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There is an indescribable softness in this Southern
clime, a delicious indolence in its atmosphere, that, with
as bright suns and as soft zephyrs, are unknown in the
North. This dreamy air indisposes one to exertion; and
even to dress for dinner is an heroic effort.

A dozen times I have approached my escritoire, and
taken up my pen, to lay it down again, as if it were too
heavy for my fingers. When I do not go to my desk, I
sit and look at my paper and pen, that await me, and
reproach my idleness. It is so difficult to overcome this
inertia. If I could only muster resolution of mind enough
to make a beginning, I could go on very nicely to the
end; but the first word—the breaking of the ice—hic
labor est.

I put this Latin in on purpose to take the occasion to
inform you that in my last but one “Needle,” you printed
the inscription over the church door in Pass Christian,
all wrong, and make me (if I am a lady) responsible for
the barbarous word which your printer substituted for
what I wrote. Perhaps the mischievous urchin thought
any thing would do for lady's Latin. Please let your
readers know that the word should read,

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“DOCTORI GENTIUM;”

The word printed in place of the last may be Japanese,
but it is not Latin—even feminine Latin.

We leave here to-morrow en route to Montgomery, the
elegant capital of Alabama. This city has been less described
than any Southern one, yet possesses attractions
few possess. I am delighted with the society of Mobile.
The refined hospitality and cordial attention my husband
and myself have received from its citizens have quite won
our hearts. Mobile is peculiar as being a truly Southern
city, its principal families being born here; and, also, for
being a strictly commercial metropolis. The “aristocracy”
here, as this word goes, consists of its merchant
princes and their families. The merchant here is “a
lord.” The superb villas, the palatial mansions lining
its noble streets, the elegant country seats that adorn
the suburbs, are occupied almost exclusively by merchants.

In other Southern cities reside many opulent planters,
whose estates lie in the interior. These gentlemen
usually give the tone and take the lead of society in such
cases; and this is particularly so in Charleston and
Savannah. But the principal pursuit here being commerce,
like the merchants of Genoa, the commercial men
of Mobile are the princes of the social empire. You will,
of course expect to find among them intelligence, education,
refinement of manners, and all the social savoir faire
of the higher order of American society. You will not
be disappointed.

We have found the Mobileans among the most elegant
people we have ever associated with. Many families it

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is my happiness to know are not surpassed in high-breeding
and truly elevated character by the best class
of English society; and this is saying a great deal; for I
look upon the best society in England as the best in the
world.

The medical profession and the bar and the pulpit
have also prominent men, and exert their influence; but
these members combined are a fraction compared with
the mercantile gentlemen who, of course, give tone to,
and lead society.

The maritime position of Mobile, with one foot upon
the Gulf, and one hand grasping a quiver of rivers—the
Alabama, Bigbee, Warrior, and lesser ones—determines
its commercial character. These rivers flow for hundreds
of miles, through the richest cotton region of the South,
and bear annually to the quay of the city, cotton from
five to six millions of dollars in value; while half that
sum in amount is returned by her merchants in supplies
to the planters and towns along their banks. In the
bay, a fleet of from sixty to a hundred cotton ships
carrying the flags of Great Britain, Bremen, France,
Sweden, Denmark, await to take on board this vast
amount of cotton, and convey it to the ports of their respective
nations.

Cotton is, therefore, the circulating blood that gives
life to the city. All its citizens are interested in this
staple, from the princely merchant, to whom the globe
with its ports is a chessboard on which he is ever making
his intelligent moves, to the poor cobbler, whose round
lapstone is his world. A failure in a crop of cotton,
would cast a cloud over every brow in this city; for the
great cotton merchant, lacking his princely gains, could

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not build, nor employ, nor pay; for the merchant is the
fountain of money—the source of dollars and cents,
that flow down from the stream of his own prosperity
through all the lesser channels, as a reservoir upon an
elevation communicates its fulness to a hundred pipes,
and these to a thousand lesser ones, till, at the farthest
extremity, the slave at the hydrant fills his gourd and
quenches his thirst. The merchants are the reservoirs,
and if they are not full, all suffer below them.

There is one of the finest streets I have ever seen
which intersects this city for two miles. It is a broad,
smooth, almost imperial avenue, lined chiefly by the
abodes of the “merchant nobles.” In one of these resides
Madame Le Vert. At present she is making the
tour of Southern Europe, and will visit Constantinople,
and, perhaps, “look in” upon the Crimea ere she returns.
This lady is the daughter of a former governor
of Florida, and was celebrated as Miss Octavia Walton,
before her marriage with Dr. Le Vert, an eminent physician
of this city, for her rare beauty of mind and
person. Without question, she is one of the most accomplished
women of America, with powers of pleasing
and winning hearts and captivating all who know her,
that is rarely possessed. Lady Blessington was eminently
gifted in this way, and Madame Le Vert is
scarcely less wonderfully endowed, if the half I hear of
her be true; but, perhaps, I ought not to compare with
such a person as the Countess of Blessington—knowing
her life as we do—a pure and elevated character like
Madame Le Vert. It is only in their personal fascinations
and varied accomplishments, that their names
should be placed on the same page. Here Madame Le

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Vert seems truly to be idolized. This is her home, and
all know her and speak of her in the most enthusiastic
and affectionate manner. Even the ladies seem to be
wholly without envy when they mention her, and cheerfully
accord to her the high social position she holds.
The Mobile gentlemen all seem to speak of her with
pride, and a feeling of personal regard, that I was delighted
to witness. Truly she must be a happy woman
who thus wins all hearts, disarms envy by her sweetness
of disposition, and commands homage by her talents. A
French gentleman, speaking to me of her, said, with
rapture:—

“She can speak five languages well, and I have seen
her converse at the same time with a Spanish, German,
and French gentleman, around her, answering, questioning,
and holding lively conversation with each in his own
tongue, and with a precision of pronunciation and elegance
of phraseology remarkable.”

