THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
f</v.
n\^
SEVENTY YEARS OF LIEE
VICTORIAN ERA
EMBRACING A TRAVELLING RECORD IN
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND,
AND AMERICA, 6-r.
A PHYSICIAN
T . FISHER U X W I N
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
MDCCCXCIll
(a-
H S 74
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
SYDNEY
TOWN HALL, SYDNEY
ZIG-ZAG RAILWAY, BLUE MOUNTAINS, LITHGOW
N.S.W.
FERN TREE VALLEY, SCOTSDALE, TASMANIA
NEW ZEALAND CHIEF ...
NEW ZEALAND VEGETABLE CATERPILLAR
AUCKLAND YOUNG LADY
SEALS ON THI'. ROCKS AT SAN FRANCISCO
SALT LAKE CITY
THE ROYAL fiORGE, PASSAGE UF THE ROCKIi:S
RAILWAY OVER THE ROCKIES ...
NIAGARA FALLS ...
THE IiRID<iE OVER NIAGARA RAPIDS ...
NEW YORK
TERJIINUS, ELEVATED RAILWAY, NEW VOWK
BROADWAY, NEW YORK...
P.\GE
151
153
1(30
169
202
•208
214
227
234
240
242
255
258
2(55
2()7
278
8:i7477
SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE IN THE
VICTORIAN ERA.
CHAPTER I.
I AM one who has just commenced to traverse his
seventy-first year, and can look backward over a
life more or less of a checkered character, involving
as it does a time spent in actual warfare, as well
as in a struggling civil life passed in the metro-
polis and the provinces of England, with intervals of
travel extending over Europe, the Australian colonies,
and America. A review of the experiences of such a
life may, perhaps, prove to be interesting and even
instructive, and I make no further apologies for
printing these reminiscences.
My father was a country rector, who had three sons,
of whom I was the youngest. The rectory was not
a very rich one, and the income was not supplemented
to any great extent by private means. Consequently
there was no hesitation as to what was to be done with
mr boys : " we were early impressed with the fact
it wo must work for our own living, and be the
2 SEVENTY YEAKS OF LIFE
architects of our own future position, hence we were
to select the three learned professions respectively,
and Physic fell to my lot, my brothers choosing Law
and Divinity. My father, fortunately for us, was a
good classic, having been elected, as a young man, to
act as coadjutor with the head master of Eugby
School ; hence we were well founded in what was
then deemed the sine qua non of a gentleman's educa-
tion, and the pater kept pegging away at us till we
reached the age of thirteen, when we were sent off to
a public school to continue our plodding with varying
success. Our mother was one in a million, and no
sacrifice was too great for her to make for the well-
being of her sons. She was very beautiful, and
descended from an old family beginning with the
Crusaders' times. She gave up the world for the
sake of her children. She was the grand home
peacemaker, and her sons " grew up and blessed
her." Our parents were indulgent to a certain ex-
tent, but they had their hard-and-fast line, which
was firm and unyielding, and which we were taught
to respect. We were allowed, our fill of field sports
as young lads, and took a practical interest in all the
work connected with the cultivation of an extensive
glebe-land. This laid the foundation of vigorous
health. Cricket, tennis, and croquet were not to the
fore in those da3's.
Play over, our schooling was work — work and no
mistake — it meant business, serious and attentive,
and we were taught to sing in harmony : —
" When a weary task you find it,
Persevere, and never mind it."'
IN THE VIC TOE I AN Eli A. 3
Whether at work or phiy there was no nonsensical
famiharity permitted, and a gulf of respectful dis-
tance was always maintained at such times, and it
never entered our heads to nickname either of our
parents to their faces or behind their backs — our
father as the " Gov.," or our mother as the " Old
Lady." In these very enlightened and very much
civilised days such a reverential attitude would, I
take it, be considered by Young England as too old-
fashioned !
When we become men, that is, when we leave
behind the restraints of schooldom and pass on to
college life, we are supposed to put aside childish
things ; but that, in too many cases, is only an as-
sumption by freshmen, who air their littlenesses in
strutting about bedecked in full-fledged attire of the
most approved fashion, to the sweet delight of the
artistic tailor, who will wait i)atiently any length
of time for his extortionate bill, which, when pre-
sented after the lapse of two or three years, shocks
and confounds the self-denying parents at home, who
are in blissful ignorance that such an indebtedness
exists ; and yet the young hopeful can face his loving
ones, vacation after vacation, without a blush, con-
soling his conscience that that is the way young fellows
act who would assume the right tone and do credit to
their college. They are too weak-kneed to resist the
temptation of having a change of trousers for every
day in the week, &c., and thus to assume the appear-
ance of wealth which they have not. From the
stand-point of my bringing up I could see no fun in
this sort of foppishness, nor any feeling of satisfaction
4 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
in strutting up and down High Street in cap and
gown, the observed of all observers, especially of the
fair sex. My father, if he had been in the commercial
line, would soon have convinced me in technical lan-
guage that that style of thing would " not pay."
Therefore, without farther ado, I tackled to, and
though the harness chafed me a little at first, I
soon found it became easier in the wearing, and that
regular systematic work for every hour of the day as
it came round was a grand stay against the inclina-
tion to swerve from the right track and to join in the
pranks of the pleasure-seeking lot, who would do their
best to bring you down to their level, and do no hard
work till the last year of their curriculum, with the
risk of being " plucked," cramming notwithstanding.
In order to secure a good place in the estimation of
the professors and stand fairly well with college
authorities I determined to succeed if labour and
plodding would do it. I could not command success
of course, but I resolved not to have it on my conscience
that I did not do my best to deserve it, and laying to
heart the principle of the old fable that the tortoise
will overtake the hare if it keeps pegging away long
enough, and does not faint and get down-spirited on
the way, I determined to rise up at 5.30 a.m., light
the fire, make my coffee, and get an hour's start at
thinking and plodding before my more lively antago-
nists were awake. This early rising made it easy to
be punctual at chapel parade at 7.30 a.m., which I
never failed to attend, as it seemed to sanctify and
encourage the day's employment ; it was a bright,
cheerful service, so rendered by the students' quartet
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 5
part singing, of which I was bass. I seldom went into
society during my first summer's session, which was
assiduously given up to the study of botany, and a
good standard of health was kept up by roaming over
the country in all directions in search of specimens,
of which I made a useful, practical selection, and
arranged four hundred dried ones for the examination,
which I passed, and which resulted in my obtaining
the certificate of honour, an old student taking the
silver medal. Thus I made my first mark, and se-
cured the smile of approval of one of the professors
at least. And what was more encouraging, this, my
first trial trip in science, pleased a relative of mine, a
double-first classman at Oxford, who had risen entirely
by his own unaided eft'nrts to an eminent position in
Christchurch, that he invited me to spend a portion
of the long vacation at his house in Peckwater Quad-
rangle. There I met some of the greatest intellects
of the day — all now gone to their rest. From
their conversation I frequently gathered many useful
hints, which roused my ambition to rise and go
ahead if industry would do it. I was much amused
one day by observing that their enjoyment of a good
dinner did not interfere with the mental labours of
these great men. My cousin, a bachelor, was cele-
brated for his excellent cidsine, and dinners a la Jiusse
were just then coming into vogue, and one evening,
during my stay, twelve of the great dons were invited
to meet round the hospitable board, when sixteen
courses were served ; the constant changing of plates
was amusing, if not bewildering, and one celebrated,
but humorous guest, who sat next to me, had his
6 SEVENTY YE A US OF LIFE
plate removed thirteen times out of tiie possible six-
teen, and, what is more, managed to keep talking all
the time, cracking jokes and reciting telling anecdotes,
reminding one rather ol" the gifts of the late Bishop
Wilberforce in this respect.
Having now to return to college for the winter
session, the crucial question that had to be put to
myself was how much working power I had in me,
and how many prizes were there within measurable
distance of a first-year's student's chance of getting.
I had the hardihood and presumption to decide to
compete for four of these, which were open also to
second and third-years' men. The first was a gold
medal and money, the interest of £1,000, given by a
well-known philanthropist, for the best essay on a
chosen subject bearing on science, with a view to
exemplify the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God
— somewhat after the style of the Bridgewater
treatises. The next plum was a gold medal for the
best report of cases taken at the bedside of the sick
poor in their own homes, being out-patients of the
hospital which we all walked.
Another gold medal was awarded by authorities to
that student who could pass the best examination in
all the subjects taught during the winter session ;
but for this " good-all-round " prize it was laid down
as an essential that the student should have been a
regular attendant at morning chapel. This sine qiid
nan reduced the numbers who wished to compete
considerahly ; but it goes without saj'ing that this
medal was the great cynosure of all eyes !
The fourth prize m contemplation was a medal for
IN THE VICTOIUAN ERA. 7
the best examination in practical chemistry ; and as
the professor had selected me as his assistant to help
him in the college laboratory, I stood a good chance
of securing this, though the work was very dirty, tlie
furnaces making one's hands like those of a black-
smith ; but the analysis (organic and inorganic) were
very fascinating and deeply impressive, never to be
effaced from the memory. I had, as I say, the hardi-
hood to try and gain these alluring rewards held out
to the young men. Some of the elder fellows deemed
me very impertinent to dream of such an ambitious
scale of work ; but I had made up my mind and set
to, undaunted and even unintluenced by their sneers
and gibes. Up early, and closing at 11 p.m., shuaning
society, and resisting gaieties of all kinds, I deter-
mined to plod on and win the lot, if self-denial and
hard work would do it. But I may remark here,
come what may, I had determined not to do auy
secular work on the Sunday. 1 closed my books at
midnight on Saturday, and. did not open them again
till Monday morning.
CHAPTER 11.
I NEED not dwell on the trials and opposition I
encountered during my first winter's campaign — it
was gloomy indeed, but it all ended in sunshine in
the spring. When it was decided that I had been
the successful competitor for the four aforesaid
prizes, then human nature asserted herself, and
those who had been my l)itterest enemies generously
came forward with their congratulations, and, in the
slang of even that time, dubbed me a " brick," and
said I was a credit to the college. But the most
gratifying day was still to come, when the sessional
prizes were to be distributed among the successful
students ; and when I was called up for the fourth
time to receive a medal — and that in a town hall
crowded with ladies and gentlemen — the applause
was unmistakable; and to enhance the delight of the
reception, the prizes came from the hands of a chair-
man, a peer, and himself a double-first class-man. I
could not help feeling rather staggered, as it was such
a revulsion of position — from a retired ascetic life in a
college room to be the central mark in such a splendid
gathering — but if for a time I felt a pardonable degree
of elation, it was quickly suppressed by my father's
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 9
manner when I took the medals home. Of course he
was pleased with my acquisitions, but he very quickly
gave me to understand that I must not stay my
hand, but go on working — in fact, must be content
to be a student all my life if I would hold my own
in the world. Much to my great grief, my poor
mother had gone to her rest in heaven before these
honours had been conferred on her " dillin," other-
wise it would have been a pleasurable moment ta
prove to her that her self-sacrifices and her self-
effacement for the well-being of her family were
bearing fruit. Our sorrow was shared by the poor
people especially, for she had constituted herself
for years the parish doctor (we being six miles from
the regular one), dispensing medicines and surgical
appliances and medical comforts to the sick and
needy with a willing and liberal hand unaided, for
there w^as no rich squire's house to draw upon
in emergencies, the community being made up of
small farmers and miners. The mouldy, dilapidated
state of the church was a constant fret to her highly
wrought moral sensitiveness, for in those days of
religious indifferentism it was most difficult to get
money even to make the necessary repairs. I recol-
lect when the tower was giving way under the weight
of its eight bells, my father had no end of trouble
to collect i-lO, having to supplement the rest of the
cost out of his own pocket — and this for to keep this
portion of the sacred edifice from collapsing alto-
gether. When I reflect upon and compare the
condition of the national churches of that period
with that of the present day, even in obscure
lU SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
districts, 1 am struck with astonishment at the
great change for the better. On entering one of
these, open only once a week, the smell was like
that of a mildewing vault, damp and stufiy, with
fungi growing out between the flagstones on the
floor ; the woodwork of the seats w^orm-eaten and
decaying, and the three-decker itself hardly safe to
mount. Those were the days in which dissent made
much headway with the lower illiterate classes,
roused to a high pitch of enthusiasm by itinerant
preachers chosen from themselves, and who could
speak to their hearts in a phraseology peculiar to
themselves the grand truths in the good old
Book.
Passing on from this bit of digression, we arrive at
the second winter session, which commenced under
most auspicious circumstances. I had made my
mark, and was something more than the mere numeral
on my college room door. Our warden (the chancellor
of a diocese and the son of a bishop who had married
a peer's daughter with a nice dowry) — a man who
knew what hard brain-work meant, having edited
three large volumes on Ecclesiastical Law — was so
exercised in his miud over the fact that any student
could manage to monoj)olise four college medals in
one year that, at one of his wine parties which he
gave to a select few every week, he surprised us by
saying that he would be pleased to confer ±'50 on any
student who could accomplish the same feat again.
We forgot the dignity of his position lor the moment,
and gave him a hearty cheer for his liberal offer ; £50
was great m our eyes in those days, magnified to the
IN THE VICTOEIAN ERA. 11
extent of i'500 to what that sum would be to us in
after life. It must be confessed that I felt much
disappointed that I was out of the running ; but,
pillowing the matter over that night, I reflected over
the principle of the proposal, and, calling upon the
warden the next morning, asked him if he deemed it
an essential to the gaining of his £50 that the prizes
should be actually and despotically four medals. His
reply thrilled me with hope. " Certainly not," he
said. "All I bargain for is, that they should be first
class." Then I replied, " Perhaps you would permit the
Scholarship on Divinity to stand as one?" "Not
only so," said he, " but, being a clergyman, I should
feel rather inclined to make that count as two." " Oh,
no," I replied; "pray keep to your original agree-
ment." But he said, with a twinkle in his eye, " Are
you going to try ? " " Certainly so, if you will allow
me." A cordial shake of the hand was his answer,
and we parted, he saying it would be fearfully hard
work; but there was an encouraging " God help you,"
unexpressed save in his benevolent face. Well, the
winter months were passed in right down hard plod-
ding, on which 1 relied rather than upon any superior
talents I had been blessed with. Those of superior
intellects would persist, as usual, in putting off coming
into the struggle and the fight till the season was half
spent, and then in their Hurry got nervous, sleepless,
and dyspeptic, and, with brains suddenly overstrained,
the staying powers of the memory would fail just at
the finish. In all my anxiety to win I still kept to my
resolution not to do any secular work on the Sunday,
but I drew a line there which did not include the
12 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOlilAN ERA.
study of divinity and philosophy ; these I set apart
for that day as recreative, peaceful, and inspiring.
Butler's "Analogy," Paley's "Evidences of Chris-
tianity," and Fenelon's works were the books for the
examination to get the scholarship which was good
for 4' 20 a year.
To make a long story short, and not to weary the
attention of the reader, I will at once jump to the
conclusion of the session, which ended in my being
the successful competitor for the Chancellor's Prize of
£50, which involved, happily for me, the much-coveted
scholarship. These secured to me £70 in cash, which
for the moment made me feel passing rich, and the
vacation would have been spent in undimmed pleasure
but for a very heavy black cloud which came acrops
my sunny sky. My father was suddenly taken away
from us at this critical time of my career in life, and
with him was gone our old home at the rectory, and,
what was worse, I was now thrown on my own re-
sources practically to continue and finish my studies
and obtain my diplomas.
CHAPTER IIT.
The real tug of war began in my third and last year,
and it was very doubtful at its beginning whether I
could find sufficient financial help to remain in college
and finish the necessary course of lectures and secure
my hospital certificates. As to my very dear rela-
tions, some of them boasting of their thousands, I
soon found that they could flatter with their lips, but
they did not feel disposed to fork out much from their
purses. " Put not your trust in princes, nor in any
child of man." Assistance came in the nick of time
from most unexpected quarters, from strangers, in
fact, and it roused the feeling that the loving Father
was just chastening, but not forsaking, the newly-
made orphan. Circumstances soon proved this as
plainly as if an angel from heaven had spoken. I
had my I'TO intact, and mj' " commons " in the
college hall would only cost me £24:. I therefore had
a fair balance in hand, but to supplement this I got
i'lO for acting as tutor to a junior class which the
good warden had instituted, and which he entrusted
to my supervision. This was very cheering, and a
great compliment to an undergraduate. He also con-
14 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
fided to me as umpire a prize of £*6 to be r,'iven to the
student whom I considered had passed the best
examination in these two subjects — ditto, another
compliment. Feeling quite safe as to getting through
my final exams, for the diplomas when the time
arrived for such, I did not stick now so close to work,
but went out to enjoy a little musical society, but
what I greatly yearned for, and had set my heart
upon, was to get if possible a stained glass window
at the east end of the college chapel. This I set
myself out to accomplish, and having first obtained a
beautiful design — the subject being our Saviour heal-
ing the sick at the Pool of Bethesda, which was given
to me by a rising young artist as a gratuitous contri-
bution — I found that the cost of putting in the window
would be £120, the manufacturers waiving their
claim to anj^ trade profit. So far so good. Now
began my first begging-letter experience, and as my
application was a good and disinterested one, it gave
me boldness to persevere. Subscriptions came in
nicely, and in order to square the deficit I gave a
demonstrative course of lectures on chemistry in the
college hall, to which outsiders were admitted by pay-
ment. This was also a success, and ended with a
surplus, which delighted the professorial staff, who
were in fears that the hat would have to go round
among them after all. And though they considered
me in an irresponsible position, the whole aft'air from
beginning to ending was a striking proof to them and
to all the students what could be done by pluck and
perseverance, provided the object to be attained had
sound moral and religious bearings, and this even bv
IN THE VIC TO HI AN Eli A. 15
an imlividual poor and humble who had only made
liis mark by taking a few medals, kt.
Nothing very worthy of note took place till the end
of the session, when all my certificates, necessary for
my final exams., were filled up and signed by the
respective professors, and I was read}', with feelings
unruffled, to undergo those trying ordeals so fearfully
dreaded by the student who has become perhaps ner-
vously and tremblingly anxious because his accusing
conscience whispers to him that he has not made the
best use of his time and opportunities, and has jtut off
till the third year, and to his trust in " coaching," to
cram into an unprepared and an unexpanded mind
and memory that amount of knowledge which ought
to have been gradnaUi/ acquired over the course of the
three years allotted to him. Sleeplessness and sink-
ing dyspepsia overtake him at the eleventh hour, and
as the solemn day arrives he throws up the sponge in
sheer fright at the idea of being " plucked," so he
retires into private life and private study for six or
twelve months, involving additional expense to his
self-sacrificing relations or friends, whom he has
cajoled into believing that he has broken down from
a legitimate strain of over-work — a deception his
tutor could at any moment prove to the contrary.
The above description is truly typical of those young
men who have been cursed with a little independence
of their own, and which they have magnified in their
worldly inexperience into something of tenfold its
vakie, and have been induced under this false notion
to lead a life of dole c far nicntc during the first two
years of their college life, and have thus trifled with
16 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
opportunities which can never be recalled. Such
instances are very pitiable and sorrowful when the
subject is a married man who is trying to enter the
profession later in life than ordinary. An instance
of this kind I recollect very well. I was coaching a
gentleman whose wife had the means of starting him
in a profession, and she was very ambitious that he
should succeed, and he, on his part, was equally
anxious to show her that she had not married a fool,
but one who could soar far above the mental calibre
of a tradesman, from whom she had originated ; con-
sequently the man's mettle was up, and I must admit
he made the most courageous efforts to succeed. He
was a strong, athletic fellow, ■ and loved practical
surgery, in which he was well up, having been an
assistant to a surgeon in the "Black Country" for
several years, but when we came to abstract theories
and abstruse occult subjects, he was stupidity itself,
and my labours to drill him into something like
decent shape was prodigious, and my stock of
patience was sorely tried ; but what annoyed me
much was this — when he stumbled a little in his
replies he used to get so guiltily red in the face, which
was of the full-moon size, and made him look so
intensely stupid and deficient. I was consoled, how-
ever, by the knowledge that he reallj' was thoroughlj-
well up in practical surgery, and that it was to the
College of Surgeons he was going for a diploma, but
I knew the examiners there were not content with
manual skill only — they will have a man liberally
educated in the bothering 'ologies as well ; so I kept
pegging along steadily until the awful day arrived.
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 17
and I actually coached liim up to the very doors of
the college, and as he entered its gloomy portals
wound up ^yith one final warning, viz. : " Should the
examiners tackle you on a subject you are not quite
at home in, pray go on talking, and don't blush and
hesitate as if you did not know, and in tlie confusion
the question may be changed to one your jabbering
has suggested. Of course you were a little deaf and
did not hear exactly what was asked, do you under-
stand ? " " Oh, 3'es," said he, " I twig your meaning."
I waited in some trepidation till his examination was
over, and when he presented himself with a beaming
countenance redder even than usual, I plainly per-
ceived that all was well, and that he had passed the
fiery ordeal, he remarking, " But for your last warning
at the entrance I really do believe that I should have
been ' ploughed.' The examiner took me on the
hip, and I began to feel I was getting hot and con-
fused, when, remembering your hint, I stumbled on
and said something about the femoral, when the
examiner, smiling, said, ' Oh, yes, what about the
femoral ? Do you mean the artery or the hernia ? '
' Either,' said I, promptly. ' Very well, let us see
what you know "? ' Thanks to you, I was at my ease
directly, and getting through the descriptions satis-
factorily, I gained confidence and passed the remainder
comfortably." "Now," I replied, equally gratified,
"won't your wife be pleased, and won't she give you
such an afiectionate hug as you have never as yet
experienced, and if she never prayed heartily before
I am sure she did to-day for your success. And now
you deserve her respect as well as her love. Go forth
3
18 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
and prosper, my dear fellow, and don't forget the
cheerful saying from the good old Book : ' Oh rest in
the Lord, and wait patiently for Him, and He shall
give thee thy heart's desire.' "
As my last session was closing in upon me, and
everything was prepared for my examination, the
only difficulties which stared me in the face were
those of a pecuniary character. I could not see
•where the money was to come from to pay the neces-
sary fees for the diplomas ; ^35 would be required
for the degree of M.D., reducing the expenses to the
lowest figure. But taking a retrospective view of the
past three years, and the wonderful way in which I
had been upheld by so many unforeseen and unex-
pected interpositions, I did not lose faith in the con-
tinuous mercy of a kind overruling Providence, nor
yet in the power of prayer, which my good mother
never ceased to instil into us. I was not kept very
long in anxious suspense. Our good warden, and his
equally good countess, with whom I had been staying
for some weeks to recoup my energies, which had run
down from too close teaching, informed me that the
founder of the so-called Bridgewater Treatise, which
I had succeeded in gaining, hearing of the fix I was
in, very kindly offered to pay my M.D. fees as soon
as I had passed, which I did at once. This benevo-
lent act of a person I had never seen was so unlocked
for that I was astonished beyond measure, and it so
exercised my thoughts that it implanted in me more
than ever a very lively faith in the Divine ruling,
and Heaven's supervision of the orphan, who was
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 19
evidently not going to be deserted. About this time
I was introduced to an honourable and reverend
divine, who came to my aid by advising me to apply
to the " Sons of Clergy Corporation " for assistance
to pay the fees of the College of Surgeons, which that
admirable institution of bicentennial goodness agreed
to do, and I became a full-fledged surgeon.
CHAPTER lY.
With the aid of my prize-money and that of the
scholarship my cruse of oil was again replenished,
which enabled me to accept a pressing invitation from
my old professor of chemistry who was staying in
Paris, to pay that lively city a visit. This I did by
taking a river steamer at Havre and going up that
lovely portion of the Seine between that town and
Eouen, where I got off and took the train for Paris,
which I crossed from west to east to reach the
students' quarters. Here I found the professor located
in a cheap hotel, the whole expenses of which were
met by an expenditure of thirty francs a week. Those
were palmy days when the prices for everything had
not been run up to the same extent as they are now
by crowds of rich Americans and wealthy English
merchants, aggravated by an increased octroi in
consequence of the expenditure of many millions for
Hausman's improvements — the wholesale sweeping off
of the old rookeries, and in their place the erection of
huge highly decorated mansions which have made
everything cent per cent dearer for every class of
lodgment in this gay city. I did not pass my time in
20
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 21
amusements only. I was advised by the professor to
take a two months' course of practical surgical opera-
tions on the dead subject at Clamart, where a public
certificate would be given as soon as the pupil could
perform the whole series of operations as quickly and
skilfully as the teacher, authorised and selected by
the French Government, could do them. This boon
I acquired at the end of the two months. I also
attended the practice at the Hotel Dieu, a Government
chemical lal)oratory, and other public educational
establishments open gratuitously to the student,
where I picked up some useful crumbs not easily
got at in England. I may here state that Paris
was at that time the resort of men in pursuit of
science from all parts of the world. There were five
different languages spoken in the saloon of our hotel,
each nationality seated at separate tables. They
were a godless lot, and one French count, a more
zealous infidel than the rest, was exerting his talents
to show, by the chemical experiments he was making,
that the Mosaic order of creation was a series of
scientific blunders from beginning to end. However,
it served to arouse my interest on the subject so far
that when I returned to England I spent much time
and some expense in exploring the matter for my own
satisfaction, which involved some delicate manipula-
tions to show the influence of light on the surface
of vegetation, and the wonderful circle of interchanges
between that world and the animal creation through
the medium of the atmosphere. It took several
months to complete, and in the end it convinced me
more than anything I could have gleaned from the
22 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
most logical abstract theories, however plausible,
that the order of creation as laid down by the
unscienced mind of Moses was, on the whole, a
marvel of accuracy and replete with truths which
modern man, with all his wonderful aids from the
perfect instruments for research in the eighteenth
century, could not upset or gainsay !
This analysis, though wearisome and trying to
one's patience, resulting in regulating and setting my
thoughts and convictions on the two grand cardinal
points — my faith in the Scriptures, and the Omni-
presence of the Deity. Therefore I am thankful for
my first visit to Paris, now forty-four years ago, for
implanting in my heart these deep religious im-
pressions which have never forsaken me.
The last of the " three days' fetes of July " at the
public expense which had been annually held to
commemorate the restoration of the monarchy under
Louis Philippe took place when I was in Paris, and
the contemptuous way in which everything of a
Napoleonic character was treated was quite remark-
able — for instance, plaister casts of Napoleon in his
cocked hat and riding coat, and Marshal Ney and
such like noted personages connected with their
glorious wars, would be set up, like so many Aunt
Sallys in the booths to be shot at for a sou. But
this fete, in which the people seemed to run wild,
was not powerful enough to divert the attention of
the populace from certain wrongs which agitators
kept dinging into their ears, and the king would not
budge an inch from those privileges which are sup-
posed to hedge him about by divine right, notwith-
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 28
standing, it is said, the intercession of Madame
Adelaide, his daughter, who prayed to liim on bended
Icnees that he would make some concession to the
people before it was too late ; but the king was
stubborn, and could not realise the truth of the
position till he heard shots fired into the windows of
the Tuileries, when he fled almost penniless to the
coast and took refuge in an English yacht and made
his way to England, the safe refuge for those in
political trouble.
Before this crisis, the undercurrent of murmuring
discontent among tlie democracy was apparent to
every one except to those in the palace. I could —
every one could — see in every street and in every
cafe, knots of men collected together talking politics
and discussing openly the situation. The fire was
smouldering for months and giving fearful warnings,
but the executive took no heed — none are so blind as
those who won't see.
1 now took my leave of the gay metropolis of
fashion, and having some cash to spare I returned
home by way of Belgium, visiting Brussels, Antwerp,
Malhie, and doing the lihine from Cologne to Stras-
bourg, which previous hard work enabled me to enjoy
the more. On reaching London I got a letter from
one of my old college professors requesting me, if
1 had made no other engagements, to join their staff
as tutor, offering me one hundred a year, with rooms
and free commons, and any fees I could pick up by
private coaching. This offer came upon mu quite as
a windfall, imd I gladly accepted the appointment,
as it gave me an opportunity of prosecuting my studies
24 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
in order to get the license to practice medicine from
the Eoyal College of Physicians of London which, at
that time, required one to submit to five or six days'
examination, and to have reached the age of twenty-
six years. The winter session passed off uneventfully,
saving the materialistic impression which began to
prevail among the more advanced students, and
which I endeavoured to combat with all the forcible
arguments I could muster, and having made an
unusual mark myself as a thinker and practical
demonstrator, I perhaps exerted more influence
and weight in counteracting this deadly influence.
At least, our relative positions as tutor and student
were such that we could unreservedly and dispassion-
ately discuss the metaphysical arguments together
without quarrelling and without compromising our
independence.
In April I went up for my examination at the
College of Physicians, and as the windows over-
looked Trafalgar Square we had a full view of the
celebrated Chartist meeting which took place on one
of the days. We were much amused at the fussy
attitude of the hundreds of special constables who,
" bedecked with a little brief authority, played such
fantastic tricks" by shoving about defenceless women
and children ; while the Duke of Wellington had
had secreted in St. Martin's Church the Guards and
some shotted cannon, and in the Strand the sacred
buildings near Somerset House were ready to rake
that thoroughfare from end to end in case of a
popular uproar, and the risk of looting the shops ;
but the scare collapsed quieth' and peace was not
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 25
disturbed, and it all ended in the classes learning
a lesson from the masses !
Though our time and attention was much diverted
from our examining papers during this day's excite-
ment, we finally satisfied the censors that we could be
entrusted with the lives of Her Majesty's subjects,
and our diplomas were duly handed over to us, headed
by the signature of old Dr. Paris, a physician of emi-
nence of a bygone generation, and whose knowledge
of the then progress in science, especially analytical
chemistr}^ w^as rather foggy. My health gave way
about this time, and I spent several months at the
seaside to recruit it. And as I rallied picked up
a five-pound note now and again by giving a practical
lecture on chemistry and botany to young men at
mechanic institutes.
As another phrase of my life will soon commence,
I will defer the same till we are en route to the next
chapter.
CHAPTER V.
When recruiting at the seaside, I heard of a vacancy
in the medical staff of a large infirmary in a midland
county town. A physician was required to fill the
post of attending, not only to this infirmary with its
hundred beds, but also to a fever hospital with
another fifty. As there were only two physicians
to do the work, the duties seemed rather onerous
even to me, but I was pressed to try my luck, as
a lady voter said. And on visiting the town for the
first time as a perfect stranger to every one, it was
discouraging to learn that there were alread}- four
candidates in the field, three being well-known local
practitioners, and the fourth an elderly physician
from London, a stranger like myself. It seemed
rather a hopeless sort of struggle, especially so with
the three former, but a clergyman of position and
influence in the county, and a large subscriber to the
funds of the institution, was won over by his wife to
my side, and he surprised me by saying that there
was a great deal of political feeling in connection
with the election, that there was in fact a Whig and
Tory side in the matter. I being a clergyman's son
was regarded as necessarily belonging to the Con-
26
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOBIAN ERA. 27
servative section, though I had no political bias one
way or the other, for my mission in life was one of
mercy to all ranks and conditions of men. I
chartered a dog-cart, and canvassed the county
thoroughly, and was introduced to about sixty good
families, but a great duke and the founder of the
infirmary were hot against me, but I was told not
to lose heart for all that. On the day of the
election the three local candidates retired, because
the body of governors present unanimously decided
that the appointment would not allow them to con-
tinue in general practice.
The choice then rested between me and the elderly
physician from town, and when it came to this narrow
pass one of the local doctors handed over to my side
twenty-four ladies' proxies, which he held blank in
reserve, and filled them in with my name, this astute
movement brought me in at the head of the poll with
a majority of sixteen, much to the vexation and dis-
appointment of the founder and his rich Whig party,
including his Grace, the high and mighty duke.
When the chairman complained of my youth, a
popular clergyman present retorted by saying that
it was just possible a man might be a wee bit too
old, alluding, of course, to the elderly candidate with
his bald head and grey hair, who was said to be
seventy, clenching his remarks also with the further
one that we should have lost the services of Pitt, the
prime minister of England, if we had rejected him on
account of his age, which was only twenty-one years
when the king made him his premier.
However, the legality of the disposal of the twenty-
28 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
four proxy papers in my favour cropt up, and it was
finally decided, after a very stormy discussion, to put
us to the trouble and expense of another canvass, and
poll the county once more ; but my party insisted that
I should be acting physician at the infirmary during
the interval of two months, which gave me a very
good innings, and I lost no opportunity of ingratiating
myself with every person concerned, so that when the
anxious day at last arrived I came in with a trium-
phant majoritv of two hundred in lieu of sixteen.
Thus only good came out of an apparent evil.
Friends rallied around me in every direction, and
the second election diverted much attention to me as
a persecuted individual, which tended to rouse a sort
of general sympathy, very beneficial to a young physi-
cian making his way among strangers in a strange
land.
The result was what might be expected. I rapidly
got into a practice, and in two years had set up a
pretty little phaeton with a pair of ponies, backed by
a smart " tiger." Financially I was aided by taking
three young men into my house, who were preparing
for their examinations, and who were very useful to
me in taking down a report of my cases at the
hospitals and enlivening my evenings.
I think the above record of difiiculties and trials
and depressing circumstances ought to encourage
young professionals to keep a good heart and never
to say die, even when the outlook seems very black
indeed !
For the first time in my life I began to feel what it
was to bask in easy circumstances, and the pleasurable
IN THE VIC TO HI AN ERA. 29
repose from anxiety involving ways and means was
the none less enjoyable because the change was the
outcome of m}- own exertions. The only thing I had
now to fear was the danger of becoming too much of
a diner out, as the county families were over kind and
pressing, and the constant acceptance of their cour-
teous invitations would lead me into expense, and
withdraw my mind from study and close attention
to practice. It required no little tact to steer clear of
giving offence when so much disinterested kindness
was being shown towards me on all sides, but very
often I could plead that the distances were too far,
and the nights too dark to venture out ; thus by one
excuse or another I managed to keep my social
pleasures within reasonable and conscientious limits.
I was perfectly convinced that a society man was not
the one to gain the professional confidence of the
people ; hence I defined my boundary and kept to it.
I was startled one morning at breakfast by one of
my pupils saying that he and his fellow students
had been scheming how they could get up to see the
Great Exhibition (1851) — the one grand novelty and
talk of the whole civilised world, being the first of its
kind ever organised on such a prodigious scale; but
Prince Albert had set his heart upon its accomplish-
ment, and the glittering work was done. I had been
contemplating the possibility of getting to see it, but
the expense of lodgings deterred me. I had heard of
a party of Germans taking a beautiful West-end suite
of drawing-rooms, and paying twenty-five guineas a
week, which were surreptitiously occupied by thirty
or forty men, who huddled together on the fioors,
80 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
cooked, slept, and smoked in them, and left at the
end of the season, leaving the decorations, carpets,
and furniture in a filthy state. After a little cor-
respondence, we, that is, myself and three pupils
clubbing together, negotiated for rooms in a small
public in High Street, Kensington, close to the
Gardens, where the charges were moderate for the
occasion, being those of a first-class hotel in ordinary
times. We had a high gala life of it for three days.
The wonderful sights in the world's fair served us as
a topic of conversation for several months. We were
amazed at the two huge elms, one hundred and twenty
feet in height, inclosed in the glass roof of the tran-
septs, and the birds flying about and chirping in their
branches. Then came the life-like statuary of the
renowned Gibson, especially his Greek slave and
tinted Venus,
Then our attention to the rows of bottles with the
lovely aniline dyes of every conceivable colour, all
extracted from sticky, stinking coal tar !
