ŷ������

The travel distance today from Cincinnati to Niagara Falls is about 450 miles.

We went to the Falls last May, traveling a bit further, thru eastern Ohio and chose to take two days for our 800 mile trip. The Falls are gloriously impressive. We looked at them from the high points and took the Maid of the Mist boat ride along the river towards the Falls. Wonderful! I’d been there once before, when the Canadian Falls were purposely shut off. They were so much more impressive this time.

I still have the strong image in my mind of the settler family, in the previous chapter, with the broken down wagon. He had gone off for help. “It was a pitiful sight.�� The woman was “seated among their wandering household goods with a baby at her breast, a picture of forlorn, dejected patience…�� I felt as if I was her. That image, along with grandmother in her rocking chair along the river, will stay with me for a long time. Excellent descriptive writing!

Kathleen wrote: "The travel distance today from Cincinnati to Niagara Falls is about 450 miles.

We went to the Falls last May, traveling a bit further, thru eastern Ohio and chose to take two days for our 800 mile..."

Kathleen

The Maid of the Mist boat ride is truly spectacular. Glad you enjoyed it. Just imagine how Dickens would have felt. He claimed that the experience of seeing the Falls brought Mary Hogarth into his mind. He was spiritually moved.

Shirley - ch 12 (I just lost my post 🙄 so will try to recreate it)

Like you, I really enjoyed the parts in ch 12 about Pitchlynn. What an amazing man. I was imagining him as venerable and dignified, and then when Charles Dickens asked what he thought of Congress, he said he thought they "lacked dignity". And now his tribe is extinct. 😢

I also read up about the Kentucky giants (thanks for a new name - Martin van Buren Bates) and was looking into the weird phenomenon of blue-skinned people.

Here is a picture of the Clifton House Hotel. This is where Dickens stayed with Catherine while they were in Niagara Falls. To the right you can see the Horseshoe Falls and to the left the American Falls. They were so close to the Falls that on a windy day the mists would cover their hotel windows.

Dickens stayed here for 10 days to rest and recover from all his travels. The hotel is long gone, but the Falls remain to greet and impress all visitors. There is a wonderful anecdote that I choose to believe because it is so great. When asked what she thought of the Falls, Catherine’s maid Anne Browne is reputed to have replied that the falls had too much water.

Shirley - ch 13

"Rising at five o'clock next morning, I took a walk about the village: none of the houses were strolling to-day," I took this to be literal! I know that in New Zealand they tend to take their houses with them when they move, (partly deconstructed) as they are often made from wood, not bricks. So I assumed it was the same, just quirkily expressed by Charles Dickens.

That's really interesting about the shower. I wonder if you were in on Petra's lead of Our English and French Watering-Place (the English one - Broadstairs) as Charles Dickens describes a shower he had "invented" and had fitted! He used it every morning before running down to the sea for a swim.

(This is from memory though - it might have been from Kathleen C's lead of Out of the Season and Out of Town. Apologies if so!)

Peter wrote: "

Here is a picture of the Clifton House Hotel. This is w..."

That’s a great story about Anne Brown. I believe it because it sounds like something a young person might say. I have not found any information about her, but I assume she was late teens at the time of this trip.

Chapter 14 - now linked.

Like Kathleen I really enjoyed this chapter. Gosh, those "corduroy roads" really set my teeth on edge! Can you imagine travelling over those, especially in a carriage with wooden wheels? 🤢

But then I am thoroughly enjoying all of this, especially when John and others give their personal experiences of what Charles Dickens is describing. As an English person, I am very much of his mind as to the alien terrain.

I shared your reaction to the frogs, Bridget. That bit tickled my fancy too!

And wow Connie - I too was stunned by Charles Dickens's reaction to Niagara Falls, and was also going to highlight how he describes it as a spiritual experience he would never forget. Even that seems to not quite capture how life-changing he seemed to find it. I think Charles Dickens probably carried it with him all the time.

