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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou Ies planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes d partir dc i arigle sup^rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et do haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant iliustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 TI ^ THEOUGH CITIES AND PKAIEIE LANDS. V'' THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. SKETCHES OF AN AMERICAN TOUR. BY LADY DUFFUS HARDY. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED, HENRIETTA STREET, CO VENI GAEDEN. 1881. ' J PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLBS. TO MKS. AVILLIAM HAYWOOD, IX TOKKN OK MY AFFECTIONATE RKIiAIU), 1 1)KI>I('ATK THEsF. rA<;i;s. a 3 CON^TENTS. CHAPTER I. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. Our Good Ship Sardinian — At Sea — Our Companions — Their Aniusenienta— The Theorist— The Phantoru Ship— Our Last Nii'ht on Board PACK CHAPTlSR II. QX3EBEC. Land again— A Quaint Announcement— A Gastronornical Exhibition —A Pleasant Fireside— The Convent— The Heights of Abraham —Wolfe's Monument— French and English Canadians 12 CHAPTER IIL MONTREAL. The Stolid Indian— Mount Royal— Sir Hugh Allan's Hoine— The Banks— The Windsor Hotel ... ... ... ... 25 CHAPTER IV. THE CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION. River Travelling— Trail of the Fire King— Ottawa— Parliament Buildings— The City— The Home of our Princess ... ... 33 CHAPTER V. FROM CITY TO CATARACT. On the Train— The Thousand Islands— At Kingston— Toronto— The Government House — Arrival of the Princess Louise " We expect the Moon "—Niagara Falls... ... ..». ... 44 Vlll (CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. THE EMPIRR CITY. I'AfiK New York— Fifth Avenue— Mjulison S»iuare— Tho Elevated Rail way— Tlu* Cars— The Shops— The People— West Point ... 5(1 CHAPTER VII. TO THE PH(KNIX CITY. We Start — Our Car— Our Drc8,sing-rooni — Chicago— Its Park — Tho I'ahuer House ... in CHAPTER VIII. WKSTWARD HO ! Our Travelling Hotel — The Prairies — The Emigrant Train— Bret Harte's llerue.s — Reccjition of General Grant in the Wild West — " See, the C juquering Hero conies " — The Procession ... 7« CHAPTER IX. ACROS.S THE ROOKY MOUNTAINS. Our Fellow-passengers — Unprotected Females — Prairie Dog Land — A Cosy Interior — Cheyenne — The Rocky Mountains — "Castles not made by Hands " — Ogdeu ... ... ... ... 8(5 CHAPTER X. THE CITY OF THE .SAINT.S. Salt Lake— Our Mormon Conductor— Mormon Wives — Their Daughters Their Recruits— Their Agricultural Population ... '.t7 CHAPTER XI. AMONG THE MORMONS. Society— A Mormon Wife's "Mew— The Shops— Amelia Palace— The Tabernacle— The Organ — Endowment House — A Mormon Widow— Currency in the Old Days— The Elders hold forth ... 108 CHAPTER XIL -^ ACROSS THE SIERRAS. Ogden Station — Bustling Bedtime — Boots — An Invasion — A Wedding Aboard — The American Dosert— Tho Glorious Sierras — Cape Horn— Dutch Flats— " Here they are ! "—A Phantom City ... 122 CONTENTS. IX PA (IK 5(5 CHAPTER XIII. THE GOLDEN CITY. FAQB The Streets— Kaleidoacopic Scenes— Tho Stock Boards— Wild Cat —Bulls and Boars— The Markets— The " Dunnny "— Lone Mountain ... . . TU 07 CHAPTER XIV. THE OLD MISSION. The Windmills— The Golden Gate Park— Tho Seal Rock— The Cliff House— The Mission Dolores ... ... ... ... 146 CHAPTER XV. SOME SAN FHANCISOO WAYS AND CUSTOMS. Street Architecture- Curiosities of Climate— Brummagem Baronets —The Sand Lot— The Forty-niners— " Society Ladies " ... 153 8») CHAPTER XVI. THE FLOWERY KINODOM. A Visit to Chinatown— Its General Aspect— A Tempting Display- Barbers' Shops— A Chinese Restaurant- Their Joss House— Their Gods 166 CHAPTER XVII. A WORLD UNDERGROUND. The Pawnbroker's Shop — The Opium Dens — The Smokers — A World within a World— The Women's Quarters ... ... 177 108 CHAPTER XVIII. CHINESE AMUSEMENTS. Gambling Dens— Theatres— An Acrobatic Performance— New Year's Visits— The Bride— The Hoodlum— A Scare— The Matron's Pretty Feet ... ... ... ... ... .,, igs CHAPTER XIX. „^ , CHRISTMAS ON A CALIFORNIAN RANCHB. Old Friends- The Ranche— Christmas Day— Salinas Valley— A Magic City— A Calif omian Sunset ... 197 X' CONTENTS. CHAPTER XX. IN THE VALLBy OF CARMELO. PAGE Monterey — The Ruins of the Mission — The Spanish Inhabitants of the Old Town— The Moss Beach— The Lighthouse— The Pebbly Pescadero — Good-bye ... ... ... ... ... 208 CHAPTER XXI. ON THE BANKS OF THE BAY. New Year's Visits — The Gentlemen's Day — Local Attractions- Berkeley College — Saucelito — In Arcadia— Among the Woods and Flowers — A Fairy Festival ... ... ... ... 218 CHAPTER XXII. IN THE FOREST PRIMEVAL. Pleasant Retreats — Californian Trees- Canon and Forest Scenery — Duncan Mills — A Stormy Evening— The Redwoods — Fare- well to the "Golden City" 229 CHAPTER XXIII. THE SILVER STATE. Snowed in — Indians — Journey to Denver — A Forage for a Supper — "Crazed" — Domestic Difficulties— Colorado Springs — Cheyenne Caiion— The " Garden of the Gods "— Ute Pass- -Glen Eyrie ... 243 CHAPTER XXIV. BRICKS AND MORTAR. The Road to St. Loiiis — The Kansas Brigcinds' Exploit — Picturesque Population — Mississippi River — Washington — The Capitol — Public BuUdings — Society — A Monument to a Lost Cause — Mount Vernon ... ... ... ... ... ... 262 CHAPTER XXV. THE QUAKER CITY. Baltimore — Its Stony Streets — Druids' Park — A Stroll through the City — Aristocratic Quarters — Washington Monument— Phila- delphia — General Aspect — Picturesque Mai'ket Street — Fair- mount Zoological Gardens ,,. „:. 276 I CONTENTS. XI PAGE 208 CHAPTER XXVI. SUMMER AMONG THE GOTHAMITES. PAGE A New York Summer— How they meet it— Airy Customs— Coney Island- Rockaway and Long Branch— A Mountain Village— Ellenville— View from " Sam's Point " ... ... ... 286 218 229 CHAPTER XXVII. THE "AMERICAN ATHENS." Aboard the Massachusetts— A Perambulation— The Electric Machine —An Easy Way of committing Suicide— Boston— The Cars— TheCommon— The "Glorious Fourth of July" ... 298 CHAPTER XXVIII. FAREWELL VISITS. A Visit to Longfellow— The Poet's Home— Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes— Newport— A Fashionable Watering-place- The Old Town— The " Cottages "—Homeward ... ... ... 308 243 262 276 m THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. CHAPTER I. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. Our Good Ship Sardinian — At Sea — Our Companions — Their Amusements — The Theorist — The Phantom Ship — Our Last Night on Board. It is the grey dawn of a July day ; we are up with the sun, nay, before the sun, eager to start on our first Atlantic voyage. In order to avoid the hurry and bustle of a crowded Liverpool hotel, I and my com- panion, for we are two, had resolved to start by the first train, and go direct on board. Therefore, at six o'clock on this bright July morning, we arrive at Eueton Square station, and there find a host of friends, who, in spite of the early hour, have gathered to bid us " God Speed." They are all gift-laden ; one brings books and bonbons, another a basket of rich ripe straw- berries, then a patent corkscrew and telescope is thrust into my hand, and last, though not least, just as the train is moving out of the station, one late arrival breathlessly gasps " Good-bye " and flings a packet of pins, a box of matches, and a cake of scented soap in at the window. 2 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. At Liverpool the little steam-tug was in waiting to convey us to the vessel, which lay a short distanc from the landing stage. It was a lovely July day; the sun was blooming, like a flower of light, in the bright blue skies, the tiny waves danced and mur- mured joyously as they ran rippling along the shore, and the soft balmy air, laden " with the briny kisses of the great sweet mother," greeted us with invigor- ating breath as we steamed across and stepped on board the good ship Sardinian, ready to face the fearful ten days which we had so often anticipated with shivering and shudderings at our cosy fireside. There was a hurried hand-shaking. " Good-byes " and parting words resounded on all sides of us, uttered in varied shades of feeling, some with a choking rfob as of friends who would never meet again, others with hearty cheerful voices, as though they were bound for young life's first holiday. Presently stentorian lungs shouted " all for the shore," departing friends and relatives swarmed down the steep' wooden wall of the vessel ; we all rushed to the side, nods andsrailes " that were half tears" were freely exchanged, last words were shouted from one to the other, and amid the waving of handkerchiefs and echoing voices, the little steam-tug which had brought the passengers on board went shrieking and snorting back to the shore, and our great ship steamed majestically up the Mersey, out towards the obnoxious Irish Channel ; some weak- minded mortals started with a hazy idea that if the Channel treated them too roughly, they could, if they pleased, land at Moville, and so bid " adieu " to the horrors of the sea for ever ; but that was a cowardly idea which I never encouraged for a moment. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 8 JS d-byes " uttered 2: dob as 3rs with und for ji lungs ids and of the " that words mid the le Uttle board and our ley, out weak- if the if they to the owardly n ,t My first idea was to take a survey of my fellow- passengers. There were plenty of them ; as a rule they were mere commonplace specimens of humanity, such as nature turns out by thousands, with no distinctive mark, but merely labelled "men" and "women." There were exceptions of course. One was an elderly hard-featured man, bronzed and weather-beaten, with keen gray eyes, which looked as though they could detect a spot on the face of the sun without the aid of glasses, and so searching that, like the east wind, they could reach the marrow at a single blow. But my attention was most attracted by a very young and very beautiful widow ; beautiful, so far as grace of form, regularity of feature, and soft colouring was concerned, but the beauty of her face was utterly destroyed by its expression, which may be briefly catalogued as "■ evil." She looked like a woman who had got a story, and not a pleasant one. No accompanying friends had bid her " good-bye," or " good speed." She was alone, but she did not seem lonely. She carried a child about a year old in her arms, and marched up and down . the deck, looking neither to the right nor to the left, till the gong sounded and we all went down to dinner ; but before the table could be satisfactorily arranged the question arose, " What was to become of the baby ? " At last a young Scotchman volunteered to immolate himself on the altar of beauty, and held out his arms for the child ; she gave it without a word, and he dis- appeared up the companion-way, holding it upside down, which awkwardness may perhaps be excused, considering that was the first time he had ofiiciated in the capacity of dry-nurse. The gilded glories of the saloon were a surprise to THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. me, as this was the first time I had been on an Atlantic steamer. Of course, in common with the world generally, I had heard of the luxurious arrangements and admirably served table on board those magnificent vessels ; but I had yet to learn how luxury and com- fort combined could make that floating world a pleasant ten days' home. The dreaded voyage turned out delightfully. The Irish Channel behaveil beautifully, literally " it broke into dimples and laughed in the sun," as its rippling waves ran dancing round the prow and along the black sides of our vessel, gurgling and murmuring in smothered tones as though they were enjoying a joke, exulting in their hidden strength, knowing that their pleasant playful mood might pass and their tiny wavelets grow into mountains and uplift us in their giant arms and toss us up to tne moon, or crush our huge iion-hearted home like an eggshell, and swallow us all up. On we went, cutting a rapid way through the calm waters ; the r!ayli>Q^ht and the land together faded from our sight, the stars came out, and as the silent night closed slowly around us, merry laughing voices sank into quiot sober tones. We seemed to realize the fact that W3 were alone on the wide world of waters — the same living restless waters whereon Christ had walked, and whose waves he had bidden " Peace, be still." We retired to our cosy little stateroom early, and slept as we had never dreamed we could sleep on our first night at sea, our slumbers soothed, not broken, by the musical " Yo, heave, ho ! " of the sailors ; and the steady monotonous " thud, thud " of the engine had a by no means unpleasant effect on our drowsily unaccustomed ears. When we awoke in the morning we found ourselves, not tossing, but ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. gliding calmly over +lie " wild Atlantic waves," which were rolling round us on all sides as far as the eye could reach, a world of palpitating waters, unruffled and smooth as the bosom of a lake. For three days this calm continued. The masculine element grew turbulent and rebelled against this unnatural state of things ; there was something wrong about it altogether; even the " rolling forties," from whom some show of spirit was expected, forgot to do their duty, and allowed us to ride over them without a protesting blow ; their wild white horses were stabled in the caves below, and with all sails set, a brisk breeze )llowing in our wake, and the briny kisses of the " great sweet mother " on our fjices, we scudded along at the rate of fifteen knots an hour. We female passengers thoroughly appreciated the stormless sea, and paced up and down the deck chatting and exchanging harmless confidences ; the gentlemen tried to beguile the time with ring-toss and shovel-board. When they grew tired of such harmless occupations they got up a walking match, or ran half- mile races round the deck, and, indeed, in every way did their best to scare away ennui, and make the mono- tonous days and hours pass pleasantly ; for after the first novelty of the scene is over, skies of eternal changeless blue and calm summer seas are apt to grow monotonous, and a thunderstorm or a howling hurricane, " warranted harmless," would have created a pleasant diversion. However, on the whole, time passed pleasantly enough ; we were all sociably inclined, and lived on strictly communistic principles, in a general exchange of civilities. Everybody was welcome to the belongings of everybody else ; we used each other's chairs, rugs, wraps, and even made occasional walking 6 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. sticks of one another's husbands, and when we had nothing else