Amid the din of voices of thousands of people,
nothing startled us so much as to hear the numerous
languages spoken as coming from all nations under
the sun, and the quaint picturesque costumes of every
hue and from evei-y clime. These elbowed one in
every direction, and when the scene was viewed from
the galleries a most charming sight was presented —
a restless, surging panorama of heads and bodies
clothed in every conceivable fantastic form, and
glistening under the sunlight with all the dazzling
colouring of a rainbow. It was a fascinating
wondrous display of shape and colour, and only to
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 81
cost one shilling ! Yet the committee cleared
.i'200,000 after all expenses were paid. We had
heard previouslj' a great deal of French and Belgian
lace and Lyons velvets, but the first prize for these
exhibits were taken by Great Britain. Much of this
success was doubtless owing to the schools of design
which had been started in our country by Prince
Albert.
CHAPTER VI.
Nothing veiy eventful occurred till the summer of
1854, ^Yhen an opportunity presented itself of a trip
to New York. A steamer of 2,000 tons, shiprigged,
with an auxiliary of 200 horse power, was chartered
to make its first voyage to commence an Anglo-
American trade in opposition to the Yankee clippers
which were very jealous of any competition. We had
a very rough passage, occupying nineteen days, the
sea running mountains high, and I thought we should
have lost a young girl of sixteen, who was such a bad
sailor that she could not retain anything fluid or solid
from the beginning to the end of the voyage, and the
application of large hot poultices was the only thing
which gave her any relief at all. This girl with her
two elder sisters were returning to their home on a
slave estate in South America, and were in charge of
a black woman who had been entrusted to go all the
way to Paris to fetch them. I never saw such devo-
tion as I witnessed in this negro woman. She was
unwearied in her attendance night and day, and the
salvation of her young mistress was, humanly speak-
ing, due to her loving-kindnesses. I had read some
harrowing tales of the cruelty of the Southern slave-
SEVENTY YEAIiS'LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 33
holders towards their people ; hut after what I had
seen on l)oard that ship I hegan to douht much of the
truth of such statements. "We had as a passenger
a celebrated black woman called the " Black Swan,"
who sang divinel}-, giving us now and again a treat
in the saloon. She had been to London, where the
Queen and Prince Consort had taken her up and
patronised her with a pecuniary result very satis-
factory to herself. When she was singing in her
cabin it was difticult to believe that such sweet
thrilhng sounds could issue from the throat of such
a repulsive looking individual.
On nearing what is called the " Banks of Newfound-
land " we got into fog of white cloud, and we slowed
our engines to two miles an hour, and just as we had
passed safely through the mist we saw facing us a
l)rig at anchor, about a cable's length, and we had
just time to port our helm and clear her stem; it was
a close shave indeed, and I shall never forget the
consternation dej^icted upon our good captain's pale
face ; he seemed petrified for the moment to see danger
so near, for had the fog not been cleared, he said, we
must have sent the brig to the bottom, and probably
come off with a hole in our bows. Why this vessel
was anchored at this particular spot was this — im-
mediately in the vicinity, fishing for cod, were a number
of boats, and the brig was present acting as their
depot to receive their catch ings. As the sea was
calm the skipper sent one of his boats with some cod,
and asking for some Ijcef in exchange, which the said
crew were out of. One of the Yankee p.issengers said
we Britishers did not know how cod should l)e cooked,
4
34 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
and very officiously demanded that he should go to
the ship's galley and give instructions to the cJiff,
which the steward good-humouredly allowed ; but
when the fish was placed on the saloon table very
few would touch it, it was so flabby, tasteless, and
slimy, hence the connoisseur got pretty well joked by
the English party. Another fellow of the same
bumptious type vowed we slow-going ones from the old
country did not even know how to enjoy the luxury of
tobacco in a proper way, and began at once to show
us how this was to be done, first by taking a quid
from the hollow of his cheek and clearing his throat
of its dark nauseous saliva, secondly by taking a pinch
of snuff from an elaborate gold box, and thirdly pro-
ducing a Havannah cigar which he began to smoke
with great gusto, thus illustrating the three ways the
weed may be used and enjoyed (?) b}' the same indi-
vidual. I need hardly say that the European ladies
present turned away in disgust from this vain display
of our brother Jonathan, but I am writing now of what
occurred thirty-seven years ago, the rising generation
of young people in America though still rather fast
are not vulgar withal. After the war between the
North and the South a crowd of Americans overran
Europe and picked up in their travels some most
useful lessons which mollified their manners im-
mensely, and they returned to their country wonder-
fully toned down and less offensive in their style of
address, and with a gradual dropping of their constant
impertinent interrogatives. One never hears now
in anything like decent societ}^ such salutations as,
" Well, stranger, your hat shineth gloriously ; I guess
IN THE VICTOBIAX EBA. 35
that beaver cost a lot, where does it hail from '? " Or
if in a train they would be quite restless till they found
out where you were going. " I am steering south,"
one would say, " and I calculate you are on the same
track"? ^Yhere shall you cast anchor to-night?"
And they \yould gradually worm out of you whether
you were going to join a ranch, or bent on speculation
in pork and lard at Chicago, or whether your inclina-
tions were in the corn or oil line ; and it is an easy
transition from the quality to the quantity, from which
it would be soon found out whether you had a large
pile or not to foot up with. Now if you were wide
awake and endowed with much patient tact a quarrel
would be avoided, and all would end well with the
usual invitation to cement the passing friendship by
liquoring up.
As we were nearing Sandy Hook, and the sea calmed
down, we were enabled to carry up our little sufferer
and place her flat on a mattress on the deck and give
hor a sun bath which seemed to revive her much, and
the knowledge that her dear native land was in sight
still more so. AYitli our auxiliary screw we did not
get on very fast, and we were not warped up to the
quay till near midnight ; it was a dark night, and no
one was allowed to go ashore before the mails were
delivered, and these were not to be disturbed till
the morning, and so we betook ourselves to our berths
to sleep the rest of the thankful in heart, for I don't
think there was a soul on board but who was most
grateful to a kind Providence for preserving us and
the vessel from foundering in the bottomless deep.
It was a most boisterous trial trip, though perhaps
36 SEVENTY YEAliS OF LIFE
not a prolonged one for those days of comparative
slow steaming. I for one awoke refreshed the next day,
though the heat and smells were anything but agree-
able. I was anticipating a pleasant ramble in the
world-renowned Broadway and its side avenues of
huge mansions, but when I presented myself on
deck I saw there was an unusual commotion among
the officers of the ship with the captain in their midst,
holding a most vociferous harangue with two or three
Yankee officials : and on coming to inquire into this
turmoil I found that a dead negro had been placed in
a boat alongside our vessel during the night, and no
one was allowed to disembark till an inquest had been
held on the body. Of course the verdict of the jury
was in our favour, for it was readily proved that no
one on our ship had anything whatever to do with
causing the death of the black body, and it was made
very clearly apparent b}' what came out at the inquiry
that the disgusting annoyance originated in an opposi-
tion set up by the American marine to English inter-
ference with their shipping trade. A sort of revenge
and spite in fact, which we had to put up with as an
instance of their narrowmindedness in those illiberal
days. Afterwards we were left at peace, and I roamed
over the busy and money-making city, teeming with
a restless excitable people whose one sole aim and
object in life seemed to be business, eternal business,
for which they have the keenest eye, the men leaving
to their womenkind the acquisition of all the refine-
ments of art and literature, and to whom the}' instinc-
tively turn for all the current information whether
social, political, national, or European, and all other
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 37
topics not directly connecteel with trade which en-
<^rosses all their atteutiou. Thus the American
women took a high position at that period, especially
the young girls of the family, who were ver}' liberally
educated and indulged in foreign travel, and who
acted quite the queen in their mother's drawing-room.
These were they who were thoroughly well posted up
in all passing events at home and abroad, and thus
did away with the necessity of any reading or study
by their fathers, who cared for little beyond the limits
of business transactions in which they were absorbed
morning, noon, and night. Here I think lies the ex-
planation why the young American ladies are such
charming society in these days and so much sought
after by English noblemen and other men of position
and brains, though, I dare say, many of them being
linked to a pile of dollars have this to thank i)erhaps
for playing no secondary part in the drama of life !
I had a few letters of introduction to some good
families who treated me with marked hospitality, and
I was surprised at the extreme abstinence at the
dinner table, no wine or spirits were present, and 1
understood the young ladies never took anything of
the kind, hence I could easily understand why they
had such beautiful complexions.
The atmosphere was, at this time, most oppressive,
the thermometer registering on the shad}'' side of
Broadway 105° F., and as my time was limited I
had to be about in it a good deal. The smells near
the quays were very offensive, and I should say that
the air was fully charged with microbes, at least there
were more than I could contend against, and I was
38 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOIilAN ERA.
knocked down suddenly with an acute attack of
dysentery, which so prostrated me that I could not
rise from bed, and no remedies seemed to have any
effect in checking it ; and getting alarmed I ventured
on an heroic dose of chloroform, w^hich sent me
into a sleep lasting off and on for twenty-four
hours, and when I came to my senses again the
complaint had gone and did not return. I was
so bad for a time that I had given up all hopes of
ever seeing dear old England again, hence I was
only too glad to be well enough to return home in the
same vessel which took me out, besides I felt quite an
attachment to our good captain, who was not only
very skilful, but was a man of strong religious senti-
ments, and who preserved an unspotted character
among his officers and crew. His Sundays at sea
when he conducted his own services was a sight to
see. Every man who could be spared was regularly
cleaned up and present, and the whole day was kept
as sacred as possible, most refreshing to those who
had any serious feelings at all.
Nothing worthy of note supervened on the passage
home, and the sensation of seeing again the shores of
our dear country can onh' be realised by those who
have been awa}^ from them for the first time and
returned in safetv-
€HAPTEE VII.
I HAVE now arrived at a ver}' important epoch, not
only in mj' life, but in the history of Europe also.
War was declared in this year of grace 1854 against
Russia by England and France, who joined their
forces to those of Turkey who had been fighting on
the Danube single-handed against the great Autocrat
of the North, and subsequently Italy joined the Allies
with some thirteen thousand of her picked troops.
The origin of this bloody war may be very briefly
described. The Greeks disputed the exclusive rights
of the French to twelve " Holy Places " — the four
principal of which were the great Cupola of the
Holy Sepulchre, the Tomb of the Virgin, the great
church at Bethlehem, and part of the Garden of
Gethsemane. The French Government instituted a
commission of inquiry into the dispute, and the ver-
dict of this commission was in favour of the French
Catholics, who considered their claim established
because the Sultan had specially confirmed their
rights by a firman, and here probably the row would
have ended if the Emperor of llussia had not inter-
fered, and in a very despotic manner sent the Sultan
an autograph letter claiming for the Greeks all their
40 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
ancient privileges in Jerusalem, and condemning the
Turkish ministry for countenancing the pretensions
of the French Catholic party. The Sultan got
alarmed, and fearing to offend his great domineering
neighbour, dismissed the " mixed " Commission, and
got a new one formed composed of Turks only. While
this commission was sitting the Emperor Nicholas
proposed to Louis Napoleon that they should settle
this question themselves, leaving the Sultan to carry
out their wishes only. To this request Napoleon
returned a decided negative. WelJ, the Turkish
Commission sent in their report proposing that the
great Cupola should be common property, and that
the French Catholics should have access to the
Tomb of the Virgin, and a key to the church at
Bethlehem. This decision the French accepted under
protest, but Nicholas demanded that the firman
should be published throughout the Sultan's domin-
ions, which gave great offence to the French, who
demanded the recall of the firman unless it was
promulgated with as little publicity as possible. On,
hoM^ever, the Turkish official in charge of the docu-
ment arriving at Jerusalem, the Greeks clamoured for
a public reading of the firman with the usual pomp
and parade, and on receiving further instructions, the
document was read publicly. Then arose the question
whether the French Catholics should have a key to a
side door or enter by the great portal of the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, which the Latins could not but
feel to be humiliating. Nicholas was not the man to
brook resistance to his wishes, so he sent to Constan-
tinople Menschikoff as a special ambassador with
IN THE VICTORIAN Eli A. 41
specific demands, and Le acted so iusoleLtly towards
the Sultan that he claimed a Eussian protectorate
over the whole of the Greek subjects of the Ottoman
Empire, who constituted four-fifths of the entire
nation, so that from one squabble to another matters
assumed such a pitch that England, France, Austria,
and Prussia, felt compelled to interfere, especially
when Nicholas ordered an Army Corps to take posses-
sion of Moldavia and Wallachia as " material guaran-
tees.'' The four Powers tried hard to make a treaty
of peace at Vienna, which, however, proved a nullity,
for the Turk would not concede an inch, and declared
war on the 5th of October, 1853, sending their cele-
l)rated general, Omar Pasha, with 120,000 troops to
defend the Danube against the passage of the Piussians,
thus showing how —
" From very small beginnings sad issues did arise."'
It was an illustration of the old fable of the wolf
and the lamb, or rather the Bear and the Lamb,
which wanted an excuse, however fiimsy, to attack an
innocent victim, and then overrun and annex its
country. The great Northern Bear had been for a
long time casting longing eyes on the possessions of
the " Sick Man," and yearned to fulfil the prophecies
of Peter the Great, that sooner or later Eussia would
be master at Constantinople. Active fighting had
been going on at Shoomla on the Danube during the
winter of 1853—1, the Turks displaying their usual
courage behind their breastworks, and keeping in
check the attacks of their powerful foe — the weak
against the mighty — thus rousing the indignation and
42 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
sympathies of the nations of Europe, in the expression
of which feeling the EngKshman was most demonstra-
tive, hence our Queen came forward on the 27th of
March, 1854, and announced to both Houses of
Parliament, " that she felt bound to afford active
assistance to her ally the Sultan against unprovoked
aggression," and war was declared against Piussia by
the English. The Emperor Napoleon about the same
time made a similar announcement, and the fleets of
both nations anchored in Besika Bay at the entrance
to the Dardenelles — part of our flotilla going to block
the ports of the Baltic. The English and French land
forces were on a large scale, and considering that we
had been at peace for forty years, our contingent was
magnificent, and to all appearances well appointed.
The command was given to Lord Raglan, a Peninsular
officer, and a pupil of the " Iron Duke," who was sup-
ported by such bravos as Sir Colin Campbell and Sir
George Cathcart. The war was a popular one, the
people being exasperated beyond measure by the publi-
cation of the remarkable " Secret Correspondence," in
which Nicholas proposed that the Turkish Empire
should be partitioned off — England and Paissia to take
a division. And the anger of the public was not
lessened when they heard that the same proposition
had been made to Louis Napoleon, in which bargain
England was carefully left out in the cold. Hence
the departure of our troops was hailed with the
greatest enthusiasm, English and French standing
side by side, forgetting completely their old hereditary
feud. Parliament suspended its hostilities, and the
" opposition " its grievances when its members heard
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 43
that the Czar Nicholas bad tried to bribe EugUsb
statesmen, in order to get them- to conform to his
■wishes. They unanimously denounced this Eussian
aggression as dead against European freedom and
civilisation. Little Lord Russell, a scion of an old
historic house of liberty, quite surpassed himself with
heroic grandeur when he took up the challenge so
insolently given, and cried, " God defend the right ! "
■which Englishmen of all ranks echoed most heartily.
Having now finished a description of how this
vexatious and bloody war originated, I will devote
several separate chapters to a rehearsal of the
manner in which it personally affected my life.
CHAPTEE VIII.
Having obtained letters of introduction from Sir
Andrew Smith, Director-General of the Army Medical
Department to Sir John Hall, Chief of the Medical
Staff in the Crimea, I took passage with the 46th Regi-
ment on the unfortunate steamer Prince, a beautiful
new transport, this being her voyage out for the fu'st
time. We had a splendid time of it till we reached the
Morea, when having to change our course for the
north we encountered a regular mistral, against which
our good ship could make no headway, as she had
only a small auxiliary screw power, so we had to lay
to till the morning. The sea ran mountains high
during the night, and our deck getting washed with
some heavy seas, the stabling, with eleven chargers
on board, got shaken from its fastenings, and the
horses getting frightened, began to plunge and tumble
about. The colonel's horse, a valuable thoroughbred,
fell and began kicking the others, to save which the
colonel himself cut the animal's throat and had him
hauled overboard. We all thought this a plucky
thing to do, especially at night time, with the ship
rolling and tossing in a downpour of rain. The next
day it calmed down somewhat, and we were able to
SEVENTY YEAIiS'LIFE IN THE VICTOhlAX EHA. 45
proceed slowh- through the lovely Greek islands,
passed Athens, and then we were compelled to pull
up again in a bay off the island Xegropont. From
the deck we could plainly see the natives ploughing
with the same primitive machine described by Virgil,,
and drawn by an unequal yoke, an ox and an ass.
The head wind moderating we were enabled to steam
northward once more, and soon found ourselves pass-
ing up the Dardenelles, which Byron swam across,
though the current is very strong in its centre. Then
came our passage through the sea of Marmora, with
its picturesque Prince's Islands, and our entrance
into the Bosphorus at seven in the morning, when
we beheld one of the most glorious sights in the uni-
verse — surpassing anything the imagination of the
most lively mind could picture to itself, namely, a
brilliant morning sun shining upon Constantinople
with its gilded minarets, and many white palaces
rising one above another, interspersed with domes,
and gardens, and cemeteries, with the everlasting
cypress peeping out everywhere. We were all on deck
enjoying this brilliant and never-to-be-forgotten scene,
which to us, haling from sunless England, looked like
fairyland ! "We cast anchor off Scutari, and I dis-
embarked to get orders, and these were to proceed to
the Crimea ; but as I was returning to our steamer,
the channel had taken on a rough aspect, and the
Ijoat could not proceed but slowly, and I could not
catch up the Princr, which, having a patent windlass,
weighed anchor quickly, and steamed away without
me, to my no little chagrin. I luul no idea what the
future would brins forth, for this verv circumstance
46 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
saved my life, because had I remained on board I
should most likely have gone down with the vessel
when she foundered in the bay of Balaclava on the
l-Ath of November, when she and seventeen other
craft were wrecked. The Prince had on board a
most valuable cargo of warm winter clothing and a
fresh supply of electric apparatus. The captain,
crew, and some military not yet landed, were drowned,
only six were saved out of 150, and these were drawn
up the cliffs with cords. After this digression I will
hark back to Scutari, where I experienced my first
great shock arising from the horrors of war. While I
was conversing with the medical superintendent, who
should come in but Dr. F , with a very distressed
face, saying that he had just arrived with a large cargo
of wounded from the Crimea ; that in the Black Sea
they had encountered a fearful gale, and that for
three days it was impossible to dress a third of the
cases, and that several were delirious with pain and
nerve shock. There were about 150 wounded on
board, many having died on the rough passage down.
In his dilemma he asked the chief for the assistance of
two or three surgeons to help him to get this shipload
of misery ashore, then to dress them and to operate,
as several limbs required to be amputated. To this
modest request the perplexed superintendent replied,
" I am sorry to say that I cannot afford to give you
the aid you ask for, we are so wofully short-handed ; "
but pointing to me he said : " Here is an experienced
hand just out from a home hospital, who will, I dare
say, be of great help to you." Then Dr. F and I
left the office and were soon hard at work till our backs
IN THE VICTORIAN EH A. 47
ached again with stooping and carrying and endea-
vouring somewhat to reheve this mangled mass of
humanity. The wounds, not having been dressed for
so long, were in a most horrible state, and the foul
odours w^ere almost unbearable, even to one accus-
tomed to such. A few more shiploads of like horrors
followed, and then the outcome of the wounded from
the three battlefields of Alma, Balaclava, and Inker-
man, were duly landed and placed in comparatively
comfortable quarters in the two huge hospitals at Scu-
tari and the one on the Bosphorus, while the liussian
prisoners were accommodated in a hospital at Pera.
The two Scutari buildings were of immense size, and
were originally intended to hide away 20,000 Turkish
troops to suppress instantly any rebellion among the
Sultan's subjects in Constantinople. The corridors
were very lofty and wide and well lighted, and they
made admirable wards for the sick and wounded,
which numbered at this particular time 4,600, in-
cluding the Eussian prisoners. Mr. Bracebridge took
the trouble to measure the flooring on which they
were billeted, and found that it extended nearly four
miles !
Miss Nightingale arrived out from England the begin-
ning of November, bringing with her about twenty-
four experienced nurses of her own selection, and they
were indeed of great service in dressing and attending
the wounded, and seeing that the}' were properly sup-
plied with medical comforts. Miss Nightingale, on her
own responsibility, and in defiance of all red-tapeism,
ordered over from Constantinople bazaars hundreds
of mattresses for the poor fellows to lie upon. And
48 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
though sbe was sorely distressed to find that she
could not get sufficient laundry work done to give
such a crowd of sick and disabled men even one clean
shirt a week, she might well look puzzled when the
medical chief asked her where she thought four
thousand shirts could be washed — even supposing
the men had a change of flannels, which scores had
not, and many were torn, and would go to pieces if
exposed to rough handling. Notwithstanding such
drawbacks as these, I soon perceived that she and her
aids had produced a great and beneficent reform
before I left for the Crimea, which I did in about
six weeks, after having shared actively in scenes of
distress, disease, and bloodshed, such as it is impos-
sible to depict with pen or pencil, but which Lord
Panmure did me the great honour of appreciating by
rewarding me with an extra six months' pay amount-
ing to £230. There was a great outcry sent home
with respect to the dearth of medical attendants, and
then the authorities sent out to Scutari a lot of raw
young surgeons, who were of little use in severe cases,
and worried one's life out with questions as what was
to be done here and what there, they would not take
any responsibility on their inexperienced shoulders,
and were not of much more use than Miss Nightin-
gale's skilled nurses, but it proved to them an excellent
school of instruction. On my arrival in the Crimea I
went off to head-quarters to present my letters of
introduction to Sir John Hall, the head of the Medical
Department, who received me most kin:lly, and
arranged for me to take up my quarters at the Bala-
clava Hospital, formerly a large Kussian Government
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 49
school, which was filled to repletion with six hundred
patients, suffering principally from rheumatism and
dysentery, arising from exposure in the trenches, and
want of proper nourishment. Here, also, the medical
staff were very short-handed, and I sadly overworked.
Besides this heavy duty, I was asked to act as a tem-
IDorary sanitary officer, and while thus engaged I had
to condemn a shipload of Turkish loaves of black
bread which the Sultan had sent up as a present to
our troops, but which had become fermented and
mildewed in the hold, and thus rendered unfit for
human food, hence I had to condemn this life-giving
cargo, and it was ordered out of harm's way by being
thrown overboard into the JJlack Sea. They were so
long on the passage, thanks to the sluggish Turk, and
on our part we were slow to order the loaves (3,200)
out and get them distributed, red-tapery in the shape
of check and counter-check being so dilatory. Our
regulations for times of peace were not in keeping
with the rapid demands of active warfare. Again, I
was told oft' to attend any sick ladies who might arrive
in the harbour, and thus I was brought into contact
with Miss Nightingale once more, who would come
up to see how the nursing was going on in the Crimea.
Before she could return to Scutari she was attacked
with camp fever, and laid up in one of the transports.
For her recovery she relied entirely on good nursing
and nourishment, and objected all through her attack
to take either stimulants or medicines. When she
recovered she was a mere wreck of her former self,
and how to get her back to Scutari was the difficulty,
us she was a very bad sailor ; so I petitioned Lord
5
50 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
Dudley for the loan of his 3'acht, which was lying idle
in the harbour. He received me very graciously, but
thought my application rather an astounding one.
Miss Nightingale was now however one of the cele-
brities of the position, and his lordship yielded with a
good grace, and not only that, but said the doctor
attached to the steamer should accompany her on the
voyage, which was a great boon, considering we were
so shorthanded. Though her cabin was most luxu-
riously fitted up with every possible convenience, and
the berth was slung by elastic webbing to the roof-
floor and sides, and thus every lurch was provided for,
she had a dreadful passage, and the doctor had great
difficulty in keeping life in her, but, God be thanked,
she was spared to do much good work afterwards.
How well the following lines apply to her courageous
deeds !
" Oh woman, thou art not the weakly thing some
Would deem thee, light and wavering,
Thine is no vulgar strength, thou canst not wield
The warrior's weapon in the battle-field,
Thou canst do more than this, it is thine to
Breathe, without a sense of fear.
The sick room close and tainted atmosphere."
Though many years have elapsed since that memor-
able occasion, the warmth of m}' gratitude has never
cooled down when I call to mind the great kindness I
received from that inestimable and self-sacrificing
lady, when I in my turn was laid low with Asiatic
cholera in the Crimea. She supplied me with a
continuous relay of experienced nurses, who gave me
their invaluable services both night and day, and
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 51
carried me safely through one of the most fatal of
scourges, in which ordinary remedies are of no avail,
but close attention to minutia} is of the utmost im-
portance.
In January, February, and March, 1855, the phy-
sical strain on our troops began to show itself in a
very marked manner ; what with twenty-four hours
at a stretch in the cold damp trenches without a wink
of sleep, stagnating in the snow and sludge with holes
in their boots and similar ventilation in their trou-
sers, with food consisting of too much salt junk and
pork, biscuits rather mildewy, with green coffee which
few could roast before it burnt a hole in their tins,
which rendered them useless for drinking, and though
last not least of the evils, too much rum taken on the
empty stomach and excited brains. It is no wonder
they succumbed to rheumatism, diarrhoea, and dysen-
tery, which filled the hospital marquees in front, from
whence they were sent down in batches in snow or
sunshine to board ship, for anything was better than
keeping them in the atmosphere of these canvas
charnel lodgings, the air of which was simply abomin-
able and death-giving. The men thus sent awaj' in
the four winter months Ikh's dc eomhat were ten
thousand in number, the cream of our small arm}',
and the place of these old-seasoned soldiers was taken
by raw young recruits from home. It was not till
February that tinned milk and arrowroot, and such-
like medical necessaries, came out in sufficient quan-
tity to treat these cases properly, for medicines were
of no use whatever since the patients were simply
dying of starvation. Scurvy was rife from the excess
52 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
of salt food, and it was impossible to get vegetables
at any price. I remember paying myself ^£2 for a
small sack of potatoes given to me as a favour by the
captain of a ship I knew, but before I could get them
hidden away in my diggings, an army chaplain met
me and implored, as I valued his life, that I would
allow him to have half, and being an Irishman, his
eloquence prevailed, and with many blessings on my
head, walked off with many meals of my murphies !
At this time such were the difficulties of keeping
body and soul together, and preventing the encroach-
ments of disease among officers and men alike, that
to constant inquiries as to what they could do for the
best, my reply became a stereotyped one, namely,
"Avoid the tendency to death," and this saying
became a camp expression among the troops. Such
is the hardening influence of the horrors of active
warfare on man's heart, that the selfish remark often
heard at home, " Every one for himself, and God for
us all," would not be inappropriate under such dire
circumstances in which heavenly aspirations seem out
of place, because man's nature is so thoroughly out of
joint ! To give an instance of the heartlessness and
want of feeling of even the men towards their officers I
may mention, that a man who had been shot through
the chest had, wonderfully to say, recovered, and I
gave him light work to do by making him an orderly
nurse at the hospital. A very distinguished Italian
general was at that time under my care, and I was
very anxious to save him if possible ; and one night I
could not sleep thinking of him, so I got up at 2 a.m.
to see how he was progressing, when to my horror
IN TEE VICTORIAN ERA. 53
and disgust I found the poor fellow stretched dead on
the floor, and the orderly in the bed with his clothes
and boots on, drunk with the port wine which he
ought to have given to his patient. With this har-
rowing incident I shall pass on to another chapter.
OHAPTEE IX.
Our troops were employed in January, February, and
March, in hauling up to the batteries in the front, a
distance of six miles, shot and shell, preparatory to
another, the second great bombardment. This six
miles had no regular road, but a beaten track of loose
stones and deep ruts, filled with a sticky sort of
compound resembling a mixture of clay and glue
which sucked off the horses' shoes with a thud, and
had no mercy on the soles and heels of the ill-fitting
boots of the men, which were a mile too large, so that
it was not an unusual thing to meet a fellow with his
soles facing inwards. The drudgery and discomfort,
and the wear and tear both for man and beast in the
slow process of getting up this ammunition to the front
was inconceivably painful to witness day by day.
Picture to yourself, fair reader, if you can, a long file
of dirty-faced beings with unkempt hair, wearing a
close-fitting cap with flaps over the ears to keep out
the intense cold, wearing a cat's-skin mufti coat of
faded material, and showing no uniform except a pair
of patched trousers with the red stripe hardly visible,
and walking in a slouching manner like a country
bumpkin at home ; and you have then the appearance
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 55
of those engaged in this miserable sickening occupa-
tion; "What a transformation from the smart and
trim aspect of the soldier on parade in Hyde Park.
The servant girls in Belgravia would turn up there
noses at such unlovable and wretched-looking crea-
tures. Just stop these gallant fighters and ask them
what they now think of the pomp and glory and cir-
cumstance of war, such as the recruiting sergeant
dinned into their ears when enlisting ; methinks they
would have scorned the proffered shilling with a sneer.
If simple Tommy Atkins had been taught Latin, he
would have said, " No, no : Experientia docet."
The time at last arrived when it was considered
that sufiicient ammunition of shot and shell had been
stowed away in the magazines to serve the three
hundred cannon which were to deal destruction to
the devoted town. On the 9th of April, 1855, there-
fore. Lord Eaglan gave orders to open fire. The
morning opened with a grey mist, and with a wretched
outlook, and one could not see fifty yards in front.
Notwithstanding this unsuitable weather, the man-
date had gone forth the night before, and the bom-
bardment commenced with a roar of noise never to be
forgotten, and the shots were sent haphazard and
without aim into empty space, and the ammunition
expended recklessly, regardless of the immense labour
it took to haul it up. This useless firing went on for
two or three hours, till the order to " cease firing "
was sent from headquarters. And when the atmos-
phere cleared up we could not see that we had done
much damage. I had obtained a pass to the front
from our Quartermaster-General, expecting that there
5(i SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
.would be a great carnage, and many wounded to
attend to, and few to do it ; but when I got to the
trenches I found that the wiser Russians had reserved
their fire, and had not replied to our early morning
salute till the atmosphere had cleared and they could
see their enemy and his batteries ; hence there were
no more than the usual amount of casualties. But I
was rather horrified at seeing the headless body of an
officer carried by me on a stretcher, whom I had
previously known as a splendid athlete, upwards of six
feet high. This is the way he was killed : he and
two other shorter comrades were standing up, chatting
away and lighting each other's cigars, when a round
shot came over the parapet and took my friend's head
cleaA" off, being the taller one. Now had he taken the
precaution of sitting down in the trench, this sad
accident would not have happened. Many a fine
fellow lost his life by thus incautiously exposing him-
self. In the following month of May took place a
most desperate series of sorties on the French left —
the scene of these bloody combats being in front of the
central bastion, a space of about six square acres, in-
closing a cemetery with a church in it, and surrounded
by a wall which was loopholed for musketry. These
sorties were obstinately persisted in for three nights,
and may well be regarded as regular battles, for there
were thousands of Russians and French engaged on
each side. The onslaught began by several battalions
of the enemy taking the French by surprise, by a
vigorous rush into the two front parallels, which they
actually succeeded in getting into, when a most
murderous hand-to-hand encounter occurred for the
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 57
mastery, and these two trenches became piled up with'
the dead and the dying. A report soon reached the
French reserve forces, distanced about a mile off, ten
thousand of whom came up at the double to succour
their overpowered comrades, with the result that
these sprightly fellows, with their usual dash, soon
turned out the Russians, and not onl}' out of the
approaches, but pluckily followed them over the
parapet into the open ground, honeycombed with
rifle-pits, surrounding the cemetery, where, "war to
the knife," the most bloody scenes took place, neither
party budging a yard. On this small area and in the
cemetery itself, " no longer God's acre," now the
devil's, a regular series of hard battles were fought
between these two sturdy combatants, with their
small arms only.
Hearing that the carnage on both sides was
something awful, and exceeding that which had as
yet occurred during the war, I and a friend obtained
a pass from the French commandant, and one of
his sergeants as our guide, in order to get safely to
the seat of the struggle and to be present at the
burying party. When we ascended the front breast-
work and looked down upon this field in such a
circumscribed space, the sight that met our eyes
was something ghastly in the extreme. The heaps
of the dead lay thick and high, not only on the open
grass sward but between the stone crosses in the
peaceful-looking cemetery. Even to me, now an old
hand, this small plateau, as an evidence of the
fierce and sanguinary contest between two brave
peoples, was blood-curdling. To look down placidly
58 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
on human forms divine, without heads, legs and
arms torn asunder ; bowels protruding ; brains oozing
through skulls shattered by musket shots ; faces
blackened by powder and besmeared by blood
issuing from mouth, nose, and ears ; human heads
mixed up indiscriminately with cannon balls ; arms
in one place, legs in another — and grim death every-
where ! These commingling with broken swords and
rifles, and remnants of tattered uniforms, presented
a spectacle which some would deem unfit for publica-
tion, but which is here given, though as a shadow
of the reality, as a warning to those in authority,
sitting at their ease at home, not to make war till
€very other possible means has been exhausted to
arbitrate for peace ! In contrast to this painful out-
look, was such as one would expect to see among a
lot of clubmen in Eotten Eow. The French and
Eussian officers met in the most friendl}^ and non-
chalant manner, as if a burying party of thousands
was a thing of every-day occurrence. They smilingly
exchanged cigars and drank each other's health
out of their spirit flasks, making witty remarks on
the funny aspect of the mangled dead ! Such is
the hardening effect of actual warfare in deadening
the conscience of man, and brutalising his better
nature. To mix with this crowd of well-educated,
and at other times refined men, one might have
exclaimed, " How these Christians love one another!"
but such an impression soon vanishes when the bugle
recalled the several parties behind their breastworks
and the firing commenced as fiercely as ever, and I
and my friend were glad to get awa}' in safety ; but
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 59
in turnin^f the angle of the first approach, wliich was
in the hne of the fire, we drew back hesitatingly,
when the sergeant, seeing us linger, said, " Come
along, there is no danger ; " and the words were
hardly out of his mouth when three balls struck the
bank with an ominous thud, which would have taken
us in the shoulder if we had unthinkingly followed
the advice of our impulsive guide. Thank God, we
escaped a wounding which might, or might not, have
been fatal. Our past experience was of some avail
to us on this occasion.
About this time a little incident occurred. A
small streak of silver edging to the dark cloud
of horrors which had overshadowed us so long,
but brought to the fore the kindly benevolent
character of the commander-in-chief of the English
army. In describing this circumstance to various
groups of ladies in my travels round the world, I
have styled it as " the Baby Incident." It came to
pass in this way : A mandate went forth to the
effect that a certain suburb of Sebastopol was to
have a raid made upon it by a select body of our
men ; the attack to take place at midday, when the
enemy were at dinner. The surprise was so com-
plete, and the rush so sudden, that the venture
turned out a perfect success. On entering the
cottages they found tbat the occupants had
skedaddled, leaving their dinners untouched on the
tables, the canaries in their cages, and various
articles of domestic use littered about, but in one
cottage was left behind, in the heedless flight, a
child about six months old, clothed, and asleep in
60 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
its cradle, wrapped in innocent and blissful ignorance-
of its future. An officer took up the little one in his
arms and carried her out as a prisoner of war. On
reporting the success of the raid to headquarters and
the capture of the little mite, the question was very
naturally asked what was to be done with thi»
helpless prisoner ? The reply came back from Lord
Eaglan ordering a flag of truce to be sent out the
next morning, which was responded to, and when
the staff-officers met on the neutral ground to have
a parley, they were moved to laughter at the novel
procedure over so trifling a matter as that of the
well-being of a little child, but they politely con-
sented to the demands of our chief, namely, that the
mother of the child should be sought for. Hence
a careful search was made for the woman, but in
vain; no mother was forthcoming to acknowledge
her lost babe. Such is war. On the aides-de-camp
bringing this fact to the knowledge of his lordship,
the next question was what in the world could be
done with this little mite of humanity ? And here
cropped up the benevolent thoughtfulness of good
Lord Eaglan. "Go," said he, "and make inquiries
among the women in the camp, and find out if there
be any nursing mothers who would be willing to take
charge of an enemy's child." The messenger re-
turned and stated that he had fortunately discovered
that the wife of one of the men of the rifle brigade
had a baby a few weeks old, and was willing to
undertake double duty — and thus relieved us from a
perplexing dilemma.
