearranged; again, is there any information on how this was done, or what groups in the U.S. assisted?

I will add anything on transcendentalism later but I always defined it by this quote from Emerson:

I become a transparent Eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.

Don't ask me what it means.
Of course, I may have gotten confused and been thinking of transparendentalism.

[John]

Sam wrote: "Chapter three left me with a couple of questions.

First, I may have missed how they got from Nova Scotia to Boston, which I presume was by sail. Ignorant of me, but I don't even know if there was..."

Sam, according to Claire Tomalin, one of Dickens’ biographers, he had considerable contact with people in the Boston area prior to his trip. This included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and several others. Suffice to say, he likely informed them that he wished to tour the institutions in the area and they made the arrangements for him.

[Sam]

John wrote: "Sam wrote: "Chapter three left me with a couple of questions.

First, I may have missed how they got from Nova Scotia to Boston, which I presume was by sail. Ignorant of me, but I don't even know ..."

Yes thanks John I am curious who might have initiated these visits and whether he was acting solely on his own interest or upon the interests of others. Today, we'd plan such a trip networking other parties to perhaps fund our trip through research done on their behalf and was wondering if Dickens might be doing the same, or if he were acting solely without any compensation to visit such social institutions, perhaps for a book or because of his compassionate or inquisitive nature.