to do indulged in a game of speculation concerning the " widon'-," who held herself aloof, in a state of as complete isolation as though she had been on a desert island ; she accepted courtesies without a word of thanks, or refused them with an irapatieni gesture, till the chivalrous spirit of the gentlemen flickered and died out, and as she resented any offer of assistance, she was left to stagger about the deck at her pleasure. The child was the pet and plaything of everybody on board; the mother seemed willing to ignore its existence, and gave it only a kind of wooden automatic attention at best. Nothing attracted or interested her, and the beautiful dark face became a weird strange mystery to us. We grew accustomed to see the tall lithe figure pacing silently to and fro like a shadowy ghost in the gloaming ; for long after the day- light faded and the evening closed in she continued her monotonous round, like a perturbed spirit that could know no rest. "We had a theorist on board, too, who by a sheer habit of aggravation kept us lively. His theory was starvation. Nobody ought to be sick, nobody ought to be hungry; he pounced upon everybody with an appetite of even the most moderate dimensions. " My dear madam," he said in deprecating tones, addressing an elderly lady who was modestly picking a chicken-bone, " you are committing an outrage upon nature ; she doesn't require that chicken-bone." " I must eat to support life," said the lady apolo- getically. " Bah ! you can support life on the backbone of a bloater ; as I say, you are outraging nature, forcing ACROSR THE ATLANTIC. things upon her that she doesn't want, and she will revenge herself by disturbing your digestion and de- pressing your spirits." " My spirits are always depressed ; I don't know what it is to be cheerful now,'' she answered in a. lachrymose tone. " Of course not. An overloaded stomach acts like a weight to keep the spirits down. Look at me," he added, slapping his ample chest and outstretching his brawny arm, " Fm strong and healthy ; I nourish myself upon— next to nothing, and I'm never hungry — never depressed." *' Ah, sir ! " she answered, shaking her head with a ^ar in her eye, " if you were in my place you'd never be anything else ; but you don't know what it is to lose your life's partner." " Don't I ? Why, I've buried two ! This is my third venture." He jerked his head towards a fair pale little woman, whose appetite was evidently under his control. " Why, when I first married my little wife there," he added, regarding her affectionately, " she used to eat three meals a day ; now she is reduced to one." " By the time you have reduced her to half a meal, perhaps, she'll give you a chance of experimenting on a fourth," suggested my companion ; which obser- vation our theorist did not choose to hear, but sauntered on, threatening one with apoplexy, scaring another with visions of sudden death ; investing every- body with the "ills that flesh is heir to," the one inheritance that nobody is in a hurry to possess. Lob- ster salad was alive with horrible nightmares, and delirium tremens bubbled in the glass of sparkling a THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. Moet and Chandon. On all sides his theory was greeted with goodhumoured derision, and occasioned much merriment, and though there was little wit, there was much laughter among us. At last a living contradiction to his theory stepped out from the com- panion-way in the person of a fair-complexioned young Englishman, a perfect athlete, broad-chested, strong- limbed, a " crisp and curled Antony," brimming over with the healthful vigour and vitality of young manhood; he could run, row, leap, ride, and in every manly sport had kept to the fore. " Look at me," he said, " / eat four square meals a day, and, perhaps, put more roast beef out of sight than anybody here ; but do /look like a wreck? Just feel my biceps." " My good fellow," said our theorist, regarding him with grave compassionate interest, " you have a good constitution ; you are doing your best — but — you have not had time to ruin it yet." Our vessel carried a hundred and fifty steerage passengers, with whom we had many a pleasant chat on the forecastle deck ; some hoped to ply their trade in the cities, some were going up the country. " We can get plenty of land there, and never a stiver to pay for it," said one burly man, with a large family of small children. Somebody suggested that the United States offered a wider field and less difficulties. " That may be," he answered, " but I don't want to cut myself adrift from the old country ; I mean my children and their children after 'em, please God, to grow up under the British flag. The stars and stripes are very well in their way, but the Union Jack's good enough for me." That was the general feeling among the emigrant ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 9 classes; the vast uncultivated lands of the United States might offer better fortune, but, they would not cut themselves adrift from the " old country." Our captain read prayers in the steerage night and morning, but we first-class sinners had a religious service on Sundays only. Every evening such sailors as were not on duty gathered in the forecastle, and the captain gave them an extemporaneous sermon, in forcible homely language best suited to their compre- hension, and allowed them to indulge in a goodly sprinkling of Moody and Sankey's hymns.. It was a strange and rather a weird scene, that narrow fore- castle, with bunks all round, the long oak table, lit with tiny oil lamps, flickering up in the swart grimy faces of the men, as they' united their voices — and with all their hearts, or at least with all their lungs — in praises or thanksgiving, as they tramped on their " March to Canaan's Land " or lingered round the gates of " Je- rusalem the Golden." In a pleasant desultory fashion the eventful days passed on, the smallest thing affording us great diver- sion ; once a shoal of porpoises gambolled beside the vessel, tumbling and rolling over one another in their fishlike frolics ; then a school of whales passed within a quarter of a mile of us, uplifting their huge heads, and creating a series of waterspouts by the way. Our route was so far north that no other vessel had hitherto crossed our path ; we seemed to have the sea all to ourselves. One morning the exclamation went round, "A sail in sight;" we flew to the bulwarks, but nothing was visible to our unaccustomed eyes; we watched, eagerly straining our eyes in the direction indicated ; by degrees a kind of phantom ship, with all 10 THROUGH CITTES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. sails set, loomed upon our sight ; it seemed to hang sus- pended on the very edge of the world between sea and sky. We watched it breathlessly; but it came no nearer, no clearer. Shrouded in mist, like a spectral illusion, it remained a few moments in sight, and then disappeared as mysteriously as it came, and once more we were alone on the wide desolate sea. That evening we had a splendid sunset ; the whole of the western skies were draped with crimson, lighted up with flames of gold. We watched its kaleidoscopic glories change ; one brilliant colour fading into and amalgamating with another, till the whole horizon was a gorgeous mass of rose-tinted purple and green and gold, which presently broke up, and drifted, and re-formed till the pale dim skies were filled with floating islands of fire. We literally felt as though we were sailing " into the land beyond the sunset seas, the islands of the blest." On the evening of the eighth day we sighted Father Point, and sent up a rocket to summon a pilot from the shore; three rockets, red, white, and blue, went whizzing through the air in answer — " coming." In another moment a white light, like a gigantic glow- worm came creeping along the face of the water, nearer and nearer, till the plish-plashing of oars brought a cockleshell of a boat alongside, and the pilot, with the agility of a cat, climbed up the huge black side of the vessel and leapt over the bulwarks on to the deck. Our pilot embarked, we were soon on our way again. After the long uneventful days and nights, the slightest occurrence amused and interested us, and that day, to our unoccupied minds, seemed crammed with adventures. As we paced the deck chatting and laugh- ing, some warbling or singing snatches of old songs, iwa} '^im sigl ■ ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 11 we were startled by the appearance of a huge black mass, which seemed to grow mysteriously out of the darkness, with many-coloured lights swinging in the empty air. It was the steam-tug which had come off from Rimouski for mails and such passengers as de- : sired to go on to Lower Canada; the lights swung from [the '-hrouds and rigging of the vessel, and shone down [with a weird eifect upon the bustling scene below. [There was a general commotion ; impatient friends fhad come on board to meet their relatives ; one after [another eager ffices swarmed over the bulwarks, and [welcoming exclamations and hearty handshakings jand embraces followed their appearance ; the pleasant greetings of the genial happy voices cast a momentary cloud over our spirits ; our thoughts flew homeward ; we knew it would be long before familiar faces and friendly voices could give us greeting, and we half (envied our fellow-passengers their welcome to what to IS was an unknown land. But in the unknown there is always a mysterious attraction, and before the little steam-tug was well out of sight we were again buoy- mtly pacing the deck, with never a thought or care [beyond the present. It was a lovely night ; the stars, [such big blazing stars, shone down like angels' eyes through the dark-blue sky ; the waves sparkled and danced beneath the light of the planet Jupiter, which shone like a baby moon upon the dark face of the water. We were all too nervously excited to care for rest that night. We lingered long upon the deck, and at last disappeared one by one down the companion- way, our captain's cheery voice assuring us "we should sight Quebec in the morning." 12 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. CHAPTER II. QUEBEC. Land again — A Quaint Announcement — A Gastronomical Exhibi- tion — A Pleasant Fireside — The Convent — The Heights of Abraham — Wolfe's Monument — French and English Canadians. The next da/ we were up early, and went on deck in time to see the first rosy flush break from the east, and creep over the cool gray dawn. It deepened, and widened, and spread, till the golden sun rose slowly, and took possession of the pale blue skies, casting his lance-like beams to the right and to the left, tinging all things above and below with his heavenly alchemy, but concentrating his light, like a crown of glory, on the beautiful city which loomed slowly upon our sight out of the shadowy distance. With straining eyes we watched to catch the first view of Quebec. We had heard of it, read of it, knew of all the vicissitudes it had undergone, had looked upon its pictured beauty scores of times ; but now the reality was before us, and the picturesque beauty of its appearance fully realized, if it ditl not exceed, our ex- pectations. How few^things in this world ever do, that ! Something was no doubt owing to the extreme beauty of the morning, the clearness of the atmosphere, and the glowing sunlight that gilded the tall spires, flecked 1 QUEBEC. 13 the sloping housetops, till the china roofs sparkled and flashed like a world of broken diamonds. Slowly we steamed up the St. Lawrence towards our goal. It was good to see land at last. The soft, picturesque river scenery spread like a panoramic view on either side of us — luxuriant, grassy mounds and meadows came down to the water's edge, pretty villages were dotted about here and there, with a background of swelling hills, which rose higher and higher till they were lost in the pine forests beyond. The distant jingle of the church bells broke pleasantly on our ears after the long monotonous plish-plashing of the waves. On our left rose Pont Levis, a busy place or collection of houses, churches and manufactories, creeping up a lofty hill almost as imposing to look at as Quebec itself, and with a tolerable amount of historical associations too, though they have been swallowed up in the more prominent facts of its more beautiful and picturesque neighbour. It was at Pont Levis that the military authorities bided their time, Piid held their discussions, and arranged their manoeuvres before carrying them into effect ; and it was there that General Wolfe waited and chafed impatiently for the gray dawn which gave him victory and death. We disembarked at Pont Levis, and were ferried across the river to Quebec. There our pleasant party drifted away in different directions, some going north, some going south ; there was much handshaking, many good wishes J and hopes to meet again. We were very sorry to part with, our theorist, who, with his delicate young wife, went on his homeward way to Maine, where we promised to pay them a visit before our tour was ended. At the landing-stage, a forlorn-looking place M 14 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. in a most dilapidated condition, we were surrounded by a clamorous crowd of Irish and French, who made a raid upon our small baggage, and struggled manfully as to who should bear it off. However, while we were looking helplessly around, we were rescued by the timely advent of the hotel proprietor, who, through the thoughtful kindness of our captain, had been notified of our arrival, and had come down on the look-out for us. He thrust the rabble to the right and to the left, handed us into a caleche which he had in waiting, and in another moment we were bowling along through the lower market-place, on our way to the St. Louis Hotel. With reckless speed we rattled up the steep, stony streets, the breath almost jostled out of our bodies, and clutching one another wildly in our endeavour to keep steady, — on across the upper and more aristocratic market-square, which is sur- rounded by large handsome shops, past the puritanical- looking Cathedral, a plain, barnlike building with a tall tapering spire, and were at length deposited safely at the door of the St. Louis Hotel, a commodious and comfortable place enough for a temporary resting-place. We were at once shown into a room on an upper floor, having a beautiful view of the town and river. We looked down upon a congregation of towers, turrets, steeples, and housetops, with the Laval Museum stand- ing out the chief feature below, and the Convent of Gray Nuns standing square and gloomy on the hill above. Having taken a brief look around, we in- quired : " When does the dinner-bell ring ? " " Sure thin, there's no dinner-bell at all!" answered a stout Irish lass. m '■'%■ QUEBEC. 