After three weeks had elapsed, the staff at head-
IN THE VICT OBI AN Eli A. Gl
quarters were startled one morning by Lord Eaglan
asking them if they had heard anything hitely of
this now remarkable child, but the incident had
vanished clean from their memories, not so with
Raglan the Good. " I wish," said he, " one of you
would go down and see how the mother and her
twins are getting on." The reply received was to
ihef effect that the two children were thriving
admirably well, but that the poor woman herself
looked weak and thoroughly washed out. " Oh,
indeed," said his lordship ; then inquired how many
cows there were, and on being told that they w^ere
all dry except one, " Then," continued our self-
denying chief, " send down a bottle of milk to that
woman every morning," a requisition which struck
them with disma}', as they would have in that case
but a scanty supply for their teas. I need hardly
say that after this notice the protege of his lordship
became quite popular, and might have been styled,
not a ^fille da regiment merely, but & Jille de Varmie,
for every fellow in the vicinity of the woman's tent
took to nursing with singular delight, .in fact, there
was quite a furor as to who should have the honour
of caressing the little enemy. Then an army chap-
lain took her in hand and christened her Alma, and
so renowned had she become at the end of the war
that the Queen adopted her and gave her a liberal
education, suitable for the position of a governess,
which post she took up in a family going out to the
Cape, where she in time M'as married very well to a
German, who had been one of our mercenary legion,
a,nd_had, among others, an allotment of laud given
m SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
to him instead of money, and I believe this German
colony did prosper well eventually. And here we
will take leave of our dear little Alma.
I may here relate another anecdote in connection
with our worthy chief, who was one of the coolest
men under fire that ever wore the Queen's uniform.
His figure on horseback was well known throughout
the camp. Dressed in a plain frock coat, with one
sleeveless arm, and wearing a forage cap, he was
riding down to see how the batteries were pro-
gressing, especially the one on Inkerman ridge,
which was such a fearfully contested point at the
celebrated battle bearing that name.
One morning, as he was going down as usual, he
met an artillery sergeant on his way to the rear,
after a night's watch. Just as the man was about
to salute his commander, a round shot came over
and knocked the busby off his head, and passed
over the stern of his lordship's horse, but the
sergeant, unmoved, coolly completed his salute, as if
his life had been in no danger whatever. Lord Eaglan
was so struck with the man's wonderful presence of
mind under such trying circumstances, exclaimed,
" Well, my man, that was indeed a narrow miss ; "'
and the sergeant, with lively promptitude, replied,
*' Yes, my lord, it was; but a miss is as good as a mile.'^
And so they parted, but our chief was not the man
to forget such a splendid and valuable gift even in
an uncommissioned officer. Hence we were not
surprised to hear that the lucky fellow had been
promoted to a commission in the service. Speaking
of promotions, some very singular ones took place
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 6a
from the lauks after Inkerman. I was acquainted
with a Captain B , a gentlemanly fellow, who
was born in his regiment, became first a drummer-
bo}-, then gradually ascended the scale till he rose
to be a colour-sergeant, in which position he entered
the battle of Inkerman, where every officer in his
company was killed, and he brought the remainder
of his men out as their senior officer, and was
subsequently promoted to be a lieutenant and
captain in the same Gazette and in his old regi-
ment.
I will now rest on my oars awhile, as my next
chapter will be a heavy one, as it reveals my doings
with the Italian contingent.
CHAPTER X.
When the Italian contingent joined us in the spring
of 1855, it -was brought out in English transports
under a pecuniary arrangement with our Government,
which guaranteed also to provision them for some
time after their arrival ; but in consequence of our
own defective commissariat we could not meet our
engagement so to do in anything like a satisfactory
manner. "What we wanted so badlj' om-selves we
could not give to them, however much we might
sympathise with those new-comers. The Italian
troops of all arms of the service numbered about
15,000 all told. They first of all encamped them-
selves in an unhealthy part of Balaclava valley, and
what with this mistake and the short commons we
could spare to them, Asiatic cholera attacked these
splendid picked men, the very cream of the Italian
army, a body of magnificent athletes, but grand
physical development was no barrier to the insidious
inroads of this black plague — the very scourge of
scourges, the effects of which drew tears of agony
from their brave and sorrowing general. In this sad
and distressing plight La Marmora appealed to Lord
Eaglan for some experienced English officers to help
SEVENTY YEABS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN EliA. G5
him out of his dilemma. Hence it came to pass that
I was selected to aid them in their sanitaiy and
medical organisation, and a commissariat officer, of
considerable experience and aptitude, was sent to do
all he could ^vitll the limited means then at his dis-
posal. Notwithstanding the improvement in their
position and supplies better regulated, cholera of the
worst possible Asiatic type attacked them, and con-
tinued to baffle all our efforts to check its ravages. A
man, for instance, would be, to all appearance, in
perfect health at breakfast time, and afterwards be
struck down, and in a few hours of awful agony would
be dead by the evening, and buried before the morn-
ing dawned in solemn silence and secrecy, in order to
prevent the knowledge reaching the ears of his com-
rades and causing depression of mind, a state of
feeling certain to invite an attack. Oh ! it was indeed
a tearful and heartrending sight to behold a long file
of these splendid fellows sown up in their blankets,
the soldier's shroud, carried off to an ignominious
trench to be buried side by side, packed away like
herrings in a barrel, then a few inches of soil thrown
over them till the next lot came in unwept over by anj'
bereaved mother or ^^J ^J^^^ f^^i^J^'''-^ muiidi. ^
Thus were disposed of mivtepn tfe(W»sa,wA men of alL/Sr"^. ■f;ii'*^
ranks from the general to the private in about six
weeks. Among the many brave commanders who
were lost to the Italian army at this time, none was
more lamented than the intrepid, stern-looking
Alessandro della Marmora, whose jaw had been frac-
tured during the war of 1849, and who was brother to
Alphonso the chief. Ales?andro had organised the
G
CO SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
rifles (Bersaglieri;, renoNvnecl for their quickness, pre-
cision, and powers of endurance, and these fine
military qualities he soon began to put to the test in
the Crimea by making a reconnaisance to the north
side of Sebasfcopol in order to ascertain the exact
strength of the enemy's forces in that direction. Four
days' provisions were dealt out to the men and this
trying expedition took place with a satisfactory result.
They all returned well and in good spirits considering
the hardships they had undergone — except their
plucky leader who was attacked with acute dysentery
which he treated at first with indifference, insisting
on marching on foot with the rest of his men till he
fainted away from exhaustion ; then they lifted him on
to a horse, the only one with them when he swooned
again, then they were obliged to resort to a stretcher,
on which he was brought back much to his great
chagrin, for he had boasted that he could outmarch
any man in the army. On arriving at his hut I
received a telegram from Sir John Hall ordering my
immediate attendance at his side. Though he was
kept alive for three days, the case was hopeless from
the beginning, and he gradually sank from loss of
blood, and died in my arms at two o'clock one night ;
and when I went up to inform his brother of the
death he wept over this favourite leader like a child,
and his men mourned for him as a friend as well as a
general. He had married an English lady, and the
frequent muttering of her christian name in his sleep
was rather trying to one's feelings reminding me of
home. He had a heavy, twisted, long moustache like
his king's, which I had cut off and sent to the widow
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 67
with bis Bible; for, wonderful to relate, a large number
of Bibles in the Italian language bad been given by
one of our colporteurs to the troops, and they used to
sit round the camp tires when one would read to
others who could not the pathetic tales of mercy,
forbearance, and love in the grand old Book. Their
Roman Catholic chaplains were furious and ordered
the men to deliver them up, but they one and all
refused point blank to do anything of the kind, and
even their officers' commands fared no better, and in
fear of a mutiny the subject was allowed to drop and
each knapsack contained the precious jewel to the end
of the campaign, and how far this wonderful influence
had to do with furthering the completion of Italian
unity subsequently it is not for me to say, at any
rate tlidr first battle for rclinious liberty commenced
in the Crimea.
On leaving poor La Marmora late one dark night
I met a couple of French Zouaves with two horses in
tow. I could just see clearly enough to be satisfied
that all was not right, for I had heard of their tricks
of stealing stray horses, killing them and then cutting
steaks out of their loins ; so I challenged them, and
they pretended not to understand French, mumbling
some gibberish between themselves, but when I
threatened to summon the Provost-Marshal, they
quietly yielded up the animals with a grumble. When
I took them to La Marmora's where I got a light I
then found one of the horses belonged to an English
battery, and so I took him at once within its proper
boundary much to the relief of the sentinel on duty,
who said he had broken his tether and jumped over
68 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
the breastwork. The other was a fine racer-looking
fellow, a bright chestnut with white stockings, having
a smart head collar on, not English or French I knew,
so I took him home to my stable, and advertised him
in the Hue and Cry at headquarters, but onl}- one
subaltern came to inquire, saying he had lost a fine
brown charger with black points ; hearing this my
groom allowed him to see the horse, which did not
tally with his description in the least. He turned out
a most useful companion till the end of the campaign
when I sold him for £3, the Government allowing
us £40 for each charger not taken to England, so I
made a good thing of my friend the chestnut.
The strain upon my mental and physical powers
was now very great indeed, inasmuch as all this worry
with Italians was additional to my other ordinary
duties at the Balaclava hospital where I had a lot of
Italian officers under my care, and we were still
deplorably deficient in medical aid of the right
standard, hence just as the horrid plague was on the
wane, having exhausted itself as it were, I fell ill my-
self with cholera, and placed on board ship in the
harbour where I received close and unremitting atten-
tion from a regular relay of Miss Nightingale's nurses,
and with them and the kindness of my male friends
of every class I was in danger of becoming quite a pet
patient, and I fear a subject of no little envy to other
sick officers on board, for I could boast of a whole
cabin to myself with the exception of some huge rats
which paid me a visit every night to quench their
thirst in my water jug ; but I was too languid to
heed such trifles, indeed I was so paralysed with pain
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 69
and weakness that I felt perfectly indilferent whether
I lived or died. I had sense enough left, however, to
remember how fatal this disease was to all those
patients who had drunk regularly their ration of spirit,
and more if they could get it, that I begged of my
attendants none should be given to me ; so I had my
way, contrary as it was to the prejudices in its favour
in those ignorant times. So I was nursed instead of
physicked through the fiery ordeal, and I was one of
the very few who ever recovered. God, indeed, was
gracious and merciful, and permitted the tree to
remain for several years longer to bear its humble
fruit. AVhen convalescing I was much cheered and
benefited by that good religious officer, Colonel L ,
who was on sick leave on the same vessel. On meet-
ing some of the working staff after my recovery, they
were rather surprised to see me on my legs again ;
exclaiming : " Well, old fellow, we prophesied that you
would kill yourself sooner or later, the pace was too
fast to last you know. For the future you had better
be guided by our wise motto." " And pray what may
that be ? " " Simply this : Moderate ijour zeal and
draw i/onrpaij ! " " Bat how about your consciences ! "
I asked. " Oh, our consciences indeed, how can you
expect us to have any when the authorities at home
show so little ? " The reply was not amiss when one
recollects how the hearts of many men were then
boiling over with indignation at the cruel apathy and
neglect with which the troops were treated by the
English Government. Such is the low standard of
religious aspirations in times of actual warfare !
We have now arrived at the day in which the grand
70 SE VENTY YE ABB OF LIFE
assault was to be made on the Eedan, the 18th of June,
1855. Not that we bad the faintest hope of holding it,
supposing it could be captured. No, the sacrifice of
life was to be made for the purpose of diverting the
attention of the enemy. The French were to attack
the Malakoft" the same day, and we, on our side, were
to make the most hopeless of assaults, as our allies
had not the remotest chance of succeeding, but were
beaten back with the most awful slaughter, while our
loss was proportionately' great. The strength of the
Eedan was something prodigious. When I examined
it after it was relinquished by the Russians, I found it
to be a singular construction. Eunning the v^hole
length of its earthworks was a subterranean gallery
supplied with a plank platform for the soldiers to
sleep upon, and in the floor were sunken ships' tanks
to hold water, which were replenished every night by
women ; thus the enemy were in comparative comfort
and safety too, while we were exposed in open trenches.
We had the same kind of loose chalky ground to work
in, and there was no reason why our engineers should
not have constructed such underground shelters, but
then we were not blessed with having such a skilled
scientist as Todleben on our side ! After peace was
proclaimed General Luders and I became very friendly,
and he told me, that when we were hammering awaj'
at their batteries and flattered ourselves that we had
silenced them because they did not reply, the artillery-
men retired for the time into these underground
barracks till the firing ceased or we had exhausted our
ammunition ; and this was the case at the Malakoff
as well as the Eedan, thus vervmanv lives were saved
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 71
from the bursting of shells. After the bombardment
of the 18th of June, I was very much struck uith the
unusual number of wounds below the knee, and
Luders told me his men were ordered to fire low in
order to secure as many as possible of our fellows
being put hors de cDmhat — not to kill outright, as these
wounded would be of no further use in that war, and
yet would be an enormous expense and worry to us by
crowding our hospitals and transports, thus acting,
as our enemy knew only too well, as a most obstruc-
tionable inpedimenta on the field of battle.
In our hurry to reach the wounded three of us
thought we might venture to cross the open between
two of the approaches, but we had reckoned without
our host the Ij'nx-eyed enemy ever on the alert, a
13-inch shell was sent at us, which came with its
usual whistling noise, describing an arc in the sky as
visible as a cricket ball. We fell immediately on our
faces, the safest position to take, and watched its
course. When it sank into the earth and burst up
with a tremendous noise, throwing its fragments with
stones and soil 200 feet into the air, it was a grand
sight, and we were not struck by the descending
pieces, wherein lies the great danger at such times ;
but one portion of the shell did come so near that I
brought it home to remind me of another narrow
escape from death, and to convince me that a
merciful Providence was still guarding me.
Nothing during the summer months particularly
occurred except Lord Kaglan's death, and, as far as I
was concerned, the despatching of the wounded down
to Scutari as soon as they were able to bear the
72 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
voyage, but the whole of the army were secretly
sapping up nearer and nearer to the Malakofif and
the liedan, especially the former -which was now
400 yards in length and seemed impregnable. So
that when the 5th of September arrived the French
sappers could almost touch the base of abattis of this
most formidable earthwork bristling with cannon.
When the assault was made they had not far to run.
All was kept a profound secret till the morning of the
5th when a fierce cannonade from many hundreds of
guns was made upon the Malakoff, which ceased at
the dinner hour when the sprightly French took it by
surprise and a rush ; and a hand-to-hand fight with
any weapon went on for some time each side bringing
up their reserves till regular battles were fought for
this most important commanding point, which had
at its mercy the shipping, the forts, the Eedan, and
the south side of Sebastopol with its churches and
mansions. The tricolour flag floating on the Malakoff
was to be the sign that the English were to assault
the Eedan, which they proceeded to do, and failed as
before to hold it because our reserves did not back up
the assaulting column as they ought to have done.
It was the same mistake as was made on the 18th of
June. When the French secured a footing in the
Malakoff they filled up the trenches and turned the
works towards the enem}-, but for three days the
Eussians were employed in vacating the south side
and going over the harbour on a poontoon bridge to
the north side, blowing up their ships and forts and
magazines, making an infernal noise. They left their
large hosnital with a thousand dead among the
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 73
^vounded for us to take care of. By the ninth they
bad all gone clean away to the north side. And thus
ended this portion of the siege after a most eventful
year to ourselves and our allies who had most
laboriously excavated 70 miles of trenches, made 60
thousand fascines and gabions, and fired away
1,500,000 shot and shell. We will now rest awliile
and then begin our second year with a fresh chapter.
CHAPTER XL
At the commencement of the second winter's cam-
paign there was a wonderful transformation from the
wretched aspect of affairs which prevailed during our
first winter. Some remarkable specimens of civil
engineering works were brought to our aid. A rail-
road was made to the army divisions on the front
from Balaclava, and the old roadway by its side was
properly macadamized, so that the building of wooden
huts and the transport of supplies went on merrily.
During these operations the English navvies showed
the lethargic Turks the right way to use the pick
and the spade, and to trundle a wheelbarrow along
a plank. Some very amusing scenes occurred at the
expense of the sleepy Osmanli. But let us proceed.
No one doubted but that we should have to pass
another winter on the plateau before Sebastopol.
The Piussians after the fall of the south side had
fortified themselves strongly on the north, erecting
huge earthworks and batteries along the Mackenzie
heights bristling with hundreds of cannon, which
frowned down on the Tchernaya valley and its river,
the dividing line between the two opposing armies,
which stared at one another, showing their teeth like
a couple of bull dogs but never firing a shot.
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. irj
There was no doubt, at this particular time, that
the Eussians were in an awful predicament and
yearning for the hare necessities of life. They had
at least 200,000 to feed, and the provisioning of such
a mass of mouths must have been difficult indeed and
costly beyond calculation, inasmuch as the country in
the war had become denuded of every l)lade of corn
and all the draught animals had been sacrificed
months ago l)y bringing down food and ammunition
from the mainland of Kussia ; while we were receiv-
ing supplies comfortably by sea though at exorbitant
prices. It is no wonder, then, that the Emperor of
Eussia when he paid his visit of encouragement to
his troops in the Crimea, and saw for himself some
of the horrors of war in the overpacked hospitals at
Backsheserai, in October, 1855, became convinced
that the best thing he could do was to sign a treaty
of peace as soon as he could do it without humilia-
tion. He could see that it was impossible his army
could carry on the struggle much longer, without
succumbing from sheer exhaustion. Soldiers like
other men cannot fight without food in their
stomachs, and how was this to be conveyed to
them if they continued the suicidal process of
killing for meat the draught bullocks as they came
into camp, and then burnt the arabas for firewood,
instead of sending them back for farther supplies !
The commissariat had requisitioned the farmers for
miles and miles up the country till there were no
more animals or arabas left to cultivate the soil.
It was a crying shame, and men, women, and
children must have died from famine if this cruel
76 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
war had not been brought rapidly to a close in the
spring of 1856. The Emperor, too, a man of peace,
so different to his father, must have seen on his way
down the barrenness of the land — its desolation,
its misery, the half-starved looks of the peasantry,
and the dead animals lying thick on the roadside,
and other signs, enough to bring the tears to the
eyes of many a more hard-hearted man than
Alexander was. In contrast to all this deplorable
picture we, on our side, were basking in the sun of
reaction, and revelling in all sorts of luxury supplied
by the patriotic and other funds, the generous gift of
a loving country which had at last awakened from its
slumbering indifference.
At the beginning of the winter 1855 I was trans-
ferred from my position at Balaclava, to take charge
of the Monastery of St. George, where about a dozen
of the old monks' rooms were furnished with single
beds, constituting a little hospital for the reception
of those home-sick gentlemen, who were pleading
all sorts of illnesses with a view of getting back to
England on the ground of urgent j^rirate affairs,
an indulgence which was becoming scandalously
abused. Hence a mandate had been issued from
headquarters that a check should be put to this
bit of weakness on the part of some of the officers,
who were well known not to relish trench duties, and
who were yearning for the flesh pots of Egypt in
their own luxurious homes. When, therefore, an
officer pleaded some physical infirmity as an excuse
for decamping, he was first sent off to the monastery
and placed under my care in one of the little wards.
IN THE VICTOIilAN EEA. 77
in order to test his incapacity for further active duty
in the trenches or elsewhere. Various were the dodges
practised upon me to get a medical certificate of
permanent invalidism which would justify a departure
for Scutari or England. The eyes were the favourite
organs of complaint, these appearing unaccountably
red, and even continuing so, notwithstanding the
remedies employed. No amendment taking place in
a few days I would put on a savage look and threaten
them with all sorts of pains and penalties. An
interview would take place somewhat after the follow-
ing manner: "Now, old fellow, if you cannot keep
your fingers from your eyes I shall be under the
painful necessity of blindfolding you, and placing an
orderly in your room at night to keep watch over
you, and to certify to me that justice is done to my
remedies." This would stop auy further tampering
and malingering, and after trying every possible
device to get over me would throw up the sponge,
and quietly go back to their duties again. It was a
very unwelcome and disagreeable position of trust to
be placed iu, but I was not going to commit a breach
of that confidence reposed in me by the commander-
in-chief to please any one be he nobleman or com-
moner.
It must not be supposed that the monastery
occupied all my attention at this time. About a
quarter of a mile away, a large corrugated-iron
building had been erected for stores. It did not
long continue occupied with such, A body of
troops had been sent off to attack and occupy the
Kinburn Fortress, situated on a sandy phi in. What
78 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
with the glare of the sun and the clouds of fine
sand which blew over the fort, the garrison became
attacked with Egj'ptian ophthalmia, a most conta-
gious and destructive disease of the eye. Those
afflicted were sent back to the Crimea, where it
began to spread immediately. I was at once sent
for by Sir John Hall our chief, who was in an
awful fix. A few were already blind with the com-
plaint and the hospitals were full. I suggested that
all the cases should be collected and isolated without
an hour's delay. " Just so," said Sir John, " but
where can we place them ? " I then brought to his
notice the store building and recommended that it
should be emptied of its contents and beds placed in
it. " Go back," said he, with evident relief, " and
do what you think is necessary ; this is not the first
time I have given you a carte blanche." Seeing there
was a foot of snow on the ground and that it was
falling fast he continued, "How can you get them
together such severe weather as this?" I replied,
"that I should carry them on stretchers covered
over face and all, with a couple of blankets. The
position was a desperate one, and isolation imperative.
The removal or otherwise was a question of sight or
total blindness ! " We parted, and on my road back
in a blinding snowstorm I should have gone over the
cliffs into the sea but for the sagacity of my old
chestnut, who saw the danger, which I did not, and
he would not be urged a step further. The track
being obscured by the snow, I retraced till I got to
some huts when I found I was a good mile out of my
bearings. My compass now helped me home where
IN THE VICTORIAN Eli A. 79
I arrived with feelings of earnest gratitude for
another providential intervention. Having the com-
mand of plenty of labour I soon got the building
into shipshape and the patients settled down in their
l)eds. The cold was so intense that some nights
it was below zero and the poor fellows suffered
dreadfully. There was one small stove in its centre,
a sort of make believe which did not prevent the
tea and milk, itc, taken from freezing into lumps
when spilt on the beards of the men. My own hair
became a mass of ice from my breath congealing
when passing to and fro from my quarters. It
was a hard life doubtless, but one's health, like that
of the army generally, was most excellent. Our
mortality during the second winter did not exceed f
per man per cent. Thanks to a better commissariat,
plenty of warm clothing and an abundance of whole-
some good food, and though last not least, no nerve
excitement from the constant apprehension of an
onslaught from a wide-awake and heroic enemy.
What a pleasant change from our first winter's
experience ! Then, again, what work we had was
varied with play. There was a great deal of
dining out, and where we dined we slept, for it
was not safe to pass the different sentries of our
gallant allies at night, because if we did not give
the pass word rightly they would as soon just put
a bullet into one as not — no parley was their order J
My friends in the Black Watch had really the only
mess worthy of the name, and it was a fine sight
to see old Cameron, like a father, seated at the
head of the table, surrounded by his sturdy comrades,
80 SEVENTY YEAES OF LIFE
intermingling the toasts with humorous remarks on
the situation. Kamara was their post, and it was
conveniently located for a pleasure trip into the
Baida valley, which we undertook one day, and
entering a Tartar gentleman's house we were
hospitably entertained by his wife who said her
husband was in prison on susjDicion of having
supplied us with provisions. She was a beautiful
woman, and gave us some sad stories of how the
Cossacks robbed them of food, and even violently
assaulted them if they were refused ; no position
was respected by these soldier robbers. The most
diverting amusement was the institution of amateur
theatricals got up by the ofticers, and another of
a lower grade by the non-commissioned officers.
Both parties succeeding in rousing side-breaking
laughter by their serio-comic performances. The
get-up of the lady-gentlemen being most creditable
considering they had not the advantage of a Bond-
street milliner in the Crimea. The following bill,
which I have preserved and which was printed at
the local press of the Hue and Crij, gives the
names of the play and the actors : —
Theatre Eoyal, Fourth Division. This Evening, April 10. 1856.
Her Majesty's servants will perform —
LITTLE TODDLEKINS!
31): Jones Rohinson Brownsmith ... Capt. E-Uile, ;37th Eegt.
Mr. Barvahy Bahicomhe ... ... Majok Gakxet, 46th Eegt.
Captain Littlepop Capt. Nicholas, 46th Eegt.
Amanthis ... ... ... ... Mk. Claekson, 68th Eegt.
Annie Bahicomhe Mb. Sauxdeksox, 68th Eegt.
Susan Mu. Y. Stuakt, 68th Eegt.
IN TEE VICTORIAN ERA. 81
To conclude with —
GOING TO THE DERBY.
Mr. Jeremiah Ticiddle ... Capt. Earle.
Mr. John James Chticks ... Lieut, de Lacy Lacy, 63rd Eegt.
Captain Nobble ... ... Major Lord A. G. Kcssell, K.B.
Sam (waiter of Spread Eagle) Lieut. Harrington, R.B.
Mrs. Twiddle, Mrs. Chucks, Mrs. Plummy, and Gipsy Woman, by
XiEUTs. Saondersox, Clarkson, and Stuart, of the 68th, and Lieut.
Prior, 48th.
Doors open at half -past seven o'clock : Performance at 8.
God Save the Queex.
The foregoing fun was interlarded with some pony
races, of which the following is a copy of the " Card
of the Races " : —
SEBASTOPOL SPRING MEETING.
Monday, March 24, 1850.
Steicards :
Viscount Talon and ^Marquis de Spinola, Major Astky, Major
Dewar, Major Brown, Lieut. -Col. Campbell, Capt. Chapman, Col.
Hale, Mr. Wilkin, Capt. Connel, Major Nicholson, Col. Hay, and
Capt. Ponsonby.
JLnwrary Treasurer and Secretary — Major Wombwell, 46th.
The first race was a handicap sweepstakes of t'l
each, with X'25 added, for ponies of fourteen hands
and under. Half a mile on the flat. There were
forty entries, which Capt. Cornat's gr. p. " I3ignot "
won. Then came a steeplechase of two miles for £50.
This was won by Viscount Talon's " Paddy Boy,"
ridden l)y the owner ; followed l)y three other races,
7
82 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
won respective!}^ by Capt. Morant's g. g. " Clinker,"
Capt. Price's, 11th Hussars, " Lillington," and Capt.
Brabason's, E.A., " Chutney."
Again, for the benefit of those of a more hterary
turn of mind, a series of educational lectures were
given in the library and reading-hut of the Third
Division. The following programme, which I have
kept by me for the last thirty-five years, will convey
a good idea of the subjects selected to instruct and
amuse : —
The " Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties," by
Rev. B. Harris, Chaplain.
" Places of Interest in Old Testament," by Piev. H.
Wheeler, Chaplain.
" Mohammedism," by Rev. H.W. M. Egan, Princi-
pal Chaplain.
" On Temperance," by Sir James Alexander, Col.
of 14th Eegt.
So much for our minds : now to show that our
bodies were well cared for at the same time. I will
here insert a copy of an old list I have by me which
gives the following quantities — they seem large, l>ut
then I had five mouths to feed beside myself : —
" Bread, 9 lbs. ; meat, G lbs. ; coffee, 6 ounces ; rice,
ditto ; sugar, 12 ounces ; rum, 3 gills ; potatoes,
1^ lbs. ; onions, f lbs. ; pepper ^ ounce ; and 3 ounces
of salt."
Now I am on the subject of victualling, it ma\' be
mentioned that during the second winter I had got
from home a man-cook and a cooking range, with a
set of tins as fittings, which enabled me to give my
friends quite a rccherclie spread of five or six courses.
IN THE VICTOBIAN ERA. 83
made more dainty-looking by being laid on a white
tablecloth, supplemented by the additional refinement
of snow-white napkins. Such a civilised appearance
had not been seen by us since our departure from
board ship, and it drew tears from some of my guests,
because it reminded them so forcibly of the happy and
luxurious surroundings of their homes in dear old
England, where they would be enhanced, maybe, by
the sunny smiles of wife and children, or mother and
sisters. I need hardly say the Monastery of St. George
became not a little popular, and various were the visi-
tors of both sexes who did me the honour of calling
in the afternoons, and patronising the luxuries so hard
to collect, I being six miles distant from the suttlers'
camp, where those landsharks charged a most exorbi-
tant price for everything. When the migratory birds
came flocking over from the north, and settled down
exhausted in the snow, there was no difficulty in
securing a larder full of wild fowl, especially the
golden plover, which were as plump as our partridges,
and in such crowds did they come that I killed one
day eight of them at one shot. This windfall was a
welcome addition to one's ordinary diet. My cook
made these birds into delicious pies, larding them with
fat pork, and placing them over a basis of fresh beef
or mutton. These pies were quite o, piece dc nsistauce,
and while they lasted became quite the talk of my
visiting circle for many a day after. My friends came
in the afternoons, not only to taste tho luxuries T
could place before them, but to admire the beautiful
view from the Terrace, and to listen to the chime,
rung by old Peter in the Greek church. Peter was
84 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOIUAN ERA.
quite a character, rather crippled in his limbs, and
was the only one left behind by the church community,
but too fond of rum, which in his sober moments he
called "No bono, Johnny."
CHAPTER XII.
There were discussions and disputes as to whether
we had shattered Fort Constantine at the north
entrance of the harl)our ^Yhen it was bombarded on
the 17th of October, 1854, by our ships, especially the
three-decker Albion, which went so close in, and got
herself such a battering. Hence, when peace was
concluded, we made up a part}' and rode round by
the Mackenzie heights to see for ourselves. We found
the fort was occupied by the Russian commander-in-
chief, General Luders, who received us very kindly,
and treated us most hospitably. When we told him
the purport of our visit, he smiled, and said, " Come
and see." He acted as our guide, and took us round
the whole of the parapets, explaining every circum-
stance in connection with the attack, and how they
were protected by gabions. On a close examination
we could not discover hardly a place where the stone-
work had been chipped. This review of the outside
finished, the general asked us to see the inside. Here
we found, in a large casemate, a table laid out with
sumptuous refreshments, in fact, six delicious courses
were provided, to which we did ample justice, and to
two or three dift'crent wines, finishing up with a glass
86 SE VENTY YEARS OF LIFE
of that well-known delicacy, Crimean champagne, in
which our host drank our healths at the shrine of
Peace. The cannon was in position in this casemate,
and such a toast struck us as somewhat ironical and
seemingly out of place, hut we parted most excellent
friends, and he promised to return the visit b}' coming
to see me at the monastery, which he did shortly
afterwards, coming in a droski drawn by five splendid
23onies. So wonderfully drilled were they, that they
would start or stop, deviate right or left, by word of
command. The general tried to induce some ladies
to take a drive with him, but seeing that we had no
regular roads, and that the vehicle bumped about un-
pleasantly on the uneven plateau, they declined ; but
such trifles not troubling my mind, I took a seat at
his side, and was amazed at the wonderfully skilful
way in which he handled his team. The heads of
the ponies were decorated with foxes' brushes and a
regular chime of little bells, w^hich seem to excite
them to gallop at a great speed. The general paid
the Greek church a visit, and old Peter honoured him
with one of his best peals.
My cook, hearing that so distinguished a guest had
paid me a visit, tried to surpass himself by laying out
as fine a luncheon as his limited supplies would permit
of, and my visitor, being an old campaigner, took in
the situation, and determined to enjoy himself accord-
ingly. To give zesfc to the entertainment there was
seated at the table, a very handsome lady, to
whom he gave a cross of Siberian gold, which hung
from his watch chain. This generous act did not
arise from his having imbibed too much Crimean
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 87
champagne, for I had none to give him ; it must have
been due entirely to the lady's fascinating appearance
and address.
When the genial general took his leave, he carried
away ^Yith him all our warm good wishes, leaving
behind the golden cross to remind us of one of the
pleasantest days we had ever spent in the Crimea.
Little did we think a few weeks back that we should
be spending so soon such a happy time with the com-
mander of our enemy's forces on the north side of
Sebastopol — but tcl est la ric.
When the treaty of peace was signed we heard that
each plenipotentiary was desirous of preserving the
pen with which he subscribed the important document,
but these great men were obliged to yield to the ex-
pressed wishes of the Empress Eugenie, who supplied
them with a beautifully jewelled eagle's quill which
she desired to retain as a memento of the momen-
tous event. When this treaty reached the Crimea it
l)rought with it to some of the old stagers the realisa-
tion of hopes long hoped for, namely, an early oppor-
tunity of getting home alive, and to tell in person
terrible tales of battles and sieges, the loss of some
friends and the making of others, while to many who
came out at a later date it was a source of disappoint-
ment — subaltern ofdcors, for example, who viewed the
army as an instrument towards worldly prosperity,
trusted that peace would not supervene till they had
an opportunity of distinguishing themselves, and win-
ning a place in the records of glory ! Oh, vanity of
vanities, they did not take to heart the saying in the
good old 13ook, that "they who live by the sword
88 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
shall die with the sword." I heard an anxious mother
on one occasion exclaim, in simple ignorance of what
the horrors of actual warfare were like, " Oh ! my
poor bo.y, I am so sorry, he had just got to the head
of the lieutenants, and I was in hopes of hearing any
day of his becoming a captain, and now the war is
over he may have to wait ever so long." She, with a
mother's natural instincts, did not stop to reflect that
her son's promotion would have been accomplished
through the further shedding of much human blood
and the cruel display of the worst of passions. How
thoroughly selfish we are, even when our precious
lives and souls are at stake ! Talk of Christianity
and its peaceful influences, I should like to know how
many men were brought to think of the Saviour while
this horrid carnage was going on, when, I take it,
half a million of lives were ruthlessly sacrificed on
both sides in order to gratify the vain ambition of one
man, who prosecuted this prolonged warfare under the
cloak of religion. Picture to yourself, dear reader,
the following incidents associated with the cessation of
hostilities. Though thousands of soldiers in the spring
were employed in road-making, building of huts, and in
drill, there was nevertheless much spare time, which
was spent scandalously in drinking, card-pla^^ing, and
gambling. The English were better paid than the
troops of our allies, and they did not know what to
do with their monej^ ; hence scenes of drunkenness
and debauchery prevailed at Kadikoi, where suttlers*
booths were kept by most disorderly traders, who en-
couraged all sorts of vices, winked at acts of violence,
and even murder. Night was made hideous with
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 80
their brawls, aud it was not safe to go near their
squatting ground if you at all valued your life !
It was a blessed day indeed when the post-ofidco
authorities instituted a mode of sending gold to Eng-
land by means of money orders. Many men then
availed themselves of this easy means of forwarding
their spare cash to their wives and families, or to
their aged parents, thus securing themselves against
the indulgence in their besetting sins — drunkenness
and gambling. It may well be said that idleness,
backed b}- riches, is the mother of many miseries.
The time had now arrived when we were to bid fare-
well to the Crimea, and the recollection, if that were
possible, of all its horrors, its dangers and worries,
only too thankful that we had escaped with our lives.
