Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/57

Rh wharves of the city, “There has been more rascality practised on this very place, than would be sufficient to sink the whole city!”

Nevertheless, there is a good public spirit at work, to make the city worthy to maintain its place on the earth. One excellent institution now in progress of erection here, is a large sailors' home, in which it is intended to board and lodge in an excellent manner, and at a reasonable rate, sailors whose vessels are lying in the harbour, either to land, or to take in cargo. Hitherto, mariners arriving at the city have had no other abode than in alehouses, which were regular nests of thieves. The large and magnificent house which is now being erected by good men of the city, will henceforth provide a comfortable and safe haven for the mariner. Two of my gentleman friends, who are working for this cause, hope to interest Jenny Lind in it, who is shortly expected hither from Cuba; and as the house is intended for the benefit of the Swedish as well as any other seamen, it is probable that this patriotic and generous Swede will interest herself in its behalf.

I read to-day in a New Orleans paper, “The Daily Piccayune,” (piccayune is the name of a little Spanish silver coin which is current here, value fivepence), a beautiful and earnest address to the inhabitants of New Orleans, beseeching them to leave the celebrated Swedish singer at full liberty in the exercise of her well-known beneficence, and not to fail in proper respect to a stranger by their obtrusiveness or exhortations, etc.

And it must be confessed, that although Jenny Lind has often had just cause to complain of the Americans' well-meant, but frequently thoughtless and childish obtrusiveness, yet I have often had opportunities of knowing and admiring the beautiful and magnanimous manner in which people here have felt for her. How many there are who have satisfied themselves by a silent benediction, rather than cause her a moment's annoyance;