that it would be
possible either to describe or remember. The Americans of the United
States have had time to build and populate vast cities, but they have
not yet had time to surround themselves with pretty scenery. Outlying
grand scenery is given by nature; but the prettiness of home scenery
is a work of art. It comes from the thorough draining of land, from
the planting and subsequent thinning of trees, from the controlling
of waters, and constant use of minute patches of broken land.
In another hundred years or so Rhode Island may be, perhaps, as
pretty as the Isle of Wight. The horses which we got were not good.
They were unhandy and badly mouthed, and that which my wife rode
was altogether ignorant of the art of walking. We hired them
from an Englishman, who hada good time is coming, but I would by no means wish
to signify that the present times in Portland are bad. So far from
it, that I doubt whether I ever saw a town with more evident signs of
prosperity. It has about it every mark of ample means, and no mark
of poverty. It contains about 27,000 people, and for that population
covers a very large space of ground. The streets are broad and
well built, the main streets not running in those absolutely
straight parallels which are so common in American towns, and are so
distressing to English eyes and English feelings. All these, except
the streets devoted exclusively to business, are shaded on both sides
by trees--generally, if I remember rightly, by the beautiful American
elm, whose drooping boughs have all the grace of the