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"Compiled From Her Letters and Journals by Her Son Charles Edward Stowe"

" It opened to my eyes like a paradise, all wearied as I was
with the tossing of the sea. I have since become familiar with these
beautiful little spots, which are so common in England; but now all
was entirely new to me.
After a short season allotted to changing our ship garments and for
rest, we found ourselves seated at the dinner table. While dining, the
sister-in-law of our friends came in from the next door, to exchange a
word or two of welcome, and invite us to breakfast with them the
following morning.
The next morning we slept late and hurried to dress, remembering our
engagement to breakfast with the brother of our host, whose cottage
stands on the same ground, within a few steps of our own. I had not
the slightest idea of what the English mean by a breakfast, and
therefore went in all innocence, supposing I should see nobody but the
family circle of my acquaintances. Quite to my astonishment, I found a
party of between thirty and forty people; ladies sitting with their
bonnets on, as in a morning call. It was impossible, however, to feel
more than a momentary embarrassment in the friendly warmth and
cordiality of the circle by whom we were surrounded.
In the evening I went into Liverpool to attend a party of friends of
the anti-slavery cause. When I was going away, the lady of the house
said that the servants were anxious to see me; so I came into the
dressing-room to give them an opportunity.


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