To the poor, I am told, she is very kind; and stops in
the street to speak with the humblest widow, and affectionately
inquire after her needs. To end my account
of her, I will say that of fifty people I have heard speak
of Madame Le Vert, I heard not one syllable of envy, or
one word unkind. She seems to have the art of making
every body love her. Every body regretted we could
not see her; for, not to see Madame Le Vert, they seemed
to feel was not seeing Mobile. I am told that an amusing
incident occurred here, of which the heroine was a
very accomplished person, who came here, representing
herself as an English lady of high rank, with letters of
introduction to Madame Le Vert, from some of her
noble friends in England. The “lady” played her card

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well for a few days, fairly imposing upon the hospitable
frankness of this Southern people, (who are the most deficient
in suspicion of any people in the world,) and receiving
no little attention. But detected in some peculation
of jewelry from a fashionable jeweler's, and borrowing
money from half a dozen gentlemen and ladies,
her true character was speedily developed, and leaving
behind several fashionable calls unreturned, she suddenly
disappeared on board of a vessel bound to New York.
She was highly accomplished, played wonderfully on the
piano, sang like Sontag, and danced in the extreme of
fashion. She said she knew Lamartine, Dickens, Bulwer,
D'Israeli—every great personage; passed a week
at Idlewild with Mr. Willis; three weeks at the house of
the millionaire, George Law, as his guest;—indeed, she
was traveling through the United States with the intention
of writing an impartial book, which would correct
the erroneous impressions her friends, “the nobility in
England” held towards this wonderful empire.

Her letters of introduction proved to be forged, as
was apparent, I was told, on comparing her handwriting
proper with these epistles. How degrading to our sex
to see a woman, evidently highly educated, and capable
of conferring honor upon it, descend so low as to go from
one fashionable hotel to another through the land as a
swindler—a chevaliere d'industrie! This woman, who
was about thirty-five, spoke French fluently, and played
so well, that Gottschalk, who was, at the time, in the
same hotel, hearing her in the drawing-room, pronounced
her performance on the piano superior to any woman's he
ever heard! With such talents, which, rightly used,
would command an independent income, how can a woman

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thus deceive and wickedly act? for I have always associated
with education and talents at least the feelings and
character of a true lady.

Doubtless this “Countess” Madame Whyte* will yet
be heard of in New York, where “distinguished foreigners”
are sought after with a perseverance and
homage quite in antagonism with the genius of republicans.

The environs of Mobile are charming. Some of the
roads for a league west are lined with country houses
adorned with parterres; and few houses are without the
greatest variety of shade trees. Orange trees abound;
but the live oak everywhere rears its majestic Alp of
foliage, casting beneath shade broad enough to shelter
from the sun a herd of cattle. This tree is always “a
picture” in the scenery—a study for the artist. It combines
the grandeur of the English oak with the grace of
the American elm. There are superb groups of them in
and about this city. They shade the lawns and give
dignity to the mansions that lift their roofs above them.

The drives to Spring Hill and the Bay Road are the
favorite avenues of the Mobileans. The former leads to
a fine elevation, two leagues from the city, and commanding
a view of it and of the beautiful bay. It is
covered with the suburban retreats of the Mobile merchants,
whose families generally retire here for the
summer, if a northern tour does not tempt them. The
Bay Road is a delightful drive for four miles, with the
open bay on one side and villas and woodlands on the
other. We enjoyed both of these drives very much.
We constantly met or passed carriages, containing ladies

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without bonnets, and also saw a great number of equestrians;
for Southerners are more fond of the saddle than
a seat in a carriage. The beauty of the ladies is shown
to best advantage on an evening drive; and I must say,
that I have never seen so much true “Southern” loveliness,
of the sunny dark eye, oval face, golden brown
hair, and indescribably rich complexion, (rich without
color,) as here.

The city is deservedly celebrated for its beautiful
women, and especially the beauty of its girls under sixteen.
The men have made a favorable impression upon
me for intelligence and frank manner; and they dress
well, especially the middle-aged citizens—even better
than the young men. The ladies dress with the most
lavish expense, and yet with taste, never following a
fashion to its excess, but stopping within it; and this
good sense and taste is a fine trait in Southern women.
Many Northern ladies are apt to keep by the side of
Fashion, if not to get a step ahead of her. Wealth
without refinement always dresses as far as Fashion
dresses her lay-figure; but refined wealth stops this side
of the extreme.

I may write one more letter from this charming city,
and then we proceed northward.