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- 11916
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.846Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 11855
- text
- them to make an offering to Neptune of their bedding. The place was
then fumigated, and dried with pans of coals from the galley; so that
by evening, no stranger would have imagined, from her appearance, that
the Highlander had made otherwise than a tidy and prosperous voyage.
Thus, some sea-captains take good heed that benevolent citizens shall
not get a glimpse of the true condition of the steerage while at sea.
That night it again fell calm; but next morning, though the wind was
somewhat against us, we set sail for the Narrows; and making short
tacks, at last ran through, almost bringing our jib-boom over one of
the forts.
An early shower had refreshed the woods and fields, that glowed with a
glorious green; and to our salted lungs, the land breeze was spiced
with aromas. The steerage passengers almost neighed with delight, like
horses brought back to spring pastures; and every eye and ear in the
Highlander was full of the glad sights and sounds of the shore.
No more did we think of the gale and the plague; nor turn our eyes
upward to the stains of blood, still visible on the topsail, whence
Jackson had fallen; but we fixed our gaze on the orchards and meads,
and like thirsty men, drank in all their dew.
On the Staten Island side, a white staff displayed a pale yellow flag,
denoting the habitation of the quarantine officer; for as if to
symbolize the yellow fever itself, and strike a panic and premonition
of the black vomit into every beholder, all quarantines all over the
world, taint the air with the streamings of their fever-flag.
But though the long rows of white-washed hospitals on the hill side
were now in plain sight, and though scores of ships were here lying at
anchor, yet no boat came off to us; and to our surprise and delight, on
we sailed, past a spot which every one had dreaded. How it was that
they thus let us pass without boarding us, we never could learn.
Now rose the city from out the bay, and one by one, her spires pierced
the blue; while thick and more thick, ships, brigs, schooners, and sail
boats, thronged around. We saw the Hartz Forest of masts and black
rigging stretching along the East River; and northward, up the stately
old Hudson, covered with white sloop-sails like fleets of swans, we
caught a far glimpse of the purple Palisades.
Oh! he who has never been afar, let him once go from home, to know what
home is. For as you draw nigh again to your old native river, he seems
to pour through you with all his tides, and in your enthusiasm, you
swear to build altars like mile-stones, along both his sacred banks.
Like the Czar of all the Russias, and Siberia to boot, Captain Riga,
telescope in hand, stood on the poop, pointing out to the passengers,
Governor’s Island, Castle Garden, and the Battery.
“And _that”_ said he, pointing out a vast black hull which, like a
shark, showed tiers of teeth, _“that,_ ladies, is a
line-of-battle-ship, the North Carolina.”
“Oh, dear!”—and “Oh my!”—ejaculated the ladies, and— “Lord, save us,”
responded an old gentleman, who was a member of the Peace Society.
Hurra! hurra! and ten thousand times hurra! down goes our old anchor,
fathoms down into the free and independent Yankee mud, one handful of
which was now worth a broad manor in England.
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