The beautiful month of June, 185G, found us on board
a steam transport bound for Constantinople, where I
landed, and went off to pay my respects to my old
patient, Miss Nightingale. I found that noble crea-
ture looking very pale and slender, and delicate in
appearance, with her beautiful black hair cut short,
but still retaining her wonted stock of fiery courage
and activity. She was simply worshipped by the sick
and wounded, who romantically kissed her very
shadow as she noiselessly glided along the corridors,
lamp in hand, when all was silent and quiet at night,
to satisfy herself that all was going on well among
her eyeless, armless, footless, shot, sabred, and
bayoneted devotees. There, within those dismal
walls, was to be seen this refined, highly cultured
lady, going the rounds of her wards two and a half
miles in extent, among thousands of uneducated men,
90 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
rough, rugged, blood}^ dirty, wounded, sick, hungry,
and miserable, undertaking painful and arduous duties
with every possible deficiency in the necessary sup-
plies, for she had to deal with men wrapped up in
departmental formalism called " red-tapeism," where-
by living wounded sick soldiers, the defenders of their
country's honour, were treated as so many Ijales of
goods, to be packed aside in heaps and then forgotten.
To correct such crying and shameful misdoings was
Miss Nightingale's heavy task, almost singlehanded.
She might indeed be well defined without any exag-
geration a " ministering angel " in these hospitals.
Calling to mind the real luxury of a Turkish bath, I
could not leave Stamboul without resorting to that
bodily refreshment. The building is like a huge
church, with a dome in the centre, in which 150 people
can walk about comfortably, and enjoy the delicious
balmy heat, and get a g.ood rub down by a small boy,
who after lathering you all over, will grinningiy show
you what an incredible quantity of black scurf he has
managed to scrape off your apparently white skin, but
there it is on his hands, and you have to believe him.
This desquamation will account, perhaps, for the inex-
pressibly soothing sensations one feels afterwards in
the cooling room, where a feeling of heaven!}' peace
and rest takes possession of one. Such a ]3hysical and
mental paradise you will not find in the puny baths
which have been set up in England, and which are a
mere sham in comparison with those in Constantinople,
In taking leave of Scutari and its hospitals, I may
just mention an incident which presents to us a very
forcible picture how warfare with its horrid sequences
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 91
and debasing surroundings deadens man's heart to
all those refined susceptibilities of a moral and reli-
gious nature, and suppresses that sympathetic kind-
liness of feeling which dominates and exercises our
minds when we behold our friends and companions
ruthlesslj' snatched suddenly from us in times of
peace. Eead, and believe if you can, gentle reader,
sitting at your ease in these ''piping times of peace,"
the following i^lain and unvarnished truth. When
the sick and the wounded had collected in their
thousands at the Scutari hospitals, and even in the
cavalry stables near thereto, they began to die off in
scores daily, not so much from actual wounds as from
dysentery and fever occurring in broken-down, starved
constitutions — hopeless cases. An insupportable
gloom overspread the place like a black pall, which
affected the spirits and courage of the noble nurses
terribly, but their heroism was something wonderful
to witness. The cemetery, therefore, at such a time,
became the centre of melancholy interest. The
private soldiers were buried en masse as I have already
described they were in the Crimea, simply stitched
up in their blankets, and laid side by side in a large
grave, while the officers were interred in a small
cemetery overlooking the sea, each with a wooden
tablet at the head of the spot. In this resting-place
are lying eight doctors, the victims of hard work and
disease ! The bodies of the dead were collected
together in heaps in an empty ward, then a string of
invalid orderlies would form a procession and carry
the bodies on stretchers through a long corridor filled
with patients who had become so accustomed to this
92 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
melancholy looking train, that they would go on
chatting, reading, or being read to, or any other
amusement going on, without their attention being
diverted in the slightest degree by this touching spec-
tacle of their dead comrades going to their last home !
Oh ! war, war, with all thy pomp, glitter, and
glory ! How dost thou in thy very bitterness of trial
curse our race, sowing penalties and pains broadcast
over us, heaping up poverty on the very poor, reck-
lessly deriding the widow in her bereavement, making
her husbandless, making her childless ; thou begettest
orphans ; in the very wantonness of thy cruelty dost
thou seek victims from every grade ; reckless of all
social distinctions, bringing down to one dead level
the heartbroken and the desolate ! Shortsighted,
ignorant, and vain men crown thy triumphs with
laurel ; but the cypress of the cemetery and the yew
of the village churchyard would be more fitting
emblems of thy accursed work ! I will now draw
down a veil over this harrowing picture. May the
time be not far distant in this era of the world in
which the saying in the Book of books shall be
verified, namely, *' They shall beat their swords into
ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more " !
I now proceeded on my journey homewards, which
I hoped to accomplish so as to spend my thirty-sixth
birthday in my own country. On board I found an
officer whom I had met formerly at Malta on his way
up to the Crimea. He, like many others on furlough
from India, had diverged and gone to the fighting
7.V THE VICTOBIAN EBA. 93
field to volunteer bis services in order to see what
war was really like ; he never having seen a shot
fired in anger while in India. He appeared then very
impatient to have a go at the Eussiaus, and was
vainly boasting of what he would and could do when
he had a chance, flourishing in the air his six-shooter.
I had now an opportunity of asking him how he had
succeeded, and whether he had left his mark behind
him. As soon as I mentioned the subject, his
countenance fell and he looked rather gloomy.
AVhen I reminded him of his remarks about potting
the enemy with his revolver, " AVell," he said, " I
had my chance, it was at Inkerman, and I will tell
you all about it. I got entangled in a mdrc as the
duke did, and it was during a hand-to-hand fight
when a fellow was about to cut me down, I fired my
revolver at and missed him, and then I lost my nerve
and self-possession so far as not to let go the trigger
for the next shot, and thus was in imminent danger
of being killed had not a private soldier come to the
rescue and parried the cut with his bayonet. I need
hardly tell you that such a narrow escape will never
be forgotten, and that it took all the bounce out of
me for the future."
" Man, proud man !
Dressed in a little brief authority, ....
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep ! "
Nothing of any great moment occurred before we
reached ]\falta, where we lauded and were made
nnich of. One officer struggling along on two crutches
came in for quite an ovation ; he had been shot in the
94 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOlilAN ERA.
stomach and the bullet had made its exit at the side
of the spiue, and yet, \Yonderful to relate, he had
survived and was doing well. Another poor fellow,
walking on one crutch, was shot in the heel ; the bone
had become a mere shell, the interior having crumbled
awa}'. He was suffering a good deal, and the leg
would be eventually shorter than the other. Both
these officers would be compelled to give up the
service, much against their will, and become
pensioners for the rest of their lives upon the
nation's bounty. The latter case is still alive but
lame, and has been well cared for by a grateful
countr}^ and in his old age comfortably berthed b}^
the Queen at Windsor. Our reception at Gibraltar
was equally pleasant and agreeable. One vied with
another, ladies and all, in showering kindnesses upon
us, and introducing for our comfort all sorts of
delicacies to make our voyage more congenial and
health-giving. I myself, besides suffering from the
effects of cholera, had had three scurvy ulcers on
the leg, which had exceedingly reduced me, and so
shattered my general health, that I should have to
look out for a sanitorium on arriving in England
where I should have to remain two or three years to
re-establish my constitution. As to further service
in the army that was quite out of the question.
Arriving at Portsmouth, my luggage, which was
something considerable, was allowed to pass the
custom house without examination and my store of
Turkish tobacco was admitted duty free. From Ports-
mouth I made my way to Brighton, which I had
selected as my future headquarters. And here I will
stay my band for the present.
./. l'au^hu)t-J/u^'/ui, J:s.j., M.D., L.K.C.T., L.'udon.
Knight of the Royal Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus of Italy.
Surgeon-Major, retired, Criinean War, 1854-5—6.
Author 0/ " Sei'cnty Years 0/ Life in the Victorian Era."
CHAPTEE XIII.
ExcErx to those who have experienced the fiery
ordeal of having passed through an active campaign
of two years' duration in such a war as that of the
years 1854-5-G, none can reahse in the faintest
degree the blessed calm and blissful peace in which
the soul reposes when once more one is safe at home
again in the midst of every luxury and refinement,
and rejoicing in the congratulations of relations and
friends at the many narrow escapes to life ; cheered
also at l:)eing honoured with the country's approval
and recognition of one's services under fire. In duo
course the King Victor Emmanuel forwarded to me
through the Foreign Oflfice the Cross of a Knight of
the Pioyal Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, " for
distinguished services before the enemy," which I
received accompanied with a royal warrant to accept
and wear the same, signed by Her Majesty herself.
This Order with the English and Turkish war medals
enabled me to appear at Court with three decorations
on my breast. Such an occasion was glorious enough
to elicit a sense of pride and vanity in most men's
hearts, but to me all such feelings were swallowed up
in the one grand iiredominating reflection that I had
96 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
escaped with my life, which idea, at all times, brought
to the fore such a deep sense of gratitude to the
Giver of all mercies that all the other superficial and
mundane thoughts were totally eclipsed. Though
many years have elapsed, this condition of mind still
exists, and when a gallant volunteer for instance,
in the full pride of his new uniform, exclaims, " Oh
how I should like to appear at a leree with such
decorations," I would reply, " My dear fellow, you
little know at what a risk to life and health they were
obtained, or you would not think so much of them ! "
The first regiment which arrived at Brighton after
I took up my residence was the 4th Dragoon Guards
which had distinguished itself in the Crimea, hence
we soon cottoned together. I became officially
attached to the dejwt there, and thus kept in touch
with some of my old campaigning friends. Conse-
quently joined in the festivities which the good town's
25eople were not slow to indulge both to officers and
men. The first fancy-dress ball ever held in the
picturesque old Pavilion was a grand success, there
being upwards of eleven hundred present. Nearly all
Shakespeare's characters were represented. It was a
part of the programme that all the party should be
presented to and passed by the Doge of Venice, who
was seated on a throne in the long corridor. This
was a very dazzling sight, the glittering uniforms and
quaint old dresses were superb. A Queen's Drawing-
room reception could not have come up to it. A
friend of mine went in as Falstaff, and his broad front
was bejewelled to the tune of £2,000, and he was
obliged to pay two guineas each for two of Nathan's
IN THE VICTOniAX ERA. 97
men in plain evening dress to safeguard tbem and
him from loss or robbery. There were three or four
dressed as Shakespeare in silk velvet with point
lace collar and cuffs. Two pretty sisters, beautifulh'
figured in pink tights and tulle skirts with wing&
on the shoulders representing angels, were much
admired. Everything was conducted with the utmost
decorum, and the committee strictly forbad any
objectionable get-up. The return ball 1)}' the 4th
Dragoons to their friends was brilliant in the extreme,
and the Pavilion suite of rooms was decorated with
great taste and lavish expense. Dancing was just
possible in the crowded rooms, and when the supper-
room was thrown open at midnight it was quite
impossible to get near the tables sitting or standing,
groaning as they were with every luxury in season
and out of season.
After remaining a few years at Brighton, and my
health having, thanks to its fine bracing air, become
thoroughly established, I came to the wise conclusion
that that pleasure resovt was very well for amuse-
ment and to spend money in, but that it was not the
place to get into a lucrative practice unless one
obtained a locus standi in partnership with some old
practitioner, resident in the town for years. Hence
my ambition was to fix myself in London as soon as
I could afford to settle in some fashionable street in
its West End, for there is no citj' in the world where
a professional man can get on so well as in London
if he can patiently abide his time, undisturbed l)y a
sense of fear or favour.
But before this move took plice, I had an oppor-
s
98 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
tunity of visiting Italy, where, in consequence of my
having received their order of knighthood, I was
received with distinguished favour. I was present in
Florence when King Victor Emmanuel made his
grand entree into that city, and made it for the time
being the capital of United Italy, There were great
festivities to celebrate the event. I got an invi-
tation to the first royal })all at the Pitti Palace,
when there were present 5,000 of the elite of the
nobility of the land, parading its long suite of twenty-
four reception-rooms. The Queen of Portugal was
mistress of the ceremonies. I was permitted to enter
the compartment where the royal quadrille was
being danced, in which were engaged the king's
daughter and three of his sons. When I entered
the refreshment room, I was surprised to see the
tables spread with the most harmless and costless
delicacies. The king said neither he nor the country
could afford to give expensive entertainments — their
war debt was too heavy. There was a huge ormulu
inlaid punch bowl, out of which a servant was
ladling cupfuls of something of a brown colour, and
as it was much patronised by the ladies, I came to
the conclusion that it could not possibly be punch, so
I went in for a cup of it, and lo ! behold it was
nothing stronger than clear beef tea — a nice innocent
beverage to dance upon truly. At that time the
cholera was raging at Naples, and nothing would
satisfy the king but he must needs go down, contrary
to advice, and pay the hospitals a personal visit. Of
course it was considered a very brave self-sacrificing
thing to do, and when he returned in safetv to
IN THE VICTORIAN EB^i. 99
Florence the people were half crazy with delight, and
he was received with an uproar of cheers.
Patti was then engaged at the opera house, and
though very young was rapidly hecoming a great
favourite. Hence, on the king's return he went to
the opera; Patti had just been before the curtain
to receive the applause of the audience three times
when the king entered the royal box ; then it com-
menced again more furiously than ever, and poor
little Patti, not being aware of the royal presence,
came forward again to be applauded, but soon dis-
covered her mistake, but was consoled by receiving a
handsome bracelet from His Majesty.
It is not often one finds a foreign order of much
service in travelling from place to place, but a very
pleasant exception occurred to me on one occasion
when visitiug the north of Italy. A party of ladies
requested my escort from Venice to the river Po.
One had been laid up with inflamed eyes, to whom
I had been of some little service. They were English,
and did not know any other language than their
mother tongue ; under these circumstances I con-
sented to take a seat in one of their carriages — for
two were required Thus we posted down to the banks
of the river. When we arrived our luggage was to
be examined at the custom house ; but when I
showed the official my credentials he very politely
permitted our baggage to pass free, and we got at
once into the ferry-boat and were taken over to the
opposite side before another large party could clear
the customs ; thus I was enabled to secure the only
vehicle standing there, on which our luggage was
100 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
placed. While I was chatting with the man in charge
of the office on the south side, the other party had
got over, and had bribed our cabby with a napoleon
to take our trunks off and put theirs on. No doubt
the wealthy English heiress with her suite of man-
servants and maid-servants, courier and doctor, looked
very grand and imposing ; but when I appealed to the
official to give me precedence on account of my order
of knighthood, he immediately reversed the position
of things, giving the driver a good rating. You can
better imagine than I can describe it the looks of
this rich domineering English party, when they saw
their fine boxes taken down and placed uncere-
moniously on the muddy shingle, and watching us
drive off to Ferrara, a distance of five or six miles,
which we reached in time for table cVhOte dinner ;
while the great lady and her companions were
obliged to wait till carriages were sent from the town
to convey them to the hotel, which they reached
about midnight, when no meals could be had.
One more instance in which I found the Italian
order of social service was in Eome. In that city
there were at that time several private galleries of
painting and sculpture, and valuable libraries, possess-
ing ancient collections of manuscripts of great in-
terest, in the mansions of the decayed ^obiIit3^ The
old Hotel d'Angleterre had then a large number of
visitors under its roof, by some of whom I was
solicited to get them an introduction to see these
treasures, which I had no difficulty in doing. "When
a sufficient sum of money had been collected as a
honorarium for the great but impoverished owner.
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 101
whose scanty income was considerably augmented by
these tolls, then, and not till then, would I consent
to be the guide to the part3\
A rather singular bet was made by some friends in
the hotel on the eve of our attending the Jrv<''(' at
the Vatican. I must first say that the Pope, in
those palmy Church days, was temporal sovereign
of the estates of the papal dominion, and at
bitter enmity with the king, who wanted Rome
to be the capital of United Italy. The bet was
this. That I would not dare to appear in the
Pope's presence wearing the Order of St. Maurice
and St. Lazarus, because if I did he would thus
have to bestow a blessing on the king's decoration.
I did not let them into the secret that I was going to
place the cross between two war medals. Hence,
when I entered the Audience Chamber, Consignor
Howard came up to me, and seeing the order, said,
" I presume that is a war decoration, and has nothing
to do with any political or religious matter what-
ever." I replied, "Certainly not," that it was for
service in the Crimea. " Very good," said he, "then
you can have the f'ntrer.'" Pio Nono then entered,
and walking down the long corridor, speaking to one,
then to another in his well-known, kindly, genial
way, came opposite to where I stood, and just
glancing at the decorations, said, " Do you think the
cholera will travel from Naples to Pome "? " " I
thought not, if the authorities would look well to the
sanitary condition of the city." He then continued
on, addressing the company, touching their strings of
crucifixes and beads till he reached the further end
102 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
of the long gallery, when be turned round, raised
his hand, and blessed Catholics and Protestants alike.
Thus the bet was won ! "When I arrived at the hotel,
the disappointed ones said, " When His Holiness
stopped opposite and spoke to 3'ou, we certainly
thought be was giving you a good wigging for appear-
ing witb that order upon your breast, but you have
done us thoroughly.''
When the war was over in the United States,
the Americans, especially the ladies, came over in
swarms " to do " Europe, and give their daughters
a polish. It was not only the fashion, but a regular
craze set in to cross the Atlantic "to see the wonders
of the world abroad," notwithstanding that their
greenbacks were exchanged at a discount of
40 per cent. They lavishly spent their money
broadcast. They secured the best rooms in the
hotels ; gave the best prices in the shops for articles
de rrrtu, completely swamping the English buyers by
giving double the usual charges for copies of the
old masters. They excited quite a sensation in the
coral, cameo, and mosaic stores by the free-and-easy
way in which they spent their money. Some of
their countrymen pretended " to do " Eome in a
couple of days, rushing about like madmen from
museum to church, and hence to ruins, hardly giving
themselves time for meals, at which they would read
their Murray or examine the maps. I was crossing
the country one day when two 3'oung American girls
were of the party, who delayed our starting not a
little by two huge trunks which they insisted on
having chained up behind, making our conveyance
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 105
dangerously top-heavy. So I asked them why they
travelled about with such monstrous impedimenta.
"Oh!" they said, "they were obliged to do so,
because if they did not trouble them a bit at the
hotels the}- would be thought nothing of, and be
snubbed as 'nobodies.'" I could not help seeing
that there was some wise forethought in their plans,
and that the usual acuteness of the Yankee was to
the fore in this instance, and they could, as they say,
" whip the English into fits." Here were two un-
protected young girls travelling alone thousands of
miles from their own land, perfectly at their ease,
yet possessed of a shrewdness and tact quite character-
istic of Brother Jonathan's family.
Again I came across an American gentleman in
charge of four pretty young ladies travelling about
in style. He was the envy of all the bachelors, who
regarded him as a most fortunate man, and did not
fail to express their sentiments. "Oh ! you innocent
and simple young fellows : you who don't look
beyond the surface," said he. " I only wish any one
of you had my place for the next trip, and then I
should see how you would like to look after four
ladies and nineteen trunks and packages. Just try
it at one custom house, and then tell me I am a
most fortunate man, if you have the cheek to do so."
" But what in the world do they want such a lot of
boxes for? " " There you are again, you greenhorns.
When you are married you will quickly be installed
into such mysteries. Don't you see, if ladies change
their dresses four times a day, that the gowns must
have plenty of space to themselves to avoid crump-
104 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
ling." They might have ejaculated, " Trul}' we live
and learn," but were lost in surprise, and said
nothing.
Mr. Parker, C.B., the eminent archseologist, being
a friend of my family, I had an unusual opportunity
of seeing and studying the ruins of ancient Rome
under his guidance. He had spent quite a little
fortune in excavating different portions of the city,
and possessed a fine collection of large photos, from
which he lectured to his numerous friends. One of
the underground prisons he discovered had been
utilised and converted into a dejiot, a, sort of refrigerator,
for butcher's meat. What dramatic changes hath not
time wrought !
There were a great many assassinations in Rome
at that time. It was not safe to go out at night
except in company, and with lanterns and sticks.
The streets were not lighted with lamps. I was
at an evening party in a suite of rooms on the
third story (the fashionable and healthy one, high
above the stench of the streets) when a gentleman
was steathily followed up the dark staircase to the
top landing, then stabbed in the neck, just missing
the jugular vein. We heard the shriek and a rustle
down the steps, but before any of us could get outside
the assassin was gone. We were much grieved, for
this gentleman had been forty years in the city, and
had shown many acts of kindness towards the poor.
We heard afterwards that he had been mistaken for
somebody else. This wanton act of cruelty roused
a good deal of indignation in the English colony,
and a deputation was formed to call on Antonelli,
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 105
the foreign minister, stating the case, and asking to
be allowed to carry revolvers in self-defence. All the
consolation we got was this sarcastic and ominous
reply, "Oh, yes ! certainly," said he ; " but you must
take the consequences," and we knew what that
insinuation meant.
The populace hated their French protectors, and
many officers on patrol were stabbed, and one died of
his wounds while I was there. The Pope would nOw
and again come in his carriage, surrounded by his
noble guard, and get out among the promenaders in
the Piazza di Spagna, when the ladies would gather
round him like a flock of pigeons, and kneeling down
on the dirty flags, in their splendid silks, would seize
the hands of His Holiness and salute them, or failing
that would kiss the hem of his garment. There was
no Protestant place of worship allowed within the
walls of the city in those days ; we were obliged to
attend a most un-church-like building outside the
gates. We were not allowed to congregate even in a
private room to read and expound the Scriptures,
except on the sly I All this bigotry is now dead and
buried, and religious liberty prevails. Hence the
Americans have erected a splendid church in the
very heart of Eome, with a lofty spire pointing
heavenwards, and not towards the Vatican, where
everything inclines good, bad, and indifferent. We
will now stop, and then proceed with Chapter XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
Before we finall}- take leave of Eome and its
renowned antiquities, we must just climb up into
the brazen ball crowning the grand dome of St.
Peter's, and get a peep through its bull's eyes of the
magnificent panorama of the Campagna, backed by
its distant hills, and on the other side the meandering
Tiber flowing down to join the Mediterranean Sea.
Again, let us take a farewell turn on the Monte
Pincio of sunny fame, where do congregate the elite
in their smart carriages and still smarter dresses,
where some American ladies would outshine in
splendour those of any other country, and did not
fail to attract to the sides of their hired equipages
and liveried servants the young impecunious Italian
nobles, heirs to large estates mortgaged up to the
very hilt for generations past ; these handsome,
plausible gentry would leave no stone unturned to
secure the afl'ections and the money of these rich
women, in order to restore the social position of these
fallen but proud old families. But — and there is
always a nasty but in the fulfilment of these selfish
schemes — when the case had advanced so far as to
elicit the reply, "Ask papa," the worthy noble
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 107
finds that dear papa is showing off at the sacrifice
of capital, and not Hving in the usual way on his
income at all, and can make no settlement on his
heautiful and fascinating daughter. Then the dis-
api^ointed — one cannot say disinterested — lover slopes
away, and is no more seen on Monte Fincio for the
remainder of that season. Then you ask a Chicago
merchant, rich in pork and credit, how he dare act
in such a prodigal way, his answer was, twenty-six
years ago, " Well, I can go back to my business and
make as good a fortune, and as quickly, again," and
so he would, for money was made rapidly in the
metropolis of hogs in those days.
We will now pass on to Naples — shining beauti-
fully in a cloucfless sky like a white-washed sepulchre
without, but inwardly stenchy and offensive. Vesu-
vius, slightly smoking in the distance, first attracts
the visitor's attention, and when we get to it we are
told that the feat to accomplish is to take some raw
eggs in your pocket, climb unaided up its steep side
knee-deep in loose lava and cinders till you reach the
crater; then if you have not already fallen and
broken your eggs, you descend into its mouth and
thrust the eggs into the hot dust to l)e cooked, which
takes about half an hour, then you take them out
and eat them. This I performed safely, but at the
expense of a pair of boots, the soles of which were
burnt off. Of course Pompei and its wonders were
duly done and studied a la ]\Iurray, then we pro-
ceeded via Castella Mare to visit lovely Sorento,
basking in its orange groves. We made the Tre-
montana Hotel, on the edge of the cliff overhanging
108 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
the bay, our headquarters, from whence we rowed
over to Capri in order to enter its celebrated " blue
cave " in the waters of which reflecting the sky, a
man will plunge in and swim about looking like a
silver fish, amid ripples of phosphorescent light — a
curious dazzling phenomenon, decidedly worth a visit
provided the weather is fine. Eeturning to Sorento
we next took a journey inland to Amalti, and thence
by very good road cut out of the cliffs overlooking
the seas on one side, and bounded on the other by
terrace upon terrace of orange gardens, till we
reached Salerno, the whole ride singularly wild and
picturesque. Not being safe to visit the ruined
temples of Paestum in consequence of the roads
being infested with brigands, we returned to
Naples where I gave myself up for a time to the
study of the original statues of the heathen gods,
unearthed from the temples in Pompei by Govern-
ment excavators. Some, especially the colossal
statue of Hercules, seemed as fresh looking as if they
had been sculptured yesterday. The various surgical
instruments taken from a doctor's house interested
me very much and tended to confirm the old saying,
that " There is nothing new under the sun." AVhile
the wonderful preservation of the loaves of bread with
the baker's stamp, the coffee-berries, currants, and
spices were no less attractive from a domestic point
of view to the ladies.
It is not my intention to act as a peripatetic
guide to the " lions " of the places I happen to stay
at, unless I can point a moral now and again. I
shall make a return visit to Italy in the course of ten
IN THE VIC TORI AX ERA. 109
years, and then I shall describe the changes, social,
moral, and religious, which shall have taken place in
the country's condition when it has become happily
united and cemented under the liberal government
and free under the auspices of a large-hearted king ;
and throws off the yoke of the Austrians, who were so
hated in Venice when I was there, that when the
officers entered a restaurant, the Italian gentlemen
would walk out.
To economise my time I took a berth in a coasting
steamer and left Naples for Genoa, which we reached
in forty-eight hours, touching at Civita Vecchia and
Leghorn t'n route — trade poor, and people half asleep
in each town. Genoa may be defined as a city of
marble palaces of a bygoile golden era, when their
owners could afibrd to keep them up, but in modern
times tenanted by a poor and squalid lot of people,
who tramp their marble halls and staircases with
perfect unconcern and contempt as to their former
grandeur. Such are the changes which a declining
commerce has produced, not only at Leghorn and
Genoa, but also all along the Eiviera till one reaches
the large and prosperous community of Marseilles.
I therefore early took my departure from Genoa,
chartered a carria.ue, from which I enjoyed, on a
lovely bright day to my utmost till, the varied beauties
of the world-renowned landscapes along the celebrated
Corniclie road. The day's journey terminated at San
Eemo, a health resort not thought much of at that
time. The town runs up a spur of the Alps at an
angle of nearly forty degrees, is well wooded, and is a
very pretty sight from the sea, and rice rn-sd from its
110 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
summit. The streets are narrow and bridged over
here and there by solid masonry to give the houses
stability against earthquakes. The fruit was very cheap
— I bought twelve apples for a penny, and as to oranges
they were a glut in the market. How will this be in a
dozen years hence, when the railway is completed along
the coast and its crowds of English and Americans
appear to spoil the primitive simplicity '? Leaving
San Eemo and its cheap hotel at seven francs a day,
I continued along the route a la Cornkhe, which, if
anything, becomes more bewitching as one nears
Bordighera and Ventimiglia, up and down hill on a
perfect roadway, passing bold and lofty promontories
and well-wooded hills ; then skirting the bases of
precipitous and frowning cliffs washed by the angry
waves of the blue sea, crowned here and there by the
ruins of venerable towers of bygone ages to protect
the residents from pirates. Again we descend into a
richly cultivated plain with its curiously shaped olive
trees, luxuriant growth of vines, figs, citrons, oranges,
oleanders, myrtles, aloes, and even palms, and though
last, not least, the showy mimosa with its feathery
blossoms and delightful perfume. Passing by the
model estate of Mr. Hanbury, a paradise of beauty,
which he kindly allows visitors to see, our road
ascends and curves round a spur of a pine- clad
mountain, when there suddenly bursts upon the sight
a splendid panorama, consisting of the town of
Mentone, with its eastern and western divisions
lying at one's feet, with Koccabruna, Monaco, and
the I'Esterel hills in the distance, and the wide
expanse of the sea with its ever-varying shades of
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. Ill
blue and green. Such a view in a flood of sunshine
is a treat indeed, and not to be forgotten by any
tourist, however apatlietic. As we descend into
Mentone the road is cut out of the solid rock, and
a deep gorge is crossed by the Pont St. Louis, a fine
specimen of masonry, which forms the boundary
between France and Italy, and where I had to
submit to my luggage being examined, my Italian
privileges having now ceased. I put up at the
Hotel de Londres, a small place, but the cooking
was excellent, as I was informed by a Leicester
clergyman, who had ministered there for some years.
My first visit was to my old friend. Dr. Henry
Bennet, at the Hotel des Anglais. Ill health had
compelled him to leave London every winter and take
up his residence and practice in Mentone, which
became through his influence and that of his book
" Eastward Ho and Westward Ho " the most popular
resort for invalids with delicate chests along the
whole length of the Eiviera. The natives regarded him
in the light of the founder of its prosperity, and styled
him " the King of Mentone," and frequently pressed
him to assume the office of mayor, though a foreigner.
He was a perfect Frenchman in thought and speech,
and he carried in the muncipality great weight as far
as sanitary improvements were concerned. He had
41 fine suite of rooms in his hotel, where he reigned
supreme ; the landlord and servants obsequiously
submissive to all his orders. He filled the hotel with
his patients. In the large dining-room there was a
T-shaped table at which he presided, and insisted on
having the windows open at the cross part, much to
112 SEVENTY YEAES OF LIFE
the alarm of those delicate ones who thought too
much fresh air would kill them. Those, however,
who were ohedient to his will were i)riyileged to have
seats at the cross portion of the table, which was
called the " House of Lords," while the tail part was
styled the " House of Commons."' I had breakfast
with him in his elegant apartments full of knick-knacks
and i^resents from grateful visitors, when he offered
to drive me in his handsome carriage and pair as far
as Monaco to hear the celebrated band of musicians,
the pick of all nations, and to witness the play at the
gaming tables, which I accepted in anticipation of
much pleasure, for the road had lovely scenery all
the way, and the Casino had acquired wide-world
renown for the numbers of people it had ruined
and the constant suicides that had taken place in the
first moments of despair and bewilderment at having
lost all. A bright sunny afternoon favoured our
delightful drive, and we both enjoyed the visit
exceedingly, returning in the shades of evening in the
glow of a setting sun with keen appetites for dinner.
After struggling up the mountains with a party of
ladies on mules to see the magnificent jn-ospect from
S. Agnese one day, and on another to make an
excursion to Castellara, and not forgetting to note
the immense commerce in flowers going on per post
between IMentone and England, I regretfully took my
leave of this beautiful health resort, and made my
way to Nice.
The Corniche road continued still to present some
splendid l)its of scenery C7i route to Kice, especially
as one approaches Yillafranca Bay, and taking the
IN THE VICTORIAN Eli A. 113
high road over tlio promontory which in its descent
looks down on the town nestling in the hollow. Nice
is said to have three distinct climates according to your
position in the city, whether this he in the old town,
on the Promenade des Anglais, or in the sheltered
situation of the "Strangers' Quarter," lying back
some distance from the sea front. Here one meets
in the winter season crowds of Russians, Germans,
French, and English, who congregate together as
much for pleasure as for health ; and as money flows
freely, living is dearer in comparison with other
places on the Riviera. Therefore, after mounting
Castle Hill and doing the Public Gardens, there is not
much to see, I departed by train for Cannes, instead
of travelling by road along the coast which is flat
and uninteresting. Cannes may be defined as a
city of detached villas, snugly emljowored in their
own detached grounds, which extend for miles on
each side of a splendid wide road, and having a
centre made up of fifty fine hotels, the outcome of
its well-deserved popularity as a sheltered wintering
place for delicate persons with weak chests. A
tourist may spend a very pleasant week there. The
islands of St. Marguerite and St. Honorat are well
worth a day's visit. The quaint old fortress and the
fortified monastery are fine specimens of middle-aged
strongholds in the days of bows and arrows. It is
well also to ascend to see the old parish church and
pottery works on Mount Chevalier, from which a fine
l)ird's-eye view of the town at its foot may be had, with
the bright sea in front and the Alps in tlie roar,
which afford such a protection from the dreaded
U
114 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
mistral wind from the north-west. Cannes is a quiet
family place, where home-life predominates over
fashionable display, and does not pretend to com-
pete with her more flashy neighbom-, where high
life reigns supreme, and boasts of its " Battle of
riowers " as not second to that held in Eome.
Leaving Cannes I take rail to Hyeres, another
health resort, well worthy of a short visit, because its
climate is so mild for invalids. The graceful large
palm trees lining its public x^romenade, bearing fruit
which actually ripens, is a truthful testimony to
its warm sunny aspect. Being three miles from the
station and the same distance from the 'sea is rather
against it ; still it is much frequented by families seek-
ing quietness and moderate living expenditure. The
natives cultivate largely the violet and the rose, which
grow profusely and are exported in large quantities.
Passing by Toulon, the great naval harbour of
France, I reach by rail Marseilles, its greatest com-
mercial seaport, the counterpart of our Liverj)ool,
boasting 300,000 people all alive and active, and
carrying on an immense maritime traffic with
Africa, India, and Australia. The thing to do is to
mount the rather steep climb of the rock on which
the Cathedral of the Notre Dame de la Garde is
situated, crowned by the gilt figure of the Virgin, the
landmark and object of devotion to the sailors at sea.
From the terrace a grand view of the big city at
one's feet with its huge shipping docks is beheld.
Again a boat should be taken to the Chateau d'lf,
where Mirabeau was confined, and the scene is laid
of Dumas' " Monte Christo." Marseilles is fully
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 115
exposed to the mistral aucl is oae of the collest
j)laces in winter I ever visited. Before leaving the
South of France, the land of lemons and oranges, I
ma}' just relate a legend which is superstitiously
believed in by the lower orders : it is this. When Eve
was expelled from the Garden of Eden she carried
iiway with her a fine lemon, wliich she carefully
nursed for a long time seeking a suitable soil to plant
it in. At last arriving at Mentone she fixed upon
that charming sunny spot as the best she had come
across. So she deposited her lemon there, where it
took root kindly, and has ever since thriven so
pleuteously and luxuriantly that the fruit is held in
high esteem in Paris and deemed the finest in the
world.
CHAPTEE XY.
Havikg bid fareuell to Marseillep, the f/rand vitesse
landed me safely in Paris in about thirty-six hours,
which I found in an awful state of confusion and
consternation, in consequence of the unexpected
failure of Overend and Gurney's bank, which was
universally regarded as safe as the Bank of England.
English gentlemen and ladies were vociferating
loudly over their losses, and scanning eagerly the
last news from London. After having had a good
look at the beautiful Eugenie, whom I was lucky
enough to see walking arm in arm with the Emperor
in the Place de la Concorde, I made the best of my
way to London to safeguard m}' own interests, as I
was told that the *' Bears " were trying to ruin the
other banks by making a run upon them. But my
bank was forewarned, and had protected itself against
their sudden onslaught by getting into their coft'ers
one and a quarter millions of money, and thus could
meet every demand. When the settling-day came
round the " Bears " had to repa}^ 3 per cent, en the
bank's stock ; and thus the biters were bitten, and
in some cases even to ruin ! Here, again. Providence
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 117
intervened in my favour, and I was therebj'' enabled
to carry out my longed-for plan of settling in London.
Beginning ^Yith unfurnished apartments in George
Street, Hanover Sc[uare, I was lucky enough to secure
the whole house after I had been there a few months.
