Moby Dick

[Old Thunder]

Ah, poor Hay-Seed! how bitterly will burst those straps in the first howling gale, when thou art driven, straps, buttons, and all, down the throat of the tempest.

 

[Old Thunder]

But think not that this famous town has only harpooners, cannibals, and bumpkins to show her visitors.

 

[Old Thunder]

Not at all.

 

[Old Thunder]

Still New Bedford is a queer place.

 

[Old Thunder]

Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador.

 

[Old Thunder]

As it is, parts of her back country are enough to frighten one, they look so bony.

 

[Old Thunder]

The town itself is perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New England.

 

[Old Thunder]

It is a land of oil, true enough: but not like Canaan; a land, also, of corn and wine.

 

[Old Thunder]

The streets do not run with milk; nor in the spring-time do they pave them with fresh eggs.

 

[Old Thunder]

Yet, in spite of this, nowhere in all America will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford.