Woodhouses, in-door pumps, sinks, drains, self-shutting gates, washing machines, pounding barrels, were all new things, and told me that I was among a thoughtful and sensible people.

To the ship-repairing dock I went, and saw the same wise prudence.

The carpenters struck where they aimed, and the calkers wasted no blows in idle flourishes of the mallet.

I learned that men went from New Bedford to Baltimore, and bought old ships, and brought them here to repair, and made them better and more valuable than they ever were before.

Men talked here of going whaling on a four _years'_ voyage with more coolness than sailors where I came from talked of going a four _months'_ voyage.
I now find that I could have landed in no part of the United States, where I should have found a more striking and gratifying contrast to the condition of the free people of color in Baltimore, than I found here in New Bedford.