From the dining-room window I could see, and was
often amused at, the splendid weddings which so
often took place in St. George's Church, the steps up
to which were carpeted with red cloth, generally
indicative of a mariage a la mode among the aristo-
cracy, and as these were frequently regarded a
mariage de convenancc, the steps were nicknamed
"the steps to ruin," and in many instances it was
only too true.
When my first London season came round I
thought it would be to my advantage to be presented
at Court, and as the then Adjutant-General kindly
consented to act as my sponsor, I went and was
introduced, not to the Qaeen, but to the young Prince
of Wales, who represented her Majesty at the levee.
I felt disappointed, and so did an elderly officer who
had come all the way from India to see his Queen
herself. He told me that he was old enough to be
the Prince's father, and remembered his being biDrn.
But the fact was, her Majesty had been so cut up by
the unexpected death of the Prince Consort — Albert
the Good, as he was called — that she had not
appeared in public for some time. The next best
thing that could happen to me was to get a hospital
appointment, which I succeeded in doing the first
year of my residense in London, which brought me
into personal contact with all sorts and conditions of
118 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
men, womcD, and children, from the duchess to the
dustman, from the peer to the pauper, especially with
that perplexing; portion of the pecple since descrihcd
as the " submerged tenth." As a hospital physician
I came into close communion with the degraded
classes, and in one's mission of merc}* among them
gained their confidence. The fact was very soon and
very forcibly revealed to me, that the drinking of
rough, cJicaj) spirits in their raw and immature
character was the cause, as a general rule, of their
pitiful downfall, their deplorable debasement of body
and mind. I don't think the fact is brought home
with sufficient emphasis when the "West End talk
glibly of the moral degradation of the East End.
No one would believe the deleterious, the diseasing
effects of these vile concoctions, first upon the body,
then upon the mind, except those who have had
actual experience of such in our public hospitals,
and in the homeS' — if you can call them such — of
those who apply as outsiders. Those who will closely
look into this perplexing problem as to what can be
done to stem the torrent of evils associated with this
engrossing vice, find themselves hedged about with
many difficulties, though the glaring truth is apparent
to any impartial looker-on, that this spirit-drinking
is the prohfic mother of many miseries. When the
man or the woman is once down, and has lost all self-
respect, it seems an impossibility to reason them out
of the vicious and uncontrollable cause. They know
it, they feel it, they confess it with tears ; and it
matters not what position in society they may have
come frcm, they are all tarred with the same brush.
IN THE VICTORIAN Eli A. 119
which marks them as the " devil's own." Xo blood
ties, no social ties, no knowledge, scientific, literary,
moral, or religious, in the least degree influences
them, and one can only commit them to the gracious
intervention of God's good Spirit to move them, come
when and where that may.
Under these dire circumstances what can society,
■what can the nation and its Government do to redeem
this pitiable condition of the lower classes and, by
self-impoverishment, the very lowest classes ? What
will the upper middle and aristocratic orders do to
ameliorate matters? Go into what is called "good
society," and just see and hear for j^ourself, as one
perfectly disinterested and unbiassed. You cannot
help observing and feeling that there is some great
controlling power at work, obstructing greatly efforts
at reform, and encouraging this gigantic evil, this
pernicious agency floating freely, without let or hin-
drance, in every nook and corner of the kingdom.
Why is this drink question tabooed ? Why is it a
forbidden subject in fashionable circles ? Why are
you treading on delicate ground when you venture
to allude to it under your breath '? Why are con-
scientious people put down as fanatics who dare to
give their opinion courageously on this momentous
subject ? The reply to these tangible questions is
plain and evident enough to those who are not pur-
posely blind. Vested interests is the answer; interests
involving every moneyed class in society ; 139
millions of gold invested by thousands of well-to-do
people in the higher and middle ranks, who through
the medium of huge brewing companies have each
120 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
and all a direct pecuniary stake in the manufacture
and consumption of intoxicating spirits. The kings
of the liquor trade, counting their millions, who have
made their concerns into limited companies, have
immense power in both houses of Parliament, and
exert that influence to protect and increase the
traffic, so as to enrich themselves and their legion of
subscribers, at the expense of the well-being, moral
and physical, of the great mass of the people. That
da}' is greatly to be deplored on religious, mental,
and physical grounds, when the spirit-lords of the
United Kingdom converted their grand paying pro-
perties into limited companies, tempting outsiders by
the inducement of heavj^ dividends to take shares
in their respective establishments, thus giving each
individual subscriber a direct mone3'ed interest in the
success of their venture, and what is worse, implant-
ing in their minds a strong selfish motive to uphold a
wrong and to shut their eyes, or assume a silent
attitude, against what is a glaring national injustice,
which if they held themselves aloof and impartial
they would condemn and endeavour to suppress by
supporting the God-blessed Temperance movement
throughout the countrj". There can be no doubt
whatever tha,t the strong and increasing wave of this
movement alarmed their lordships, and filled them
with fear and apprehension that their fine property
would be depreciated as time went on, so, worldly-
wise, they resorted to the above lamentable expedient
of propping up a falling house.
The magistrates, many of whom are owners of
i)ublic-houses themselves, have not the courage nor
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 121
the iucentive to 'withdraw Hcences, not even when
the pubhcs are admittedly too numerous and their
removal is desired by the local inhabitants — yea, not
even when the houses have disgraced their rights by
harbouring thieves, and become the resort of prosti-
tutes, betting-hells, and the depot of stolen goods,
are they disestablished.
The great majority of the " publics " and gin-palaces
are " tied houses " belonging to the wealthy brewers,
and these domineering owners and masters can and
do exert widespread social and political influence ; so
that any one, for example, who aspires to the coveted
position of a M.P. has to reckon with and conciliate
this powerful caste, which so often turns the scale at
elections, and always in favour of that party which
will shout the loudest for compensation to the
publican, and no Sunday closing, &c. Though this
pothouse influence is now becoming more or less
counteracted by the Temperance party, w^ich is every
day gaining more and more strength in every town
and village, the centre of hope, as the saviours of
the countrj', are the Bands of Hope. The children
-^the rising generation — being secured, the parents
become more or less interested in their well-being,
and thus this valuable movement rouses their
paternal instincts and excites their sympathies.
This is a subject of such vital importance to the
commonweal, not only to this England of ours, but
to the whole world, that I shall stop hero and give it
the next chapter to itself.
CHAPTEE XYI.
Whatever I may have said in the previous chapter^
I feel it does not devolve upon me as a laj^man to
give moral advice, or thrust my opinions down the
throats of others, as to whether they ought, or ought
not, to drink strong alcoholic beverages ; but what I
do feel I may venture to do, and to do it without
offending fixed prejudices, is to try to remove from
the minds of the great mass of the people the crass
and pitiable ignorance with respect to the miscon-
ception of the physiological action of alcohol on the
living tissues of the human frame, and the tendency
of the spirit to engender a variety of well-known
diseases which the total abstainer is not subject to.
There is a wonderful concensus of scientific opinion
"up to date" that alcohol is a compound of carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen in certain fixed, defined pro-
portions, forming a peculiar liquid, unique, stable,
and singularly tenacious — a marvellous agent for
evil, without a corresponding minimum for good.
The greatest enemy in the universe manufactured
by man for man, and the most diseasing of all liquids
to the healthy organs of the human form divine,
towards whose delicate organism and construction
122
SEVENTY YE ABS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 123^
it yields not the slightest particle of nourishment, or
the smallest modicum for the repair of its structure
by labour or exercise. And why not ? Because when
it is once swallowed, neither the stomach nor any
other organ in our constitution has the power of
digesting it, decomposing, or separating and re-
arranging its ingredients for the process of assimila-
tion ; but we have to sul^mit in childlike helplessness
to its irritating and narcotic and benumbing in-
fluences. It is rapidl}' absorbed into our circulation,
and carried into every nook and corner of the entire
fabric, depositing itself unchanged and unchangeable
in the delicate and sensitive tissue of every vital
organ, notably the cells of the brain, producing
drowsiness, stupidity, and paralysis, interfering with
a healthy train of sound thought and reflection, and
muddling the logical capacity of the mind, rendering
unstable also the spinal movements.
It disturbs and ruffles the quiet, natural and har-
monious function of every organ with its temporary
artificial stimulation, setting up organic mischief in
its sound structure, slowly or rapidly it may be, but
with deadly certainty, in exact ratio to the quantity
collected and stagnating within us, and the inability
of the lungs, skin, and kidneys to expel the burden in
a given time, and the varying strength of individuals
to resist its morbific action. In a word, the frame is
in a state of artificiality in contradistinction to its
condition in a state of nature. It is bepidc the ques-
tion here to comment upon alcohol and its uses as a
medicinal drug ; that must be left to the wisdom,
courage, and discretion of medical men, upon whom
124 SEVENTY YE Alt S OF LIFE
must rest the sole responsibility of prescribing it, not
as a luxury, but as a curative agent. Again, there is
another characteristic peculiarity connected with the
introduction of alcohol into our frames, namely, its
singular tendency to accumulate by degrees, and fix
itself in every part of our structure with an irre-
sistible affinity — humanity bends beneath its despotic
sway with absolute submission.
This fact leads us on to ask ourselves the very
pertinent question — What are the effects of the
gradual accumulation of this narcotic irritant and
diseasing agent upon our healthy bodies '? Well,
the following are some of its disastrous results : —
After our patients — it matters not what section of
society they belong to — have continuously, daily, and
habitually drunk wine, spirits, or beer in what some
would deem moderate quantities (an indefinable
standard) for a period of time, varying with con-
stitutional differences, they are compelled to pull
up, and put aside their alcoholic beverage — be that
what it may — and why ? because the whole system
from head to foot has become gradually overcharged,
soaked, we might say, like a sponge, with the con-
tinuous influx of alcohol, and the poor body, thus
groaning under its intolerable burden, rebels against
any further drinking, and a forced abstinence is
imperatively demanded, till the bilious or gouty
attack, headaches, fever, or other storms of serious
sickness have subsided, and the alcohol is more or
less washed out of the system by the physician's
prescription.
Well, we will suppose the attack is safely over, and
IN THE VICTORIAN EILi . Ti',
they have Dal•ro^Yly escaped a fatal result in the form
of paralysis or "Brigbt's disease," what do the con-
valescents do '? Do they take a lesson of warning
from their oft-repeated attacks ? In the majority of
cases, not they ! No, in vain does the conscientious
and patriotic physician reason with his patients, some
of whom, perhaps, are blessed with the possession of
even the most eminent and intellectual attainments,
and disinterestedly reveals to them the real source of
their ailment and the danger of its repetition. Some
will exclaim in heated language, "What is the use
of my splendid cellar of choice and valuable wines,
mellowed with age and laid down with anxious care
and great expense, if I am not allowed to enjoy them?
Am I to abandon my boon companions (friends ?),
and throw into a state of confusion mj^ recognised
position in society?" I heard one man of consider-
able talent say, " I will die first," and die he did, in
the course of time, a raving madman. You may
argue till you are black in the face with such
thoughtless beings, and others even in their most
serious moods only pay passing heed to your re-
monstrance. Irresolute man, with childish efiforts,
resolves and re-resolves to be wiser and more cir-
cumspect for the future, but generally ends in falHng
back to his old habits. Now I would ask any prac-
titioner engaged in a large practice in Loudon,
whether the above is not a true type of myriads of
cases which come before him every year. Is it not
very humiliating to a man of any moral or religious
feeling to have to record the fact that such cases as
above described constitute at least two-tbirds of the
12G SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
labours of every active medical man in our huge
metropolis, and also in all our large centres of popu-
lation thi-ougbout our country? There is not a section
of society which does not come under this ban !
Such a mode of passing through this life must be
condemned as a farcical drama unworthy of a man of
common sense and sound reasoning, even taken from
a worldly, social, or national standpoint, but how
much more less becoming in the professing Christian,
who, with his e^'es open to its bitter fruits, obstinately
refuses to give up his daily luxury (or even its occa-
sional use), which prevents him from keeping the
body in subjection to his rational mind and thought,
and which clouds over every refined feeling of our
nature. Let us look the above facts fearlessly in the
face of truth and science, and may we not justly
say that they constitute a key-note to the argument
against the continuous use of alcoholic drinking, and,
further, form the basis of our indictment against
them as daily human beverages. It is to be hoped
some good will eventuate to the reader when he
reflects that we cannot alter by one iota the peculiar
characteristics of alcohol when it is once within us ;
and, secondly, let him be thoroughly convinced and
warned this evil spirit has an irresistible tendency to
accumulate within us, and set up disease in our vital
•organs, notably the heart, brain, and lungs.
Let all those struggling young members who are
desirous of getting on and succeeding in either of the
professions, or iu any of our competitive commercial
pursuits, remember and take to heart that nothing
tends so much to obstruct their progress as alcoholic
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 127
drinking, leaving alone excessive smoking. Let them
record deeply the stubborn facts which have been
laid down for their guidance in the log-book of their
memories, so that they will serve them as an unshak-
able rock upon which they can rest their faith and
practice, and also base their replies when asked for
their reasons for total abstinence, or, if not total
abstainers, for ceasing to be daily and habitual
•drinkers of an alcoholic beverage.
There are four hundred honest, courageous, and
patriotic medical men in London who have associated
together to give up alcohol, and not to prescribe it
for their patients if possible, and then only as a drug.
And I shall be excused if I agree with them, for after
fifty years of my life spent amid the sufferings of my
fellow beings, and witnessing the fearful evils arising
from drink in active warfare and in peace time, also
in uiy hospital and private practice in London, em-
bracing every rank in society, graduating down from
the peer to the pauper — the evils involving in their
■destruction and ruin the high and the low, the rich
and the poor, men, women, and children indiscrimi-
nately — my large and sad experience will not allow
me to sit passively down and do nothing to reclaim
and reform them. Before I quit this important sub-
ject, I would like to have just a little say in respect
to the indulgence in drink, even to a moderate extent,
upon the prospects of a professional man in London.
This will be endorsed l>y many a poor talented fellow
who has taken early warning by the forelock, but this
I shall leave for the next chapter.
CHAPTER XVII.
My last chapter concluded with an expression that I
had something further to say in relation to the habit
of drinking intoxicants of the stronger sort among
the young aspirants to fame in the three learned pro-
fessions, and among those who intended to gain their
bread by brain work. Well, those who have come
to the front in their respective professions — some of
them, whose names need not be mentioned as they
stand out indelibly as household stars, illuminating
the unthinking and ignorant masses by their speeches
and their lives — these big minds tell us that it is
physically and mentally impossible to retain their
position of eminence if they did not make a point of
being ever on the watch against any indulgence in
excess. Nay, further, that they shunned any ap-
proach to a quantity that would lead to a state
bordering on narcosis, headache, a flushed face, or
confusion of ideas, such as would prevent them from
rising in the morning with brain refreshed, or induce
a feeling of languor and seediness, ill-prepared to
fight the day's battle with a cloud of anxious, ex-
pectant, and argumentative people, perhaps sickly
ones, impatiently clamouring for immediate relief,
128
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 12i>
and watching every expression on one's face with a
lynx-eyed scrutiny and earnestness. These wise
heads have arrived by personal experience at the
unshakable resolution that an unalcoholised brain
— a brain free from the tainting presence of spirit
in its delicate tissues — is in the most favoured and
active condition for the mind to work upon. And
if this be a logical conclusion on their part with
respect to their prosperity and success in a worldly
point of view, how about the higher classes of thought
and order of things ? As the action of the mind
involves the reasoning soul, is not the whole mental
being placed in a more susceptible position for the
presence and active operation and indwelling of the
Divine Spirit, when it receives deeper and more
efficient and sensitive impressions from a material
organism that is not more or less benumbed, nar-
cotised, and handicapped by the presence of alcohol
circulating through its delicate cells ? I would appeal
to all Temperance workers and ministers of the
Gospel, and all those who would efface themselves
by doing rescue work among the " submerged tenth,"
to reflect upon this burning question in this light, as
it constitutes the strongest argument in favour of
total abstinence.
But let us come down once more to consider our
subject from a worldly standpoint, as connected with
our e very-day life. What facts do we glean from
comparing individuals ? What encouragement do we
get from watching those who take strong drink and
those who do not ? Do we not find that those who
will make the self-sacrifice and curb their desires are
10
130 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
more to the fore in their work, whether we regard
this as the labour of the mind or of the body, or of
both combined. Are they not more precise, more
decided, more ready, more enduring at their work,
and do we not extract out of them the fullest extent
of their natural powers ? Let us take, for example,
the artisan, the watchmaker, the engraver on stone or
metal, the electrician, &c., do we not find that deli-
cacy and refinement of touch which is the very
essence of perfect skDl, the eye guiding the hand
with unerring rectitude ? If the surgeon, for in-
stance, is called upon for immediate action in time
of war, or in a mining district, with its oft-recurring
accidents, we see that he maintains that power of
instant decision and self-command which is the first
quality for the emergency. Then, again, our much-
respected nursing sisters, now faithfully to the front,
will be seen to possess great endurance night and day,
which strikes with wonder and envy those less careful
of their own powers and abilities. Thus, then,
these grand and cardinal virtues — precision, decision,
presence of mind, and physical endurance — are the
outcome of total abstinence from intoxicating strong
drinks to the very fullest extent that the Creator has
implanted them in our mental and physical condition ;
hence we enjoy the sweets and the delightful fruits of
those' talents with which we are entrusted by Heaven
in their most valuable bearing upon ourselves and
upon our fellow-creatures.
This being so, ought not the authorities regulating
our free education in the Board Schools to insist, as
a very important item in their programme, that the
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 131
teachers, male and female, should instruct the little
children — the fathers and mothers of a future gene-
ration — in the knowledge that alcoholic heverages,
beginning in moderate quantities, but leading up
inevitably to larger quantities, if (htily and con-
tin iioushj taken, create in our frames a score of
diseases which would not exist in us but for the
presence and stagnation of the spirit in our vital
organs — besides reducing to a lower standard of
abilit}'^ our natural gifts of mind and of body ?
Let these facts be plainly instilled into our little
ones of every grade and station by parents and
instructors, public and private, so that when they
grow up they will not go astray from sheer ignorance.
I will conclude this chapter by affirming that
alcohol is such a fixed body, and has such a strong
affinity or liking for our tissues, that, as a rule, we
cannot shake it off as quickly as we drink it, hence
its evil effects ; and, to aggravate matters, the raw,
immature spirits drunk by the lower classes have a
strong narcotic, irritating and maddening, and dis-
easing action on the mind ; and following in the wake
of disease comes the loss of manly strength, of time
and money ; and linked to this sad triplet of troubles
are weak resolves, idleness, and wortblessness.
"And they all began with one consent to make
excuse." This well-known rebuil" and refusal to an
invitation to meet others to celebrate a memorial
feast — a feast of reason, is not inapi)lical)le to the
position in which the physician is posed when he
endeavours to call the attention of his patients and
friends to the drink question. It is a lamentable fact
13'2 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
that with one accord they begin to apologise for the
daily habit of drinking alcoholic stimulants, and this
with an unusual amount of disturbed equanimity and
warmth of expression. Evidencing a disposition to
shut up the mind and reason against any argument,
and a disinclination to be logically convinced upon
the subject — they will have none of it. We find little
of the openness, candour, and willingness to hear the
truth and facts of the case which is usually evinced
when conversing on anj^ other matter of daily
interest.
An answer which is first and foremost on the tip of
the tongue of the great majority is this, " My doctor
has ordered me to take some stimulant." One of the
most fashionable of these in the present day is whisky
in some effervescing alkaline water. Heaven help the
poor kidneys which are daily flushed with this and
such-like irritating depletants. Well, we will grant
that the doctor has done so at a time, perhaps, when
extreme weakness and a flabby heart have supervened
on a long illness, and he wished to bridge them over
the temporary exhaustion. Now, is it not very unfair
and unjust to make the poor doctor the scapegoat for
the subsequent troubles when the occasion for stimu-
lating has passed away, and they still continue to
take alcohol habitually ? They would be acting more
honourably and generously towards the faculty if they
confessed the truth that they went on with the luxury
because they liked it, and took all the blame and
responsibility on their own shoulders, and thus exone-
rated the doctors, who at first only j)rescribed it
medicinally.
IN THE VICTOIilAN ERA. 133
Again, there is a small commimity of weakly beings
in this wealthy country of ours, degenerate ofifsprings
of decaying families, to whom a small quantity of
alcohol appears a necessity of life, without which they
feel, they assert, that they would melt away, and
would be incapable of meeting the small demands
upon their strength — a strength which will not carry
them through half a day's work, or no work at all, or
it may be that they are rusting out their lives in a
state of doh-e far tuent< — a condition often seen among
the idly rich, who often bore one with their iiKihuUe
imaginaire. Such-like beings of both sexes affirm
with no little warmth that they would faint, swoon,
or die away if they did not have their daily reviver —
a " pick-me-up " to tide over the despondency arising
from congenital infirmity or the sinking sensation at
the pit of the stomach. Here the doctor is placed in
a difficult position — he has to choose the lesser of two
evils ; either he must yield wdth a good grace and
submit to expediency, or lose his moral hold upon his
patients as a gentle persuader and admonisber should
he decline to visit and watch over them.
I have a word more to say in reference to this par-
ticular sinking and die-away feeling at the pit of the
stomach, which is almost invariably exjierienced, now
and again, by those from whom the alcoholic stimu-
lant — the artificial prop — is withdrawn, and which is
temporarily removed by the drinker resorting to
another quantum of his paralj'sing narcotic. I
believe the sinking sensation, more intolerable in
some than in others, is the cause of more pledges
being broken than anything else. Then comes the
134 HEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
question, how is it to be overcome, and finally dis-
posed of, stamped out, in fact, by those who have
made up their minds to abstain. I generally observe
that it continues with more or less of severity from two
to six months, and then disappears altogether. In
those of a very nervous temperament it requires no
little patience, perseverance, and moral courage to
resist the temptation, the inward crave to fall back on
the old pain killer, which is in reality the veritable
cause of the sensation and distress.
If the upper ranks of society would sink their
pride, and resort to what has been found so beneficial
among the working classes, namely, the homely oat-
meal porridge well cooked with milk or good beef
tea, they would get not only certain relief from their
passing distress, but an acquisition of strength truly
remarkable.
Again, when common tea is taken as a beverage,
the infusion should not allow to brew more than three
minutes before it is drawn off, inasmuch as sodden tea
in most persons gives rise to a very serious form of
depressing dyspepsia ; so depressing and painful is it
among the poor seamstresses of London, who take it
three or four times a day, that it is impossible to
relieve them till it be abandoned. It is, therefore, no
wonder that they add rum to their cup when they can
afford it — thus adding mischief to mischief. " Tea
Dyspepsia " was the name I gave to these very
numerous cases among my hospital patients. I will
conclude this article by expressing a hope that I may
live to see the day when the upper crust of society
will wave their exclusiveness, and make the self-
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 135
sacrifice for the sake of the healthy and happy well-
being of those below them by drinking stimulants
occasionally instead of daily as a necessary adjunct to
every meal.
If they would but set the fashion afloat, for strong
is the force of fashion, those in the lower social grade
Avould, from sheer love of imitation, follow the good
example, which would react again on those of a still
lower type, and blessed would be the change all along
the line.
Some of my readers will think that I have been
rather long-winded over this, to not a few, unpalat-
able subject ; and yet it comprehends the most burning
question of the day in the social economy of our race,
not only in England, but in the Greater Britain.
Notwithstanding all our grand reforms and boasted
civilisation, our scientific progress, our increase of
wealth and luxuries, refinement and knowledge,
Britain is still left under the ban of its proverbial
drunkenness and debauchery, the very scorn of
nations. If we look at the horrid sequences of this
dreadful system — its curses, its calamities, its huge
difficulties, it may w^ell arouse the attention and
devotion and earnestness of all our young people,
upon whom devolves in a great measure its cure and
suppression. Viewing the vastness of the subject
from a vital and patriotic standpoint, I don't see that
I have said one word too much for the reasoning
mind to reflect upon.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Having visited nearly every country in Europe, and
having time and means at my disposal, I thought it
would be advantageous and profitable to go further
a-iield and " see the wonders of the world abroad,"
as revealed to us in a tour round the globe. Hence,
accompanied by my wife, we took a cabin in that most
delightful of the P. and 0. steamers, the Victoria,
and left our shores in November, 1889, when winter
was beginning to stare us in the face. Nothing very
sensational occurred to us between England and the
Mediterranean. Even the Bay of Biscay was in a
kind mood and comparatively calm, and did not
churn up either sex as is its wont. We had a lively
lot of passengers on board, and leaving behind all the
icyness characteristic of the British nature, a general
thaw took place, and figuratively shaking hands all
round, we one and all made up our minds to enjoy
ourselves. Every berth was taken up in this
favourite ship, the helm of which was under the
experienced guidance of the commodore of the P. and
0. Company's fleet. We had therefore a large first-
class company, which had to be dined at two separate
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOEIAN EBA. 137
hours — namely, the House of Commons at (> p.m.,
and the House of Lords at 8, the captain presiding
at the latter more aristocratic hour, when evening
dress was the rule and not the exception.
A good deal of card-playing went on, not unmixed
with some gambling — an evil sequence not to be
surprised at among a lot of idle rich young men ; but
the highest stake played was by a bewitching young
damsel, chaperoned by an elderly lady, who threw
down before an admiring group a most telling trump
card, which consisted of an assertion, made through
her well-tutored duenna, to the effect that her piquant
and fascinating protrfifw had declined sixteen offers of
marriage already, ])ut the siren kept back the secret
fact that she had speculated in a return ticket to
Malta in hopes that she might be fortunate enough
in securing a seventeenth which would be to her
taste and liking. Now there were many well-gilded
and good-looking eligibles on board, but somehow or
other none of them came up to the winning post, and
Malta was reached without anything of an engage-
ment having been made. It was most amusing to
the looker-on to witness the clever w\ay in which she
handled the ribbons of her team of admirers — coaxing
and wheedling some, and gently rebuffing others.
But she was determined to finish her game pluckily
by inviting six of her most promising devotees to a
champagne dinner asliore, with all the delicacies of
the season, and so liberally did the l)ottle go round,
that at midnii^ht, on coming to terms with a cabman
to bring them back to the shi}), they quarrelled and
kiioeked him down, the issue of which was that our
138 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
diners-out were taken to the police station, where
they were kept in durance vile for three hours till the
superintendent was roused out of his bed, who kindly
released them just in time to catch the steamer
before she left the harbour ! Thus ended an
escapade, and an unusual spice of self-centred vanity,
which served as a subject for a nine da^ys' talk among
the young people, and varied the monotony between
Malta and Brindisi.
I introduced myself to the Rev. G. M , going
out to Sydney to join the Incumbent of St. Philip's
Church. He was a fine specimen of what is defined
as Muscular Christianity, and an eloquent extempore
preacher. When I asked the captain to allow him to
perform the services on Sunday in the first-class
saloon, he surprised me by objecting rather brusquely,
and stating that he should officiate himself, being, as
he said, bishop of his own ship ! So our only Epis-
copalian clergyman on board was forced to be content
with holding a service in the second saloon, where I
read the lessons for him, and we secured an excellent
choir and mustered a good congregation, the waiters
crowding the doorways, and others listening through
the open skyligiits to catch the words of a most heart-
stirring address.
Brindisi, 2,640 miles from London, was reached on
a most brilliant Sunday. There is nothing worth
noting except an old Roman gateway and the remains
of an ancient fort. No service was held ; all seemed
busy in the shipping of fresh passengers and luggage,
haling from the overland route, and the whole sur-
roundings betokened a working week-day appearance.
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 139
After a cleliglitful voyaye of two aud a half days in
a perfect calm we reached Port Said, where I lauded
just to say that I had trod on African ground. It is
a low, dirt}^ place, with equally dirty Aral)s, but the
rapid way in which this unwashed crew coaled the
steamer was a wonder to every one, and at nightfall,
when it is carried on under the electric light, their
black, greasy, nearly naked bodies frisking rapidly
about, passing and re-passing along their to-and-fro
gangways, they are more like so many unearthly
demons than anything else one can compare them
to. Our distance from London is here 3,570 miles.
We passed through the Suez Canal at night under
the guidance of the electric light radiating from our
foremast, which illumined the water for a consider-
able distance ahead, and doing away with any diffi-
culty in passing other vessels at the various sidings
(ill route. As we neared the pretty French town of
Ismalia, quite an oasis in the desert, we witnessed a
very interesting sight to the eyes of Westerns. Al)0ut
500 camels were employed in carrying oft" in box
panniers the sand from a heap forty feet liigh, which
was a source of trouble and expense to the Canal
Company, because it kept drifting into the cutting
and necessitated dredging out. The sagacious
animals quietly lay down to be loaded, and then
struggled up to mount the hill in their usually
sluggish fashion, in order to deposit their burden at a
safe distance from the bank. After passing in review
Mount Sinai with its three points, there was little
worth recording in steaming down the Ked Sea,
except that it was not quite so like a Turkish bath at
140 SEVENTY YE A US OF LIFE
120 as usual. When we were in it midway, and no
land visible on either side, we were startled by ladies
shrieldng on deck, and running hither and thither
shaking their skirts ; the alarm ])eing occasioned by
several large locusts settling down on the vessel and
hiding themselves away in any nook and cranny they
could find, even to the crawling up the ladies' legs or
ascending inside the gentlemen's trousers. Some,
two and a half inches long, were secured as speci-
mens, and were furnished with pretty green wings.
We could well understand how a cloud of such for-
midable insects would soon make a clean sweep of
anything green, and lay bare in a very short time
thousands of acres of agricultural produce. It must
have been a fearful curse on Pharaoh and his people
when the plague of locusts was sent, for it is said
that they filled all the houses without distinction, and
ate up every herb of the land, all that the hailstorm
had left. " Very grievous were they," covering the
face of the whole earth, and consuming every green
thing through all the land of Egypt. The God of
Israel and of Moses must have been sorelj'' tried and
angry in those days. Having demolished our insect
pest, which for a time crented so much alarm among
our fair ones, we reached Aden in peace the following
morning. This town, with its fortress, was formerly
remarkable for its huge tanks for the conservation of
rain-water to supply the natives and the shipping,
but these are now obsolete, other means of supply
being substituted. The boys diving into the sea
after some silver coins thrown into it by the passengers
were most expert, for it mattered not how far down
IN THE VICT OBI AN ERA. 141
the shining piece had got, they never failed to reach
it and bring it up to the surface triumphantly be-
tween their teeth. Imposition is the order of the day
here with Arab purveyors of fancy goods. One very
ordinary article for sale is the long boa made of
ostrich feathers. They began by asking t'8, and
kept aloof from any deduction, gesticulating that
they were giving them away at that figure, and that
it was simply ruin to take less, looking as innocent
as they do at a muck auction in London, till the
vessel showed signs of leaving, and just as we were
about to haul up the gangway ladder an Australian
gentleman went down to their bumboat, and, dis-
playing two glittering sovereigns (an irresistible sight
to an Oriental), brought back four of the boas — which
was a bargain certainly, and out of which he could
make a good profit when he reached Sydney. At
Aden we were 4,9G5 miles away from home.
Crossing the Indian Ocean we hardly encountered
a single sail. Having had a glimpse of the Socotrine
Islands, where much of our medicinal aloes is
obtained, we entered the tine deep harbour of
Colombo, where steamers of any size are safely
anchored behind a grand solid stone breakwater of
about a mile in length, and a fine promenade for
the townspeople. As the Indian mail had not
arrived we had the whole day before us, so we went
ashore to visit this picturesque town, so prettily em-
bosomed in its evergreen trees, yielding abundance of
fruit of many kinds. Declining a ride in the quaint
two-wheel vehicles drawn by a man between the
shafts, we chartered a waggonette and paid the
142 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
museum a visit, which contains a fine collection of
Singalese objects of natural history, notably the
turtles, which I should say are the largest in the
universe, and snakes of a prodigious size. Being
Sunday, we attended Divine service in the cathedral,
a small church of no pretensions to beauty, and while
we were inside a violent tropical rain came down,
which passed through the wooden roof, warped into
cracks b}' heat, down the walls, and out at the doors,
a wonderful sight for English eyes ; but the deluge of
water did not distract the attention of the congrega-
tion or upset the placid native mind, who entered
heartily into the responses and the singing with a
correctness of pronunciation which we at home are
strangers to. The native portion of the town was
very smelly and dirty, with a surface drainage, and
appears built on marshy ground, hardened by added
soil and regularly dyked and drained, but in the new
part the buildings are good and solid — even fine, such
as the barracks. All the streets are made to radiate
in a straight line towards the park as to a common
centre. The public roads are beautifully kept, and as
smooth as those made with asphalt. A large body
of Lascars left our vessel at Colombo, their three
years of contract service being over with the P. and
0. Company, and when they left the ship thej^ gave
three good hearty English cheers from the barge,
showing how well they had been treated by the Com-
pany's officers and crews. I was much pleased with
the natives, who conduct themselves in a very
orderly, quiet manner, and seem well contented under
their English rulers, under whom they thrive and
IN THE VICTORIAN Eli A. 143
have implicit faith. The free-and-easy wa}' in which
the local jewellers trust our people is something
astonishing, putting a wonderful trust in an English-
man's word. In one case I heard of a city man who
was entrusted with £15 worth of jewels on approval,
and when he got to London had the stones tested
and valued, and the tradesman, being an expert,
offered him i'50 for his bargain, which he declined,
whereupon the owner sent off at once his cheque to
Colombo. On his return to Melbourne he invested
a much larger amount on the same condition, the
precious stones being principally sapphires in settings
of cheap gold, the usual custom with the Singalese
makers, and the same good faith was observed by
both parties. It is not an easy matter to distinguish
the sexes ; the male has a very scant}' beard, and
l)oth he and his mate wear their coal-black wavy hair
long behind, and wind it up into a knot on the head.
The cut of the man's features is decidedly feminine.
They are both very cheery and amiable, and dearly
love money-making. The very lowest are so indus-
trious and thrifty that they get on and become rich.
We had no time to take a trip by train to Candy, a
town in the mountains (S.OOO feet above the sea-level,
which is cool and ))eautiful, and where tea planta-
tions are numerous. That man deserves well of his
country, and indeed of Europe too, and his name
ought to be perpetuated l)y a splendid monument,
who first tliouglit of substituting the tea for the coffee
plant in Ceylon, when the latter had by repeated
cropping exhausted the soil ! I must not forget to
mention that there is in the public gardens a tree
144 SEVENTY YEARS OE LIEE
called "the Traveller's Palm," from which, when nicked,
fresh water flows out. We need to reside in a hot
and thirsty land to appreciate fully this God-sent
provision to His people. Our distance here from
England is 7,058 miles.
Leaving Colombo at 1 p.m., and steaming down its
beautifully wooded coast, green to its water edge with
palms and cocoanut trees, we cross the Line at
midnight of the next day, and the following morning
we are 170 miles south of it, traversing a dead-calm
sea without a sign of life on, or in, the water, not
even a flying fish disporting itself to vary our
monotony. We had not proceeded much further
southward before we encountered the South-East
Trade Wind, which slightly headed us all the way to
W^estern Australia, and more or less disturbed the
equauimit}' of some of our fair passengers, especially
when the deck chairs broke away from their moorings,
often causing a ludicrous upset. We had shipped at
Colombo a very pleasant and intelligent traveller,
Mr, Tlieo. Davis, our British Yice-Consul at Hono-
lulu, who had been touring through India with his
son, a gentleman who took a deep and active part in
mission work, especially among the .young men and
children in the Haiwaia Islands, where he was the
proprietor of some very extensive sugar plantations.
