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Summer, summer, perfect midsummer weather, my little Agatha! Oh! that I could by some magical power transport you to this air, or this air to you, for it would make you strong and happy, as happy as it has made me for the last few days. Ever since the 4th of January, when the weather changed from horrible to enchanting, and yet it had begun to clear up two days before, I have been in a sort of astonishment at such air, and such a delicious sensation as it occasions; and if I only had you here to enjoy it, I should want nothing more.

I left New Orleans on Monday afternoon, in company with the estimable Swedenborgian, Mr. G., and his amiable and truly agreeable lady. It was the most beautiful evening, and the sunset was glorious on Lake Pontchartrain, a large lake which empties itself into the Mexican Gulf, and upon the flat shores of which the planters of Louisiana have their beautiful, luxurious villas and   [p. 216]   gardens. The steam-boat "Florida," which conveyed us across the quiet, clear lake, was a flower among steamboats, so ornamental and so pretty, and as yet in all its first freshness. Mr. G., one of the proprietors of the vessel, would not allow me to pay my passage. We inhaled the pleasant air, contemplated the magnificent evening sky, ate, drank, and slept well, and saw, the next morning, the sun rise bright above Mobile.

Mrs. Le V. came to meet me with her carriage. I found her a short, handsome lady, remarkably like Mrs. L. in appearance, bearing, and manner of speaking, but without her coldness of temperament. I had heard so much of Mrs. Le V.'s vivacity and grace that I was surprised to find evident traces of deep sorrow in her countenance. She had suffered, two years ago, blow after blow in the death of her brother and two of her children, since which she has altogether withdrawn herself from society, the ornament of which she had hitherto been. She shut herself within her own room for several months, which were spent in incessant weeping. The visit of Lady Emeline Stuart Wortley to Mobile, her intellectual society, and warm, womanly sympathy, drew the mourner somewhat out of her deep melancholy, and she is recovering by degrees. But all is still a burden to her, and she is, as it were, dead to the pleasures of the world. She believes that she can never overcome that sense of sorrow which seemed to have crushed her. Nevertheless, she is cheerful, and even sometimes laughs heartily--but her eyes show that they have shed many tears.

Yesterday she drove me to a beautiful promenade through a magnolia forest, along the shore of the Mexican Gulf. The magnolia is a laurel with evergreen foliage of a dark but clear color; it is irregular in its form, but tall, and its head, for the most part, round and rich. Thick masses of moss, the Tillandsia usnoides, hang like veils over its strong, knotted branches, amid alcoves of   [p. 217]   dark foliage. It is not a beautiful, but an extremely poetical tree, and when it shoots forth its snow-white fragrant flowers, it seems to recall some beautiful poem of Lord Byron's.

The air was pleasant. The waves of the Mexican Gulf broke softly and broadly against the shore, with a loud but soothing sound. The woods were silent, fresh, and green. I rested, breathed, enjoyed, in deep harmony with the scene around me and the young, amiable lady at my side.

In the evening I went to the theatre, to which I was invited by the theatrical manager, who had the politeness to place a box at my disposal during my stay in the city. I saw an amusing little piece called "Jenny Lind in Heidelberg," which was performed with much humor; and I was greatly pleased by another piece, "The Daughters of the Stars," in which a very young and highly gifted actress, Miss Julia D., caused me, to my surprise, to shed tears. I have never seen any acting in which so much pathos was combined with so much freshness and truth to nature since I saw Jenny Lind at the theatre in Stockholm.

From 7th to 12th July. Beautiful quiet days! I like Mobile, and the people of Mobile, and the weather of Mobile, and every thing in Mobile; I flourish in Mobile. My home here is with Mrs. W., the mother of Mr. Le V., a good old lady, the widow of the former Governor of Florida. The home is sunny and peaceful, and the appearance and demeanor of the negro slaves is sunny and peaceful also. I go out every morning to a camp of Choctaw Indians just outside the city, for it amuses me to see the life and manners of these wild people. In order to reach this camp, I must walk up Government Street, the principal street of the city, a broad, straight alley of beautiful villas, surrounded by trees and garden-plots; the most beautiful young orange-trees, covered with fruit, shine in the sun, and the sun, that beautiful, beneficent southern sun, shines here all day long!

