education, as well as in the guardianship of poor orphans. Many of the best Protestant families in the United States send their children hither to be educated, because they are better instructed, and at a less expense than in most other educational institutions. Catholicism in the United States seems to have left behind it all that which made it feared and hated on the other side of the ocean, and to have taken with it merely that which was best; and here it is justly commended for its zeal in good works. The Catholic congregations here are also distinguished by their excellent institutions for children, and for the sick. That great boarding-school for young girls is the principal source of revenue for the Convent. The public examination there will shortly take place. I heard also, in a large concert-hall, some of the young girls play both on the harp and the piano, besides singing in chorus, which they did very well, and with fine effect.
I have visited both the prison and the lunatic asylum of Baltimore, but found nothing greatly to admire. Maryland is a small state, and a Slave-State. Baltimore is a large city, but is less beautiful, and has fewer trees and gardens than most of the American cities which I have hitherto seen. Baltimore is renowned for its cheerful society and beautiful women; “The Belle of Baltimore” is a gay negro song, which is sung both by the blacks and the whites, both servants and masters. But that which makes Baltimore remarkable, to my feelings, is something quite different. It is the story of a scene in a public-house, and about a little girl. Will you hear the former for the sake of the latter? You must, for they cannot be separated.
A few years ago, there lived in Baltimore a family of the name of Hawkins. They had been in better circumstances, but were reduced through the drunkenness of the father. There was a public-house in one of the lanes in Baltimore, where every day five or six drunken