His cheery conversation, interspersed with most
amusing anecdotes, kept our saloon table quite lively ;
and what with concerts, dancing, and theatricals, we
passed away many hours that would otherwise have
been ver}' dull and wearisome, and tended to shorten
the ten days' steaming required before we could be
IN THE VICTOniAN ERA. 145
landed at St. George's Sound, the first point tlie mail
steamers touch at on the Australian continent. It is
very remarkable that between Colombo and this point
we never sighted a single vessel, nor had we a glimpse
of any land nor the sight of any living thing, fish,
flesh, or fowl — which is very astonishing considering
the immense exj)anse of ocean we had traversed,
3,390 miles. We are here 10,448 miles from our
dear old home, and as this chapter has been rather
a prolonged yarn, I shall rest upon my oars awhile
before I begin another which will be descriptive of
scenes and people so widely different to those we have
left behind at the Antipodes.
11
CHAPTER XIX.
Albany is the name of the town and port in liin^
George's Sound where the mails are left for Western
Australia. It possesses a fine long pier, supporting a
railway, cranes, &c., but the water is too shallow to
allow large vessels to come up alongside of it, hence
we had to land from a steam-tug. We found the
town a progressive one, with several good buildings,
especially those for public worship. Overlooking the
town and harbour is a steep hill, up which we
ascended, and from the top were rewarded with ti
magnificent view inland of forty miles, and with the
sea and shipping at our feet. The ground was
covered with a variety of wild flowers, notably with
the white-blossomed mj'rtle. Our party returned to
the ship laden with a large quantity of tbese flowers,
which made the saloon quite gaj^-looking.
We took on board here an immense quantity of
bananas, which is a regular article of commerce, and
the huge spikes of fruit were suspended by their strong
stalks over the deck-houses to ripen. Albany is the
terminus of the railway to Perth, which is the capital
city of Western Australia. Considering that we were
now, December 19th, in midsummer at the Antipodes,
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 147
the air was so cool that we required our winter wraps,
and this, with a roughish sea, continued all the way
to Adelaide, which we reached on Sunday morning,
December 22nd. This city is situated about six miles
from the landing-stage — a stage from which is ex-
ported the finest wheat in the world — where we
deposited several of our passengers, whose acquain-
tance had ripened into pleasant friendship during our
voyage, and from whom we had pressing invitations
to go and stay, with characteristic Australian hospi-
tality ; but the heat is intense to a fresh European,
the town being located in a sort of well-like hollow,
backed by hills to the north and east, which seem to
concentrate the rays of the sun into a sort of focus
below. These hills are a very pretty object fi-om the
deck of our vessel, being thickly wooded, and dotted
here and there with white villas peeping out of the
green — residences of the well-to-do merchants who
reside there during the hot months. The railway to
Melbourne zig-zags over them also, and the views,
they say, from this line are very grand. Many
persons leave the ships at this port of call in order
to enjoy the splendid prospects, and get to Melbourne
much quicker than we can steam it. Here we revelled
in the luxurious Adelaide grape, and we took on board
a large quantity of eight different kinds of delicious
fruits to add enjoyment to our Christmas dinner, and
also piles of evergreens and flowers to decorate our
saloons and drawing-rooms. It was at Adelaide that
we received our fir.st Antipodean telegram, hailing
from Sydne}', giving us a hearty welcome to the
Australian Colonies, warning us that we had touched
148 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
the fringe of civilisation again, though we were now
11,455 miles from home.
Continuing our course northward, we arrived on
Monday night in sight of Melbourne, having been
piloted up the tortuous channel of Port Philip for
forty miles, and reached the harbour of Williams-
town, to which we were securely lashed at 10 p.m.
Here we were in deep water, and there is a terminus
of a short line to the city. As we were to remain
there all Tuesday, we took our seats in the train and
went ofi" to pay a visit to this wonderful upshot of a
mushroom town which shows what heaps of gold can
do in a short space of time. It would be simply futile
to try to describe the magnificence of some of its
public buildings. They are on such a gigantic scale
that I do not believe there is a town in Europe
which can boast of so many in so small a space. The
Houses of Parliament, isolated in their splendid public
gardens, and the Town Hall are superb in size and
architecture, and strike the visitor with wonder ; and
no less so do also the extraordinary height of the stores
and offices in Collins Street and Elizabeth Street,
some running up to an elevation of thirteen stories,
so valuable has become the ground for building pur-
poses. In Burke and Owenson Streets we met the
fashionables promenading in their Sunday best, it
being Christmas week ; and though an Englishman
would say that the get-up was, upon the whole, rather
loud and vulgar, still one could see that the crowds
were well-off, and no signs of poverty were visible
whatever. Melbourne is a very extensive city, spread-
ing over a large area, with outlying suburbs of con-
IN THE VICTORIAN KEA. 149
siderable size and population — some as much as
10,000 — made up of four-roomed shanties in plots of
ground, the occupier being the owner; and when a
man has by industry and thrift acquired one of these
freeholds, he has a vote and a stake in the welfare of
tlic city, and be becomes a true Conservative in feel-
ing and i")rinciple, and you hear no more of socialism
or rowdyism, divide and divide agaui, &c. ; and
though they listen attentively to what Mr. George
has to say, tliey end in laughing at him. Mr. E., a
well-known and extensive merchant in Melbourne,
asked us to stay with him. He was brimful of in-
formation ]-especting the social, political, and religious
aspect of the city, and he told me that, provided the
wants and needs of the Church were clearly made
manifest to the people, money to any amount was
always forthcoming both for the clergy and the
buildings.
Taking our seats in a cable tram, we came down
Collins Street with a fearful rush to Spencer Station,
where we got into the train for Williamstown, and
on the road down we passed close to the race-ground,
most peculiarly and conveniently situated in a hollow,
with an amphitheatre of hilly slopes around it, so
that men, women, and children can look down, in
their thousands, and enjoy the races at their feet in
comfort and safety. This natural formation of the
land would have been singularl}^ well adapted for the
Olympic games, and only required a canvas covering
to make it a Coloseum on a gigantic scale.
We passed Christmas Day at sea, between Mel-
bourne and Sydney, and at luncheon we had a most
1/50 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA.
luxurious display of viands, comprising a large boar's
head stuffed with minced meat ; a game pie decorated
with a pheasant's head and tail feathers ; and in the
centre a huge cake three feet high, replete with orna-
ments on its three stories, and crowned b}- Old Father
Christmas in his own proper costume, backed by
dishes of prawns in jelly, crayfish, &c. The big
saloon, itself beautiful in white and gold, was rendered
still more so by a most elaborate arrangement of ever-
greens and flowers, the work of our fift}' waiters. At
7 p.m. we sat down to a dinner of several courses of
delicacies in season and out of season, such as the
richest nobleman in England could not have got
together for love or money. We had, of course, to
thank our refrigerator for yielding, as from a huge
ice-house, such things as green peas and ducks, fresh
salmon, game of all sorts, brought from home to
supply us the w^hole voyage out — and to top all we
had a dessert set before us consisting of eight different
kinds of fresh fruits, such as would gladden the eye
and moisten the palate of the most exacting epicure.
' I got up at 5 a.m. to see the sun rise over the
Pacific, and to enjoy one of the most lovely sights in
the world, namely, the entrance into Sydney Harbour
by the " Heads," a narrow passage between two sharp
rocky projections, and a glorious trip up the port for
seven miles to Sydney itself. En routv the scenery
is unique, consisting of pretty creeks, and suburban
villas on the slopes of well-w^ooded hills, always green
to the water edge, and piebalded with white villas, all
protected by verandahs, and some more pretentious
with towers or turrets. The harbour was dotted here
liVi SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA.
and there with many yachts of all sorts and sizes
(every Sydneyite beinf^ a born yachtsman), inter-
spersed with a large sprinkling of huge steamers and
sailing vessels hailing from every clime, and as we
neared the " circular quay " — the well-known landing
place — we passed six men-of-war sleepih' at anchor,
keeping guard over this, one of the wealthiest and
most bustling of ports. Within so small a water
area I should opine that there is not in the whole
commercial world so much energy and exchange of
commodity going on as at this, only one of the quays
of the cit3^ The number of landing stages, the
repeated going to and fro of the local steamers to the
different points of this port, consisting of a multipli-
cation of inlets, each with its stage and adjoining
gigantic warehouses, a collection of busj^ centres most
perplexing and confusing to a stranger at first. Not
one-half of the extent of these active shipjDing points
can be seen from any one spot on the opposite, or
what is called the " North Shore," nor can the har-
bour be photo'ed as a whole, though what one can
take in is a wonderful sight under a brilliant clear sky.
Perhaps the grandest view of all is obtained from the
top of the lighthouse built near the south " Head.'"
The electric light radiated from this tower is so
powerful that it quite dazzled my vision as I was
sitting in a drawing-room window four miles away,
and from the top of it I saw one day upwards of thirty
yachts racing up and down the harbour — a very
prett}^ panorama as they each turned round the light-
ship with their white sails glistening in the sun. I
will not attempt a description of the pulHic buildings
TOWN U.VLL, SYDNKY.
ir)4 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
in Sydney— the}' are so many ; but the Post Office,
Cathedral, and especially the Town Hall, stand out
pre-eminently beautiful, notably the latter, which the
Sydneyites may well be proud of, as containing the
largest organ in the largest hall in the world.
The people of this city are a picnic-loving community^
and to cavrj this pleasure into practice make a holiday
whenever they can devise an excuse. Wishing to see
how a party of excursionists would conduct themselves,
I early one morning joined a train going to the Hawks-
bury Eiver with about four hundred men, women, and
children, surprisingly got up in their holiday attire of
silks, muslins, and feathered hats, with their brown
arms and hands encased in long gloves to hide their
workaday look. When we arrived at Peat's Ferry
on this river, called the Pibine of Australia, we
boarded a steamer, which took us up a remarkable
serpentine stream, having this singular pec uharity, that
after turning one promontory we get into a sort of
lake-like reach which appears completely land-locked,
and when one gets to the end, and you fancy the
steamer is going headlong into the rock, it suddenly
turns round and gets into another reach of the same
appearance. The banks are very picturesque, and
would yield many a good landscape, the red sand-
stone rock standing out from thick foliage and the
eucal3'ptus issuing from the crevices interspersed with
many flowering shrubs — notably the red Christmas
bush — and dotted here and there with wooden villas
for summer residences, which are shut up during the
winter. On our return we had an opportunity of
examining the fine railway suspension bridge consist-
IN THE VICTORIAN EEA. 155
ing of seven spans, each of 480 feet long. It produces
quite an ocular delusion, for the further span when
viewed from either end appears so small-looking that
one cannot believe that it is the same width and height.
The engineers have been much complimented on this
fine piece of iron trellis-work. — Now with respect to
the behaviour of this company of pleasure-seekers. I
have never in any country witnessed anything so well
conducted and orderly. The characteristic " billy
tea tin " accompanied each family, and I did not see
any one drink any intoxicating beverage whatever ;
hence there was no rowdyism, or practical joking, or
vulgar brawling, and when they entered the train for
the homeward journey of a hundred miles it was done
as quietly as if they had been so many lords and
ladies, instead of the representatives of Qvexy working
class in the city — for all are expected to join the
fraternit}^ of working men and women, if they mean
to hold their own in busy Sydney. Before we left
the Hawksbury, I should have mentioned that I saw a
catfish caught which has a nail-like spear projecting
from its head, and a stab from which is so much
dreaded by the fishermen as it is very dangerous, and
also what they call the stinging fish, which strikes
with its tail and hurts one considerably. It being a
hot day many would have enjoyed a good bathe, but
they feared the sharks, which ascend this river from
the sea. Before proceeding to descant upon the
Sydney races and the caves in the Blue Moun-
tains, I shall rest awhile.
CHAPTER XX.
On Saturday, January 4tli, I paid the racecourse
at Eanwick a visit of inspection. It is situated on a
flat with rising ground on one side, so that the whole
circle can be clearly seen without going on the grand
stand. Eacing is quite an institution among the
Sydney people, they are a regular horsey class. Every
colonist is born, as it were, in the saddle. The races
occur about once a fortnight, the prizes are of small
amount. I saw both flat and hurdle races. The
bulk of the horses differ from ours about the rump,
which slopes downwards like a barb, and tends to
bring the hocks closer together ; but they have the
advantage over English horses in having deeper chests
with very muscular forelegs and well-developed large
joints, with the head small and stag-like. I saw
twenty run in one race and eighteen in another, and
they were all so fleet that they ran throughout in
such close quarters that one might have covered them
with a sheet ; no one horse beat his opponent by a
length or two, as one sees so often in England. The
two-year-old stands up in as good a form as our three-
year-old does, thanks to the climate and the grass.
In one race I saw twenty horses jump the hurdles
156
SEVENTY YEAES' LIFE IN THE VICTOIUANEIiA. 157
almost simultaneously, and came to the post in a
ruck together like a flock of pigeons, and coloured like
a bed of pansies — one of the prettiest sights I ever
beheld. I cannot say much for the betting ring ; it
was about as noisy as Epsom, differing, however, in
this, that many ladies came down from the grand-
stand and joined the groups of gentlemen in the
gambling ground, and it is to be hoped acted as
checks to bets of extravagant amount. The crowd
outside were very orderly and good-tempered, and
the book-keepers, being all publicly registered, con-
fined the stakes to the small sums of one shilling or
half-a-crown. I saw no drunkenness on the course,
nor any strong drink taken in the booths, but there
was a large demand for fruit, wliich was excellent
and cheap, and the " billy tea tin " was not forgotten.
There was none of that "rough" element present
which is so prevalent on English race-grounds ; and as
I walked back with the crowd to the city I saw no
disorderly horseplay whatever. The women and
children were quite safe from insult or molestation of
any kind. I could not help asking myself, are all
these people, the outcome of every class, really the
offspring of English people ? Well, all I can say is,
I wish their relatives at home would behave as well.
I can bring in a word here about Sunday closing ; in
Sydney they have it, and one Sunday night 1 was
returning from the north shore, and passed along the
streets in the principal thoroughfares, and I found all so
quiet and peaceful that it might be well compared to
a city of the dead ! I was told that if a man is seen
zig-zagging along in a state of drunkenness in the
158 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
public streets, he is immediately "ran in" by the
police, when we, in our large towns, would let them
alone to find their way home, provided they were not
disorderly ; but in Sydney, whether disorderly or not,
the authorities are down upon them sharp, and will
not look on with indifferentism upon such a reproach
to social morality.
No visitor should fail to take a tram-ride of six
miles to see the pretty little bay of Coogee, a sweet
nook nestling in shrubs, and rapidly becoming a
popular sea-bathing resort for the citizens. It would
be well also, in order to judge of the wide extent of
the other outlying suburbs, all in touch with one
another as far as the large town of Paramatta — a dis-
tance of sixteen miles from the mother city, and forms
a very interesting ride by railway, which gives also a
good idea of the huge area upon which this widespread
city is built, each suburban villa or mansion being
surrounded by its own well- wooded grounds. Bal-
main, so well seen from the Observatorj^ Gardens
in Sydney, is situated on a spur of land running into
the port, and is now a large municipal town of itself ;
there one can see how the thrifty artisans are build-
ing houses for themselves, and very near may be seen
a new gtand dock, which is excavated out of the solid
sandstone rock on one side of Cockatoo Island, which
will take in the largest steamers afloat. Having
obtained an introduction to Major , the manager
of the Mint, he kindly showed and explained to me
the whole process, from the assaying to the blocking
out of each sovereign, which, if it were two-tenths of
a grain too light was cast aside by the working of a
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 159
very singular automatic piece of machinery, the
amount of alloy being 11 per cent., as in England. I
was asked to take a seat on the platform and give an
address to an audience of several hundred men at the
Young Men's Christian Association Hall, which the
working-men put up at a cost of £'40,000. It contains
a library and reading-room, a gymnasium, and a
coffee-room, &c. I was told that I should have to
face a large l)ody of sceptics, who would not attend
any ordinary place of public worship, but would slip
into this hall and listen to its bright and cheerful
music, and tolerate without a sneer or interruption
the short addresses from different laymen on the sub-
ject of morals and religion.
Kising up early one morning, T took the train to
the Blue Mountains, at the foot of which wo
crossed the Nepean River, that supplies Sydney with
water — a distance of forty miles — irrigating also the
Emu plain, noted for its extensive orange and peach
plantations. Our train begins the ascent b}- zig-
zagging, being drawn up one incline, and pushed up
the next by the engine and carriages going into a
siding at each angle, thus reversing the order of going
at every gradient, till we reached the plateau, or
dividing ridge, when we went along a slight rise till
we got to Mount Victoria. Finding that I had time
to spare, I continued on, to see a grand engineering
feat — the " Great Zig-zag," which terminates the
mountain railway and brings one down to the town of
Lithgow, in a valley boasting of four valuable colleries
and a large pottery manufactory, the manager of
which was kind enough to show me the whole pro-
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 161
cess. He complained of the competition and other
difficulties the company had to contend with, by the
old country deluging the Sydney market with its con-
demned goods, the imperfections of which the squatter
could not detect.
On my return journe}', the scenery from the Zig-
zag was even grander, and I had plenty of time to
dwell upon it, as the ascent is a slow affair, and done
on the same s^-stem as I have already described.
Mount Victoria was my resting-spot for the night, in
a fairly good hotel, but the bed was very hard. This
mount is covered with villas and a few restaurants,
and is the resort of residents from the hot towns
during the summer month. Here the climate puts
one in mind of Scotland.
The next morning we were up to an early breakfast,
and took our seats in a coach, which carried its eight
passengers to the " Half Way " house, as it is called,
where we lunched, and having changed horses, con-
tinued our journey, through dense forests of euca-
lyptus, till we reached the Caves, now named
" Janelon," at six o'clock, in time for dinner ; the
constant jolting over the ruts having made us despe-
rately hungry. The one hotel here, occupying, with
a road and a small brook, the whole of a pretty little
creak, is styled " The Accommodation House," but
was not very accommodating, it being crowded with
tourists, twenty-nine of whom had to make the most
of twenty-four beds. Professor L , of tho Sydney
Universit}- — a most learned and agreeable conipuuion
— and myself were fortunate in getting a small bed-
room, with two beds in it. Mr. Jeremiah "Wilson, the
12
102 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
proprietor and discoverer of the caverns, gave us
most excellent meals, considering the distance we
were from any stores. The next morning I made one
of a party of ladies and gentlemen, overflowing with
life and good-humour, to pay the right-half of the
Imperial Cave a visit, which is lightened up hy
Government with electricity, and our guide illumi-
nated the more beautiful parts with the addition of
the combustion from the magnesian wire, each person
having to pay five shillings towards this item of
expense, otherwise everything else is free. I will not
attempt to describe minutely the splendid dazzling
beauties of this huge underground cavern. The white
and red colouring in distinct divisions of what is called
"The Shawl and Curtain Drapery" is most peculiar,
and as transparent as hanging sheets of porcelain.
Again, another remarkable feature is the singular
shape of the stalactites in the Mystery Cave, where
they assume most fantastic forms — some like twigs of
trees pointing sideways, and some even upwards,
which is quite inexplicable considering that the accre-
tion from the carbonate of lime in solution is from
above, and the natural gravitation downwards. The
bones of wallambi and other animals are found here
encrusted in the deposit, and when the crust is broken
the bone within is found intact. A good specimen
was shown to me of a small vertebra and a jaw-bone,
with alveolar process complete, and these in a cavern
six hundred feet below the surface. Another wonder-
ful sight is the " Broken Column," the upper part not
being in line with the lower, which can only be ex-
plained by an earthquake breaking and diverting the
IN THE VICTORIAN EEA. 163
column from its original position, how many thou-
sands of years ago I will leave geologists to determine !
The cavern called " Lucinda," after the wife of the
discoverer, is sweetly pretty, and it boasts of a fine
specimen of the sJsote-formation. After a good deal
of stooping and corkscrew ascents and descents, we
regained the iron gate which bars the entrance, and
returned to the hotel to luncheon, after which refresh-
ment we started again to explore the left half of the
Imperial Cave. This is very much a repetition of the
right half, with this very important exception, we had
to visit the Underground Eiver, which was to be
reached by descending a dark shaft of 50 feet by
means of a wire-rope ladder of thirty-two rungs, which
vibrated most alarmingly. The first round had to be
seized in a doubled-up position, and in this cramped
attitude w"e made the first step downward and feel our
way from rung to rung till we got into a pit of Egyp-
tian darkness, for we could not carry lights. \Yhen
once at the bottom, we found ourselves at the side of
a quiet, flowing stream of pure limpid water, cool and
refreshing to the taste, down which the visitors amused
themselves by sailing on its surface wooden floats, on
which were fixed lighted pieces of candle, which gave
to the sides and roof of the tunnel a weird, unearthly
aspect, and only wanted a blue sulphur flame to make
it look like Dante's Inferno ! Now one would suppose
that this feat would be difficult enough for men to do,
but four ladies of the party had sufiicient strength of
nerve to accomplish it, and seeing this, though many
years their senior, I made up my mind not to be
beaten by women, colonial or otherwise. Hence I
164 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
summoned up courage to face the peril, and descended
safely, amid applause. I need hardl}' say that our
ladies did not hail from Belgravia. These afternoon
explorations were rather fatiguing, and we emerged
again to the light of day with intense appetites that
made a deep impression on Mrs. Taylor's dinner, the
cloud of flies notwithstanding. In the evening we
entertained ourselves with music and singing, and I
recited some anecdotes connected with my Crimean
war experiences, which amused the colonists not a
little — the Baby Incident exciting much sympathy in
the minds of the fair sex. The next morning we paid
a visit to the Lucas Cave, which is remarkable for
the huge dimensions of its cavities. The Exhibition
Cavern, as it is called, being two hundred yards in ck-
cumference, and required two hours to see it properly.
The winding zig-zag descent to it is weird looking in
the extreme, when you look back and upwards and
see the visitors coming down in single file, each with
a candle in hand, stumbling and falling now and
again with a horrid, ghost-like screech, and enveloped
in pitch-like darkness, they resembled so many shape-
less demons going down into the bottomless pit. The
swaling of the candles over the dresses of the ladies
and the coats of the gentlemen, gave rise to much
laughter, as the spots of grease on each person gave
them the appearance of a spotted hyena, but they all
took it in good humour, as it was impossible to hold
the candlestick straight when one's attention was
directed to all sorts of curious sights. The bespatter-
ing of your neighbour went on in perfect innocence,
while you in your turn were served exactly alike,
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA 165
because we were all on differeDt levels. In the after-
noon we visited the " Devil's Coachhouse," an im-
mense cavern, 200 feet high, ojien to enter at both
ends, and lighted by a large opening in the centre
of the roof. I could not throw a stone with all my
force one-third of the way to its ceiling, and a
wooden gallery made round its roof for visitors to see
the interior the better, looked very queer — their
Ijodies resembled midgets in size and their voices
sounded as if they came from the skies, and calling
out to me, said that I looked like a small fly seated
on a rock at the bottom. There were other caves to
explore, but I had had enough ; and I left the nest
morning at 5 a.m., having had a high time of it; though
it did rain a good deal I was sorry to leave such
a pleasant company. I drove back alone in a buggy
and pair, and passed through the Hartley Valley,
where the hares are so numerous that an English
sportsman is asked as a favour by the farmers to
shoot them. And the wallambi, a sort of small
kangaroo, is met with frequently, for whose scalp
tivepence is given and for the skin sevenpence. They
boast also some pretty feathered pigeons and parrots,
but no rabbits trouble them in the mountains. The
grass is so rich and nourishing that the oxen are as
sleek and fat as those stall-fed at home. "When we
arrived at the ridge of the hills I was shown two small
rivulets, one going west and originating the River
Murray, and the other passing eastward and forming
the Nepean Piiver, which supplies Sydney with water.
I could not help remonstrating with my coachman for
driving his horses so fast, and never slackening rein
IGG SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
on hill or dale. They are nearly thoroughbred, and
they are strained most unmercifully, for they only last
about four years, and then turned over to the cart or
the plough. They are replaced by fresh young horses
which are cheap, costing £-i or i'5 a head. This
plan the coach proprietors find pays better than feed-
ing the poor animals on corn to keep them up to their
work ; fortunately for the poor beasts the grass is very
nutritious. The wind and endurance of the colonial
horse strikes an Englishman with wonder — a British
horse in harness could not stand such work for a
week — and their surefootedness is astonishing down
or uphill, along rough roads full of ruts, sludge, and
loosened stones they keep on their legs, which are as
fine as racehorses' ; their great strength lies in the
shoulder and in a very muscular forearm. On
returning to Victoria Mount I had an opportunity of
admiring the celebrated Victoria Pass, which con-
sists of a gulf between two precipitous cliffs, bridged
over by a wonderful piece of masonry of great inge-
nuity. It was constructed by the convicts in days
gone by, one of whom cut his name on the rock. The
gorges visible on each side the bridge are 1,000
feet deep, and looking down from the stone causeway
the big fir trees at the bottom look like so many
blades of grass. I was shown the building in which
the chain gang were confined during the night, and
also the court-house where they were tried for mis-
behaviour. These places are now used for better
purposes. In the valleys coal is found, and at the
pit's mouth is sold at four shillings a ton. Shale is
also present, from which they distil kerosene. Some
IN THE riCTOBIAN EBA. 167
of the trees are very large, and of great age, the rings
in some indicating a thousand years. When the
squatter wishes to clear the ground for grazing, he
kills the trees by removing a ring of the bark, then it
dies and stands up denuded of leaves, and the grass
grows up at the foot. The old trees often rot in the
centre, and in the cavity thus made the people make a
fire to cook their food, and take shelter from snow and
rain. Before I take leave of this land of caves I must
just parod}' what the Book of books says with regard
" to those who go down to the sea in ships, and see
the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep,"
by stating that they who go down into the bowels of
the earth at the Janelon Caves see also the wonders
of the Lord hidden from sight in the midst of the
rocks ! for these mighty hollows ought and should be
seen by every visitor to New South Wales, for it is
impossible for any one to exaggerate their superb
grandeur.
CHAPTEE XXI.
Before leaving Sydney, I must not fail to state that
the best mode of seeing this beautiful port, with its
mimerous harbours, is to charter a steam launch,
and begin at Manley Beach and the middle harbour,
then cross to Watson's Bay, and so work upwards,
crossing and recrossing till every inlet is seen and
admired, finishing up with a trip along the Paramatta
river, whose banks are picturesquely dotted with
the villas of the rich and their woody inclosures.
Having left my card and address at Government
House, his lordship being away in the mountains
during the summer, I left this charming city with
great reluctance, and took my passage for the Island
of Tasmania, which is a two days' voyage due south
from Australia. This colony rejoices in two large
prosperous towns, one at the north end, and the other
at the south, 130 miles apart. Launceston, at the
north end, is prettily situated on rising ground,
sloping down to the Tamar, a tidal river, and a brisk
trade is carried on in tin and wool and apples.
Here I resided for some time at the house of an old
magistrate, who was well up in the history and
commerce of the island. On Sunday we attended
168
170 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
Divine service at St. John's Church, built of stone
by the convicts in days gone by. The sermon and
service veere decidedly sluggish, the temperature in
the shade being 97°, so it was excusable. On Tuesday
"we took our places in a train which went zig-
zagging through the mountain wilds to a township
called Scotsdale, passing oi route some exquisitely
beautiful creeks and water-gullies, with lots of tree
ferns in them. Here we had an opportunity of
walking into the primeval forest, and examining the
huge trees, some upright and some fallen, centuries
ago. Avenues of dead trees most weird in appear-
ance, produced by " bush fires," and bounded on
each side by the green eucalyptus, extend to a great
distance. These dead monsters are called skeletons
— looked ghostlike — and when the interior, which is
like tinder is ignited, it goes on burning to the very
top, then falls from its own weight. I should say
that these monster trees, from their origin to their
fall, would be at least 2,000 years old. In this
locality grows the wattle tree, the bark of which
yields three times as much tannin as our bark, and
is largely exported to the tanyards of England and
America. At Waverley, a short drive from Laun-
ceston, there is a woollen factory in a pretty creek
among the hills, where an enterprising Scotchman,
with the aid of a well-directed water-power, and
supplemented by a Government subsidy, has suc-
ceeded in erecting some modern machinery, which
will turn out all kinds of cloth, good enough for
volunteer uniforms, trouserings, shawls, and blankets.
I was surprised to see that the proprietor had got the
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 171
electric light laid on for the ^orks, and also to bear
that he could not put up with the free-and-easy way of
the local colonials, and found it paid better to import
his employes direct from Scotland. The great sight
which the Launcestonians are so proud of showing
the visitor is the wild-looking Gorge. A tortuous
path leads up the hill commanding the Gorge, through
which gushes the turbulent river Esk, and when a
similar pathway is completed on the opposite side,
and the two rock}- banks are united by a suspension
bridge, a view will be obtained of rock, wood, and
rushing frothy waters, as can hardly be surpassed in
any part of the world, enhanced as the prospect is
by the pretty upstanding town and shipping harbour
at one's feet. The tourist should not fail to pay a
visit to the tin-smelting works close at hand, and see
the ingots of metal moulded, and which are shipped
in large quantities to Europe. The heat from the
furnaces is intense, and the fine l)ody of men were
streaming down with perspiration; and on my in-
quiring whether they quenched their thirst with beer
or any alcoholic liquor, they all replied unreservedly
that they had tried it over and over again, but found
from experience that they could not do with it at all ;
and that oatmeal and water was the only thing that
could support them under the fearful strain of such
physical pressure. Finally, I must mention that in
the Museum will be seen, a fine, clever picture by
Dowling, a native artist, representing a group of the
aborigines — very repulsive, but life-like ; also some
good specimens of one from the Bischoff tin mines,
which should be visited if anv one is desirous of
172 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
seeing for himself the richness of this colony in
minerals. It would be ungrateful not to mention
how I enjoyed the delicious apricots, peaches, and
plums, from standard trees, so refreshing in the hot
weather, and which adorn the tables at every meal,
accompanied, as in Australia, with tea, coffee, and
cocoa, but no stronger drinks whatever, lieceiving
a pressing invitation to a friend's house in the centre
of the island, we left the hospitable roof of the old
magistrate, and made our way by the main line to
Boss, where we were met by our host, and driven in a
carriage a few miles into the country, where a new
experience awaited me. This gentleman lived on his
own estate of 5,030 acres, which fed 3,000 Merino
sheep — 400 of which were a stud stock, several having
taken valuable prizes at the agricultural show. One
ewe especially had distinguished itself, having taken
a silver cup twice over, and yielded a fleece weighing
22|-lbs., a fact difficult to believe in England, where we
get only 7 or 8 lbs. of wool from a sheep ; but thanks
to the climate and the nutritious nature of the grass,
these heavy fleeces are not uncommon in Tasmania.
A large river runs through the property about 500
yards from the house, and an American windmill
pump sends the water up to the house and gardens,
which, by irrigation, yields an abundance of the usual
fruits with the addition of cherries, strawberries, and
grapes. The rabbits were the great plague on this
station ; it might be defined the irrepressible rodent,
as its fecundity and multiplication is so rapid that
our friend had to keep going two men throughout the
year, who were paid £l each per week, to suppress
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 173
the nuisance. It was but small pay for that colony
as they had to find their own ammunition, but they
liked the sport and stuck to it. I believe they get
some small capitation fee for each scalp from the
Government. I only savf one live kangaroo on the
estate ; they are gradually being exterminated, as
they eat up the grass, and, besides, their skins are
valuable. A great domestic inconvenience in the
home life of the island is the difficulty of obtaining
female servants, and when you have got them to
retain them, for if they are at all nice looking and
capable, they are sure to be snatched up by the men
and married. And in a country place this family
trouble is still more felt with regard to men servants,
since nothing, love or money, will induce them to
work indoors, their whole heart is bent on an out-of-
door life. One day we drove off to pay a call at Mona
Vale, one of the grandest mansions in the colony,
where the Duke of Edinburgh was entertained.
There I fully expected to see a butler and two foot-
men at least ; no, nothing of the kind, only a quiet-
looking young woman answered the door, but in the
gardens, which were beautifully kept up, I ol>served
three gardeners at work. We then paid the Principal
of Horton College a visit, where young men are
educated, and there also female domestics waited
upon us. Though our host was a member of the
Legislative Assembly, a magistrate and warden of
his township, and the owner of a flourishing estate,
such was this difficulty and worry in connection with
indoor servants experienced by him and his house-
hold, that his wife and daughters, ladies in every
174 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
sense of the word, were obliged to give an active
band in many little domestic arrangements — in fact,
while one moment they would be helping to clear
the dining table, the next they would be amusing us
with some excellent classical music in the drawing-
room, for parents as a rule in Tasmania, as in
Australasia generally, make it a sacrifice and care to
give their children the best education money can
command. Though in the estimation of many self-
made colonials money makes the man, knowledge,
notwithstanding, is held in great respect, and stands
forth as a dominating power. The neighbourhood of
Eoss is well adapted as a residence for sportsmen,
there being fishing and shooting in abundance, and
the horses are very fine and swift ; and as each man
and lady is brought up as it were in the saddle, riding
exercise is very much to the fore as an every-day
pleasure. Picnic parties into the mountains amid
lake scenery is a common source of bringing young
and old together — social gatherings which are carried
on without stiffness or formality, thus knitting to-
gether in one sympathetic bond all the families for a
circuit of many miles. We were loath to leave our
host and his happy and cheerful surroundings of wife
and children, but we had to move on, and our next
stay was at Hobart, the capital of Tasmania ; but we
were not allowed to enter as strangers, our friend
accompanied us, and he being a M.P. knew everybody
and everything, hence we had a most useful and
instructive cicerone. We were shown the Houses of
Parliament, Government offices, the Museum rich in
curios connected with the natural history of the
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 175
island and its minerals, the quay where much active
commerce was going on with all parts of the world,
and the very extensive and beautifully situated public
gardens on rising grounds overlooking the harbour
and Government House. I called upon the Dean of
St. David's Cathedral, and read the lessons for him
on Sunday. This building is not yet completed,
though the foundation stone was laid by the Duke of
Edinburgh twenty years ago — in fact, the Nonconfor-
mists are much more in advance of the Church of
England as to their buildings, especially the Congre-
gationalists, who have a very fine freestone Gothic
building with a high spire in Elizal)eth Street.
Ilobart is in a lovely situation, at the foot of Monnt
Wellington, which is often capped with snow even
in the summer time, and which should by all means
be ascended, especially as half way the coaches land
you at Ferntree Arbour, a charming spot shaded
with large tree ferns. Now having explored the city,
I will just relate as shortly as possible what the
traveller ought to see. Let him go down to the pier
and take the excursion steamer to what is called the
" Eagle Hawk's Neck," a narrow strip of land
which joins the Tasman peninsula to the mainland.
This point was guarded formerly by dogs and soldier
sentries, to prevent the convicts from escaping into
the open country ; their penal settlement being on
the peninsula, located at a place called Port Arthur,
now falling into ruins. The courageous and daring
attempts to pass the dogs and sentries by the convicts
were quite romantic, but they invariably ended in
disaster by a well-directed shot, or if they escaped the
17G SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
bullet starvation stared them in the Bush, where
food was scarce and difficult to get without firearms.
Those who would wish to read these harrowing
accounts, so sensational and blood curdling, should
get a book entitled " For the Term of his Natural
Life," written by a convict, a gentleman who had been
transported for a crime for which he was quite inno-
cent. In those days many persons were exiled for
very slight offences. It is rather a stiff walk from
the " Neck " to the " Blowhole," a natural curiosity
in the shape of a tunnel through a rock through
which the sea rushes with a deafening roar !