16 " How shall we know when it is dinner-time ? " " Oh, yez'U know ; 'e 'oilers." She disappeared, leaving ns slightly puzzled as to who would 'oiler. We waited a few minutes, and then sure . enough, he did " 'oiler." A pair of sten- torian lungs shouted through all the corridors, " Din- ner ! dinner ! " The voice dwindled away, and went wandering in ghostly echoes to remote corners and distant chambers, circulating the fact in this most primitive fashion that dinner was served. Having eaten and drank for the last ten days under difficul- ties, never being quite sure that our soup would not find its way into our pockets, or our chicken fly into our faces, and obstinately refuse to be driven into our mouths, it was pleasant to find ourselves comfortably seated at a table that wouldn't turn a somersault on its own account, or send the crockery flying about our e.ars. There were specimens of many nationalities at table, with a fair sprinkling of the gentle Canadians them- selves ; and here began a gastronomical exhibition. As a rule (of course there are exceptions) people did not eat, tliey bolted; flung their food into their mouths, and sent their knives after it to see that it was all right. Seated opposite to me was a round, bullet-headed man, like a monk, " all shaven and shorn," with large ears, which seemed to grow out of his head, not on it, and a large loose mouth, that looked as though it could never tighten, and had no idea of ever shutting itself firmly ; but oh ! so much went into it ! He surrounded him- self with the whole bill of fare, and then " fell to," demolishing one thing after another, till I fancied he must have a fit of apoplexy or — burst. He handled his eating utensils with such marvellous dexterity, that 16 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. wlien his knife flashed in the air and disappeared down his throat, I watched for it to come out at the back of his head ; but no ! it always came back. Weh, they are used to playing with edged tools this side of the water, and provided they do not compel me .to join the game I am content. The next morning we received a visit from the Sanitary Inspector (who had been introduced to us when he boarded our vessel for our bill of health). He came accompanied by his wife and daughters on hospitable thoughts intent. We were quite at home with one another in half an hour, nay in ten minutes, and in their pleasant home we spent many evening hours. It was a musical household ; the young daugh- ters, with fine contralto and mezzo-soprano voices, warmed our hearts with some of the sweet home songs which we thought we had left behind us. Our captain, too, while he was on shore, occasionally dropped in and enlivened us with the patriotic ditties in which our souls delighted. Our mutual favourite was the thril- ling ballad of the " Slave Ship." He would bring his hand down with a crash upon the ivory keys, and send a shrieking shiver through the chords as he triumphantly announced : " There's always death to slavery When British bunting's spread." His face beamed as though his individual hand was striking slavery dead. When not patriotic he was in- tensely moral, and the lesson of " Mrs. Lofty's jewels " was so vigorously driven into our brain, we ought to have been dead to the dazzle of diamonds evermore. On the first day of our arrival we sallied forth to QUEBEC. 17 see the town. The picturesque fascination of its first appearance, which took us captive as we first steamed up the St. Lawrence, lessened on a closer acquaintance. " Distance lends enchantment to the view " in this as in many other cases. It is a delightfully old historic city, full of incongruities, and marvellous in its general aspect of griminess and decay. The ancient buildings do not seem to be enjoying a hale and strong old age. They have a gray, worn look, as though they felt their m' urnful position, and grieved that no hand was out- stretched to save them from the ruin into which they are fast falling. It seems as though time had robed and crowned this quaint old town with historic fame and interest, and then turned away and left it forlorn and half forgotten ; for it has all the appearance of a bankrupt estate, with little life or money left in it. Its glory has departed, there is no doubt of that, and the good folk are trying to destroy its picturesqueness as fast as they can. We feel this as we stroll through the long straggling up and down streets, their china or slate roofs glistening in the sunshine. The houses, some old, some new, represent every style of architec- ture or non-architecture under the sun ; no uniformity, no regularity anywhere. Some are built of red brick, some of gray stone, with odd little latticed windows breaking out in unexpected places. Some modern occupants of ancient homes have discarded the tiny twinkling panes, and replaced them with huge squares of plate glass and other " modern improvements," mar- ring as much as possible the quaint picturesqueness of the old, without imparting the imposing aspect of the new. The wooden pavements are in a generally rotten condition, and the roads when they are not cobble 18 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. stones are full of ruts, holes, and pitfalls, wliicli makes us s\^\\ for Macadam and all his host. We pass througli the Governor's garden,- where a huge placard warns "not to pick the flowers." But never a flower is in sight ; only a growth of dank, long grass, and a thick undergrowth of weeds of the wildest ; thei/ flourish luxuriantly enough. We pick our way over the stony pathway, and reach Dufferin Terrace, a splendid promenade, which is and will re- main for centuries a noble record written in stone of Lord Dufferin's administration in Canada. It is fifty feet wide and a quarter, of a mile long. It runs from the fort of the citadel, on the edge of the quaint old town, on the one side, and has a wide extensive land and river view on the other, perhaps one of the loveliest views in all Canada, for as far as the eye can see on all sides there is a well- wooded landscape of undulating hills and valleys dotted with toy villages and tiny towns, with the beautiful river lying like a sheet of silver below, winding and widening till it seems to fade in the ftxr horizon, and is lost in the vast ocean beyond. Lean- ing over the fanciful iron railing we look sheer down a hundred and twenty feet into Champlain Street, the St. Griles of Quebec, and out over the lower town. Here on this splendid terrace the Quebeckers take their evening promenade when the sultry day is over, for if there is the slightest breeze stirring, it is sure to be found here. Standing back, at about the centre of the terrace, is the monument to " Wolfe and Montcalm," situated in a small square plat, " which is a garden called," but which in reality is like the rest of the public gardens here, a mass of tangled weeds and briars. The renowned general himself looks as though QUEBEC. 19 he was rather tired of standing there, and would gladly descend to that oblivion into whidi all men great and small must sink at last. It is only a question of time. He is doing his best to get away from men's eyes, and is crumbling to pieces as fast as he can. Already he has no features to speak of, and his clothes are crumb- ling from his back. He has stood there so long that few people care to look at him now except strangers, and they make such scornful remarks upon his gene- rally dilapidated appearance as would make his stony brow blush for shame if the stony heart could feel ! Would not all great men prefer to live in the memory of their countrymen till their names become household words in every home rather than be libelled in stone and left to the gaze of unborn generations, to whom their deeds or their works are as a tale that is told, — long past, half forgotten in the greater mass of great works which have succeeded them ? We are not sorry to turn our backs upon the dismal effigy of our hero and get into one of those delightful waggons which are the pride of Quebec, easy, light, well hung; while they serve all the purposes of an open carriage, they shield you most effectually from the sun or the rain, being open all round, and provided with stout waterproof curtains, which can be drawn or left undrawn at pleasure. In the course of half an hour we find ourselves on the Plains of Abraham, where we can indulge in a little poetic dreaming of our hero, and the days that are dead and gone. Standing there and looking round on that historic spot it is easy to send our imagination travelling back to the gray dawn of that misty morning long ago. There are Montcalm's troops encamped around, sleeping securely on that lofty 20 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. and seemingly inaccessible height, their dusky Huron and Iroquois allies hanging like a ragged fringe upon their rear. Noiselessly and with muffled oarg Wolfe and his gallant soldiers cross the river from Pont Levis, and with catlike silence and agility climb the steep sides of the cliff, gaining a foothold wherever they can, hanging on by straggling bushes or jagged edges ; one after another In stealthy silence they creep, they swarm upward ; no clink of sword nor clang of armour warns the sleeping adversary of their approach, till In the gray dawn of the morning they gather, a grim and silent army, on the Heights of Abraham in the midst of the enemy, who are startled from their sleep. We fancy we hear the bugles ring out, and the hurrying to and fro, as the dust and fury of the battle begins. It does not last long, not very long ; a few hours decides the fat'^ of the picturesque old town. Wolfe is wounded ; a gray mass is seen flying east- ward. " They run, they run ! " a voice Is heard ex- claiming. " Who, who run ? " asks the wounded general. " The French, sir." " Thank God ! " he cries, and falls back dead. An obelisk marks the spot where he fell. Having admired the splendid view from those lofty plains, we turn on our way back to the town. The suburbs of Quebec are very beautiful, being studded with elegant villas, surrounded by gardens all abloom with bright, sweet-scented flowers, that fill the air with perfume. The Foye Road is especially remarkable for its collection of palatial residences. Every man appears to be his own architect, for each house differs from the other, and all are built with more or less originality of design, some highly ornamented, others remarkable for QUEBEC. 21 their elegant simplicity. It would be difficult to classify these dwellings with any recognized style of architec- ture. It is strange to observe how entirely the French and English Canadians keep apart. There is no inter- course between the two. On the side of the French, at least, there seems to be an undercurrent of the old hostility still flowing, though it is never brought actively to the surface, for they are a law-abiding, peaceful people ; in their collisions with the Irish, it is generally the Irish who make the first hostile move. They will not learn English nor allow it to be taught in their schools. You may walk for miles through this British colony and never hear the sound of your native language ; if you venture to inquire your way you will be answered in a kind of French that is not spoken in the France of to-day. They cling to the ancient French of their forefathers, with no innovations or modern improvements. The upper classes of both nations keep as much aloof from each other as the lower. It is seldom you meet a French family in an English drawing-room, or an English family at a French reception ; for those little social dissipations do occasionally take place, though, as a rule, life seems to flow on in a dull, sluggish fashion in this quaint, historic town. Religion is the only thing that seems to keep itself lively, for the air bristles with church spires, like drawn swords flashing in a holy battle, pointing upwards. Week days and Sundays, and, as it seems to us, at all times and hours, the bells ring out their musical, rhythmical chimes. The Cathedral has a splendid peal of bells, which play " The last Rose of Summer" and some other English melodies with ex- quisite sweetness and precision. It was pleasant to 22 TIIllOUOII CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. hear the old home tunes clang out beneath the blue Canadian skies. Throug'h the kind interest of our new friends we gained entrance to the Convent of Gray Nuns. By a low arched doorway we entered a small stone hall, with a staircase on one side and a narrow aper- ture on the other, where the face of an aged nun appeared as she received or gave messages. We re- ceived instructions to go upstairs, and went; we passed locked doors and chambers barren of furniture, except, perhaps, a few bare benches ; we could find our way nowhere, and after lingering for awhile in these empty chambers, haunted by the ghostly echo of our own footsteps, a door opened and a voice bade us enter. In another moment we had the pleasure of presenting ourselves to the reverend mother, who was seated in a light, airy room, the first of a semicircle of nuns, who were saved from contact with us worldly folk by a par- tition of wooden railings, which reached from the floor to the ceiling. There was no space through which we could even shake their saintly hands. Conversation under these circumstances was difficult, originality was impossible; we could make no semi-confidential inquiry or insinuating remark with those twenty pairs of smiling eyes upon us, each keeping guard over herself and her neighbour, and all being under the " right eye " of their " Mother Commander," Any idea we might have entertained of digging below the surface and getting a glimpse of conventual life perished on the spot. They had evidently no intention of ex- tending their favours further. A view of their bare- benched 'chambers and of themselves was considered privilege enough. " The secrets of their prison-house " sB^m' ■ Ife QUEBEC. 