FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

Letter 18.
[Letter from Laura Eugenie Florian Bowers to her sisters in New York City, Azelia and
Virginie. Letter is handwritten in English but is not original; the original is likely in
French or possibly in English, but is not present.]
New Orleans, June 26 th , 1822
[To] Mrs. G. E. Russell and Co., New York
[via?] Mr. Wm Bowers
Dear Sisters,
Well persuaded that I will not be considered as writing you too soon, I do not wish to let
the Steamship leave without giving you news of us, notwithstanding the fact that Eliza
has written you, who is much more skillful with the pen, and who besides is more in
touch with all that goes on.
How have you stood the voyage? I have a great desire to receive your first letter, for I
fear, after what Azelia wrote us of the Baleze, that she suffered from Sea-Sickness in all
its riguer, which she felt before she even left the river.
I wish also to know what her first impression was on entering the City of New York. It is
so gay, I feel sure that Azelia, at least, will find a good deal to her taste. But as to you,
dear Virginie, who reflects twice before saying that such and such things please you, and
who likes only that which you approve -- you will find, I am sure, that the idleness of the
women, of those who promenade on Broadway (one of the causes, it is true, which
renders the aspect of New York so gay) will only prove a great lack of education in
consequence of the agreeable manner in which they occupy themselves.
Eliza has found the women of the North generally very well informed. As for me, I vow
to you I have [found] them passably ignorant, for aside from having some few of the
talents, their knowledge was superficial. In New York, at least, you will not have the
unpleasantness of hearing improper pronunciation. Your ears will not be shocked by the
idioms which comes in the States of the East. I am sure you will find that they talk much
without saying anything of importance, and that the most important thing in their lives is
to keep themselves a la mode.
My poor little George [this is George Phillips Bowers, Jr., born 24 August 1819, died 22
March 1887] has changed very much since your departure. I have given him the
vermifuge [a medicine which expels intestinal worms], which has not done him any
good, and I fear very much that the unlucky button which he swallowed has not had a
great deal to do with his illness. However, I cannot say that he is actually sick. He does
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