Another trip worth taking is to go by steamer to
the viaduct which crosses the Derwent river some
miles above Hobart, and then take the train to
Plenty Station, then get out and walk to the
artificial ponds, where salmon and trout are hatched,
and when matured turned out into the Derwent,
where they afford capital sport to the angler, who-
uses a live grasshopper on a bare hook, and soon fills
his basket. The curator kindly supplied our party
with tea at the side of the pools, where we amused
ourselves watching and feeding the young fish which
were quite tame, and the keeper could whip out any
of the larger ones with an artificial fly for our inspec-
tion, and then throw them back again. * In this
valley we had a good view of some luxuriant hop
plantations, and thousands of acres of apple orchards,
bearing some most tempting fruit gro^vn to a great
size in a well-irrigated loam soil. The jam factories
in Hobart are quite an institution, and are supplied
to any extent by fruit from these prolific valleys
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 177
yielding peaches, apricots, and plums, from standard
trees, pruned down to about 12 feet. There is now
a large export trade of apples to London, since
they have learnt how to pack them properl}'. Thou-
sands of cases of this fruit in the green state are
shipped off to England in chartered steamers, where
they fetch a high price, as they arrive in our country
in the winter time. I doubt not it will not be long
before a plan is discovered of exporting the fresh
apricots and peaches as well.
Before we part company with Hobart and our dear
kind-hearted friend, I must make a remark u})on the
young women. They are well formed and strong,
tall, and walk uprightly, with complexions and good
looks which will bear favourable comparison with
those we meet with in any of our own large towns.
The men are tall and well set up, and it is not an un-
common thing to see men on the streets who stand
6 feet 2 inches or 6 feet 3 inches in height. We bade
adieu to Hobart on a Friday, taking our passage to
New Zealand in the well-equipped steamer Mavaroa,
in rather gusty weather which sent the ladies to their
berths. This continued all Saturday, and more or
less on Sunday, in consequence of which we had no
religious service, though there were three clergymen
on board. On Monday night we neared the coast,
and as it was not safe to enter the Bluff Harbour
at night, we kept outside till morning dawned, then
steamed on and reached the pier at breakfast time,
after which we ascended a steep hill of GOO feet,
flying the signalling flag, and from thence we had a
magnificent view over sea and land. On Wednesday
13
178 SEVENTY YEABS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN EBA.
Ave bad reached Port Chalmers, where our steamer
Avas put into a dry dock, so we had plenty of leism*e
to make our way to Dunedin, eight miles off by train,
where an international exhibition was being held of
colonial produce and manufactures. If we wished to
see evidences of the astounding progress our colonies
have made, we could not have had a better oppor-
tunity than the fine display at Dunedin, a Scotchified
town, where the people of any other nationality were
boycotted till a few years ago, so jealous and selfish
were its founders. They may well be proud of their
grand stone buildings, especially their churches ; one
in particular, standing out pre-eminently so, the
Presbyterian, which is like a noble Gothic cathedral,
with a splendid tapering spire. The town is prettily
situated on steep hills and well-wooded dales, up and
down which rush cable-trams at a furious rate, which
the residents state were the first ever started in the
world. The views from these various suburban emi-
nences are simply charming, grasping in a bird's-eye
prospect the long port and island opposite, the
juiblic park, the University college, and other large
prominent buildings which the industrious, thrifty,
and canny Scotchman has erected. And, though
last not least, the sight of its wide streets, lined
with large shops and high plate-glass windows,
displaying their elegant wares from every country ;
its banks and hotels, to compare with which there
is nothing so English-like in any other town in Xew
Zealand.
CHAPTER XXII.
No one should leave Port Chalmers without ascend-
ing to the cemeter}', which is well laid out as a flower
garden and public recreation ground, situated on a
rocky plateau overlooking the harbour and pier, and
dominating also the peninsula on which the town is
built, and around which a good drive has been made
yielding pleasant views in every direction. There is
also a striking object in the form of a very fine stone-
built Presbyterian church, in the Gothic style, with
high-tapering spire, perched on a pinnacle of rock,
such as one sees in some Roman Catholic towns in
Europe. "We are here 1,034 miles from Hobart, and
continuing our course along the eastern coast we
arrive after a passage of 200 miles at Lyttleton
Harljour, the port of supply and export for the city
of Christchurch, which is eight miles inland. This
short distance was difficult to traverse, leading as the
winding road did over a high mountain, and was a
great impediment to commerce till it was tunnelled by
an enterprising and popular superintendent of the
province, Mr. Sefton Moorhouse, and a railway made
to connect the port with the city. Christchurch is
179
180 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
the centre of life in the magnificent and fertile
Canterbury Plains, a fine and extensive view of
which may be had from the Lyttleton hills and
from the spire of the cathedral which I ascended,
though the ladders are rather rickety. The plains
overflow with fruitfulness irrigated as they are from
the watershed from the hills which bound it on all
sides, and are 100 miles apart, all the tributary
streams centring in the beautiful silvery Avon, in
which trout do abound, and takes a pretty serpentine
course through this rich land, yielding an immense
quantity of corn, wool, flax, and fruits, but especiallj'
horses, which are bred here in great numbers and then
exported to India, where they produce a valuable stock
for the cavalry and artillery by interbreeding with
the native stud. I met a gentleman who, with his
partners, owned 17,000 acres of fine pasture land; he
told me nothing paid so well as the breeding of horses
— cheap on the spot, but fetched a good price when
they reached Calcutta. No immigrant need imagine
that he can purchase land in these plains at a low
figure, and unless he has a long purse he had better
stay at home. The visitor should not fail to pay a
visit to the splendid Museum with its large and unique
collection of objects of art and of natural history ;
the lovely Public Gardens, through which meanders a
river teeming with trout ; the noble Cathedral ; the
old Provincial Council Chamber, the most perfect of
its kind in New Zealand ; the Government domain
and the Botanic Gardens. As a tourist I can ouly
summarise by saying Christchurch abounds in.
public institutions of every kind and need, and
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 181
especially places of public worship of every known
sect, even down to the Salvation Army. A very
pleasant time may be spent here and in its eight
extensive suburbs, some of them with 10,000 people.
If the traveller desires to go farther a- field, let him
take the coach to Nelson through the BuUer Gorge,
or to the west coast by way of the Otira Gorge, or
he can diverge and visit the Gold Fields at Hokitika
if money fascinates him. Cook aud Son help one
well for boating and fishing and local excursions,
lieturning to Lyttleton, I may just mention that the
men occupied at the shipping business don't do amiss,
provided there is no loafing and shuffling. They get
one shilhng and threepence an hour, and with thrift and
sobriety can occupy a cottage of their own in three
years. The union men pay four shillings and sixpence
a month to their club, and for this get during illness or
incapacity for labour £1 a week for six months, then
ten shillings a week for a month, and finally five
shillings till they are well. The climate is delicious,
like our English summer, and barring the apprehen-
sion of a coming earthquake would be a charming
place to settle in and be content. A tourist fond of
enjoying a picturesque sight of unusual beauty could
not do better than mount one of the low hills above
the town which is so prettily built on the slopes of
the gullies leading down to the harbour — the streets
being in terraces one above another — every square
yard being utilised.
Taking a steamer, and continuing our passage along
the east coast for 175 miles farther north, we reach
Wellington, since ISfM, the capital of New Zealand,
182 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
in which we land on a fine, but dusty and windy
day, characteristically windy, hence its nickname,
"Windy Wellington." The large Government build-
ings, the Houses of Assembly, and even the Governor's
palace, are so many shams. In the distance you
exclaim what splendid freestone structures, and when
you go up to them and tap them with a finger you
find that they are nothing but wooden erections,
painted and rough cast with sand to represent stone ;
but they are very handsome, being ornamented with
pillars having Corinthian capitals well carved, and
elaborate cornices, and surmounted by towers or high
spires. They are regarded by the citizens with great
pride, and a wonder of the world as the largest build-
ings of wood in the universe. A Koman Catholic
church perched on a pinnacle of rock high above
the town was enough to deceive any one, but on going
up to it was found to be wood also, but sculptured
with figures at great expense. It has been discovered
that it is safer to live in a wooden dwelling than a
stone one in case an earthquake should pay them
a visit. Their grand harbour is land-locked and has
deep water to its very edge, capable of floating the
largest iron-clad war vessel. The town is confined to
the space between the hills and the port, of a horse-shoe
shape, so that the people have been obliged to build
their houses up the steep bills, and in the gullies, and
on any flat available space, natural or artificial, that
they could stick a building on, hence the quaint
aspect of the city from any high point is picturesque
in the extreme. This being so hemmed in by the
guardian hills has prevented the city from spreading
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 183
landwards, and it boasts of l)eing the most compact
town in New Zealand, the Empire Cit}' as they
love to call it. To see its extent the visitor should
take a train ride from one end of it to the other, a dis-
tance of three miles for a penny — the cheapest ride
in the world — then he will l)e able to judge what
a bustling, busy place is "Wellington. A very good
bird's-eye view of the town and the beach where the
fashionable promenade and bathing goes on may be
obtained by ascending a winding road which leads up
to Mrs. Rhodes' house, built on a spur of the moun-
tain at the east end of Wellington. Then again
there are other " lions " to see, such as the Botanical
Gardens situated in a creek, dotted on each side its
little streamlet with high tree-ferns, and crossed now
and again l)y rustic wooden bridges. English trees
have been planted here between the native, reminding
us of home. The walks are so tortuous and inter-
lacing that the garden may be compared to a Rosa-
mond's Bower, in which we might lose ourselves.
On our return through a singular looking suburb, we
noticed how curiously the villas appeared perched one
above another on plateaus of rock blasted to get a
fiat basis to rest upon, and behind them the bare
mountains denuded of trees. Again an outlying
district called the "Lower Hut" is the centre of
amusement for pleasure parties ; there being a race-
course, and tea gardens for picnics, kc. Before I
leave this delightful town I must not forget to say
that it is lighted with electricity ; that the " publics "
are closed on Sunday ; that I did not see any
drunkenness on that day, or rowdyism or In-awling ;
184 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
that there were no signs of pauperism nor any pawn-
shops visible. General contentment seemed to pre-
vail. Earthquakes had not visited this locality for so
long a period that the speculators had taken courage
and built some very grand stone and brick stores,
while the authorities had erected a very fine post
office and customs house on the qua}'. These
with the huge meat-freezing factories gave the
town an aspect of great commercial importance,
which it merited. As at Christohurch so here, the
places of public worship and schools are so numerous
that every phase of religious sentiment is represented,
and though the citizens may be called worshippers of
Mammon the sabbath is well observed and orderly.
Thus I have given a very short summary of this
pleasant resting-place, which in my opinion is suffi-
cient for the passing tourist. And now we leave
Wellington and proceed not by steamer to Napier —
oh ! no, certainly not — the right thing to do is to
take a railway ride of a hundred miles over the most
interesting part of the colony, namely, over the
Pdmutaka Mountains to Palmerston, on the west
coast. It cannot be compared to a trip over the
Eocky Mountains, nevertheless, the wild scenery
we meet with and the Fell engine with its central rail
working up the steep gradients is a sight worth some
trouble to inspect, and implies great engineering skill.
At Palmerston, situated in a well- wooded and fertile
district, there is a break at present in the Wellington
Manawatu railwa}', and we had to take a coach and
four, which was a pleasant change, through a well-
cultured valley till we reached the Manawatu
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 185
Gorge, a fearfully dangerous pass of three mile
in extent, up which we were coached with a perpen-
dicular rock overhead, and the same below, and
traversing a roadway made by blasting the face of
the rock, so that if a wheel came off or our horses
shied we should have been sent down into the abyss
below, in which roared a perfect "hell of waters."
There was no railing on the side, and the wheels
would go as near as eighteen inches to the edge, the
look-out was fearful, and shook the nerves of even the
old hands present ! We were, therefore, very much
relieved to find ourselves out of it. On the other side
of this gorge they are making a single line of rail-
way by blasting the rock for a road, and tunnelling
through the projections here and there, a very slow,
expensive piece of cutting. A few miles further on, our
coach stopped at the flourishing town of Woodville ;
here we had a refreshing lunch, and then proceeded
by train to Napier, 95 miles off, through a fine well-
watered country pasturing thousands of sheep and
cattle. This was a hard day's travelling, and we
were glad to find ourselves at the Masonic Hotel
at Napier, where our Scotch host gave us very ex-
cellent rooms. Napier is the chief city in the Hawke's
Bay Province, one of the best agricultural districts in
New Zealand. It is a diocesan cit}' and the residence
of the Bishop of "Waiujiu, who, when he attended the
synod of bishops at Lambeth Palace, was greeted
with the pun, " Here comes the representative of
church free sittings, 117;// (( pen- .^ " The town rests
on a lovely site, which neither the pencil of the artist
nor the photographer can do justice to. • The houses
186 SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
of tlio well-to-do stand brightly forward on a succes-
sion of rounded hills and their intervening valleys,
embosomed in evergreens and flowering shrubs, a
very paradise of beauty and serenity. The glorious
peninsula of villas ends in what is called the "Spit,"
"where there is a fine basin for ordinary sized vessels ;
but the spirited authorities are making, at great cost,
a splendid breakwater to accommodate the largest
steamers. I should advise a tourist to walk or drive
round this peninsula, a distance of five miles, as he
would be well rewarded. The roads and pathways in
and around Napier are excellent. Again the thing to
do is to drive to Taradale, a native village seven miles
off, in the midst of English civilised dwellings and
cultivated fields. We entered the chief's principal
lodging — a large room, on the floor of which matting
was laid down for men, women, and children ; here
his family and retainers slept, each having a proper
allotment. We were warned not to go too far into it
by our guide because the " live stock," as he called
them, w^ere too numerous, and would be unpleasant
mementos to take away with us. The centre props
to the room were ornamented with idols, carved in
wood, hideous looking monsters. This dwelling was
surrounded by less pretentious ones made of wattle,
reeds, and clay like wigwams. Outside these were
seen the Maoris squatting and cooking their meals,
and who took very little notice of us. They are a
very fine athletic race with an intelligent aspect, and
some of the young women were quite good-looking
with olive complexions, oval faces, and coal-black
eyes, with long wavy dark coarse hair.
7^ THE VICTORIAN Eli A. 18T
Oil our return jouriie}' we passed the racecourse,
an institution so characteristic of this horsey people,
and is here located in the midst of thousands of acres
of garden-like land, yielding abundance of every pro-
duce. Horses, cows, and sheep, looking sleek and fat,
amidst a people thriving and smiling, a veritable land
of " milk and honey." Hovering above we saw-
several hawks, hence the name given to this district !
On Sunday we went to the Cathedral, a fine brick
and stone building, which is strengthened in the
inside by heavy buttresses in case of an earthquake
coming. While we were examining the interior, the
dean came up to us in a most affable manner, and
gave us a very excellent account of the church from
its beginning, and the difficulties he had to encounter
to get it erected, and the danger and risk of a possible
earthquake that he had to provide against. The dean
has a very pleasing, expressive face, very like that of
the Saviour, especially the one painted by Count
d'Orsay. Although a spare-looking man, he has a
powerful voice and an excellent extempore delivery,
just suited to the place and its people, hence he is
very popular. He asked me if I would read the
evening lessons for him which I did, and afterwards
invited us to the deanery to tea with Mrs. Hovell, his
son, and two daughters, with whose amiability and
courtesy we were much pleased. Dean Hovell is
cousin to Mr. Mark Hovell, the specialist who
attended the Emperor Frederick with Sir Morel
Mackenzie. There is Sunday closing in Napier, and
the streets are remarkably quiet ; and on Saturday
night the promenades were crowded with well-dressed
188 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA.
people, English and native converts alike ; and the
Salvation Army were busy at the corner of our hotel
doing their level best to induce their listeners to
think of the higher life.
CHAPTER XXIII.
On Monday we left Napier at six in the morning to
commence the ■wonderful inland coach journey of
about two hundred miles to Oxford, rin Taupo. "We
carried the mail, and each passenger was only allowed
one portmanteau. I don't think the ladies had the
least idea what they were going to encounter in the
way of roughing it. For the first twenty-five miles
we drove up and down hills, and through about forty
creeks, having '2 feet or 3 feet of water in them, with
a shingly bottom. Down into these the five horses
dashed with as much impetus as they could muster
in order to get up the opposite slope, urged thereto
with much shouting and whip-cracking by the driver,
conveying a most unpleasant jolt to our bodies.
Then we would slowly ascend some high mountain,
we men getting out to walk ; but when once on the
summit we were rewarded by some really very grand
views — notably from the tops of Mounts Tau-
ranga, Kuma, and Titiokura. Then we would have
to descend some fearful ziz-zag road cut out of the
side of a hill, with a precipice on the other hand
looking down gorges 400 feet to 1,000 feet deep, with
rushing torrents. At the sharp turns in these awful
189
190 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
roads our Jehu would amuse himself with shouts and
flicking of his whip, which sent the nerves of the
strongest of us into a most unpleasant state of
tremor. To watch our dismayed looks was, I dare
say, fun to him, but it was decidedly painful to his
living freight. Hence we were very glad to find
ourselves at the half-way house, and get a little
respite from the continued jolting of our heads
against the roof of the coach, and the thuds to our
nether ends by bumping down on the hard cushions.
In the short space of four hours I never, in the whole
course of my life, heard so many exclamations of
oh ! and no wonder, our very spines felt like a mass
of jelly. Having had a refreshing lunch and changed
our horses we all got into a good humour again,
especially as we were told that the track would now
become less perilous and distressing, Avith less
screeching from our fair companions. We passed
a most interesting sight en route, and that w^as the
collecting together on the side of a hill by stockmen
and their collies 10,000 sheep, an immense flock,
reminding one of what Israel had in patriarchal days.
Again we met a party of Maoris filing along on
horseback, the ladies riding cross-legged, like their
lords. We dropped some letters into an old box
stuck on a post close to the road- side, and this was
the primitive depository for the correspondence of a
township some distance off, not a habitation of any
kind being visible anywhere, and there could have
been no thieves, certainly.
The evening of the first day found us at Taravera,
having traversed a distance of fifty miles. There we
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. l!)l
had an excellent dinner and spent the night ; the
daughters of the host waited on the guests, and then
amused them with some music, and in no way felt it
infra difh, in New Zealand. The next morning we
started afresh to traverse another fifty miles, princi-
pally over a desert-like plateau, without a vestige of
life on it, and for twelve miles no water for birds or
animals to drink. Hence we passed carcases of dead
bullocks and sheep, which had succumbed in their
journey across this waterless track. The plateau, as
far as the eye could reach, was wearisome in its
perpetual sameness : a barren wild of fern and small
shrubs of the Tei tree growing in loose soil of pow-
dered pumice-stone, the only relief being in front of
us a high volcanic mountain of 8,000 feet in full
activity, and the snow-capped Euapehu. At the
half-way house there was another luncheon and a
change of horses. A wide stream passed through
the grounds, and on this we threw large flat pieces of
pumice-stone, which floated away on its surface —
contradicting the usual saying, that a stone sinks in
water. Starting once more, we descended by a tor-
tuous dusty road, from which we enjoyed splendid
views of the grand inland Lake Taiipo, and the
valley beneath us, from which issued here and there
from the green bush white clouds of steam, indicating
the spots where the hot springs w^ere located. Having
run along the shore of the lake for some distance, we
arrived finally at Joshua's Spa, in the midst of this
valley of geysers. This is the most extraordinary
situation for a sanatorium I ever saw or heard of.
This spa, called Joshua, after the name of the pro-
102 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
prietor, consists of a number of separate wooden
buildings erected in a land-locked hollow, naturally-
excavated in a valley of pumice rock and soil, through
which passes a small stream of hot sulphurous water
from a neighbouring spring, supplemented by hot
ebullitions in the grounds, which are diverted into
baths for the use of invalids. Of course we did the
singular sights of the locality. A short walk leads
you down to the celebrated Waikato Eiver, which
takes its origin in the lake. Near its banks we
look with amusement at the geyser called the
" Crow's Nest," with its peculiar border of sticks
encrusted with white silicate of lime. These sticks
were said originally to have been placed round the
edge to prevent the Maoris' children from falling in,
and become fossiled in time. Next came the '' Witches*
Caldron," belching up its steamy contents at a tempe-
rature of 180° F. Further on we came across the
" Paddle-wheel Ben," in which the sulphur gas issues
forth from a rocky cavern with a gushing, hissing
sound — a blow-hole I called it. On returning we
started a brace of red-legged partridges. As to our
meats, the mutton, our only flesh meat, was very"
stringy, because the weather was so hot, or the gas
did not agree with its keeping, for what we had to eat
at dinner was killed in the early morning of the
same da}^ The sweets were excellent, and we had an
entree of wild ducks brought in by the Maoris, who
shot them by self-made shot. We passed two days
very pleasantly with our friend Joshua, a most
obliging and gentlemanly host, at whose expense I
made an innocent pun. How came it about that
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 193
Joshua bad no father ? because Joshua was the son
of Xnn .' The Lake Taupo is the Largest in New
Zealand, being twenty-four miles long by fifteen
broad, but we did not take our excursion on it in the
steam launch, as we could admire its broad expanse
and its smoking volcano at the further end from the
hills, which the next day we had to ascend on our
coach. We were told that there was some verj^
good gratuitous shooting here of wild duck, pheasant,
and partridges during the winter months, Mliich it
was not our pleasure to wait for. Early in the
morning we took our leave of the Spa and our seats
on a coach and five horses, and continued a jolting
journey northwards through a most uninteresting
wilderness of fern and bush, till we reached llotorua,
a distance of lifty-six miles, where we were refreshed
l)y a really good dinner, followed by sound sleep till
live in the morning, when I went out and had a
delightful swim in a bath, in the grounds of the
Palace Hotel, which was only slightly impregnated
with sulphur. Subsequently we walked a short mile
to the regular baths connected with this world-famed
health-resort. These are on an extensive scale,
under Government control, with a regular doctor
engaged, and in every other way the organisation is
perfect. The use of the " Eachel " bath softens and
smooths the skin, while the larger amount of silicate
of lime in the celebrated "Priest's" bath excites the
surface, producing strongly a prickly feeling and
intense perspiration, and being at a temperature of
10:30 F. the patients do not remain in it more than
iifteen minutes as a rule. They say these two baths
14
194 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
have cured some most obstinate cases of chronic
rheumatism and inveterate skin diseases. Knowing
that I was a physician from London, the authorities
took good care to give me every information, and
praised the sanatorium as the best in the world, and
statistics would show that its reputation was well
sustained by Australasia, at any rate as the sick
flocked from all the colonies for relief when all
medicines had failed. There is a good Maori settle-
ment adjoining the colonial town, possessing an
English church. There is an excellent understanding
between the natives and the English, the former
highly appreciating the education their children get
in the colonial schools, and the clergyman makes
many converts to Christianity through the medium
of the Church services, where they receive instruc-
tion in their own language; but he complained sadly
of the obstacles thrown in his way by the English
selling the Maoris strong drink. I remarked to a
resident who had been there fifty years that I seldom
met a Maori with grey hair, and he replied that he
had never seen one with a bald head. I asked him
if there was any truth in what I had heard, namely,
that the English settler w^ould marry a Maori girl,
and after living with her for several years and
getting lots of children by her, would, when he
had prospered and become rich, desert her and his
children, though she had materially assisted him in
getting the wealth. He replied, "I am sorry to say
such is the case in many instances within my own
knowledge." To show how very fertile the soil is
about the hot springs, Mrs. Macrae, our hostess, told
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 195
US that some of the onions iu ber garden weighed
lltbs., and two pumpkins scaled respectively 1031t)s.
and I'iOtbs. Mrs. Macrae, who kept the hotel in
the vicinity of the pink and white terraces, the pride
and glory of New Zealand, gave me a most graphic
description of the volcanic eruption of mud which
destroyed them and her residence, and from which
so few escaped alive, and left the traveller to mourn
over the loss of the sight of these lovely silica
incrustations.
If one did give up making the usual excursions
from Eotorua, it would be a great mistake not
to pay a visit to the native village close at band,
and study a little the peculiar customs and habits
of the Maoris. It comprises a collection of native
huts called whares ; also rather a fine meeting-house,
well carved and painted outside, with a statue of
our Queen in the interior. There are boiling pools
where the villagers cook their food, and warm pools
where the men and boys do bathe. They manage
very cleverly also to divert the hot stream from
these pools into a variety of holes, which act as
ovens, and thus obviate the necessity of making a
fire. "We will ask our readers to follow us, as we
ought to have done before, along this wonderful
inland drive, through the very heart of the North
Island of New Zealand, as indicated on a map. We
were now cu route again on a mail coach, drawn by
five horses, as usual, and our destination is Oxford ;
the drive proved to be the most dusty I ever ex-
perienced. Talk of swallowing a peck of dirt in a
lifetime, I should say that a month would be quite
196 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
long enough to inhale that quantity if we had to
traverse this road daily. First of all we had to zig-
zag up a series of hills and dales till we reached a
mountain ridge, along which we travelled for some
miles, with precipices on each side, and in the gorges
below a depth of hundreds of feet could be seen the
trees of a primeval forest, and though huge in size
when looked at from above, appeared like so many
saplings. This was really a superb sight when the
clouds of dust would permit us to enjoy it. We came
across many bush fires, where the trees are cleared
by burning, and English grass seed is sown and
covered with the charcoal dust, and a fine crop arises
in a few weeks,. to the great joy of the settler and the
success of his sheep run. Our journey was only one
of thirty-five miles in extent, and yet till this space
is covered by a railway' the excellent health resort at
Kotorua will not be patronised as it deserves to be.
We arrived at Oxford in good time for a thorough
brush down, and our clothes to have the thick layer
of dust brushed out of them. My long brown coat
was as white as a miller's. It was quite refreshing
to see a railway again, and to find one's self in the
vicinity of ordinary civilisation, while the surround-
ing farms and homesteads looked like dear Old
England, barring its characteristic hedgerows. We
were up betimes the next morning, and after break-
fasting at 6.15 took our places in a train which landed
us at Auckland by 2 p.m. There, indeed, we did
meet with a welcome change from the rough life we
had been comparatively leading for some time past.
We put up at the Star Hotel, where we were accommo-
IN THE VICTOlilAN Eli A. 197
dated with some fine lofty rooms, while the table was
luxuriously supplied, conjoined with an efficient staif
of men waiters ; the essential bath-room on every
floor, and the whole house conducted in as good a
manner as a first-class hotel in London ; a few
minutes' walk from the port, and other centres of life
and amusement, but I will leave a further description
of beautiful Auckland for another chapter.
CHAPTER XXIY.
A DESCRIPTION of beautiful Auckland painted in the
most vivid word-colouring Avould fail to give the
reader a fair idea of its varied loveliness. It is
situated on an isthmus with a sea view nearly all
round, and unique in its bright grandeur, surpassing
anything of the kind I have ever seen. The sight of
Naples and its bay, with Capri and Vesuvius in the
distance from the Mount St. Elmo is not to be com-
pared to it, and any one of the views that the eye
can grasp of the separate harbours of Sydney does not
match it, and if one's mind is recalled to the sight of
the entry into the Bosphorus at Constantinople, or
the i^assages up to New York and San Francisco with
the morning sun glowing on those splendid cities,
still Auckland bears the palm, and stands out pre-
eminent in a situation of beauty so extensive and
comprehensive that nothing in my opinion can come
near it. I would ask the visitor to go with me to the
top of Mount Eden — a rise of 650 feet above the
town, and only three miles off, with a winding road
to its summit. From this historic old crater and
Maori fort, in excellent shape and preservation, a
panorama unique in extent and sublimity is to be
198
SEVENTY YEABS" LIFE IN THE VICTOEIAN EBA. 199
seen ■which the citizens may well be proud of. From
its base to the sea we have the lovely city with mag-
nificent buildings of halls, churches, museum, hospital,
and huge warehouses, with harl)Our crowded with
shipping from all nations, and further out numerous
3'achts with their white sails like so many butterflies
flitting about, backed by the opposite shore, with
Mount Victoria clothed in verdure, dotted with
suburbs of elegant villas. Eight and left of Mount
Eden there are extensive suburbs also nestling in
pretty nooks, clothed in evergreens, reachable by a
tramway. Now let us turn round, and an extra-
ordinary sight faces us. No less than twenty-four
volcanic cones on as many round hills dot the
landscape, extinct for ages past. Again, between
these hills are located large mansions in parklike
grounds, interspersed by homesteads and even hedge-
rows, putting one forcibly in mind of old England,
and the simile is enhanced by a railwa}' winding
its way through the dales. Before we descend let
us face the city again and admire the well-kept
central Public Gardens, the big building to the
left being the Provincial Hospital on a high site
dominating the public domain. The Museum, Law
Courts, and Government House are nearl}' obscured
by trees. It is very difficult to get a good photo
from Mount Eden of the city and its surround-
ings. We will now take the steamer constantly
going to and fro to the north shore on the oppo-
site side of the harbour, and take a ramble in
Davenport, the fashionalde summer resort, much
prized by the Auckland people. Piising from the
200 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
centre of this sul)urb is Victoria Mount, about
200 feet hiKb, with a well-shaded wooded walk
to its flagstaff top, from which a view of the city
opposite is afforded of the most splendid nature, far
surpassing that from the north shore at Sydney,
especially in the afternoon, when the sun's rays are
in full play upon it. Having now admired this
exquisite bit of scenery, we can take a cab or the
coach and enjoy a most agreeable drive of four miles
to the Lake Takapuna, another favourite resort, along
the road to which and on its banks are springing up
numerous dwellings in their snug grounds, rejoicing
also in a large popular hotel, with boats on the lake.
This lake is very deep, and has no outlet, contains
fresh water, though only a narrow strip of ground
separates it from the salt water of the ocean. If we
continue along the north shore we come to Northcote,
another very pretty suburb, and near to this a
popular settlement called Birkenhead, in which
there is the Colonial Sugar Company's "Works, an
extensive refinery. On the side of the hill, one above
another, are the rows of cottages belonging to the
work-peoj)le, exceedingly picturesque. Auckland and
its western suburb is a thing to be seen and not
forgotten from this elevated quarter, and no visitor
or tourist has done himself or the lovely city due
justice who has not rambled at his ease along the
north shore, and taken in his fill of such a delightful
prospect. We will now return to our hotel, and to-
morrow charter a hansom cab and pay St. John's
College a visit, so interestingly associated with
Bishops Patterson and Selwyn. There we shall
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 201
find an extremely pretty, but quaint-looking, old
wooden church, with memorial brasses and windows
to those good self-denying men. On the road back
I called on Dr. Cowie, one of the handsomest of
bishops, to whom I handed my letter of introduction,
and was heartily received. I was shown over the large
Selwyn Library, and over his most singular wooden
palace, fixed to the side of a steep ravine, with the
bedrooms below and the reception rooms on a level
with the ground above, but all the windows over-
looking the harbour and north shore ; a grand picture,
truly — nestling in peace and quietude — a soul-in-
spiring spot for an ecclesiastical student. The
bishop had one feeling at any rate in common with
myself, we had both been in active warfare ; he as
chaplain to the forces in India, where he had been
actually engaged in carrying shot to our men in the
midst of the din and danger of a fight. "What a con-
trast to his present position ! Now that I am on the
subject of Colonial Bishops, I will here introduce
a rather weird story told by Sir George Bowen when
he was Governor of New Zealand. A very good
heading to it would be this, " A New Zealand Chief's
Preparation for the Higher Life."
Among the loyal Maori chiefs invited to meet the
Duke of Edinburgh was one of the original signers of
the treaty of Waitaugi in 1840, and who had ever
since been a firm friend of the English. One of the
Anglican Bishops afterwards said to the Governor,
" Do 3'ou know. Sir, the antecedents of that old
heathen?" "No my dear Bishop," was the reply,
" but I do know that he brought five hundred of his
202
SEVENTY YEAIiS OF LIFE
clansmen into the field to fight for the Queen, so
I invited him to meet the Queen's son." " Well,'*'
continued the Bishop, " when I first arrived in New
Zealand that chief came to me and said that he
wished to be baptized. I knew that he had two
NEW ZEALAND CHIEF.
wives, so I told him that he must first persuade one
of them to return to her familv. He said he feared
that would be difficult, but that he would see what
could be done, and came back to me in two months.
When he returned he exclaimed, " Now, missionary,
you may baptize me, for I have only one wife."
IN THE VICTORIAN EliA. 203
I asked, " What have you done with our dear sister,
your first wife "? " He replied, smackiug bis lips,
" I have eateu her ! "
The Maori priests were the scholars of the tribes,
and to them were entrusted the important business of
tattooing. This was considered a very grave under-
taking bv the chiefs, each of whom indulged in
special patterns, which distinguished them from one
another in the same manner as our coats of arms do
our aristocratic families. I give a sketch of an old
chief who gloried in a kind of shawl devise which
marked his particular rank, and the little kingdom
he reigned over. This disfigurement is supposed to
overawe his enemies with fear, and to hide the
wrinkled traces of old age. Girls before they marry
are not honoured by a tattoo, and the married very
slightly so on the lips, chin, and eyebrows, but all
this custom is fast passing away from those who join
the English community. The Maoris as a people
merit a few further remarks, but I shall make them
as brief as possil>le, just of sufficient interest to
instruct the coming tourist. They are not supposed
to be the original natives of New Zealand, Ijut immi-
grants from the South Sea Islands. Captain Cook
when he visited the country reckoned them at 90,000
double what they are now. They could weave coarse
cloth from the native flax ; work and polish their
sacred green stone, and very hard work it is ; make
canoes and ornament them with rude carving ; make
battle axes and spears and fishing nets, and grotescpie
personal decorations.
Some of the -best specimens of this handiwork
204 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
may be seen in the Auckland Museum, and the
Dunedin Exhibition, where a fine chieftain's tomb
was on view. The white spots are bunches of
feathers from rare birds. The carving is really
wonderfully skilful, considering the simple tools em-
ployed. Primogeniture is a recognised law. The
spell called " Tapu," acts as their principal mode
of government, and the cast of the spell over any-
thing was sufficient to make it sacred — not to be
touched, and hardly to be looked at except with
veneration and awe. The influence of " Tapu "
strengthened the hands of both chiefs and priests in
their dealings with the people. The Maoris believe
in a future state, though it required the aid of
Christian missionaries to convince them that God
was omnipotent. They love pleasure, and have many
sports, the principal being horse-racing. They erect
their storehouses on piles to keep away the rats.
They are naturally a war-like race, and when the
Anglo-Saxon first invaded their country he found
them no mean enemy to contend with. Their
fortresses, called "Pahs," were most ingeniously con-
trived to keep our soldiers at bay ; protected as they
were with rifle-pits, ditches, and stockades in front,
we were often defeated in our attacks upon them.
As to the sale of land or other property which is
common to the individuals composing the different
tribes, this cannot be effected without the consent
of all concerned, hence a good deal of trouble has
arisen to Europeans buying their lands in conse-
quence of some individual objecting to join the
majority, somewhat like one juryman not falling in
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 205
^vitb the other eleven in our country. Then angry
feeUngs and contention arose, and force has been
used to settle the conve3'ance. The Maori of to-day
has not much to thank the English for, since he has
learnt all the evils of civilisation without acquiring
its virtues. The only wise thing they have learnt in
coming into contact with us has been the giving up
of the hideous tattooing ; but agaiust this we must
set their artful cunning in over-reaching us iu their
bargains, and we have taught them to be ardent
smokers and heavy drinkers, whenever they can
purchase the " fire water," hence they become laz}-,
given to cheating, and mulish in obstinacy.
