Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: TOE FIRST OF ENGLAND. 35 CHAPTER V. Ths First of England —The Streets —A Railway Station —The Docks at Sight —Prostitutes —Temperance —The Still Life of Liverpool—A Msrket. i T the head of the gang-plank stood a policeman, easily rec- - ognized and familiar, thanks to Punch, who politely helped us to land, thus giving us immediate occasion to thank the government for its hospitality, and its regard for our safety and convenience. It was a real pleasure to stamp upon the neat, firm, solid mason-work of the dock, and we could not but be mindful of the shabby log wharves we had stumbled over as we left New York. "We were immediately beset by porters, not rudely, but with serious, anxious deference and care to keep a way open before us. I was assisting a lady, and carried her bag; a man followed me pertinaciously. " I have no baggage," said I. " But, r, this hag ?" " Oh, I can carry that." " Excuse me, sir; you must not, indeed; gentlemen never does so in this country." After handing the lady into a hackney-coach, we walked on. The landing-place was spacious, not encumbered with shanties or piles of freight, and though there was a little rain falling, there was a smooth, clean stone pavement, free from mud, to walk upon. There was a slight smell of bituminous smoke in the air, not disagreeable, but, to me, highly pleasant. I snuffed it as if passing a field of new mown hay—snuffed and pondered, and at last was brought to my mind the happy fireside of my friend, in the indistinct memory of which this peculiar odor of English coal had been gratefully associated. Coming on shore with no luggage or any particular business to engage our attention, we plunged adventurously into the confused tide of life with which the busy streets were thronged, careless whither it floated us. E...