- Miriam Margolyes follows Dickens's trail inland 1,000 miles along the course of the Ohio River to Louisville, Kentucky, in the company of cowboys. Along the way she is taught how to improve her manners by an American etiquette instructor and attends the Kentucky derby.
- As she heads towards Pittsburgh, Margolyes comments that most Americans live in "Middle America."
Pittsburgh in Dickens's time was noted for its iron works and smoke. The steel mills are now gone, and so is the smoke. Dickens said it reminds people of Birmingham.
One of Dickens's interests was magnetism or mesmerism. Margolyes visits the New Society for Universal Harmony, which is a society for mesmerists. It was used for pain management and entertainment. She subjects herself to be mesmerized. She says it is a remarkable experience but she can't tell if the mesmerists were serious or not.
Margolyes comments that she is becoming obsessive about prisons, just as Dickens was. She meets Jere Krakoff, a Civil Rights Attorney who specializes in prisoners' rights. He gets over thirty letters a week from prisoners. She visits a prison in Pittsburgh, just as Dickens did. Margolyes finds the cells in the modern day prison worse than any other she had seen. On top of that, there would be two prisoners in a cell built for one.
Dickens took a paddle boat steamer down the Ohio River to Cincinnati. For miles Dickens saw nothing of human habitation. Margolyes drives.
When she gets to Cincinnati she observes that the trees and flowers and well kept gardens that Dickens wrote about are still very much in abundance. It is, he said, a beautiful city.
Margolyes visits the Mercantile Library where they have many literary treasures including a first edition of Dombey and Son.
The librarian Albert Pyle tells of belonging to a reading group and crying out loud as he read to the group about the death of little Paul Dombey. They discuss how Dickens did the same when doing the public readings. They agree that if Dickens were alive today, he would probably be a screenwriter.
Dickens commented on the bad manners of Americans, so Margolyes attends an Etiquette Dinner where young Americans learn the proper etiquette for dining. She has her own ideas on proper dining that don't necessarily agree with the instructor's.
In Louisville, Kentucky, Margolyes stays at the Galt House Hotel. Dickens also stayed at the Galt House, but it was a far smaller building that he stayed in. Dickens was unimpressed with Louisville but she finds it rather attractive.
Margolyes meets Martha Banette, a linguist, who tells her that the Ohio River is the dividing line between Southern American Speech and Northern American Speech. Louisville, being right on the river is considered by linguists to be the major place to study American English. Dickens, of was interested in accents and speech patterns.
Margolyes comments on how people from Louisville can't agree on how to pronounce the name of their city, and attempts to survey ordinary residents on this issue.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content