The Indian camp consists of thirteen bark huts, something like our booths at fairs, but always open on one side, at least during the day. Within, the huts have a very poverty-stricken appearance. The whole business and anxiety of the inmates seem to be catering for the stomach. I have been there at various times of the day, and have found them always occupied in eating or in preparing food. This morning they breakfasted on oranges, which, piled up in great heaps, seemed to have been lately fetched to the camp. I suspect that they were not of the very best quality; but it was a very lively scene, those red people eating that splendid fruit on the edge of the splendid sunbright forest. Fire is always burning in front of the bark huts, and old, shriveled, gray-haired women sit by the fire, looking like real witches, sometimes stirring the contents of a kettle over the fire, and sometimes warming their skinny hands, and seeming as if they desired, as much as possible, to envelop themselves in the smoke. The children, who sit in groups around the fire, or leap about the green-sward playing at ball, are handsome, full of animation, and have beautiful dark eyes. The young women are sometimes very much ornamented with armlets and necklaces, and have a deal of painted finery on their cheeks. One meets continually Indian women on their way to the city, carrying on their backs large baskets of light-wood billets, which they are taking thither for sale. These baskets are supported by a broad belt, which they fasten round the forehead, like the Indian women of Minnesota. The men at this season are out hunting in the higher mountain district of Alabama. A couple of them, who are still lingering here, have made themselves a screen of boughs and leaves among the trees, behind which they dress, paint, and adorn themselves. They have rings in their noses, and they attire themselves very showily. One of these Indians is an unusually handsome young man, and wears his hair in long locks falling   [p. 219]   on his shoulders. I have sketched a couple of the young girls; they look very plump and merry, and in features are not unlike Jewesses, that is to say, such as have broad and flat noses.

These Indians are praised for their integrity, and the exactness with which they keep a promise. Further up the Alabama River, great numbers of Indians are still met with in a savage condition; but a great portion of the State of Alabama is still in a savage condition, not only as regards the country itself, but the manners of its white inhabitants. The state is young, having only obtained its Constitution in 1817, and it has the institution of slavery--the institution of all others least conducive to spiritual and temporal advancement. The fetters of slavery bind the white masters as well as the black servants.

Even Mobile has its slave-market, which I visited, but found there merely a few mulatto girls who remained unsold, and who looked stupid and indifferent, and who proposed to me that I should purchase them.

I have been repeatedly to the theatre, and always amused and interested by the young and promising actress, Miss D. I met her one evening, with a number of others of the theatrical company, at Mrs. Le V.'s. They all appeared agreeable and well-bred people, and young Miss D. was more beautiful in a room than on the stage, and as modest in dress and demeanor as any of the young Puritans of New England. She is accompanied by, or rather she accompanies, her father, who also is an actor of merit. It is evident that actors in the New World take a higher position in educated society than they have yet done in Europe. They do not here form a caste.

I have also seen at Mrs. Le V.'s a great number of the grandees of Mobile, and more lovely young ladies I have never met with. Some of these were from the Northern States, and exhibited that intelligence and life which especially belongs to these states. And again I am compelled   [p. 220]   to feel that any thing more agreeable than a lovely, refined American woman is scarcely to be found on the face of the earth.

Nor can I remember otherwise than with pleasure some elderly gentlemen, men of office in the states, who were wise and clear on all questions with the exception of slavery. And among the young men, I must have the pleasure of introducing to you, as my especial good friend, the young, gifted poet and dramatic author, Mr. Reynolds, who has accompanied me on many of my rambles, and who has afforded me many an agreeable hour by his excellent heart and genuine conversation. He has prepared for the stage some national historical pieces, and one of his dramas, "Alfred and Inez, or the Siege of St. Augustine," I shall take with me to read on my journey.

