The rapidity of the simple
Congregational service astonished him.
"What? Marry on railroad, too?" he asked.
Dickens visited Lowell while I was there, and gave a good report
of what he saw in his "American Notes." We did not leave work
even to gaze at distinguished strangers, so I missed seeing him.
But a friend who did see him sketched his profile in pencil for
me as he passed along the street. He was then best known as
"Boz."
Many of the prominent men of the country were in the habit of
giving Lyceum lectures, and the Lyceum lecture of that day was a
means of education, conveying to the people the results of study
and thought through the best minds. At Lowell it was more
patronized by the mill-people than any mere entertainment. We had
John Quincy Adams, Edward Everett, John Pierpont, and Ralph Waldo
Emerson among our lecturers, with numerous distinguished
clergymen of the day. Daniel Webster was once in the city, trying
a law case. Some of my girl friends went to the court-room and
had a glimpse of his face, but I just missed seeing him.
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