Summary
Nov. 16. Journey from Boston to New York.–We left Boston this day at 3 P.M. by the railroad, via Providence, Stonington, and Long Island Sound, for New York. “We arrived at Providence between five and six o'clock; here left the cars, and crossed the Providence River in a steam-boat. It was dark, and the bustle was great. We started again in railway cars; each containing twenty-four persons and a blazing stove. We arrived at Stonington at 9 P.M., and immediately embarked on board a steam-boat. It was very large, and the whole hull was fitted up into two sleeping apartments; five-sixths of the length were devoted to the gentlemen, and the remainder to the ladies. The gentlemen's cabins contained 150 beds, in three tiers extending along each side. We paid $7 each at Boston for the whole fare, and got a ticket indicating the numbers of our beds. There are large blue curtains hanging in front of the beds, which are let down and run forward on brass rods, about a foot from the beds, so as to screen the passengers when undressing, and to produce a sort of privacy. The benefits of fresh air, however, are excluded. There is no provision for ventilation. At one o'clock A.M. I wakened with a painful sense of suffocation, and rose.
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- Notes on the United States of North America during a Phrenological Visit in 1838–39–40 , pp. 219 - 253Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010