Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (of 2): being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian CollectionCatlin, George
History
Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (of 2): being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection
Catlin, George
England -- Description and travel; France -- Description and travel; Indians of North America
conspicuous on my carpet bag and writing-desk, &c., had from some cause
or other thought it would be less trouble and bother to wend his way
amongst these "stupid and ignorant beings" alone, than to encounter
the Indians and Mr. Catlin, and endeavour to obliterate the hasty
professions he had made; and therefore, when I came down and called for
breakfast for two, the landlady informed me that my companion had paid
his bill and left at an early hour. I was rather sorry for this, for he
was quite an amusing little man, and I have never heard of him since.
I found the dumpy little landlady kindly disposed, and she gave me a
very good breakfast, amusing me a great deal with anecdotes of the
party who called for "a little bit of wet;" she informed me they were
a wedding-party, and the man who had the lady on his arm was the
bride-groom. While waiting for my breakfast I was much amused with
some fun going on in the street before the window. It seems that the
house directly opposite had been taken by a couple of tidy-looking
young women who were sisters, and that, having established a millinery
business on the lower floor, they had several apartments which they
were anxious to underlet in order to assist them in paying their heavy
rent. Young gentlemen are everywhere in this country considered the
most desirable lodgers, as they give less trouble than any others,
are less of the time at home, and generally pay best. These young
adventurers had been therefore anxious to get such a class of lodgers
in their house, and had, the day before, employed a sign-painter to
paint a conspicuous board, in bright and glaring letters, which was
put up on a post erected in the little garden in front of their house,
near the gate. The announcement ran, when the young ladies retired to
bed, "_Lodgings for single gentlemen_"--a customary and very innocent
way of offering apartments; but owing to the cruelty of some wag during
the night it was found in the morning, to the great amusement of the
collected crowd, to read, "_Longings for single gentlemen_." How long
this continued to amuse the passers-by, or how it might have affected
the future prospects of the poor girls, I cannot of course tell, as I
forthwith proceeded to a more pleasant part of the town. Birmingham
I found on further acquaintance to be one of the pleasantest towns
I visited in the kingdom, and its hotels and streets generally very
different from those into which my commercial travelling acquaintance
had that night led me.
Mr. Melody had all things prepared for our exhibition when I arrived,
having taken the large hall in the Shakspeare Buildings, and also
procured rooms for the Indians to sleep in in the same establishment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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