I was reminded how often water - especially moving water - represents something ineffable and other-worldly - a passage to the other side - in all Charles Dickens's writing. It's there in so many ancient civilisations who have a river that you need to cross to enter the afterlife: Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Norse, Hellenic, Japanese Buddhism ... I now think this experience consolidated Charles Dickens's early feelings when he used to watch the sea (and the Thames) as a child.

For Charles Dickens to not want to see anybody, but just watch the water cascading down from the waterfalls at all angles for 10 days, is quite something. Also, do you remember Charles Dickens slid down the hot volcanic slopes of Mount Vesuvius on his backside in Pictures from Italy? When we read that, I thought, I bet they could get closer than anyone is allowed to now, and Connie just confirmed it.

ch 14 cont.

Charles Dickens certainly has an ear for a conversational type! The Straw hat v. brown hat one was so funny 😂 And I was struck by the "droning gentleman" with his gun reference, which is pretty much the same now.

"this uncle was so valiant and ferocious that he shouldn’t wonder if he were to follow the said captain to England, ‘and shoot him down in the street wherever he found him;�� ... I... assur[ed] him that if the uncle did resort to it ... he would find himself one morning prematurely throttled at the Old Bailey: and that he would do well to make his will before he went, as he would certainly want it before he had been in Britain very long."

i.e. he would be hanged if he started toting his gun over here. It also reminded me of The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope where a confident American woman who is reputed to have shot her husband, is considered scandalous by English society, to have owned a gun.

John - Can you explain about this, in the Sandusky newspaper please?

"the subject of Lord Ashburton’s recent arrival at Washington, to adjust the points in dispute between the United States Government and Great Britain:(view spoiler)[ informing its readers that as America had ‘whipped�� England in her infancy, and whipped her again in her youth, so it was clearly necessary that she must whip her once again in her maturity; and pledging its credit to all True Americans, that if Mr. Webster did his duty in the approaching negotiations, and sent the English Lord home again in double quick time, they should, within two years, sing ‘Yankee Doodle in Hyde Park, and Hail Columbia in the scarlet courts of Westminster!�� (hide spoiler)] just to save space!

All I can find is that there was a Webster-Ashburton treaty in 1842 - so it must be current affairs - concerning disputes about the Canadian/US border.

I'm loving this read but there are quite a lot of things to look up and we're going quite fast (for this group) to be able to do it.

Charles Dickens once more emphasises that he is not going to name names or take sides in any politics, which makes us a little nervous about what is to come!

Here's the painting Connie referenced (it's in the public domain):



"Niagara" - 1857

and wiki on the oil painting by Frederic Edwin Church

Bionic Jean wrote: "John - Can you explain about this, in the Sandusky newspaper please?

"the subject of Lord Ashburton’s recent arrival at Washington, to adjust the points in dispute between the United States Gover..."

According to the Endnotes in my edition, that treaty was negotiated by Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton because the Canadian and American border was being disputed. The link below provides details �� probably more than we need to know.

Thanks John - Very comprehensive, as you say. Great map too!

So are we to understand that the Sandusky newspaper has a traditional view and wants to reclaim land for the US?

Some of these clauses are very interesting (e.g. to do with slavery), and I'm sure will come up in future chapters. It also clarifies who's who for me. I can understand Charles Dickens' s reticence about naming names, but it does obfuscate a bit too much sometimes.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Thanks John - Very comprehensive, as you say. Great map too!

So are we to understand that the Sandusky newspaper has a traditional view and wants to reclaim land for the US?

Some of these clause..."

I was not familiar with this treaty until I read this book. I am somewhat surprised an Ohio newspaper would have an opinion unless it involved the Great Lakes, which this treaty apparently did. It seems to me that the border issue was primarily how to define Maine. I have been fortunate enough to visit Maine once and I did enjoy it.

Regarding Anne Brown, check this link out. Scroll down to Anne of Broadstairs and you will find a fairly detailed description of her.

John wrote: "Regarding Anne Brown, check this link out. Scroll down to Anne of Broadstairs and you will find a fairly detailed description of her.

..."

John

Such an excellent find! Thank you. And now I know what Anne said about Niagara Falls is true.