23 blue were closed from our unhallowed eyes. Once only in living memory had the convent been unreservedly tlirown open to the eyes of the outer world, and that was on the occasion of the visit of the Princess Louise a few weeks previously. Even the simple event of our cominc: must have created some little excitement, for we were advised' that many of the nuns then present had not seen a face from the outer world for forty years until the Princess came amongst them. In reply to our few commonplace inquiries or remarks, they tried eagerly (speaking all at once or echoing one another) to assure us of their perfect hap- piness and content, so earnestly indeed as to make us doubt the fact. Yet they certainly had a look of peace and content; not the content that is born of the fulness of joy, or is the result of a happy, busy, useful life, but the peace that is born of sorrow, or of inward struggles and battles, fought out in loneliness and silence ; for human nature robbed of her rights will chafe, and struggle, and rebel, till she is broken down and taught to waive her rights in this world that she may grasp a higher right in the next. For that she waits. . The luxurious comfort and bright, sunny aspect of the Father Confessor's chamber (he is the only male allowed upon the premises) was a striking contrast to the nuns' bare chambers. He was a small, wizened old man, with the simplicity of a child. Whether he possessed the "wisdom of the serpent," I query — though how that interesting reptile has proved its claim to wisdom 1 fail to comprehend. He showed us his photographs and his sample curiosities with as much pride as a child shows its prize picture-book, and attached as much importance to the most trifling 24 TUROUGH CITIKS AND PRAIRIE LANDS. things. lie was the proud possessor of tlio skull of Montcalm, and all that is left of that heroic general grinned at us with socketless eyes from beneath a glass case where it reposed on a velvet cushion. "Alas! poor Yorick." He pointed out where some teeth had been extracted without the aid of dentistry ; they had been stolen by some British tourists to whom he had exhibited his treasures. He had been spiritual adviser to that world of lonely womanhood for forty-five years, and very rarely went abroad. Well, we took our last look of him, of our friends, the Duiferin Terrace, and the quaint old town, with much regret. We had taken our berths on board one of those palatial river steamers, which are indeed like four-story houses afloat, replete with the most luxurious accommodation, with balconies running round every story, elegant drawing-rooms for the ladies, smoking and billiard-rooms for the gentle- men, and a capital cuisine for everybody's benefit. Slowly we steamed up the St. Lawrence, keeping our eyes fixed upon the gilded spires and steeples of Quebec till the haze of distance shrouded them from our view. ( 25 ) CHAPTER III. MONTREAL. The Stolid Indian — Mount Koyal— Sir Hugh Allan's Ilomo- Banks — The Windsor Hotel. -The We were roused at a most unearthly hour in the morning, the bells were rin^^ing, the engine shrieking, panting, and struggling like a refractory steed who rebels against the will of his rider ; but it was brought to a standstill at the landing-stage at Montreal, and we were turned out only half awake among droves of bellow- ing cattle, bleating sheep, and generations of grunting pigs, from the huge sow, half a ton weight, to the tiny squeakers a month old. "We dodged the horns of the cattle and scrambled into the hotel omnibus as best we could. Then we took breath and scanned the scene around us. All was or seemed to be in a state of " confusion worse confounded," men and cattle seeming to be inextricably mixed together. The shouts of the one and the bellowing of the other shook the air, and filled our ears with discord. A posse of Indian squaws and " bucks " stood leaning along the wharf, watching us with expressionless eyes and immovable stolidity of countenance. They might have been statues of bronze for any signs they gave of life. If the playful earth- 26 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. m quake had paid a sudden visit to the shore and swal- lowed us up, I doubt if they would have moved a finger or quivered an eyelid. They all wore ragged red shawls or striped blankets wrapped round them, .their dark ftices and black beady eyes looming out from a mass of thick unkempt hair. This was the first time the untamed savage on his native soil had crossed our path, and I must say they were the most revolting specimens of the human race. It is simply impossible to regard them as " men and brothers," and tlie more we study the nature, character, and capabilities of these people, the more firmly are we convinced of that fact. Civilization, with its humanizing principles, may struggle with the difficulties, but it will never over- come the inborn blindness of the savage race. They have not the powder to comprehend our codes, nor to feel as we feel. Much has been said of their treachery and cruelty, but oppression creates treachery, and tliat they have been oppressed and hardly used, driven from their native hills and plains to a strange world, which is as a sealed book to them, of which they neither know the letters nor the Ian .iiyge, nobody can deny. Regarding their cruelty, it is i^ quality native born, and directed not against the white race especially ; they are cruel to themselves, to one another, and delight in lacerating and torturing their own flesh, regarding (as did the Spartans of old) the endurance of bodily pain as a virtue, courting it as a good rather than avoiding it as an evil, as we more civilized folk are a[)t to do. This is not meant as an extenuation of the Indian's malpractice, who in reality only carries out the instincts of his nature. The dog, poor brute, cannot help being mad, but it must be got rid of. ^-^i* MONTREAL. 27 Looking on these people, with their low brows and the animal expression on their expressionless faces, we felt there might Ibe some truth in Darwin's theory after all. Our Jehu cracked his whip, and his bony steeds began to move slowly through the noisy throng. The wharf was swarming with a busy population loading and unloading the many trading vessels which w^ere drawn up by the river side. We passed under a crank of squeaking pigs, which were being swung through the air and lowered on to the deck of the vessel, pro- testing with all their swinish lungs against such unna- tural elevation. There is a slight rise in the ground as we wind our way from the waterside, but on the whole the city is built on a flat, level plain, lying where the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers meet, stretching away, and widening through handsome squares and streets till it reaches the "mountain." It runs round it, covers its feet with pretty villa residences, but never attempts to climb or disfigure its green sides with bricks and mortar. There are no building-plots to let there, for Montreal is proud of its Mount Royal, and keeps it for the pure pride and glory of it. Sir Hugh Allan, the head of that splendid line of steam- ships bearing his name, has built an elegant and palatial residence there a;- the foot of the mountain. I am by no means sure that he has not encroached upon it, and planted his greenhouses in its arms, and sent his garden creejDing up its soft velvet sides. But Sir Hugh is a benefactor to the city, a pleasant gentleman, and a great favourite with every class of people ; no doubt if he even wanted a slice of 28 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. I M il IH the mountain he might have it, especially if he was willing to pay handsomely for it. This beautiful " Mount Royal " is much more than its name indicates. It is a perfect sylvan retreat, full of shady groves and bosky dells, luxuriant in its growth of wild fruits and flowers. Fine trees, with gnarled bark and wide- spreading, leafy branches, stand here and there in shady groups, while whole colonies of birds are singing the summer day through. There are whole battalions of nut trees and straggling blackberry bushes skii- mishing round, each struggling to get a sight of the sun, eager to be the first to ripen and fall into the hands of the young children who come " a black- berrying " in the golden autumn days. There is not a single barren spot on the whole mountain ; it is one garden of green, with tiny rivulets of living water, laughing and gurgling as they fall from its grassy crown to its moss-covered feet, which stand on the fringe of the city. This is not one of the mountains which taxes your energies from the beginning, and makes you pay ever- lasting toll in the shape of aching limbs and weari- ness of spirit, using the sun's rays as a kind of airy razor to scrape the skin off your face and peel your hands till you can scarcely prod its rugged sides with your alpenstock. After much trouble and tribulation, with your clothes dragged off your back, the result of the hauling process common to your guides, you reach the top at last, and stand blowing like a gram- pus on its bald, white head, while you look round upon the wonderfully wide and extensive prospect you have risked so much to see. The sun laughs in your face, withdraws his forces into cloudland, and ^'t^h^*' MONTREAL. 29 DO tne black- is not ;- is one svater, grassy n the flings a white misty veil over the world below. You see nothing but mist, mist everywhere ; your very brain seems to get frozen and foggy ; but what does that matter ? you come down exulting that you have scaled the precipitous mountain. But you will not own, like Sir Charles Coldstream, that you found " nothing in it." Well, Mount Royal is not one of these. Like a vain and beautiful woman it likes to show itself off to the best advantage, and has a capital smootli road, where you can either drive in cosy car- riages or walk on foot through a pleasant winding way, through leafy shade and blooming flowers, till you reach the top. You can return by another road, which lands you about three miles from the town. The city is never out of sight during the whole progress up the mountain. But from one special point, which is always indicated to the traveller, there is a remarkably fine view of the entire city and its sur- roundings. There is the broad river, studded with green islets, spanned by the famous Victoria Bridge, certainly one of the handsomest, and they say the longest and costliest, in the world ; beyond it the opposite shore stretches away, breaking into small towns or villages till it is lost in the distance ; while beneath our feet the city itself lies clearly defined under the deep-blue skies. The white, gray, or red tiled roofs of the houses, church spires, convents, — square and ugly in massive gray stone, — public build- ings, and Cathedral towers rise out of a forest of green, for the houses generally are surrounded by gardens, and the wide streets are bordered on each side by grand old trees, the relics of the ancient forest, on whose hoary head the city now stands and holds its 30 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. ii! I I place among the first cities of this Western world. The trading portion of the town, where commerce in every imaginable form is briskly carried on, is lined with handsome shops, hotels, and banking-houses. As we passed by one of the most important of these latter we were stopped by a vast crowd, which thronged the doorway and surged and overflowed across the street, and effectually blocked all progress. A placard was on the door, " Stopped payment," and a sea of human faces, waves of excited, desperate passions sweeping over them, surged round us. On every side we read signs of wrecked hopes and ruined lives. Some, with sullen, despairing faces, went silently on their way ; others gesticuLited fiercely, with threats and curses " not loud but deep." Some hysterical women were in tears ; others crept out of the crowd with white, wan faces, broken down and crushed utterly ; they had no voice even to complain or bemoan. Gradually we made our way through this mass of miserable people, and went on through the populous streets, across fine s(piares, past handsome monuments, all of which are kept in perfect order and neatness. Wherever there is room for a statue, there stands Victoria robed and crowned. Everywhere in this beautiful city there are de- lightful promenades ; on either side of the spacious streets are elegant villa residences, with tastefully arranged gardens, a light, fanciful railing only sepa- rating them from the footway, and sometimes not even that. You may enjoy a perfect feast of the beauty and perfume of flowers as you saunter beneath the trees which border the footway, their overhanging branches forming a perfect shade and bower of green. MONTREAL. 31 Here, as in many other Canadian cities, tliree-fonrtlis of the population are Catholics, and their churches and Cathedral are among the finest architectural buildings in the city, where churches of all denominations abound. Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal) is, they say, the finest specimen of English Gothic architecture in America. It is built of Caen and Montreal stone. From the centre of the cross rises a spire 224 feet high ; the choir stalls are splendidly carved, and the nave is supported by columns carved in imitation of Canadian plants ; but an adequate description of the ohurclies, convents, or museums, here and elsewhere, would each require a volume to itself, and those who require that special kind of information will find it in every local guidebook. . Going the general round of these places forms no part of my programme. Such special descriptions are only needed for special objects, and in nine cases out of ten are both wearisome and uninteresting. In their Continental experiences people rush through miles of picture galleries, and visit scores of churches, believing it to be their duty so to do, but at the end of the day few have a distinct impression of any perfect thing. The mind reflects only a confused mass of gorgeous colouring, stained glass windows, groined roofs and arches, all mixed up together, and when they sit down to think things over it is with the greatest difficulty they summon one distinct picture before their mind's eye. Last though not least among the attractions of Montreal, is the number of its commodious hotels, among which the Windsor stands pre-eminent. It is built at the highest point of the city, under the sliadow of the mountains, and for comfort and luxurious ap- 32 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. pointments is second to none, either on this side of the Continent or on the other. The charges here, as in all other first-class hotels, vary from two and a half to five dollars per day, inclusive, according to location of rooms. This is most moderate when compared with our home charges, where the extras and sundries swell the bill till it is ready to burst with its own extortions. )f the in all five )ii of with idries own ( 33 ) CHAPTER IV. THE CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION. River Travelling— Trail of the Fire King— Ottawa— Parliament Buildings— The City— The Home of our Princess. The journey from Montreal to Ottawa is for the most part dull and uninteresting. We have half an hour's train, through a rough ragged country, laden with straggling bushes, rank grass, and