The next day being the Sabbath, I took it into my head to find out the
Baptist Church. They are all "churches" in America. It was not far from
the Presbyterian place of worship. In passing the latter, I saw (as on
the previous Sabbath) about forty or fifty boys in the square in front
playing at cricket. A number of grave-looking gentlemen were standing
under the portico of the church, looking on with apparent
complacency,--not one attempting either to check these juvenile
Sabbath-breakers, or to allure them to occupations more suitable to the
day.

The Baptist Church is a small place, about 60 feet by 30, without
galleries, except a little one for the singers. When we arrived, a
small Sabbath-school was being conducted in the body of the chapel.
About fifty children were present, of whom not one was coloured. One of
the teachers kindly led us to a pew. It was the third or fourth from
the door. The school, which occupied the part next to the pulpit, was
about to be dismissed. The superintendent got into the "table-pew" to
address the scholars. It was the first time I had had an opportunity of
hearing an address to children in America. In the land of the Todds,
the Abbotts, and the Gallaudets, I expected something very lively and
interesting. But grievous was my disappointment. The address was dull
and lifeless. There was in it neither light nor heat. When the
superintendent had done, an elderly gentleman, shrewd and busy-looking,
having in his hand a black walking-stick and on his neck a black stock,
with shirt-collar turned over it like a white binding (the national
fashion of the Americans), came up, and told the school that the
proprietor of the splendid picture, "The Departure of the Israelites
from Egypt," had requested him to deliver a lecture upon it; that he
had engaged to do so on Monday a-week; and that the scholars and
teachers of that school would be admitted free. I should like (said I