Anne’s story about her time with the Dickens family would be one of the most incredible texts ever written. That said, no doubt Anne, being a faithful and trusted servant, would never tell or write such a book.

Now my mind wanders �� is there an existent drawing or photograph of her? Sadly, because of her position the answer is probably no. Perhaps an existent letter?

Peter wrote: "John wrote: "Regarding Anne Brown, check this link out. Scroll down to Anne of Broadstairs and you will find a fairly detailed description of her.

..."

I love her other quote about Niagara Falls: “it’s nothing but water.��

John wrote: "Regarding Anne Brown, check this link out. Scroll down to Anne of Broadstairs and you will find a fairly detailed description of her.

..."

I enjoyed reading about Anne Brown, John. Great research!

When I think of this journey, it does seem that Charles and Catherine had stellar assistants in Anne Brown and George Washington Putnam. Surely this must have made an arduous trip easier.

Dickens begins his chapter that includes Canada with the statement ´I wish to abstain from instituting any comparison, or drawing any parallel whatsoever, between the social features of the United States and those of the British Possessions in Canada.´ and so, what the reader will see is only ´a brief account of our journeying in the latter territory.´

There is so much to unpack here. Clearly, Dickens wants to avoid any/all comparisons between the United States and the ‘British Possessions in Canada.´ A bit of history. Canada did not become a country until 1867 so he was accurate to refer to it as a British possession. As we read this chapter we will see how much of his own declaration he followed.

If we look at the first paragraphs in this chapter we see the word ´our�� repeated. Dickens does not see Canada as being separate from Great Britain in any substantial way.

For instance, if we look at his comments on the destruction of the Brock monument Dickens states that ´it is beneath the dignity of England to allow a memorial raised in honour of one of her defenders, to remain in this condition, on the very spot where he died.´ The monument was repaired and still stands to this day in a park where the battle was fought. What Dickens does not clearly state is the fact that Brock died while leading the British troops during the War of 1812-14, a war that pitted America against the British interests in Canada.

I think it is important to question and explore through what lens Dickens viewed his brief journey through Upper Canada (Province of Ontario) and Lower Canada ( Province of Quebec.)

As an aside, when we were in Niagara Falls last year, we chose not to go to the Canadian side, mostly because we were too cheap to pay the bridge toll. However, Verizon charged each of us $10 for using their cell towers. We objected, and they deleted the charge. No problem. So, it’s wise to check your bill, if your carrier charges for foreign towers.

In ‘A Christmas Carol�� Dickens wrote ‘Every traveller has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.�� These words were written in 1843 a year after Dickens visited North America. I believe he came to North America expecting to find something he believed existed but was ultimately disappointed. Dickens had strong feelings about the inadequacies of the British government in terms of helping the poor, of the over reach of government power, and of so many other flaws that he sought to find someplace better. In many ways he did find in North America a newer and perhaps more optimistic world. Yet, I also think he realized how British he was.

Consider what he says about the proximity of the United States to Canada as he took a steamboat headed to Toronto. At the mouth of the Niagara ‘the Stars and Stripes of America flutter on one side, and the Union Jack on the other: and so narrow is the space between them that the sentinels in either Fort can often hear the watchword of the other country …��

Well, Dickens arrives in Toronto and discovers that during a recent election a man was killed. As he notes ‘It is a matter of deep regret that political differences should run high in this place, and led to most discreditable and disgraceful results.�� Not such a great endorsement to where I live and am now writing this post.

The good news (?) is Dickens liked the city’s jail and highly approved of Upper Canada College. Upper Canada College still exists. As for the city jail it was closed some years ago but did house the worst of the worst criminals in Ontario. As an aside, I worked at the jail while in graduate school. The pay was good and I worked the overnight shift when everyone was locked up tight in their cells.

Dickens spent just a couple of days in Toronto. His stay was so short that the local newspapers got wind of his presence only after he had left.

Here is a picture of the Toronto Don Jail.

Here is a picture of the American Hotel where Dickens stayed during his short visit to Toronto. It has long since been torn down. On the site of the hotel there is an historical plaque that marks his visit to Toronto.

You worked in the jail, Peter? You're a man full of surprises! Thank you for the timeline for Canada's confederation. That context is helpful.

And, John, I enjoyed the link about Anne Brown. I have such respect for people who are privy to the private lives of celebrities, and honor that privacy. But, yes, her memoirs would have been fascinating to read!

Mary Lou wrote: "You worked in the jail, Peter? You're a man full of surprises! Thank you for the timeline for Canada's confederation. That context is helpful.

And, John, I enjoyed the link about Anne Brown. I ha..."

Mary Lou, for some reason, Anne reminded me of the last office I worked in before retirement. I had been selected to be the top aide to the new boss running the agency. He assembled a small, trusted staff. Over time, I grew to realize that everyone on the staff was the same: discreet, quiet, efficient. It was not until after I retired that I realized this was the kind of staff he preferred. Sometimes things we take for granted about ourselves are valued by others. Perhaps such is true for Anne, given the many years she worked for Dickens.

When Dickens left Toronto he headed for Kingston, Ontario. Once again, his method of travel was by steamship which was a very good choice. The roads in Ontario in the 1840’s were primitive, rough, and no doubt much more uncomfortable than travel by steamship.

For some reason I started to think about Willie Nelson’s great song ‘On the Road Again.�� Roads, railroads and steamships. Dickens certainly has been travelling far and quickly. What has been your insights and reactions to his incredible journey so far? What has Dickens learned about what he has seen, and the methods of transportation he has used? Do you find in ‘American Notes�� what he may be learning about himself, or banking in his mind for a future novel? One final thought. Consider Anne Browne again. What an invaluable but silent part she must have played in Dickens’s American odyssey.

Dickens arrives in Kingston and finds it ‘a very poor town.�� In 1842 Kingston was the seat of government in Canada. Government House in Kingston is described as ‘neither elegant nor commodious.�� After living in London with its the Parliament buildings and visiting Washington and seeing the White House and meeting the President no wonder Kingston was a bit of a let down to Dickens. Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald came from Kingston, Ontario. Today, our capital is Ottawa, also in the province of Ontario

Getting back to Willie Nelson’s great tune ‘On the Road Again�� a fun fact is Canada’s transcontinental highway is called the MacDonald Cartier Highway. Cartier was French, and as we will see, the Province of Quebec will host Dickens before he returns into the USA.

While in Kingston Dickens visited the Kingston Penitentiary which he described as ‘admirable �� and wisely governed.�� While there he met and talked with a female prisoner at length. Just as when he was in America, and through his life, prisons, the criminal class and the concept of law and justice form a key part of his life and his writing. From childhood, his mind never escaped what it meant to be incarcerated.

Can you think of a Dickens novel that does not feature in some way a jail or a former prisoner?

Below is a link for more insight into the Kingston Pen. Scroll down the link for additional information. In the link 7 Things you probably don’t know about the Pen is some information on Dickens.

Dickens also mentions the ‘bomb-proof�� Fort in Kingston and then qualifies his statement by noting that Kingston is ‘too close upon the frontier to be long held �� for its present purpose in troubled times.�� Dickens will now travel to Montreal, part way by boat and then by road. He will enter the Province of Quebec and immediately note that French, not English is the language spoken, and French culture and traditions will replace the English traditions he found in the Province of Ontario.

Peter wrote: "While in Kingston Dickens visited the Kingston Penitentiary which he described as ‘admirable �� and wisely governed.�� While there he met and talked with a female prisoner at length. Just as when he ..."

Very true, Peter. I can think of some type of connection in everything he wrote. I give him a lot of credit for his interest and concern. Literally as soon as he arrived in America he was visiting institutions. And it was just not a walk through thing, either. You can tell he spent time and was curious.

Mary Lou wrote: "Was anyone else reminded of the Rock Island song from the opening of "The Music Man" when Dickens was telling the "yes, sir" story? :-) Google it, if the link doesn't work for you and you're interested.

....."

No, Mary Lou, I didn't think of the Music Man's Rock Island song, but what a pleasure it was to watch the video you linked. This is one of my all-time favorite musicals, but I totally forgot about that song - undoubtedly one of the cleverest ones ever written. Thank you for reminding me I need to watch this feel-good movie again soon!

