214 66 ROUGH AND TUMBLE." in short, endeavour to destroy or mutilate each other; but this is not considered sufficient, and Birmingham and Pittsburgh are obliged to complete by the dirk-knife the equipment of the "chivalric Kentuckian." I am fully aware that the stories current respect "gouging" are exaggerated, and mostly invented; and I am also aware, that many gentlemen, especially among those of advanced age, in Kentucky, disapprove of these practices; but the general argument remains nevertheless untouched; the "rough and tumble" fight is still permitted by the spectators; and if two angry men have one another by the throat, and there is no check upon their fury, either in their own feelings and habits, or in public opinion, the result in any country would be similarly savage. They may formerly have had an excuse for constantly carrying a weapon, when their houses and families were hourly liable to be surprised by the war-whoop of the Indian but against whom is the dirk-knife now sharpened? against brothers, cousins, and neighbours! One feature that I have always admired in the English character, and, indeed, have looked upon with envy, (as my own countrymen, especially the highlanders, have it not,) is their contempt for all lethal weapons, and their honest determined support of fair play in all personal rencounters. If a combatant in England were to practise any rough and tumble" tricks, such as kneeling on a 66 "ROUGH AND TUMBLE." 215 man's throat or chest when on the ground, or gouging, or biting, he would receive a hearty drubbing from the spectators, and conclude the entertainment (in my opinion, very deservedly) in the nearest horse-pond in which he could be immersed. I trust that the progress of civilisation, and increasing weight of a sounder public opinion, will soon put a stop to the custom above censured, which is not confined to Kentucky, but is more or less prevalent in the whole valley of the Mississippi, especially in Louisiana. 216 LEAVE CINCINNATI. neau. CHAPTER XII. Leave Cincinnati for Louisville.-Reminiscences.-Louisville. -Republican Incongruity.-Swearing in the Western States. -Start for Lexington. - Beautiful Scenery. Curious Sermon.-Arrival at Lexington.- Meeting with Miss Marti- General Shelby's Farm. Situation of Lexington. -Its Public Institutions.-System of Education in America. -Lunatic Asylum.-Evening Parties.-Musical Soirée.-A Serenade. Mr. Clay. Return to Louisville. Embark for Saint Louis. Passage down the Ohio. - Robbers' Cave. — The "Father of Waters." - ON the 4th of June I left Cincinnati for Louisville, on board the Benjamin Franklin. The Ohio still preserved the dignity and majesty of its course; and I sat on the second and cooler deck of the steamer, being partly recovered from my late attack, but with my mind and body both somewhat depressed by its influence. In this musing melancholy mood did I look on the mighty stream beneath, and the undulating banks on each side, crowned with every variety of hue and form that the forest-trees, those vegetable giants, could assume; and memory led me back to those joyous and never-to-be-forgotten scenes, which the annual recurrence of this day used to bring with it, when celebrated by Eton's sons under old Windsor's towers. Then, indeed, "all was sunshine in each breast." The emulation of the rowers-the cheers of their respective supporters -the gallant display of banners and steerers' dresses- the military bands -made the time-honoured fortress walls echo to the national anthem, and many a young heart beat, and many a young cheek glowed, with a foretaste of the part which they were one day destined to take in Britain's glories. Alma Mater, Etona! thy sons little know how they love thee until many years after they have bidden thee farewell: then they turn back to thee with fond and grateful recollections, such as now occupied my musings on Ohio's stream. In twelve hours we reached Louisville, having then run one hundred and fifty miles from Cincinnati, through scenery resembling, both in beauty and character, that before described above the latter town; for Indiana, which lies on the northwestern bank of the Ohio, at this part of its course, is vying with its neighbours in improvement; and nature has given it extensive tracts of fine soil, which the tide of immigration is rapidly reducing to cultivation. Louisville is a very active busy town, containing about twenty thousand inhabitants. In the spring, and early part of summer, it is crowded by fugitives from the neighbourhood of New Orleans, on their way to their various places of refuge from 218 REPUBLICAN INCONGRUITY. heat and disease. The hotel is a spacious building, and might be called handsome, had it not been finished in so slovenly a manner, that, although I saw it only a year after it was opened, the plaster was soiled, and in some places broken up; and the house itself looked as if it had been built more years than it had seen months. In front, there is a large portico, supported by ten columns, behind which are the lounging-rooms for the guests; and in summer, the shade of the portico renders it both a tempting and agreeable resort. The proprietors were very attentive; and one of them, a good-looking gentlemanly man, about thirty years old, was so much more smartly and gaily dressed than any of the company (myself included), that I thought he must be a Frenchman from New Orleans, and thus inquired his name and occupation. No one who has visited only the Atlantic cities can believe in the social republicanism of America. I think I have before noted in this journal that it does not exist there: distinctions of wealth and family, and those, too, well defined and strongly marked, have already appeared, accompanied by a criterion apparently trifling, but, in my opinion, bearing strong evidence, namely, "coats of arms," and other heraldic anti-republican signs, which are daily gaining ground. At present, the West presents a much truer picture of republicanism, because the equality existing elsewhere in theory, exists here in fact; nor did I see one individual |