charred tree stumps ; then we take the boat and steam along the river, a broiling sun overhead and flat barren country on either side. There being nothing attractive or interesting in the surrounding scenery, I betake myself to the general saloon, which is a perfect bazaar, with knickknackeries of all kinds, and books and newspapers for sale. I invest a dollar in literature of the lightest kind and ensconce myself on the most comfortable lounge I can find, and in rather a limp drowsy state try to keep myself awake. My companion, aglow with the delights of travel- ling, rejoices in the inconveniences thereof, and sits broiling in the sun, which seems inclined to have no mercy upon anybody. It glares down with its fierce fiery eye, breathing a hot sultry breath over every- thing everywhere. The land on either side is a plain 34 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. : ! of brown dried-up grass ; a few lean hungry cattle are straying hither and thither, browsing on the dry breast of mother earth. Brown bare-lef>:o;ed children w^ade into the river ; some cast off their rags and leap in, splashing about, laughing as they play at " catch- who'Can." When they are tired they come out and lay themselves out to dry in the sun. The water has a sultry sleepy look. It is as clear and still as a glass mirror, but we wake it into fury as our iron steed tramps through it ; it hisses and runs after us, snarling with its white foam lips as it closes in our wake, and under the blazing sun our vessel steams on. The deck blossoms with umbrellas, which look like gigantic toad- stools growing out of scores of human heads. Some put cabbage-leaves in their hats and hang silk hand- kerchiefs down their backs, as a kind of protection from the sun's keen rays ; but they will not sit down-; they wander in and out of the saloon, like evil spirits that can know no rest ; they like to get bronzed with the sun and sultry air, and as a rule are not satisfied till the skin peels off their faces and the tips of their noses require a bag for protection. I lean back on my luxurious lounge in a rather sleepy state, and am fast drifting away into a land of dreams when I am roused by the loud prolonged sound of the dinner-gong, and we all crowd down, helter-skelter, to the dining saloon, where our captain, a big burly man, sits at the head of the table, with sundry roasts and fancy dishes smoking before him. We speedily sj3oil our appetites, and leave but a mere wreck of bare bones and skeletons. One dish contains Indian corn cobs about a quarter of a yard long, looking white and tempting with their granulated covering. Believing they are some stuffed THE CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION. 35 &' and if ■M -'4% delicacies 1 ask for a small piece. A smile goes round, and I receive a whole one on my plate. What am I to do with it? I glance at my neighbours. Every one is holding a cob with his two hands, and, begin- ning at one end, nibbles along as though he were playing a flute till he gets to the other, repeating the process till the cob is stripped of its pearly corn. I don't think it is worth the trouble of eating, though it is considered a great dainty on this side of the Atlantic. About two o'clock we reach Carrillon. The rapids bar our progress up the river ; a train runs alongside the vessel ; we are soon seated in a comfortable car, and have a two hours' railway journey through what was once a magnificent forest, but is now wild waste land, a terrible fire having swept over it some few years ago, destroying and devouring all before it — farm-houses, flocks, n\\ animate and inanimate things — leaving here and there groups of tall spectral trees, standing weird and ghostly in the summer sim. Here it had feasted greedily and left nothing but charred roots and fantastic tree stumps straggling over the ground. One spot on the line of that terrible fire was pointed out to me as having once been a flourishing farm ; but the fire fiend swept down upon it in the night, when the inhabitants were all in their beds asleep. The man rushed out with his wife and child and crouched down in a potato field, trusting that the storm of fire might pass over them ; but the red- tongued flames came leaping along and drove them into the river, and all night long he stood up to his neck in water, supporting his wife and child. The great white moon shone out serene and peaceful in the calm blue skies. Not a breath of air was stirring, not 36 TriROUGII CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. a sound was heard but the tramp of the fire king as he roared on his blazing way. In the morning they were saved, but the terrible flames had licked the life out of all wayfarers who had barred its progress and left their blackened skeletons grinning in the sun. After a rush of two hours through this weird wild scene we reach Grenville. There we take boat again and steam on till we find ourselves at Ottawa, about six o'clock in the evening. The approach to this city, the capital of the Dominion of Canada, is by no means imposing ; the face of the river is covered and its mouth filled with sawdust ; it is stilled, and has scarcely strength to flow, it could not burst into a smile, or r'pple under the most tempting of summer suns. Immense booms of timber, which have been floated down from the " forest primeval " hundreds of miles away, float still on the river surface till they are hauled up to feed the hungry mills, meclianical giants, whose rasping jaws work day and night crushing these sturdy " sons of the forest," cutting them in slices and casting them forth to be stacked in huge piles along the river-banks miles before we reach the town. There is no bustle or confusion on our arrival there. On the quiet little landing-stage two or three lumbering vehicles are waiting ; we are escorted to one of these by our chivalrous captain, who carries our hand baggage, and superintends the removal of the rest. A little girl, about ten years old, follows us, with a dog almost as big as herself, and looks up at us shyly. " My little Ir , ladies," observes our captain, his face wrinkling and his eyes twinkling with smiles ; " she comes down every evening to ' meet father.' It Tin: CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION', 37 wouldn't seem like coming home if I didn't find Nellie here." With a proud fatherly air he takes the child's hand, the dog trotting behind them as they ascend the stony hill towards a gray cottage of rough-hewn slate, which he has pointed out to me as " home." We turn on towards our destination in Nepcan Street, where we find ourselves so comfortably located, that instead of staying a few days, as we originally intended, we resolve to remain some weeks. Through the good offices of Mr. Leggo, a popular and most enthusiastic Canadian, we made the acquaint- ance of Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis, one of the oldest pioneers of the state. Those gentlemen were like animated encycloptcdias on all matters regarding Canada ; from them we received more information in a few weeks than we could have gained on our own account in a year. Our first day in Ottawa was spent in visiting the Parliament buildings, which occupy a plateau of about thirty acres on the loftiest point of the city and nearly two hundred feet above the Ottawa River ; they are surrounded by beautifully laid out gardens, and seem to be growing out of a bed of soft greensward of velvet smoothness. They are composed of cream-coloured Potsdam stone, the ornamental part being of Ohio and Arupois marbles ; they are built in the Italian Gothic style of the thirteenth century, and I am told they are the most beautiful specimens thereof in all America, perhaps in the world. Their elevated position, with their long lines of pointed windows, massive buttresses, and numerous pinnacles and towers, silhouetted against the bright blue sky, are objects of imposing and mw 38 TllKOUUII CITIES AND PKAllUK LANDS. i lliii, Till lljlni! majestic beauty for miles around. In the front centre stands the Victoria Tower, one liundred a,nd eighty feet hi,i>'h, and surmounted by an iron crown. The chief entrance to the building is through the broad- pointed arches beneath this tower; the royal arms are above the doorway ; in the grand Senate Hall there is a very beautiful statue of the Queen, and the vice-regal throne is flanked by busts of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alexandi'a. In the most remote, as well as in the most populous districts, the features of the royal family are duly represented. The Canadians are the most loyal of all British subjects ; they lower their voices with solemn reverence when they speak of " Her Majesty, the Queen," to whom they never refer as " the Queen," pure and simple ; they give her a whole string of titles and adjectives, like the tail of a paper kite, and set her sailing in the heaven of their imagination, as though she were beyond the range of humanity altogether. They seem to regard royalty, not as an upper branch of the human family, but as a higher and holier species ; any adverse or quizzical criticism of them or their doings would be met with severe reprimand, if not positive maltreatment. We cannot help wondering how the loyalty of the Canadian people manages to exist, for it has been half-starved, or fed only upon the crumbs flung from the state table. It must have lived on its own robust strength or the clinging patriotic spirit of the Canadian nature, rather than from any consideration or care it has received from the home government. It is certainly the most beautiful, the most fertile of the British colonies, and lies nearest to the mother land, though it seems farthest from her care. ^ TIIK CAPITAL OK TIII^ DOMTNIOV. 39 Mucli has been said, much has been written oh the subject of Canada ; we have learned its geographical position, the length and breadth of its lakes and rivers, the extent of its vast forest lands, the height of its mountains, etc., but the figures dazzle the mind, and bring no realization of the fact. Nothing less than a personal visit will enal)le us to comprehend the wonders of this luxuriant land, which is surrounded and en- compassed with its own loveliness. The primeval forest still holds its own in the vast solitudes, sacred as yet from the increasing encroachments of man, its immense inland seas, and fruitful rivers winding through scenery tlie most picturesque, the most sub- lime ; to say nothing of its vast unexplored lands and mineral resources, and the wide tracts of rich unculti- vated country, watered by springs and rivulets which have been flowing in their living liquid beauty since the days of Paradise. We hear sad tales of poverty and misery in the old land, of scanty crops, wasted labour, and ruined farmers, who, after all, are only tenants on the land they live on ; the small farmer who labours there, on another man's land, may here become a land-owner. There is no room for great farming operations or agricultural enterprise in the limited cultivated, land of the old country, every rood of which is occupied ; there is no room for new comers, — the great tide of human life, which is rising every hour, must roll on towards the great cities, and per- haps starve there, for each city is filled with its own people, who work at their different trades, and in their turn overflow into the country, drifting, heaven knows where. There is small chance of rural folks gaining their bread in the old land. Here in the New World // ' • »i 11;: 40 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. !!lv i!;i. i : there are, not thousands, but millions of acres of rich fertile soil waiting for the magic pick and the plough- share to turn it to a veritable " Tom Tidler's ground ; " only scatter the seed on its broad fair breast, and it will pulsate with a new life and swell the seeds with its own fulness till they burst and blossom into a wealth of golden grain, and " the hand of the sower gathereth a rich harvest." The Governing powers, in their desire to get the country well populated, are willing to make most liberal terms to forward this object. They are ready to give a grant in perpetuity of one hun ^ ^d and sixty acres to all or any who are willing to make a home there, with the power, of course, of extending their possessions as their means increase. There is an abundance of wood for building purposes, the rivers and lakes teem with fish in great variety, and the earth gives forth such a variety of wild fruits, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, gooseberries, and huge trees of red luscious plums, and butternuts, we feel that in summer-time, at least, we could live as the birds do, on sunshine and sweet fruits. We had heard much of the extremes of temperature, of heat and cold, especially in Ottawa, and prepared ourselves for broiling; well, it was warm, the sun blazed, the hot winds blew, and the dust of this most dusty city whirled and swirled around us, got into our eyes, our ears, crept insidiously down our throats, and seemed struggling to turn us inside out ; but we clutched our mantles around us, and butted against the wind, screening ourselves from the sun's fierce rays as best we couid. It is not often that the sun and the wind have such a tussle together. However we reached THE CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION. 41 'M :>M home at last in an uncooked state, feeling not much warmer than we should do on a summer day at home, though the temperature is much higher, and the hours are marching to the tune of 90' in the shade. We had spent the whole day in wandering and driving about the streets of Ottawa, till we gained a very good idea of its external appearance. It has numerous fine churches, and its town hall, post office, and all the municipal buildings are substantially and massively built in an attractive and fanciful style of architecture. As for the rest of the city, it is in a perfectly unfinished state ; it is as yet only a thing of promise, though it has the makino' of a verv fine town in the future ; but how- ever fast it marches, it will have to keep growing, and work hard too, for another century at least, before it reaches the level of its mngnificent Parliament build- ings. The streets are wide and long, stretching away out of sight ; they are cobble-stoned and roughly wood-paved for the most part. After passing the princi})al lines of shops in Sparkes Street, the houses seem to have been built for temporary convenience only, and crop up here and there in a direct line, leaving wide spaces of waste land between, as though they were in a hurry to see which should reach the end of the long street first, the end that seems to be creeping back to the primeval forest, which civilization and time lias left far behind. Ottawa itself is neither picturesque nor attractive, being built on perfectly flat ground. It looks like a timber yard, and smells of sawdust. The Ottawa river has as many long thin arms as an octopus, and they run meandering inland by a hundred different ways ; here, they meet in a vast tumbling mass, falling over 42 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDl'. life niiy huge boulders and broken stony ground till they are dignified by the name of the " Chaudiere Falls ; " lower down, their headlong course is stopped, and they are utilized and made to turn a huge sawmill where a thousand steel teeth are biting through the grand old trees, tearing them into slips, digesting and disgorging them on the other side ; in vain the water foams and groans, crashing its rebellious waves together — man is its master, and will have his way. Just over the bridge is an extensive match factory, employing six hundred children from six to twelve years old, swarm- ing on all sides like busy little a ..uS, measuring, cutting, dipping, and filling the boxes as fast as their tiny hands can move. There is on the opposite side a pail and tub factory, all for exportation ; long galleries, filled with tubs and pails from floor to ceiling, enough to scrub the world clean, and turn it inside out and begin again on the other side. Rideau Hall, the home of our Princess, lies on the outskirts of the town, and is by no means a regal- looking mansion ; it is a long low building of grey- stone, standing on rather elevated ground, and has a pleasant view of the town and river from the lawn and flower garden, which enclose two sides of it ; the approach is through tolerably well timbered grounds, not of sufficient importance to be called a " park." The Governor and Princess Louise were awav, and the house was undergoing repair — it looked as though it needed it. There was nothing to distinguish this from any second or third-rate country house at home, except the one solitary and rather seedy-looking sentinel who paraded before the door The people of Ottawa speak most enthusiastically of our Princess ; everyone has il THE CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION. 43 some kind memory or pleasant anecdote to tell of her. It is said that when Her Royal Highness held her first reception, she appeared in a plain high dress, expecting, perhaps, to find fashion " out of joint " in this far-away place ; but the Canadian ladies came trooping " en grand toilette," with fans and diamonds, trains and laces, like living importations from Worth himself At the next reception matters changed, and the royal lady appeared in all the splendour of the British Court receptions. 44 TIIROUGn CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. !|:'! CHAPTER Y. FROM CITY TO CATARACT. On the Train — The Thousand Islands — At Kingston — Toronto — The Government House — Arrival of the Princess Louise — " We expect the Moon " — Niagara Falls. From Ottawa to Toronto is a tedious journey, in con- sequence of the many changes, from rail to river, ri-^; er to rail again. The train is waiting for t as we r3ach the station ; it is a hot sultry morning, ohe warm air, sand-laden, comes in short, fitful gusts, and is stifling rather than refreshing ; the sun blazes down from a copper-coloured sky — everything is sun-dried, sun- baked ; the city glows like an oven ; the stony, shade- less streets reflect the burning rays, and blind the eyes with their white dazzling light ; one might cook eggs upon the housetops, and set bacon to frizzle in the sun. It is an undertaking to cross the blank space from the omnibus to the platform, many a sunstroke has been got with less provocation. In a limp, dusty con- dition, tired before the day has well begun, we take the first vacant seats we come to — there is little choice, for the car is half full already, and more people come trooping in, till it is filled to overflowing with a miscel- laneous mass of humanity of all sorts, sexes, and sizes : there are women with babies, women with bundles, FROM CITY TO CATARACT. 45 and baskets of fruit, crockery, and cabbages ; two elderly ladies, in corkscrew curls, carrying a pet cat in a basket and huge bunches of flowers, come timidly in, smiling and giving a recognizing nod to everybody with the information that they " have not been in a train for twenty years, and consequently are a little nervous." Hobbledehoys trample on our skirts, and stumble over our feet, and one young tourist, evidently got up by his tailor in stereotyped tourist foshion, for his first outing, struggles into the car under a weight of walking-sticks and fishing-tackle, and commences operations by fishing my hat off, and in the confusion of disentanglement and blushing apologies, all his belongings come rattling about my ears. The bell rings, the train moves slowly ; everything moves slowly in Canada — whether it is that the red tape stretches from the mother country and ties their hands, or public spirit languishes, or private enter- prise is sleeping, it is difficult to say. The Canadians are a most loyal, kind, and hospitable people. Con- servative too, with the worst kind of conservatism, they are content with things as they are, and so long as matters go smoothly in the old grooves, they will not trouble to make new tracks. They want waking up ; if they were once possessed with the restless, ambitious, go-ahead spirit of the United States, they would soon be even with them ; at present they are a century behind. We rattle along through a not especially interest- ing country ; here and there we come upon undulating woodlands, with pretty fiirmhouses lying amid their cultivated lands ; but there are whole acres lying idle of rich land, which has only to be tickled with a ploughshare and fed with a scanty meal of grain, 40 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. liiii'' m\ Hi and it is ready to burst into laughing fields of golden corn ; meanwhile masses of gaudy weeds flaunt their flags in the sun, and straggling brushwood spring aggressively from the ground, and such a glorious growth of thistles as would delight a race of donkeys — no better could be found anywhere. Meanwhile we amuse ourselves, each according to his or her fancy. One woman sucks oranges all the w^ay, another " clucks " and makes zoological noises to amuse her rebellious offspring ; the young tourist looks unutterably bored, and plays the " devil's tattoo " on the window ; somebody perfumes the car with the odour of peppermint drops. The old ladies enter into a conversational race, and discuss their private affairs in a most audible voice, taking the whole car into their confidence. We catch snatches of a domestic tragedy, blithely borne by the chief sufferer, who dwells upon every revolting detail with great gusto, as though she revelled in the telling ; next to enjoying other people's miseries, some people love to gloat upon their own, the excitement following the tragedy overpowering the tragedy itself. Every time the train stops, as it does with a jerk, they clutch each other wildly, and pelt everybody with ques- tions, "Was it a collision?" or "had the boiler burst?" During their excitement the cat wriggles out of the basket, and a general scrimmage ensues before the poor beast can be recaptured. At ten o'clock we reach Prescott, and there take the boat for Kingston, hoping to catch the four o'clock train for Toronto. Our luggage is soon aboard, and in the course of a few minutes we are seated under an awning on the deck of a palatial river boat ; here t f FROM CITY TO CATARACT. 47 the river broadens and joins the lake Ontario. We rejoice at leaving the dusty train and baking city behind, and set ourselves to enjoy the fresh genial breeze, and watch for the first glimpse of the thousand islands. We are soon in their midst. It is like a dream of fairyland — the perfect day, warm sunny atmosphere, and fresh cool breeze dimpling the face of the water ; the luxuriant islands, as we thread our way among them, seem to be floating with us — they are everywhere, before, behind, and around ; some are large, some small ; some are inliabited only by water- fowl, some by men of literary and artistic taste, who make their summer home there ; but they are all clothed in a luxuriant growth of green, trailing low down to the water's edge, white willow and silver birch coquetting with their own shadows fluttering on its surface. After a few delicious lotus-eating hours' floating on this romantic world of land and water, we reach Kingston just in time to miss the train — every- body misses that train, it is a delusion and a snare, nobody was ever known to catch it, even by accident. I believe the captains and hotel-keepers are in collu- sion to keep the tourist in Kingston for the night. The best hotel, The British American, has poor accom- modation, the table being ill-served and the viands ill-cooked. We brought splendid appetites to bear on greasy chops, tough steaks, and soup so weak it had scarcely strength to struggle down our throats. The meals were served at most unearthly hours — dinner at twelve, supper at five o'clock. It is a large, old- fashioned town, with a capital fruit and vegetable market in its centre, and fine houses with walled-in I 48 Tnuour.iT riTiES and phatp.ie lands. gardens ; the tallest and gaudiest flowers sometimes climbed up and took a peep at the world outside : a good old-world city, wrapped up in itself and its people ; no doubt comfortable enough to live in, but no attractive features to interest the passing stranger. It seems to be an isolated, self-centred place, with nothing to do with tlie pi'esent and no stirring asso- ciations with the past. We were not sorry to find ourselves in the four o'clock train en route for Toronto. The cars were clean, and not overcrowded ; boys came along, peddling books, papers, hot cake, rich ripe fruit, and " real p]nglish walnuts." We were tired, and lounged back in our seats, watching the panoramic landscapes fly past us, and listening to the sweet voices of two young (^anadian girls who were singing hymns, nearly all the way. Towards eight o'clock there was a stop of twenty minutes for supper, and a capital supper we got — salmon, trout, cutlets, sausages, fruit, coffee, iced milk, and all for the modest sum of fifty cents ! The sun sets in a glory of crimson, purple, and gold, fading and changing, one colour amalgamating with another, till the western skies are dressed in gorgeous crimson plumes, and the lake is illuminated, glowing red in the reflected light, and the opposite shore seems veiled in the purple mist of dreamland. Slowly the twilight falls, the moon rises, and presently we are speeding by full moonlight along the shores of the Lake Ontario. It was nearly midnight when the lights of the City of Toronto loomed upon our sight. Our engine bell began its musical ding-dong as we slackened and steamed slowly into the Station, and soon we were on i 'I II ■4 m ■•.'. FROM CITY TO CATARACT. 49 our way to our hotel. Thanks to the delightful bag-gage system here, as all over the United States, luggage is no trouble to its owner. The arrangement is simple enough : your luggage is taken from your house by the expressman, who checks them to your destination wlierever that may be, giving you little brass numbered checks in return ; a similar check is strapped on each of your boxes. About an hour before you reach your journey's end, an express agent boards the train ; you give up your checks, and tell him where to send your luggage. On your arrival, or very soon after, you find it there ; there is a specified charge for each package. The loss of passengers' luggage is unknown ; and by this easy arrangement, much loss of time, trouble, and temper is saved. You may carry as much as you please, and from the time you leave England it is no trouble to you, until you return to Liverpool, — then your vexa- tions begin anew. We put up at the Queen's Hotel, about three minutes drive from the Station, and facing the lake, though it stands back a few hundred yards from it. We found it a luxurious hotel and perfect home, being an exten- sive but not a monster hotel, large enough for the most complete arrangements, but not too large to be com- fortable. It is three or four stories high, and has a balconied and verandahed front with pretty climbing plants trailing among the lattice work. The Governor, Mr. Macdonald, and his two charming daughters, at that time had a suite of apartments here, having vacated the Government house for the occupation of the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome, who were expected in a day or two to open the Dominion Ex- hibition. Toronto was much excited on the occasion. E i:.i 50 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIK LANDS. The Misses ^Tacdonnld toolc great interest and delio-ht in beautify in o; their already beautiful home, for the reception of their royal guests. The day before the arrival we accompnnied them on a last visit of inspec- tion to see that every arrangement was complete, and add any little finishing touches their refined taste might consider necessary. The Government house is a massive square stone building, npproached by handsome iron gates, and is surrounded by tastefully laid out flower gardens, soft velvety lawn, fanciful conservatories and green-house filled with rare exotics. AYe get the key from the head gardener, and enter the house : there is no sign of life, not a creature is visible ; we saunter through the corridors, up the stairs, and through the vacant chambers, attended only by our own shadows ; our tread falls noiselessly on the soft carpet ; once or twice a door slams, and an echo wakes up and tries to follow us, but is smothered by tlie way. Tlie rooms are all in perfect order, prettily arranged, fresh, airy, and beautifully clean, not a speck of dust is to be seen any- where ; everytliing seems to be in a waiting stage — eider-down beds, spring mattresses all bare, waiting to be made ; wardrobes waiting to be filled ; fires waiting to be kindled. There is no sign of silver or linen any- where. We inquire, "Why is this?" and learn, that when the Princess travels, like some visitors to the sea-side at home, she finds her own plate and linen ! The royal servants are expected to take possession every minute ; as we are leaving the house, they are beginning to arrive with the baggage in advance. Meanwhile the city is all agog with expectation, people come flock- ing in from all parts of the dominion. The hotels "% FROM CITY TO CATARACT. 51 and all and and refroRhment houses are full to overflowinf^ ; cnp^er siVht-seers tlironp^ the streets; we enjoy our p:npe amono^ the rest. Tt is a pretty bri'n^ht town, with lonpr wide straio'ht streets, bordered on either side with fine old trees, — a striking- contrast to the blank stony aspect of Ottawa, — and is calculated to show off at the best advantage on such a festive occasion as this. Triumphal arches, covered with a glory of green, bright-coloured flngs, and wondrous devices, span the streets on every side ; we come upon troops of merry children singing " The Campbells are coming," " Rule Britannia," and " (rod save the Queen," with all the might of their strong young lungs ; great is the excitement of the child-world — they are to muster ten thousand strong to greet the Princess on her arrival to-morrow. We are roused early in the morning by a general liul)bub and a conflicting choir of young voices, and look from our window upon a transformation scene. The wdiolo space between our hotel and the railway, at which point the royal party are to alight, is cleared of lumber, and newly swept and garnished ; and on either side, rising one above another, rows of seats have been erected to accommodate ten thousand children, leaving between them a wide avenue for the progress of the vice-regal party. The children are already beginning to assemble ; they are all dressed in light colours, generally in white, with broad gay-coloured sashes, worn crosswise from the shoulder, each school wearino- a different colour, and having its own special flag fluttering over it. At first the schools seem to be all mixed together in inextricable confusion ; teachers and trainers dash franticly about, gathering their wandering flocks together; but long before the slow swinirin "^ 52 TIIROUOII CITIKS AND TRAIRIE LANDS. M'^l engine bell lieriilds the approach of the royal party, each school occupies its proper space and all is in order. From our balcony we watch the train come wriggling like a great black snake into the station. We are not near enough to distinguish faces, but a company of gayly dressed midgets seem to slip out upon the plat- form, and stand silent in the sunshine. There is a momentary lull, ^Vo look down the long lines of children's faces, rising tier upon tier ten thousand strong ; they are so arranged that their colours blend harmoniously together, they look like an animated flower garden ; a wave of excitement sweeps over them, suddenly ten thousand snowflakes seem fluttering in the air, ten thousand hands are waving tiny white handkerchiefs ; the choir of distant voices begin to sing " The Campbells are coming. Hurrah ! hurrah ! " and soft as the sound of an echo, the old familiar air reaches our ears, swelling louder and louder as it is caught up by one section after another, nearer and nearer, till the whole ten thousand voices fill the air with one great volume of sound. Meanwhile the newly arrived visitors progress slowly along the avenue, and " God save the Queen" and ''Rule Britannia" follow in quick succession, the children's voices quickening to a race, so eager are they to finish before the Princess is out of hearing. As she reaches her carriage, there is a clapping of hands and roar of welcome ; but she keeps in the background, leaving all the honour and glory to her husband, the Governor-General of the Dominion. Troops of Rifles, and engineers line the streets, and a general festivity takes possession of the city ; squibs, crackers and illuminations finish up the day. The short time we are able to devote to Toronto m_ If FROM CITY TO CATARACT. 53 passes too quickly; everybody is hospitably inCilined, and every day there are liinclieons, kettledninis, or dinners to be attended : .'dl are strictly arran^^-ed on the "home" principle; in fact the people here are more Kn;j,*lish than we are ourselven, and scrupulously avoid any peculiarity of the adjoining- states, — you may hear Americanisms in London, but never in (.Vmada. Tiie people are lavish in their liberality, but the city carries its economy farther than we care to follow it. On our way to a friend's house one evening-, we found the town wrapped in darkness ; we could neither see the names of the streets nor the numbers of the houses ; we lost ourselves, and at last came upon a dark grey figure carrying a bull's-eye — it was a policeman, who courteously convoyed us to our destination. " You see, ladies," he said, apologizing for the Cini- meranian darkness of his beloved city, " the moon is expected, and we never light the streets when we expect the moon ! " So when the moon is on duty the gas- works have a holiday. Toronto is beautifully situated amid stretches of well-wooded cultivated land, and spreads its wide skirts along the shore of Lake Ontario, where there should be a splendid promenade- — but is not ; for between the lake and the tall rows of hand- some houses, the railway runs close down along the water's edge, marring the prospect with its array of ugly sheds and cattle pens, while heavy goods trains are shunting and shrieking in the face of the town from morning till night : thus the opportunity of making one of the finest promenades in the dominion is lost. From Toronto we steam across the lake to the village of Niagara, ^vhere a train is waiting to carry us on to the falls about half an hour further on. xMK^-. M 54 THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIIUI:: LANDS. fi'-'i i!t! II III We all watch from the windows, eager to catch our first glimpse of the world's great wonder. I quote from my companion's note-hook on the spot, " There was a hreak in the wood, a flash of white, a cloud of spray tossed high above the tree-tops; then the dark woods closed again. That glimpse, flashing upon us and passing before we could fully realize that the great tumbling mass was indeed Niagara, can hardly be called our first view of it. ... It was dark when we reached the Clifton house ; the roar of the falls filled our ears, we stepped out upon the balcony, and there was a sight we can never forget. It was a moonless night, and in the dusk wo could only obscurely trace the vast vague outline of the two falls, divided by the blurred mass of shapeless shadows which we learned was Goat Island. As we looked upon them silently, and listened to the ceaseless boom like distant thunder, wliicli shook the ground beneath our feet, across the snowy veil of the American Fidl, to our left, shot ro ys of rosy light, which melted into amber, then into emerald. They were illuminatiiig the great waters with coloured calcium lights ! In whose bei:ighted mind rose the first tl cuglit of dressing Niagara up like a transformation scene in a pantomime ? It was like putting a tinsel crown and tarlatan skirts on the Venus of JMilo. But these brilliant rays which fell across the American Falls, and which were turned on and ofi' like a dis- solving view, did not reach to the Horseshoe Fall away to our right. Vast, solemn, sliadowy, we could just distinguish its form in the darkness, could hear the deep murmur of its awful voice. And there, between it and us, what was that we saw ? Was it some hutre pale ghost standing sentinel before Niagara ? White, FROM CITY TO CATARACT. 55 spectral, motionless, it rose up and readied towards the stars — shapeless, dim, vao-iie as a veiled g-host. There was something almost supernatural about it, it was like a colossal spectre, wrapped in a robe of strange dim light. " ' How fine and upright the column of spray is to- night,' said a strange voice beside us. This broke the illusion. But yet it seemed impossible that our ghost should be only a pillar of rising and falling spray ! We saw it again, daily and nig-htly, but seldom again like that. We saw it blown along in clouds ; we saw it like a great veil hiding the whole face of the Fall ; we saw it one evening at sunset leaping and sparkling- like a fountain of liquid gold, — but only once again did we see it rise up in that shape, the dim and ghostly guardian of the night. No mortal eye has ever beheld tlje base of the great Horseshoe Falls ; it is for ever veiled and lost in a wild white chaos of foam, tossed up in the fury of its headlong plunge, and hiding its depths in mystery. " The Indians hold that Niagara claims its yearly meed of victims. It may be so. Or does Niagara hus avenge itself on the civilization that has trinrmed and tamed its forests and dressed it up in tinsel-coloured lights ? But the thunder of water thunders on eter- nally, and before its terrible sublimity we are dumb, as in the mighty diapason our feeble voices .are lost." We remain eight days at Niagara ; its ' fascination increases ; but wo must tear ourselves away, and say good-bye to it, at last ; we are bound for the " Golden Gate," and great cities, lakes, mountains and prairie lands arc lying between it and us. 56 THROUGH CITIES AXD PHAIRIE LANDS. CHAPTER VI. THE EMPIRE CITY. iff!] New York — Fifth Avenue— Madison Square — The Elevated Rail- way—The Cars— The Shops— The People— West Point. We leave Niagara in the early morning, and start on our tedious journey on the long comfortless cars (we learned afterwards, that we might have taken seats in the parlour car). How we long for a lounge in one of our own easy well-cushioned first-class compartments ! Here, there are no lounging possibilities, we are forced to sit bolt upright, the back of the seats scarcely rising to our shoulder blades ; and the constant passing to and fro of the peddling fraternity, and the slamming and banging of doors as they come and go, is most irritating even to non-delicate nerves. We feel the lack of privacy in these American cars, but in this, as in most other cases, there is some compensation — we are safe from the attacks of lunatics, thieves, or ruffianism of any kind whatever, and we can obtain any quantity of rich ripe fruit, luscious strawberries, bananas and melons, figs, etc.; while there is a tank of iced water in the car for the refreshment, gratis, of thirsty souls. The train rushes through the high streets of busy towns, crossing crowded thorouglifares and public highways, keeping up full speed always, merely ring- THE EMPIRE CITY. 57 ing the engine bell, to warn people to get out of the way : they have to take care of themselves, and they know it ; no precaiitions are taken for the public safety ; the rails are merely laid down in the middle of the streets, and when the trains are not in sight other vehicles use the road. We stop to dine at Syracuse, sup at Utica, and reach New York a little before mid- night. A familiar face greets us on the platform, but not until we have engaged a carriage to take us to the Windsor Hotel, which proves to be just two blocks from the station ! Our luggage is in the hands of the expressman, and we could have walked to the hotel had we been aware of its nearness in less than five minutes ! The rapacious Jehu charged four dollars for our brief occupancy of his dingy vehicle ; it was the first and last time we were so beguiled. It is a starlight night, and we catch a glimpse of the tall dark houses, which seem to be reaching up to the moon. The names of the streets, we notice, are painted on the glass gas lamps at every corner, so that in the darkest weather you may always tell your where- abouts. The carriage stops at the monster hotel — a y >ry mountain of cherry-red bricks and mortar, a huge square building it is, oc" T)ying one entire block, built up so many storeys that our eyes can scarcely reach the top ; its windows are all shaded by outside linen blinds, which flap and flutter like flags in the dim night. The wide door opens, and swallows us up. We rather dreaded facing the clerk of this magnificent establishment ; we had heard so much of the species and the generally cavalier, supercilious manner with which they treated strangers that we preferred our modest request for a double-bedded room in fear and 68 THllOUan CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. trembling ; but our request could not have been more courteously received and answered if we bad been engaging the most gorgeous suite in the whole hotel : I believe the supercilious hotel clerk must be classed with extinct animals. We are politely conducted to the elevator, which carries us up higher — higher, till we fancy we must be approaching the seventh heaven, and at last are deposited in a large handsome apart- ment on one of the upper storeys. The next morning we take our first stroll through the " Empire city ; " an enthusiastic and patriotic American friend is with us early, anxious to see the efttict the first sight of his beloved city produces on our British constitution. We step out from the grand entrance of the Windsor Hotel, and witli a majestic wave of his arm he introduces us to " Fifth Avenue ! " and watches for the electrifying effect. Our faces fall, our ideas of the " Glories of the Avenue," which we had often heard sung, fade away. We look up, we look down ; instead of the wide shady avenue, and brilliant busy scene our fancy had painted, we see only a long, and by no means wide, street, bristling with churches, lifting their lofty spires from amid the rows of tall brown stone houses, which are closely packed on either side, each being approached by a flight of brown stone steps, with ornamental rails, handsome and dreary in their monotonous regu- larity ; but we catch no glimpse of a green tree any- where ! The whole street is stamped with aristocratic dulness ; a score or so of well-dressed people are sauntering along the side walk, and clean-looking white " stages," which run from one end of the city to tlie other, arc jolting along over the rough cobble stones THE EMPIRE CITY. 59 which pave the roadway ; the avenue is several miles long, but it grows less aristocratic, and leaves the even tenor of its way, when it passes through Madison Square, which is pretty and quite Parisian in its appearance, with a splendid growth of fine old trees and shady nooks and corners, quite an oasis in a desert of bricks and mortar ; streets of stone houses radiate from all sides of it ; and every day, through summer heat and winter snows, George Francis Train, with his ruined intellect and shaggy white beard, haunts the scene ; he is generally found seated ander one particular tree, cutting out paper boats and figures for the troops of children who swarm round him; and here stands Fifth Avenue Hotel, a stately building gleaming white in the sunshine. Here the stir of life begins, and flows in a restless magnetic current the live-long day. After leaving Madison Square, the avenue winds and wriggles its way to the lower part of the city, and mingles with the everyday working world. Leaving this aristocratic quarter we pass through one of the cross streets, between lines of the same brown stone houses, miniature copies of Fifth Avenue grandeur, and find ourselves in dem.ocratic Sixth Avenue, which is full of the bustle and roar of life ; shops to the right of us, shops to the left of us, shops everywhere and of every possible kind, — crabs, eels and oysters, Cliinese laundries, fancy toys, barbers, whisky bars, and fashionable milliners, elbow each other in true republican fashion. The side walks are thronged with hurrying crowds of men and Avomen ; along the centre of the road, but raised about forty feet above it, runs the elevated railway : it looks like a skeleton gridiron laid on a rack and stretched from one GO THROUGH CITIES AND PRAIRIE LANDS. end of the city to the other, its long arms branching off and running through the intricate labyrinths of the lower part of the town, rounding curves, and turning sharp corners, and, at times, so near to the houses you might shake hands with the inhabitants and see what they have for dinner. This airy mode of locomotion is startling at first, especially at night when the shops are closed, and the streets deserted ; you hear the rumbling of the train far off, and it thunders over your head, seeming to swing in mid-air between you and the sky, its green and red fiery eyes staring ahead and plunging into the darkness. Beneath this elevated road, which forms a kind of arcade, run lines of red and yellow cars jingling their bells merrily as they roll rapidly along the iron rails in an almost unbroken line, one following the other in quick succession. Public conveyances are cheap, and there are plenty of them : cars run from everywhere to everywhere. There are, of course, numerous livery stables, and a limited number of public cabs for hire, but they are very expensive as well as a doubtful luxury, and the drivers are most accomplished extortionists. It is 'mpossible that a drive through the streets of New \wrk could ever be taken for pleasure, in consequence of the rough cobble-stoned roadway ; it is a jolting pro- cess, you take your drive at the risk of dislocating your neck. The cars are roomy and easy ; both driver and conductor are protected from the weather ; they stand on a kind of balcony, with an umbrella-like projection sloping over them, effectually shielding them from sun or rain. Everybody rides in the cars, from the lady in costly furs and velvets to the costermonger. You may find yourself sandwiched between a fat negro and THE EMPIRE CTTY. 61 lean washerwoman, and facing your jewelled hostess of the night before. There are seme few trifling drawbacks in this land of liberty : the every-man's-as-good-as-his-neighbour feeling, is sometimes unpleasantly obtruded on your notice ; especially when you embark on a shopping expedition, there is an absence of that respectful ready attention we are accustomed to meet with in Europe. You enter, say, a draper's shop : the young ladies are engaged in a gossiping match, or a game at flirtation ; you wait their pleasure, not they yours ; when they do deign to attend you, it is with a sort of cc'^descending indifl"erence, and even while they are measuring a yard of ribbon, they keep up a fusillade of chatter with their companions. I speak of the rule, of course there are exceptions. Central Park is the only place where you can enjoy a drive — there driving is a delight, the roads are simply perfect, and scores of splendid equipages and beautiful women are on view daily in the grand drives from three till six o'clock ; while the bridle paths, winding through sylvan shades beneath fuU-foliaged trees, are crowded with fair equestrians and their attendant cavaliers : it is a pleasure to watch them at a trot, a canter, or a gallop, for the American women ride well and gracefully. New York is very proud of Central Park ; and well it may be so, for it is one of the finest in the world, there is nothing like it this side of the Atlantic. Twenty years ago it was a mere swampy rocky waste, now it is a triumph of engineering skill and a splendid illustration of the genius of land- scape gardening : there are smooth green lawns, shady groves, lakes, beautifully wooded dells and vine-covered G2 THROUGH CITIKS AND PRATRIE LANDS. arbours, whichever way yon turn you come upon delicious bits of picturesque scenery blossoming in unexpected nooks and corners. Here and there huge j2;rey rocks stand in their orif^inal rug'2;ed majesty, their broken lichen -covered boulders tumbling at their base. From the terrace, which is the highest point, you enjoy a view of the entire park with its numerous lakes, fountains, bridges, and statues, spreading like a beautiful panorama round you. Here, too, you fully rea- lize the cosmopolitan character of the city, for here great men of all nations are immortalized or libelled in stone, and their statues stud the park, side by side with the national heroes. Some idea of the extent of these grounds may be gathered from the fact, that there are ten miles of carria2:e drives, all as a rule wide enough for six to go abreast, about six miles of bridle paths for riding, and twenty-eight for pedestrian exercise ; a wide stretch of lawn is set apart for cricket or croquet playing, and a special quarter for children with merry- go-rounds, swings, etc. ; there is also a menagerie con- taining numerous and varied specimens of animals, the nucleus of what is to be, when completed, a fine zoological collection. The Park is situated in the centre of the upper town. The avenues run lengthwise from one end of the city to another, which are crossed by straight streets in a direct line from the East River, on the one side, to the Hudson on the other ; the famous Broad- way running diagonally from the upper town, slant- ing across streets, squares and avenues till it buries itself in the intricate wilds of the lower town, where the streets are closely massed together and densely populated with wanderers from all nations, Polish % THE EMPIRE CITY. 63 Jews, Russians, Italians, Germans, Irish, creating a wild confusion of tongues, all packed in tall tenement houses, in close narrow streets, scores of families living where there is scarcely health-breathing room for one. Castle Garden, where admirable arrangements are made for the reception of emigrants, and the " Battery," onco a fashionable promenade, point the lower end of this island city, girdled by the green waters of the Hudson and East River, which meet and mingle here. Wall Street, one of the great financial centres of the world, is situate in the busiest business quarter of the lower town, and runs in a somewhat broken line from Broad- way to the East River. The traffic here is enormous, this part of the city is like a human cauldron, with a restless multitude seething and bubbling from morning till night. There must be something in the air which excites the brain and allows to human nature no rest ; every man seems to be rushing for dear life's sake, while life itself is rushing after something else, some- times hurling itself out of this world into the next to find it. All above Central Park is like a ragged fringe of the great city — long half-finished avenues, straggling sparsely inhabited streets, and skeleton houses ; .much of the original swnmny ground lies still unclaimed. The Irish squatte .• in their rickety tumble-down hovels still cling to the land ; the malarial air may wrap them like a shroud, the swamp with its foul un- wholesomeness threaten to swallow them up — they will not stir. By slow, very slow degrees, as the Government reclaims the land, they are driven tow\ards the edge, but wherever they can find a footing they squat again. Although New York is one of the great commercial centres of the world, it is not a beautiful city ; there is f 7 64 THROUQH CITIKS AND PRAIRIE LANDS. notliiiig picturesque or attractive about it ; take away Central Park and you have a mere wilderness of bricks and mortar ; streets and houses so closely packed as scarce to leave breathin<^ room for its inhabitaTits. Every one wants to live near the centre, and as its watery girdle prevents the city spreading, it grows upwards, piling one story above another till it threatens to shut out the sky. It is not a clean city either : street cleaning is carried on in a slovenly fluctuating fashion ; there are no dust-bins in the backyards, but ash-barrels stand on the curbstone in front of every dwelling, and are the receptacles for all household refuse ; dust, ashes, cabbage stumps, fish bones, broken china, are all poured into the ash-barrel till it overflows and becomes an unsightly and unsavoury nuisance. There are several fine libraries, art galleries, and museums (to give an idea of their valuable and in- teresting contents would fill a volume), and churches so numerous that if the piety of the people kept pace with their churches there would be a scarcity of sinners. Their schools are abundant, and their educa- tional system the most perfect I have seen — every child may have the advantage of a splendid education gratis ; and the mode of teaching is such that the veriest dunce must find pleasure in learning. The superintendents and teachers are well chosen ; with tact and kindness they lead their pupils, not only to learn from books, but to think out their own thoughts, and by suggestive and pertinent questions, cause them to reflect and comprehend what the lesson teaches, so making the path of knowledge a path of roses ; what is pleasantly learnt is well learnt and long remembered, while the learning that is beaten in at one ear often THE KMPIRE CITY. 05 flies out at the other. In the matter of liospitals, and charitable institutions of all descriptions, the city of New York is second to none ; and all its arrangements are carried out with the large-hearted liberality which characterizes the American people. Though strongly republican in principle, they do not carry their republican notions into private life. Society is more exclusive than in the old country ; perhaps, not being sure of its own footing, it is afraid of tripping, .and watches warily lest any stray free lance should penetrate its interior ; each circle revolves within itself, rarely running one into another. Whole- sale and retail mix freely in all commercial matters, are " Hail, fellow ! well met ! " on the cars or in tlie streets, but on the threshold of home they part. The merchant, who sells a thousand gallons of oil, will not fraternize at home, or be weighed in the social scale with the vendor of a farthing dip. It is always difficult for a stranger to gain admission into the best New York society, but if you are once well introduced, it opens its arms and its heart to you with an hospi- tality that is genial and thorough. After revolving round its magic circle for a time, you will carry away with you such reminiscences of its brilliant coteries and delightful home gatherings as you will not easily forget. We are able to take but a casual survey of the P]mpire City, and enjoy for a brief space the hospitality so freely extended to us. We are on our way to the West, and are anxious to cross the Rocky Mountains before the severe weather set in. Before we start on our long journey, we run up the Hudson, and spend a few days at West Point, celebrated for the great mili- Li! (yC, THROUGH CITIK8 AND PRAIRIF; LANDS. tary collen;o ; It is a deli^htriil excursion of about three hour.s, the river windinij;' tlirou^h a panorama of lovely scenery, the banks on either side wearing their varie- gated autumn dress of crimson and gold and green ; but it is at West Point itself we realize the full glory and eftect of the gorgeous autumn colourijig. Wonder- fully indeed has nature painted the land ; the maples are clothed in glowing crimson, and the chestnut and the ash wear their warm-tinted robes beside them, wliile covering the liundred hills around and over- spreading the undulating land are bold patches of purple, orange, browns, gold and greens of many shades, such as an artist would love to dream of. It is one gigantic God-painted mosaic (for such colours could not be manuiactured by earthly hands), with a background of cool November sky. West Point itself is like a bit of an earthly para- dise ; it stands high above the river, and is surrounded by scenery that is both picturesque and grand. You may lose yourself in its delightful solitudes within sound of the College bells ; the river winds in and out about the skirts of West Point like a huge silver ser- pent; from the terrace of the hotel there is a mag- nificent view of hill and dale, wood and water, which reminds one strongly of the loveliest, loneliest part of the lake of Lucerne. There is plenty of gaiety for those who like it : daily parades, military bands, balls, picnics and kettle- drums ; and during the summer season the hotels — there are but two — are crowded with the rank and fashion of the State. ( 67 ) (.^IIAPTER TIT. TO TIIK PHffiNIX-CITY. Wo Start — Our Car — Our Dressing-room — Chicago — Its Park — The Palmer House. Of the many routes to San Francisco we chose the Pennsylvania line of railway, which takes us as far as Chicago, having been informed by some old tourists that we should find it by far the most picturesque and agreeable, besides being the smoothest to run over, the rails being steel and laid with special care, and the new carriages being built with all consideration for the comfort and convenience of their passengers. We had rather a dread of American railways, having heard so much of their reckless speed and wilful disregard of all rules and regulations, that we started on our journey in some trepidation of spirit, with a nervous feeling that something must happen before the end of it. But we gained confidence as we discovered the surprising fact that life is equally dear to its owners here as at home, and that drivers, engineers, and other employes are as attentive to their duties here as in any other quarter of the globe. We settled our- selves comfortably in the seats of our luxurious Pull- man car, and prepared to enjoy the scjiicry. 68 TIIROUCJII ClTli:S AND PHAIRIR LaNDS. 'M 111 Wo fly .swiftly throiin^li the lii,ii;lily cultivated Stnte of Ponnsylvanin ; for tlircc or lour limidrod miles, we arc surrounded by a paiiorniua of picturesque l)eauty — Kpnrklin<2,* rivers, windiur^ tlirouf^h uridulatiuf^ liilla and verdant plains, with here !ind there pretty villa,!;'es crecpiufj; u)) the green hill-sides or nestling' at their feet. J*i'esent]y somethiuf^ that hjoks like a dnrk wri^'o-Hn;:^ worm, witli a fierce fiery eye, comes wickedly towards us. We are roundini^ the wonderful horseshoe curve ; it is our own en<;*ine, which seems to be comiui;' in one direction while we are jj;oin<2; in another; but it is all I'io-lit; it di-ngs us round, and speeds alon<^ on levi^l ^-round once more. We pass the Alloji^htiny Mountains, which on this occasion \v(^ar a crown of jewelled l.anies lea])ini!,- ^n luri