Connie (on semi-hiatus) wrote: "Dickens' reaction to seeing the Falls was written beautifully. Seeing the beauty and power of nature was a spiritual experience for him."

I couldn't agree with you more, Connie! At first, I thought how odd that Dickens spent pages describing those harrowing stage-coach rides but only a page and a half describing Niagara Falls. It was obvious Dickens was overwhelmed by them. I do believe this spiritual experience was too great for him to give proper voice to. It was a beautiful passage which made me wish I could have seen the pristine Falls as he had seen them. Thank you for posting Frederic Church's painting, too!

John, thank you for posting the information about Anne Brown. She must have been invaluable to the Dickens with her no-nonsense approach to life. I'm sure she calmed many a raw nerve on this unpredictable trip through the wilds of America.

And Jean, I so agree with your statement of there being too many things to investigate in this travelogue. I am staying constantly behind because I keep going down rabbit holes! I am really loving seeing the untamed and uncivilized West through Dickens' eyes.

At first I was perturbed with his negative attitude, but I now understand how very hard this trip must have been on a cultured city person who was not prepared for the ruggedness of America at this time. Just the roads and the stagecoach rides! How did they ever keep their equanimity!? I did find it amusing that, as he got closer to Niagara Falls, his spirits lifted tremendously:

"Never, never once, that day, was the coach in any position, attitude, or kind of motion to which we are accustomed in coaches. Never did it make the smallest approach to one's experience of the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that goes on wheels. Still, it was a fine day, and the temperature was delicious,... and we were moving towards Niagara and home... We went forward again gaily."

I loved reading this passage and knowing that Dickens was finally rolling with the punches (and the stagecoaches - LOL) and enjoying himself!

Peter, thanks for providing your expertise on the Canadian portion of the trip. It must have been so much more comfortable for them to travel by boat compared to the earlier stagecoach trips over log roads.

Backtracking a little, I’ve just managed to follow the recent links you’ve included John - thank you. Thanks for the time frame too. What a find about “Anne (Brown) of Broadstairs��, who until now had been a sketchy idea of a maid in my mind. (I was also interested in the piece about the Broadstairs Declaimers, and the excerpt from the farce by Elizabeth Inchbald “Animal Magnetism�� they revived, as he had staged his performances and our “Dramatic Dickens�� year is fresh in my mind.)

Peter’s excellent comments from 171 onwards to 279 relate to chapter 15, by the way, (which we start today, according to John's timetable) in case anyone is confused. All you'll need to do if you regularly use the links is to scroll back a bit so as not to miss them.

I will link to John’s summary as usual, when it’s up. Peter does raise some great points for us to consider, and I’ll comment including those afterwards as my mind is buzzing with this Canadian chapter, and look forward to others�� comments too.

VOLUME TWO
Chapter The Seventh (or Chapter 15)

In Canada; Toronto; Kingston; Montreal; Quebec: St. John's. In the United States; Lebanon; the Shaker Village; and West Point.

Thanks to Peter's excellent observations regarding the Canada part of our journey, I will try to offer some supplementary observations and views.

At Table Rock, Dickens is appalled by the various notes left in a registry for visitors. He describes some of it as the "filthiest ribaldry and a disgrace to the English language." I wonder what some of the comments said -- and why they were even written?

In Toronto, Dickens finds the monument to General Brock "a melancholy ruin." Too bad about this monument -- it sounds like neglect for some reason?

They leave Toronto for Kingston where Dickens finds the prison to be "admirable."

Dickens finds the Saint Lawrence Seaway on the way to Montreal to be beautiful. A four hour stagecoach trip finds the countryside to Montreal to be "pleasant and well-cultivated." Dickens sees a large Catholic Cathedral, which is Notre Dame, and finds things bursting from winter to spring.

They make a day trip to Quebec City, which seems to stand on a height and he refers to it as "the Gibraltar of America." He finds the city "rich in public institutions and Catholic Churches and charities" -- such a wonderful phrasing.

They leave Montreal and are back in New York State. Here we find continued beautiful country -- mountains as in the Catskills -- and a village of Shakers. The Shakers -- known for their furniture, as I recall -- impress Dickens as "drivers of good bargains." The community is certainly an interesting one. but Dickens ultimately does not like them and felt pity for the youngsters in such a regimented life.

Lastly, we have West Point described -- which sits on the Hudson River and was America's military academy. He notes the cadets and finds "beauty and freshness in this calm retreat." The chapter closes with a mention of the "Kaatskill Mountains, Sleepy Hollow, and the Tappan Zee" -- all places that will not easily fade from "the dust of Time."

Dickens' reaction to the "graffiti" was probably my favorite moment of the book and probably the climax of Dickens' reaction to the coarseness and lack of civility and refinement he has been experiencing since leaving New England. There is a feeling of "I've had it up to here," in his prose and has been building for awhile. I think what follows where he over praises what he sees in Canada, which then works as a comparison to what he has seen in the U.S., is probably at the root of the outcry from Americans. Had he maintained a balance of comic criticism and praise, I think he would have escaped it all, but people don't like being compared to others when they come off looking the poorer in comparison. This would also provide a great source for instigating muckrakers to build upon.

I looked at this link to learn a little more about the Shakers. My only experience with Shakers has been the furniture.



I have always liked Shaker furniture.

Thanks for the links for the Shakers, John.

I've visited the Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire. The Shakers did help many people who were penniless, but willing to work hard. The lifestyle was more accepted by older people, but the younger people often left. The religion soon died out since the Shakers were celibate, and there was no one to take the place of the people who died.

The buildings and the furniture were of good quality. I think that Dickens had a good point writing that their chairs looked very uncomfortable, but that might be common for the time.

I did find a nicer chair pictured at the New Britain Museum of American Art. They have a room with changing exhibits of Shaker furniture, baskets, etc.

Thanks Connie for your link.

Reading about the Shakers reminded me of a restaurant in New York City called The Commerce Inn. I have not been there, but I read a delightful review of the place in the New Yorker. Early American fare and Shaker furniture throughout. The link below is the website for it and you can click on the menu (downloading not necessary to view it) and see the fare.

Dickens writes it out as The Kaatskills, which is the famous mountain range in New York State. I have spent time there over the years. It is not a high mountain range, but it is mountain after mountain with many freshwater lakes. New York City gets its water from the Catskills and I can attest it is excellent water.

The Dickenses left England on January 3rd, and it is now the "beginning of June". After five months of strange food, strange manners, uncomfortable weather and travel, not to mention those things we haven't heard much about - his celebrity obligations, and what he came for, meetings about copyright laws... well, it's no wonder Charles is feeling a bit surly! He's had it, and so have I. My longest trip has been three weeks (to England, coincidentally), and even at a comparatively slow pace, and with with accommodations Dickens would have been delighted by, I was quite ready to return home - in a few hours by air, rather than 21 days by sea!

I wonder about how and when American Notes was written. It does not seem to be a journal, recorded daily in the moment. Did he write it after returning to England? How much time had elapsed? If these were recollections, they certainly didn't soften much over time. In fairness, Dickens had plenty of good things to say, and perhaps he was just calling things as he saw them, but he's getting less and less diplomatic as the trip goes on. I imagine that poor Shaker shopkeeper reading this, and am hurt on her behalf. Ah, well.

Perhaps our final chapters will address some of the copyright business, and some social obligations, and he won't dwell too much on the discomforts of the voyage home. I long for a description of a joyous reunion with their children, but I expect to be disappointed in that hope. That would have been in Catherine's book, but probably not this one.

Peter wrote: "Clearly, Dickens wants to avoid any/all comparisons between the United States and the ‘British Possessions in Canada.´ A bit of history. Canada did not become a country until 1867 so he was accurate to refer to it as a British possession..."

I don't know why it didn't dawn on me that Canada was still a British territory at this time, Dickens clearly saw Canada as an extension of Great Britain, and so he felt immediately at home when he crossed the border from the States to Canada. Without realizing this, it was still obvious to me how effusive Dickens was in his praise of Canada compared to his tolerance of most things American.

And as Sam said: I think what follows where he over praises what he sees in Canada, which then works as a comparison to what he has seen in the U.S., is probably at the root of the outcry from Americans. Had he maintained a balance of comic criticism and praise, I think he would have escaped it all, but people don't like being compared to others when they come off looking the poorer in comparison.. This is so true!

But I'm glad that Dickens finished his tour of the States on a high note with his pleasant visit to West Point. I did find it funny that Dickens encapsulated so well the spirit of Americans when he described the cadets there: The term of study at this institution, which the State requires from all cadets, is four years; but, whether it be from the rigid nature of the discipline, or the national impatience of restraint, or both causes, combined, not more than half the number who begin their studies here ever remain to finish them.

Chapter 15

Some fabulous comments here, especially from John of course and Peter. I’ll try not to repeat, but to add.

John - The “filthiest ribaldry�� of comments in what amounted to a visitors�� book at Niagara made me pause too. Charles Dickens would certainly not have been used to this - and neither am I! Nothing has changed in Britain since then. Entries in visitors�� books here are usually fulsome in their praise: all thank yous and compliments. If anyone vandalises a book it would be removed. It seems odd that the management noticed it enough to add a warning, but did not follow this up.

Charles Dickens says - rather snidely - that it disgraces the Canadian side, and also that “I hope few of these entries have been made by Englishmen��.

I would have liked to read more about the prison at Kingston “well and wisely governed, and excellently regulated, in every respect�� (but see my next post)

The United States v. Canada in 1842, through Dickens’s Eyes

I know Peter has been keen to discuss this, and it looks as if now is a good time, just after Charles Dickens has left Canada, with a brief return to the US before writing his appendixes on e.g. the slavery question (which may well dominate the discussion.)

So Charles Dickens begins: “I wish to abstain from instituting any comparison, or drawing any parallel whatever, between the social features of the United States and those of the British Possessions in Canada. For this reason, I shall confine myself to a very brief account of our journeyings in the latter territory.��

But why? I really enjoyed this jaunt to Canada, but was staggered at the sheer number of locations Charles Dickens decided to cover in one chapter! “Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Quebec and St. John’s?�� And by the end we are in June! I honestly can’t see how this deliberate brevity reassures us that he is being even-handed to both countries, when he has given us so much detail about American towns.

I’m reading on kindle, but in normal print ch 15 is c. 30 pages i.e. a tenth of the novel, and the Canadian section is just 12 of those, before we are back to New York and the Shaker village nearby (which he evidently loathed; I wonder what he would make of whirling dervishes). Often I did not get much sense of Canada, and wondered if this was because he was content there.

My reasoning for this was that if we think of these places as characters, it’s easier to create entertaining bad characters than good ones, (as we see in Charles Dickens's works as well as in other writers). So it wouldn’t be an equal situation to compare it with Dickens’s diatribe about various US prisons, for instance. But if we compare like with like, on the “Dickens approval�� scale, one part he really liked was the Perkins institute in Boston, with Laura Bridgeman’s story. He spent c. 30 pages on that, yet he is spending just 12 on a whole country? 😲

Boston is in Canada now, but as we’ve discussed, was not part of Canada when Charles Dickens visited it. I’m afraid that whatever Dickens said, he was partisan and loved it when the Canadians cheered “Rule Britannia!�� as he left.

We’ve remarked several times that Charles Dickens tried to be careful not to make comparisons between the two countries, but actually it’s very clear that he preferred Canada. Reports on people and/or places reveal just as much by what they leave out, as what they actually say. In these 12 pages:

1. There is no mention of the spitting which he abhorred and described at length in all the parts of America he visited; sometimes with humour but often with outright disgust. On the contrary there is praise for the cleanliness of people and places (with one exception - the Irish immigrants! “how clumsy, rough, and wretched, its hovels were �� pigs, dogs, men, children, babies, pots, kettles, dung-hills, vile refuse, rank straw, and standing water, all wallowing together in an inseparable heap, composed the furniture of every dark and dirty hut.��)

2. In the French part (the steamboat from Quebec to Montreal) he admired the behaviour of those who were immigrating, “it was wonderful to see how clean the children had been kept, and how untiring in their love and self-denial all the poor parents were �� it is very much harder for the poor to be virtuous than it is for the rich; and the good that is in them, shines the brighter for it.�� He expands on this at length. But we will all remember the way he deplored and criticised their listless, worn-down American equivalents.

