very intelligent; but his great power lies in his fixed gaze, which is
inconceivably difficult to bear. He never once removes his eye from you
till you are quite past his range; and you feel it all the same, although
you do not meet his glance. He is perfectly respectful; but the
intentness and directness of his silent appeal is far worse than any
impudence. In fact, it is the very flower of impudence. I would rather
go a mile about than pass before his battery. I feel wronged by him, and
yet unutterably ashamed. There must be great force in the man to produce
such an effect. There is nothing of the customary squalidness of beggary
about him, but remarkable trimness and cleanliness. A girl of twenty or
thereabouts, who vagabondizes about the city on her hands and knees,
possesses, to a considerable degree, the same characteristics. I think
they hit their victims the more effectually from being below the common
level of vision.


January 3d, 1854.--Night before last there was a fall of snow, about
three or four inches, and, following it, a pretty hard frost. On the
river, the vessels at anchor showed the snow along their yards, and on
every ledge where it could lie. A blue sky and sunshine overhead, and
apparently a clear atmosphere close at hand; but in the distance a
mistiness became perceptible, obscuring the shores of the river, and
making the vessels look dim and uncertain. The steamers were ploughing
along, smoking their pipes through the frosty air. On the landing stage
and in the streets, hard-trodden snow, looking more like my New England
Home than anything I have yet seen. Last night the thermometer fell as
low as 13 degrees, nor probably is it above 20 degrees to-day. No such
frost has been known in England these forty years! and Mr. Wilding tells
me that he never saw so much snow before.