Lastly, I must tell you something of my little friend, Mrs. Le V. I mention her last, because she has nestled into the inmost of my heart.

How pleasant it is to be fond of and to love some one! That you know, my Agatha! And it is so strange that that little worldly lady, whom I had heard spoken of as a "belle," and as the most splendid ornament of society wherever she went, has yet become almost as dear to me as a young sister! But she has become so from being so very excellent, because she has suffered much, and because under a worldly exterior there is an unusually sound and pure intellect, and a heart full of affection, which can cast aside all the vanities of the world for the power of gratifying those whom she loves. And with this young lady have I conversed of Transcendentalists and practical Christians, of Mormonism and Christianity, and have found it a pleasure to converse with her, a pleasure to her also which I little expected. We have been involuntarily and naturally attracted to each other, so that we feel as if we had been always acquainted. She says that I have given to her that spiritual food of which she stood in need, and   [p. 221]   she has given me a pleasure, a gratification which is nourishing to my heart. Octavia le V. will be always united in my soul with the remembrance of the most delicious breezes and odors of the South, with the verdure of magnolia forests, with the fresh roar of the Mexican Gulf, with the sun and the song of birds in the orange groves of Mobile.

This fair daughter of beautiful Florida--for she was born in Florida, and there she spent her youth--is surrounded by a circle of relatives who seem to regard her as the apple of their eye; and if you would see the ideal of the relationship between a lady and her female slave, you should see Octavia le V. and her clever, handsome mulatto attendant, Betsy. Betsy seems really not to live for any thing else than for her Mistress Octavia; to dress her hair, à la Mary Stuart, every day, and to see her handsome, gay, and admired, that is Betsy's life and happiness. She has traveled with Octavia in the United States; and when she acts on this subject, and can tell how captivating, how much admired and worshiped was her lady, then is Betsy in her element.

"But ah!" said Betsy, "she is now no longer like herself. Formerly she had such beautiful roses--you should have seen her! No, she has never been like herself since her great sorrow!" And Betsy's eyes fill with tears.

Spite of Betsy's devoted affections--spite of Octavia's seeing in her own and her mother's house none but happy slaves, she still belongs to those whose excellent hearts and understandings do not confuse good and evil. Whenever an opportunity occurs, she simply and earnestly expresses her conviction that slavery is a curse, and on this subject we are perfectly harmonious.

Octavia le V. and I have agreed to go together to Cuba. In the morning, therefore, we set off to New Orleans, in order early the following day, the 14th, to go on board the steamer "Pacific," which proceeds thither at that time.

The palms of Cuba shall fan Octavia's dejected countenance, and call fresh roses into her cheeks; her beautiful, kind eyes shall grow brighter as they raise themselves to that cloudless heaven; and there will I calmly talk to her of those subjects which can make her happy when I am no longer near her. Such is my dream and my hope.

And now, before I leave Alabama, and the pretty little city in which I have enjoyed so much kindness, I will merely tell you that Alabama is a cotton-growing state, and has in the south plantations, sandy tracts, and apparently thick forests, and in the north beautiful highlands; the Alleghany Mountains become more depressed, and cease, and the prairies also; the scenery along its navigable rivers is celebrated, in particular on the River Mobile, on which Montgomery, the capital of the state, is situated. I have been greatly tempted to make a journey thither. But time! time! Rail-roads, steam-boats, schools, academies have begun, during the later years, to diffuse light and vigorous life within the slave state, the white lady citizens of which, it is said, have, here and there, still a custom of seeking for a higher life's enjoyment by rubbing their gums with snuff, which produces a sort of intoxication very stimulating to the feelings, and to the conversation likewise.

The fascinating ladies of Mavilla must bear the same relation to the snuff-taking ones that the magnolia flower does to the flower of the henbane.

Adieu, beautiful, kind Mobile!

Adieu, my Agatha, my own sister friend. More from Cuba.