3. He comments that in Canada “the commerce, roads, and public works, all made to last��, even putting the bold part in italics to add stress, whereas he never said anything of the sort in any of the American townships. He sometimes admired their pretty painted wooden facades, but would add a comment that it was like pantomime scenery, and not real.

4. The other thing he often commented on was that American towns were half-built - a “work in progress��, and while this was probably true, I felt there was judgmental element in how Dickens expressed it; as if he felt the Americans' attitude in this was lackadaisical.

The only thing he seems to criticise in Canada is the inns “The inns are usually bad�� - but he does not go into details.

To sum up:

The US

Dickens has said repeatedly how much he enjoys the American energy, friendliness, lack of pomp and ceremony and general spirited air of progress. He has tried hard to stress when he has been respected, and where he sees improvements to the constrained English ways (eg. in parliament). He praises where he feels it is due, but he also rants about the things he disapproves of; not only hygiene, and institutions such as the appalling penitentiary, but also the way everything is seen through a lens of party politics. For Canada, it is almost the reverse.

Canada

Charles Dickens says it is:

“advancing quietly; old differences settling down, and being fast forgotten,; public feeling and private enterprise alike in a sound and wholesome state; nothing of flush or fever in its system, but health and vigour throbbing in its steady pulse: it is full of hope and promise.��

I see the bit in (my) bold as referring to both English and historical French political control, (I hope I’ve got that right, Peter?) about which he is saying the Canadians have no resentment, whereas the same is not true of the Americans.

Sam - “I think what follows where he over praises what he sees in Canada, which then works as a comparison to what he has seen in the U.S., is probably at the root of the outcry from Americans.�� Spot-on! And how much more tactful it might have been if he had spent just a little more time and details on describing Canada.

Shakers

Interesting additions about the Shakers, John and Connie. Thank you! I had assumed they must be like the Plymouth Brethren.

My goodness but Dickens must have been in a bad mood when he wrote this part. He left with “a hearty dislike of the old Shakers, and a hearty pity for the young ones��.

Perhaps all the mosquito bites had finally got to him! I can’t help thinking that the elders were right not to admit curious tourists to their worship, since their ritual dance is so unlike anyone else’s (except whirling dervishes). Dickens might have felt snubbed by this. He has written a vitriolic account as a result, but if he had been a guest it may well have been more comical, but just as disapproving.

His main criticism seems to be that both old and young have no joy in life, but:

“live in their gloomy, silent commonwealth �� I so abhor, and from my soul detest that bad spirit�� which would strip life of its healthful graces, rob youth of its innocent pleasures, pluck from maturity and age their pleasant ornaments, and make existence but a narrow path towards the grave.��

But there was no need to be so disrespectful with his descriptions of the women’s physical appearance, and joke at their expense. It wasn't funny- it was just spiteful.

(As an aside, I did wonder at the wisdom in enforcing celibacy on all members of this religious sect. Where would all the little Shakers come from?)

My favourite part of the chapter was in Lebanon, near the Irish community, where he is bemoaning the lack of hygiene:

“There need be baths somewhere in the neighbourhood, for the other washing arrangements were on as limited a scale as I ever saw, even in America: indeed, these bedrooms were so very bare of even such common luxuries as chairs, that I should say they were not provided with enough of anything, but that I bethink myself of our having been most bountifully bitten all night.��

A bounty of mosquitos! 😆

Mary Lou - "I wonder about how and when American Notes was written. It does not seem to be a journal, recorded daily in the moment. Did he write it after returning to England? How much time had elapsed?"

John explained how it was all put together, in the first thread just before we started, in this post LINK HERE.

(You might have missed it through starting a bit late 😊)