The Diary of James Gallatin: The Diary of James Gallatin, Secretary to Albert Gallatin, 1813-1827

JULY 4: NEW YORK A horrible day here; the noise of the July 4 celebration intolerable. I have to rub my eyes to see if I am awake, that it is true I am not in the Rue de l'Université. How I regret it. Father is going alone to see the new house in Western Virginia -- also to Washington. I take mamma and Frances to Baltimore to-morrow. We are stopping right in the country at a nice old house which belongs to the Montgomery family. But the difference in everything; only about three private coaches in New York -- no means of getting about. The streets absolutely filthy and the heat horrible. I have been nearly every night for a long walk. No roads -- no paths. I never realized the absolutely unfinished state of the American cities until I returned. The horrible chewing of tobacco -- the spitting; all too awful. We have had a charming and hospitable reception, but all is so crude.

JULY 8 We are now in Baltimore. Not quite so dirty as New York. We are with mamma's relations -- the Nicholsons. They are kindness itself, but I even see that mamma feels the change most keenly. The young men of Baltimore stare at me as if they thought I were a wild beast let loose. Everybody knows everybody else, and all

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