Can we be surprised, then, at the population de-
creasing and the whites increasing ? Can we feel
otherwise than that the Maoris are doomed ? though
it is a crying pity that we don't intluence them for
good, for they are a fine manly race, and deserve
better things than being made bad imitations of
ourselves. Why are not our missionaries and
temperance workers to the fore ? The Episcopalians
did, single-handed, much good work among the
natives for several years, then crept in the Uoman
Catholics and Wesleyans, introducing their creeds,
with the result that they quite bothered the Maori's
intellect, which is fairly shrewd and quick, and the}'
were unable to understand the religious divisions of
the three churches, and remarked very sensibly and
pointedly, '" If these learned priests cannot agree
among themselves which is the straight road to
Heaven, and the correct religion to follow, how can
we poor unenlightened Maoris be expected to know
•206 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
how to choose '? " Can we be surprised, then, that
between these three stools the puzzled native falls
to the ground and relapses into paganism ? The
Bible was translated as far back as 1837 into the
Maori language, and it may be asked how many con-
verts has it made ? The Maoris struggled against
us for eighteen years, and stopped all progress, but
in the year 1840 the chieftains agreed to the following
treaty, namely, " The Maori chiefs ceded to Queen
Victoria the right of government over the whole of
their country." • The Queen, on her part, gave the
chiefs full right over their property, but ceded to Her
Majesty the right to purchase the land if they were
willing to sell. And, thirdly, " the Queen agreed to
protect all her Maori subjects, and granted to them
the same rights and privileges as if they were
Englishmen." Notwithstanding this treaty, quarrels
and angry passions were roused in connection with
land purchases, and fighting went on between the
natives and our red-coats, which seemed to excite
them like the red cloth does at bull-bating ; and
matters did not mend till our soldiers were with-
drawn and the colonists were left to settle their own
affairs with the Maoris.
We Avill now take leave of the Maoris, and hark
back to Auckland, and for an hour or so seat ourselves
on its large pier and landing stages, which I reckon
could not have cost less than half a million of money.
Let us just dwell on its busy scenes, with Mount
Eden in the background. What is the occasion of
this lively sight ? Why, in the first place, one sees
huge ocean steamers taking their cargoes of
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 207
tliousautls of carcases of sheep, frozen in an im-
mense factory adjoining the pier, Mhich commmii-
cates with the shipping by a railway, so that there
is no time lost for the meat to thaw before it gets
into the refrigerator of the vessel. Again you will
see hundreds of bales of fine flax, which the colony
yields in immense profusion, and with it sacks of
hops and bundles of merino wool, all of which are
exported to England. As to the cereals, tlie oats
are grand, weighing 45 lbs. to the bushel, and
much appreciated in our country. Then come
imckages of Kauri gum from the Kauri trees, very
precious, while the wood is plentiful and valuable,
taken from the Thames Valley, down whose beautiful
river the logs are floated during a " fri^shet," and
caught ])y booms.
Of all the precious minerals which New Zealand
yields — gold, silver, copper, antimony, manganese,
and coal — gold is the only one I shall allude to, as
it is that which is most interesting to tliose already
there, and to those about to go. £45,000,000 of gold
was the amount of the find from 1858 to 1889. A
splendid outcome, and it is no marvel, therefore, that
the colony has flourished so well since it was first
constituted in 1810. Personally, I feel an unusual
interest in this matter, because a friend of mine,
Mr. Charles Iling, of liingcote, Auckland, was with
his brother the original discoverer of gold in New
Zealand. In prospecting for the precious metal
he first came across it at Coromandel in 1852.
The Government had offered a reward of .i*5,000 for
the first discovery of "available" gold, and when
NEW ZEALAND VEGETABLE CATERPILLAK.
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 2(K)
Messrs. Ring applied for the reward, it was refused
on the ground that the Maoris objected to the spot
being worked, hence it was not " available." Not-
withstanding, the Government instigated these
gentlemen to go on prospecting in order to ascer-
tain to what extent the auriferous deposit existed in
the colony, and they did so at their own expense, and
they continued to make discoveries, and because they
were not " available " through the obstinacy of the
natives, they still kept back the reward. A mean and
shabby thing to do — thus utilising the time, talents,
and money of these public-spirited men for the public
welfare without a just recompence.
I now come to speak of the most extraordinary
thing I met with during my tour round the globe,
namely, the New Zealand Vegetable Caterpillar. Our
old scientific teachings are completely upset when we
insist that a vegetable production must of necessity
take its origin and extract its nourishment from the
soil : that it is through the medium of gases dissolved
in water, constituting what is called "sap," which
ascends the plant till it reaches the leaves, where cir-
culating through the cells, it becomes subjected to the
influences of light and heat, and deoxidation is eti'ected,
oxygen being set free to purify the air, while the car-
bon descends, constituting woody fibre and vegetable
growth. This physiological explanation is of no avail
to us in our efforts to explain the nourishment and
growth of the Vegetable Caterpillar — a most startling
phenomenon — a singular freak of nature ! Remark-
able to relate, this plant fulfils its destiny by i^ossessing
the power of reproducing itself by means of minute
210 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
seeds, whicli are massed like so much red sand on the
ends of the twigs. They are clearly seen by an inch
magnifier, packed together firmly somewhat like the
maize in the cob. These small seedlings find their
way into the interior of the caterpillar through the
pores of the animal's breathing apparatus, represented
in the drawing by the round marks. Once inside its
body hair-like roots are sent out, which ramify into
every nook and corner of its soft tissue, absorbing no
gases in the usual way of soil-growing plants, but
directly taking up the albuminous fluid from the
body of the grub, which, as the plant bursts outside
and develops itself, gradually sucks dry its very
existence, starves out in fact its ver}' life, and the
caterpillar shrivels up by degrees and dies of inanition.
In this condition thej' both fall down to the root of
the tree, when it is said the Maories collect them into
bundles, boil, and eat them — quite as palatable per-
haps as fat snails consumed as a relish by the natives
of other countries. This very peculiar and interest-
ing specimen of creative genius is indeed unique, and
like many other created things, at present beyond our
comprehension. We must be content to await patiently
the greater developments of scientific research. "We
must remain students all our days, and keep our
scientific eye open to the reception of new laws, and
the rejection of old conclusions. This perpetual going
to school, this attitude of honest and humble study,
will tend doubtless to keep the mind fresh. Thinkers
must all admit that God works in a m^'sterious way,
and because we cannot at once understand and explain
His wondrous marvels, let us not shut ourselves up
IN THE VICTOlilAX ERA. 211
in our owu vaiu conceits, and say that there is no
Creator. **We are fearfully and wonderfully made,"
so says the Psalmist ; but he goes on to say, " and
that my soul kuoweth right well." Do we know it
right well '? Do we really and practically feel it ? Do
we humble ourselves at the sight of God's grand and
indescribable developments '? Do we confess our in-
tellects very small, very midgy-like, veritable pigmies,
when compared with His magnificent intelligence. If
we do, then we maj' venture to say and to feel that
our faith and hope is based upon a solid rock which
cannot be shaken by the attacks of sceptics, be they
ever so sharp, delusive, fascinating, and plausible.
Sometimes I give a lecture on this singular phe-
nomenon so inexplicable to the scientist of the day,
and end by drawing some useful moral reflections
from it, such as the following : —
The introduction of these seedlings into the cater-
pillar, and the gradual destruction of its body and the
extinction of its very life, may be very aptly taken to
illustrate the efifects of the smaller sins into the hearts
of men and women. In a thoughtless and unguarded
moment we permit these little evils to penetrate into
our minds, where they take deep root — a tenacious
lodgement— till they gradually expand into some be-
setting sin, monopolising the whole soul, which we
cannot of ourselves shake off. And if we do not apply
earnestly and vigorously for the power of the Holy
Spirit to come to our aid and help us to weed it out,
it will take as iirni a grip of us as this plant does of
the grub which it cruelly kills, and hinders from per-
fecting itself for the higher life of a splendid insect, a
212 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
l)eautifully coloured moth, soaring upwards to the
skies in self-dehght and the admiration of all be-
holders. It shows also very forcibly how necessary it
is for us in going through this world, replete with
temptations and traps to catch the unwary, that we
should be steady and unswerving sentinels, wide
awake and ever on the watch against the insinuating
arts and wdles of the Evil One, going al)Out seeking
where he can drop his seedlings of sin and mischief,
and also knows so well our salient points of weakness.
Whether these be the outcome of our various positions,
high or low, rich or poor, old or young, or not, none
are exempt from attacks. As we pity this unfortunate
caterpillar which is shrivelled up into a mere shell,
and even as a grub looses its comely aspect and its
chances of a higher development, so must we pity
the human being whose soul is so perverted and dis-
figured by continuous sinning that it is not fit to mix
with the company of the angels in heaven. We la-
ment over the being who is so careless and slumbering
that a little evilly-disposed wish is allowed to enter a
corner of the heart, where it finds congenial soil till
it expands into a masterful giant ! To get this wish
gratified all the cardinal virtues are sacrificed and
ignored, such as truth, temperance, self-respect,
honour, justice, humility, and faith, and all the
helps to the acquisition of these virtues are set at
nought, even voted a bore, or tolerated only for social
appearance sake, such are prayer, bible reading, public
divine worship, and all that belongs to the formation
of the Christian character. As men and women in the
image of our God we rob ourselves of our higher life
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 213
and dignity, and become not unlike this cateriDillar
and its parasite, which thinks only of sensual gratifi-
cation. We may well take this warning lesson from
the New Zealand caterpillar. Let us strive to safe-
guard ourselves against the first insidious entrance of
the small seedlings sown by the Evil One in our minds,
which grow so l)ig and formidable, and create in us
such a cruel injury. But should we in an unguarded
moment have allowed one to penetrate our hearts, let
us quickly search and weed it out before it has time
to take deep root within us, and thus hinder our spirits
from soaring heavenwards, and mounting from strength
to strength, and from glory to glory, till we have
reached that spiritual peace which passeth under-
standing. Finally, let us bethink ourselves how such
a depraved mind prevents our shining here as lights
and helpers to others, and checks our ascent to God's
glorious home, clothed in our beautiful resurrection
bodies, which He has promised to those who love and
serve Him steadfastly and faithfully.
I cannot take my leave of beautiful Auckland without
a word with respect to the social aspect of the upper
classes. They are so thoroughly English in their ways
and feelings that it is difficult to imagine oneself out of
England. They are very fond of music, and though
their assembly room was burnt down twice by an in-
cendiary, they have now erected a third one of stone
and brick, which has 1,800 sittings. All the concerts
are b}' amateurs, who invite their friends, and most
agreeable evenings are spent. There is a great deal
of quiet sociability going on among the families, with-
out any pretence at anything grand or expensive. The
w^j </
AUCKLAND YOUNG LADY.
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 215
excellent tramways running in every direction tend to
bring friends cheaply and conveniently together. The
churches are large and well attended, mostly evangeli-
cal. At one of these where I read the lessons for a
popular preacher, who was giving his farewell sermon
before leaving for England, every seat was taken, and
in the vestry afterwards I was surprised to see that
there were in the collection of £8 ITs. lOd., 256 three-
penny pieces, and only four coppers ; so I asked for
an explanation, and was told that the working classes
look with contempt on copper coins, and consequently
give the lowest silver one. So well understood is this
at all church collections, that when the clergyman's
daughter wanted small change from John Chinaman,
who is the greengrocer in every colony, he drew out a
handful of copper. " Oh, no, I don't want that," said
she; he immediately replied with, " Ah, I sees what
missy wants, churchy money," and handed over a
quantity of threepenny bits. The young ladies' com-
plexions are singularly fair and smooth for so sunny
a climate, and their growth is precocious, a girl of
fourteen being equal to one of eighteen in England.
The young people are naturally fond of picnic gather-
ings, the lovely climate and picturesque neighbourhood
being well adapted for such pleasures. "We will now
close this chapter, as we are leaving the land and
betaking ourselves to sea again, with the following
remarks on strong drink in its bearings on the work-
people. This splendid seaport, one of the most
bustling in the colony, boasts of very extensive
suburbs of wooden cottages, each containing four
room?, with necessary outbuildings for animals, all
216 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA.
enclosed in a quarter or half an acre of land. I in-
quired who they belonged to, and I was told that they
were freeholds, and were owned hy the occupants.
Now, a good, steady, hard-working man will get his
shilling an hour for eight hours a day, which would
amount to £2 8s. per week, and I was informed such a
man would, in about three years, become the owner of
one of these cottages. Then I inquired, how about
the drink '? The reply was very suggestive. " It can't
be done, it is quite impossible." The man who drinks
stagnates or is lost, and, if they are not up to time at
the shipping business, they are turned off without the
least compunction by a lynx-eyed foreman. Hence if
a working man is to get on in the colonies it is by
sheer hard, sober efforts, and no drink. No one need
emigrate and expect to succeed who cannot make up
his mind to follow these rules ; abide by them, and
prosperity and independence is the result, without
failure. No one, be he a temperance advocate or
otherwise, can be blind to the fact that this colony's
welfare and progress is intimately bound up with the
Englishman's resistance to alcoholic liquor, while he
has the constant warning before him that the Maoris
are gradually being exterminated by it.
CHAPTER XXV.
Having already secured our passage in a deck cabiu
while in Sydney, and had our heavy luggage placed
therein, for a voyage to San Francisco by the mail
steamer Mariposa, we had nothing to do when she
arrived at Auckland but say farewell to our numerous
friends, and to enter comfortably into our berths and
possessions. The vessel being altogether under
American management, and manned throughout by
Yankee officers and crew, was not nearly so agreeable
and luxurious as an English ocean steamer would be ;
in fact, the food was atrocious, the flour had turned
sour, the meat very tough, and even ship's biscuits
were tainted. I pitied the poor children who were
deprived of good bread and milk. And the waiters
were a scratch lot. However, we had to put up with
it, as there was no competition on this line ; but there
was one consolation, the Mariposa was a good sea-
boat of 3,000 tons and 3,000 h.p. It was rather
monotonous steaming for 1,700 miles, only varied by
some good concerts of an evening, when we sighted
Tutuila, one of the Samoa Islands. There a schooner
came out to us with letters in exchange for some wo
217
218 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
gave, but no passengers landed. Accompanying the
schooner was a swarm of canoes, very cleverly paddled
by both female and male natives ; some of the girls
were quite pretty looking, and the men with straight,
well-knit, athletic frames, with reddish skins and
expressive features, good teeth, and wavy black or
brown hair — nothing of the negro type about them,
but decidedly of the Malay stamp, and I can well
believe that the Maoris descended from them. Both
sexes were quite at home in the water, reminding one
of the Arabs at Aden, swimming and diving like
amphibious animals. They brought carved sticks
and bludgeons and fans on board for sale, and seemed
quite au fait in striking a bargain. These islands
have a nominal king, but are really under the pro-
tection of America, England, and Germany, which
gives them a code of laws. Hence the inhabitants
are rapidly becoming civilised and christianised by
missionaries. We saw on one of the group a church
with a tower to it, and some school buildings. A
passenger, presumably Irish, wanted to know how
long we should be before we reached Halleluja, mean-
ing Honolulu. Before we could get there we had to
encounter some rough wind and rain, which disturbed
the peace of some of our party. Such changes are
very sudden in the Pacific, which at such times much
belies its name. After leaving Samoa there was little
to record till we reached Honolulu, where we arrived
at two in the afternoon, and were greeted and welcomed
by an applauding multitude and the music of the royal
band, which played us into the harbour. Honolulu is the
capital of the Hawaiian Islands, and though governed
IN THE VICT OBI AN ERA. 219
by a native king and a representative constitution, is
virtually under the protectorate of the United States
of America, which keeps a watchful eye over its doings.
On landing we called on Mr. Theo. Davis, reeentl}'
our Vice Consul, and were advised to take a buggy
and drive up the winding road to the top of the hill
called the "Punch Bowl," which dominates the city.
From this old extinct crater a very splendid and
extensive view is to Ije had of the town, harbour,
and pretty suburbs, embellished with flowering shrubs,
and on the left, rice fields, now waving with corn. In
the valley between the foot of the hill and the town
are situated the Chinese vegetable and fruit gardens,
irrigated in a marvellous manner, by diverting the
mountain stream into rills. The cleanliness of the
white-robed Chinamen, together with their thrift and
industry, is most praiseworthy, and, as shopkeepers,
most successful. They constitute, with the Japanese,
a large and important section of the population, about
20,000 — the whole of the Islands numbering not much
more than 80,000. From the " Punch Bowl " hill one
cannot see well the line of the streets, they are so
shrouded in leaves, but the king's palace, the Govern-
ment buildings, and the two spires of the Cathedral
stand out in strong relief. The natives proper put
me very much in mind of the Maoris in face and
form, but they are sadly decreasing in numbers,
while the Americans and English are increasing,
and no wonder, for the babies fade away and die
early, because the parents on both sides smoke and
drink heavily, the late king setting the example ; but
it is said the reigning queen is a great temperance
220 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
advocate, and w'lW not allow any intoxicating drinks
in the palace. On Sunday we went to bear the bishop
preach in the Cathedral, and in the same grounds we
found the old pro-cathedral now given up to the Chinese
converts to Christianity. As a service was going on,
we entered, and heard an English sermon being in-
terpreted, sentence after sentence, to the Chinamen.
Though the clergyman could read the Bible and say
the prayers in their language, he would not trust him-
self to preach, for fear, he said, of being misunder-
stood. They sang their hymns to our tunes in good
time and voice. There is a good attendance of women
in the morning, but not at night, as it is not the custom
for Chinese women to go out at night into the streets.
Being desirous of seeing the limits of the city, we took
our seats in the tramway, which Insects the town in
every direction. On the tram we entered into con-
versation with a very intelligent lady, who spoke
English perfectly, yet she had never been out of
Honolulu. Her vocation was that of mistress at the
Chinese school, where she had to teach English to the
boys in the morning and the girls in the evening.
She told us that there was not much difference in the
capacity for learning between the two sexes. As a
rule they were quite as quick as the English children.
Education was free to all classes ; but the daughters
of the upper ranks attended school with their feet
contracted, the small toes being bandaged under the
great toe, so as to bring the foot to a point. This is
the outward sign of the fashionable Chinese lady of
rank. The girls from the working classes do not thus
disfigure their feet ; they do not presume to be d la
IX THE VICTORIAN ERA. -J-Jl
tuode. Besides, the poor are apt to despise their
daughters, especially with regard to education, and
to favour their sons only. There are extensive sugar
plantations in the other neighbouring islands, the
value of the several estates being worth a million of
money. The lines of railway intersecting the planta-
tions are thirty miles in extent. America is tin-
principal market for the sale of this commodity. Mr.
Theo. Davis, our upright, honoural)le, and intelligent
Vice-Consul, has been the life centre of this great in-
<kistry for a number of years, and the public fetes
which have been held in his honour when he left for
England, speak eloquently of the great good he has
been to the Hawaiian community; and well he
merited all the applause, for he has thrown himself
most actively into all philanthropic and Christian
works, and is one of the most popular men in Hono-
lulu. Before leaving Honolulu and its delightful
climate, the tourist should take a trip in a local
steamer, and visit one of the group of islands where
there is a very fierce volcanic eruption going on, called
the Kilanea, one of the craters passing under the
name of the " House of Fire," which the title gives
one a fair idea of.
On leaving the Honolulu Pier we were again
entertained with music from the royal band to
*' speed the parting guests," but the quiet, serene
life we had been enjoying was soon to be interrupted
by a dreadful storm at sea, and tliat sea the Pacific ;
Heaven forgive those who gave it that name ! For
two days and nights we did not have our clothes off,
ifor the rolling and the rocking was so violent and
222 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
jerky that we could not keep in our berths. Those
poor ladies who had cabins on deck could not get
out, and no stewardess was allowed to go to them,
as it was not safe to walk the decks, which were
being swept fore and aft by huge waves, and the
wind was so high that the cal)in doors could not
be opened. The officers of the ship had never been
in such a hurricane before, and it was a question for
forty-eight hours whether the good ship could weather
it out or not. No meals could be had because the
cooks could not keep the pots on the range, and no
end of crockery and glass was broken in the saloon
racks. However, there is an end to all troubles,
even to those at sea ; hence, after a stormy passage
of six days, we all most gratefully hailed the sight
of land with a thaukfub.iess, the sincerity of which
was depicted on every face, pale and haggard indeed,
but expressive of a deep feeling of gratitude to the
Giver of all goodness, and to that Mighty Power
which could still the waves of the troubled deep, and
command it, as of yore, to be calm !
After passing through that narrow passage called
the " Golden Gate," we were soon warped to the
side of the quay at San Francisco. After some little
delay at the customs house in connection with the
examination of our luggage (which I must say, to the
credit of Cook and Son's agency, we were helped not
a little), we took a carriage, and drove oflf to the
Palace Hotel. Oh ! the difference between this ex-
quisite sort of luxury, comfort, and enjoj'ment, and
that of the vessel which we had just left was some-
thing to calm the most ruffled feelings, and to
IN THE VICTOlilAN ERA. 223
soothe the most sickly and woebegone passenger
after such a sea voyage. We were soon revelling
in rooms most exquisitely furnished, in which every
possible convenience was present which talent could
devise and money accomplish. Arranged on a dial
in the sitting-room were a series of knol)s to press,
which by electricity would indicate to the porters
whether you wanted ice-water, a fire, refreshments,
an out-door porter, or a la.undress. Hot and cold
water was laid on into the marl)le baths and wash-
stands. It is a monster building of eight or nine
storeys, containing 1,800 rooms from basement to
attic. It has a central court covered with a glass
roof, in which several carriages can wait at a time,
and visitors can sit in easy-chairs, smoke, and con-
verse. There is a balcony round each flight, orna-
mented with hanging creepers and flowers ; from
each of these you can look down on the court below
and listen to the band playing. There are double
corridors on each storey, and these are so wide and
high that they are called streets ; ours was called
Market Street, after the main street in the city.
There were velvet-seated lounges at the side for the
visitors, and plenty of room in the centre for a
carriage and pair to drive along if need be. The
vista was such a length that you could not distin-
guish a person at the further end. Imagine, there-
fore, six of these doul)le thoroughfares one above the
other, and communicating with each other by " lifts,"
or "elevators," as they call them, smoothly running
up a party of twenty or more at a time, and stopping
without a thud at each stage to let thcni out in
224 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
squads to their several apartments ; and this up
and down work went on from early dawn to mid-
night. Of course, there were many staircases with
marble steps covered with soft carpeting, independent
of the elevators, for those who liked this mode of
taking exercise. There could not have been less
than 4,000 people under the roof of this little town
w^hen we were there, all well fed and housed in the
lap of luxury and ease, without confusion or worry ;
every one thing and every one person had its place,
and in that place they were always to be found, like
well-disciplined sentinels. San Francisco is said to
be built on a hundred hills ; anyhow the visitor
must see for himself that the streets are all up and
down, and yet cable and horse-trams bisect it in
every possible direction, and most convenient they
are, at 2|^d. a ride, running to and fro every few
minutes, varying in colour according to the district
they go to ; the}^ pay well, as they are the common
conveyance of the masses, who foot up to the number
of 300,000. Though this city of gold is said to be
the most abandoned on the face of the earth, re-
ligious liberty is in evidence to a remarkable degree,
for there are no less than 113 denominations, in-
cluding the Chinese, who form a very important
part of the population, counting up 30,000, and
occupying a square half mile, which they monopolise
in the very heart of the city. They are very closely
packed, the lower orders sleeping in bunks one above
the other, as on board ship, with a narrow alley
between of about two feet in width. So the visitor
to Chinatown must be prepared to find it not a little
IN THE VICT QUI AN ERA. 2'i5^
smelly, and swarmiug with "live stock," some of
Nvliich be might carry away on his person. Domesti-
cally sjieaking, Johnny is a very important personage;
G,000 Chinese are domestic servants to the Yankees,
and very honest and reliable they are. Three
thousand are laundresses, 15,000 are common
labourers, and the rest are shopkeepers and well-to-
do merchants, some of whom may be seen driving in
their carriages and pair, and reputed to he wealthy.
In every living room, large and small, high and low,
good and bad, may be seen altars and idols, caudles
and incense, and much praying goes on. All their
food is brought in a dried state from China — mush-
rooms, ducks' eggs wrapt up in clay, pork, fish,
potatoes, &c. "When the tourist visits the Chinese
quarter he had better take a policeman as an escort.
Fortunately we had a friend who had been a citizen
of San Francisco for many years, and he was very
kind, not only in taking us about to many places of
note, lait in supplying us with much interesting local
information. For instance, he took us to Nob
Hill, where all the rich merchants live, hence its
nickname. It must be understood that there are
thirty millionaires in the citj^ whose possessions
vary from three to twenty millions each ; hence they
have erected mansions on Nob Hill at a fabulous
cost, marble and polished granite entering largely
into their structure. From this spot we passed on
to a cemetery occupying a singular but picturesque
position on a sand-hill, from whence there is a good
view of the people's i:)leasure park and public gardens,
with the racecourse adjoining, where our friend's sou
k;
220 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
was killed by a race-horse bolting and jumping the
boundary rails, falling upon him and crushing him
to death, leaving a young wife and baby to mourn
his loss. From his monument in the cemetery could
be seen the exact spot where he was killed, the sight
always acting as a reminder to the father of the un-
certainty of human life. Our friend was the composer
of the " Grand Entree March " for the Knights
Templars when they congregated at San Francisco
in 1883 from all the States of America. It was per-
formed by thirty performers of the Native Hawaiian
band, which had taken the first competitive prize
against all American bands. It was played every
evening in the court of the Palace Hotel, where
thousands of ladies and gentlemen came to listen to
its lively strains, and also to give a hearty welcome
to this pilgrimage of Knights Templars, who mono-
polised every room in the spacious building. Every
official grade of masonry was represented from every
State of the Union. It was at this celebrated congress
of noble and benevolent men that the Eev. Dr.
Clinton Locke, of Chicago, said in his address to
them, " You read of French gallantry, Italian refine-
ment, and English breeding; but it will not for a
moment compare, as far as the sacrifice of one's
comfort is concerned for the sake of others, with the
unvarying respect American men ever show towards
a woman or a child. ... To the woman unprotected
and of good character, is passport sufficient, even in
the wildest West, to ensure to her the devotion and
the loyal devotional service of every man she meets."
As a rider to this gallantry I may just add that when
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA.
227
the ladies and gentlemen entered the " lift " at the
Palace Hotel, the ladies took their seats in these
elegant miniature drawing-rooms, while the gentle-
men stood up and invariahly took their hats off out
of respect to the fair sex. But to continue our
sightseeing we will charter a carriage, and drive ofi'
to The Cliff, where we can see a colony of sea-
lions disporting themselves on the rocks, and from
.SEALS (IN THE ROCKS AT SAN FRANCISCO.
thence to Telegraph Hill, from which is obtained
the best view of the city, its bay, and surrounding
country, and finish up our outing at Golden Gate
Park, where there is a beautiful conservatory to
admire. There is no Sunday closing in San Fran-
cisco. It is sad to see all the theatres and shops
open as on a week day. Amusements of every kind are
the order of the day. When persons are migrating
from other parts of America to this city, it is a
228 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
common saying, " that the}' are going to leave God
behind them." Divorces there are quite common,
even among those ircentJt/ married, and easily ar-
ranged. The shamefacedness with which young girls
talk of the matter, even to their elderly lady friends,
is simply astounding to an Englishman, and would
make him blu&h in his own country. We went with
our friend and his family to spend an evening at the
house of a millionaire — a self-made man, originally
haling from Ireland. Among other precious and
valuable elegancies which his large mansion con-
tained, was an onyx marble mantelpiece, the upper
slab of which was truly splendid, and was said to be
cheap at £10,000. Of course our host was very
proud of showing off this unique piece of rarity, and
turning round to me, said, " I guess that beats any-
thing you Britishers can show in j'our country."
Then we ascended to the flat roof of the house, from
whence there is at night-time a grand panorama of
the city at one's feet, with its wide thoroughfares
illumined with gas and electric lights quite dazzling
like a pyrotechnic show. Yet with all these glorious
surroundings, and with a handsome queen-like wife
to boot, he did net strike me as a happy man, and
that peace did not reign in his dwelling.
We attended one Sunday evening a service at
Trinity Church, and heard Mr. Eeed give an eloquent
extempore discourse to a crowd of working men, on
the subject of capital and labour, and the inequalities
between man and man, and his struggles to get the
necessities of life. He also pleaded for temperance
workers on the dual basis, stating the remarkable
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 229
fact that fifty-six bishops of the American Episcopa-
lian Church had decided to be total abstainers, in
order by force of example to advance and support
this grand work among their countrymen.
CHAPTER XXYI.
Having already secured our railway tickets and sent
on our heavy luggage to New York, by that admirable
system so slow on our own lines to adopt, we drove
down to the ferr}^ where a huge transfer steamer was
ready to convey us across the ba}^ to Oakland, a very
beautiful suburban town. On arriving at the pier we
enter a most imposing wooden structure which serves
the purpose of a ferry-house and a railway station.
Here we find the great overland train with its long
line of sleeping cars awaiting us. We enter it without
confusion or fuss, and ever}' one settles down in its
sumptuous saloons with its soft velvet-covered seats
and convenient tables. We travel along the valley
for twenty-eight miles, and then we arrive at Port
Costa, where there is something to surprise us.
Our long train of eleven carriages, each 84 feet
long, has to be carried bodily across the Carquinez
Strait to the town of Benicia opposite. This transfer
boat, called the Sohoio, is said to be the largest in the
world, and is so constructed that it will hold on its
immense deck forty-eight cars and two engines divided
into parallel portions. Let us descend from our
saloon for a moment, and see for ourselves the easy
230
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN TEE VICTOIilAN ERA. 231
and remarkable way in -svliicli the train leaves the
rails on the land to meet those on the boat on a perfect
level. Then the whole ponderous mass moves off so
smoothly that those inside the carriages do not feel
the movement. When we reached the other side, both
sets of rails again approximated to a nicety, and we
trained off again as if nothing very important had
happened. To say that this is a grand piece of
engineering skill is to say little. Only in America
would one see such gigantic works carried out, and yet
we are only at the commencement of thiit wonder of
wonders — the passage of the Eockies. Night coming
on, we undressed and settled down for a sleep in our
berths and sofas. Earl}' the next morning Me were
greeted by the sun shining on the snow}' top of the
Nevada range of mountains, which we had reached
hy our train zig-zagging to a height of 7,000 feet
above the valley we had left behind the evening
before. These snow-clad hills are covered here and
there with ffr-trees, and in order to protect the rail-
way from avalanches of snow long timber sheds have
been erected at the most exposed situations. Some
of these are so long that they resemble long wooden
tunnels, lighted at the side by portholes, through
which we get a pretty glimpse now and again. It is
said that the measurement of the covered ways, when
put end to end, would reach one hundred miles, a
prodigious work in such an inhospitable region.
Sometimes they cateh fire from the engines, which
leads to much expense to the company ; but they are
indispensable, as they support sometimes eighteen
feet of snow on their roofs. Now the scene comi)letely
232 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
changes. We descend tbe eastern slopes of the Nevada
range, so different to its western side, which is so full
of gold that two hundred and fifty millions have ])een
extracted from it in forty years, and which has enriched
California far above any other State of America, till
at last we reach the great American desert, and its
arid plains yielding only sage-brush and grease-wood.
Hour after hour passes by in wearisome monotony,
till the eyesight tires over the desolate waste, destitute
of the lowest forms of vegetation — and all this from
want of water, for it is found if it be irrigated it will
produce almost anything, but at present it is all sand,
varied with here and there a surface of alkali, which
shines in the distance like water, simulating lakes
with its deceitful mirage. In this Great Basin,
surrounded by mountains, a natural curiosity exists,
namely, the river Humbolt runs for 380 miles, and,
failing to find an outlet, buries its water in the arid
sand, within view of the passing train. Having
traversed a run of 460 miles, we leave the State of
Nevada behind, and enter the territory of the Mor-
mons, and we soon are looking down upon the Great
Salt Lake, which we keep in view for the next one
hundred miles. This mysterious inland sea, called
also the "Dead Sea" of America, has no outlet.
When its shores get dry in the summer, a large
quantity of crystallised alkali is collected. At last
we reach Ogden, 894 miles from San Francisco, and
the journey was accomplished in thirty-six hours,
continuous travelling — rather slow, especially for
America. A Baptist minister, haling from the
Golden City, told me in the train that the old
7.V THE VICTORIAN ERA. 233
Fiiscoites, who boasted of their beiag the "Pioneers"
and founders of the city in 1849, considered them-
selves 60 pre-eminently good and moral on that
account that they never need trouble themselves on
the score of religion, its duties and needs ; and some
even replied, when asked what denomination they
belonged to, would say that they were "forty-ninera."
At Ogden we drop our passengers who desire to
visit the Yellowstone National Park, and we put our
watches on one hour, it having been found by the
Government more convenient to make three changes
only in the time between Frisco and New York of one
hour each. Continuing our journey for another thirty-
six miles, we reach Salt Lake City, and take up our
quarters at C alien's Hotel, where we luxuriated in
most delightful rooms, sitting, bed, and l)ath-rooms
en suite, with electric light, most excellent cuisine,
and good service, which was a surprise to us in the
" City of the Saints." The next morning we were
greeted with a splendid view of the opposite snow-
capped hills in a pink halo of sunshine, somewhat
like the Pyrennian range from Pau, in France.
These glistening peaks of the Wahpatch Mountains
run up into the skies from 9,000 to 1:3,000 feet high
above the sea-level. To a casual visitor no ditl'erence
would appear in its outward aspect between this ciiy
and any other. Everything in the streets seemed to
be conducted in a most orderly and peaceful way.
The first objects which a tourist seeks for are the
Mormon Tabernacle — The Temple — and close by the
Assembly Hall ('/'/'.• sketch). First, then, we enter
the Temple, with its curved roof like the lvi?k of a
ro
■'n[([iifiiii('i""f''i!'f'imif!i[fi'nti
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 235
turtle. It sits at ease 9,000 people, yet it is only
250 feet long, by 150 feet wide, and 100 feet high,
contains a huge organ with 57 stops and 2,840 pipes.
The acoustic properties are marvellous. One can
hear a pin drop or the hands rubl)ed together across
a space of 200 feet. It is an extraordinary building,
all of wood, and every visitor should attend the after-
noon Sunday service, and look down on its vast
congregation, and hear the organ and choir sing the
hymns with astonishing enthusiasm, the breaking of
bread by the priesthood, the fervid addresses to show
with astonishing plausibility the identity of the
Latter Day Saints' Church with that of the Zion
of prophecy, which, as one writer has said, " must
impress every thoughtful visitor more or less power-
fulh^ as the instruments of a gigantic imposture, and
his moral nature recoil from them as the spiritual
cloak of a carnal church — the perfumed drapery of an
ecclesiastical seraglio." "We now turn to the magni-
ficent Gothic Temple, all built of granite, 200 feet by
100 feet, and 100 feet high. It was commenced in 1853,
and has cost millions upon millions of dollars, and it
is not yet completed. A stranger will naturally ask.
How do the}^ get the money '? "Well, it is a fixed law
with the Mormons that they jDrove their faith by their
works, by giving 10 per cent, of their profits to com-
plete the Temple. Again, the first Thursday in every
month is set apart by the shopkeepers, so that their
ciiiphiiir.s may attend a religious service and contribute
donations for the relief of the poor and needy. The
Assembly Hall is a pleasure resort for all classes —
reading, dancing, and concerts.
236 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
We will take our seats in the electric tramway
along Main Street to the foot of the hill two miles
off, and then a short walk brings us to Fort Douglass,
where there is a battery and artillery barracks. From
thence wo get a good bird's-eye view of the city below,
■containing its 30,000 inhabitants, the streets inshrined
in green foliage, obscuring the line of roads, as in
Honolulu, but all the grand buildings, including the
Holy Cross Hospital, stand out in bold relief, backed
by the Salt Lake and the mountains beyond. We will
now return and take a carriage drive through the
wide thoroughfares shaded by poplar and acacia
trees, and visit the late Brigham Young's house,
called the " Amelia Palace," after his favourite wdfe,
who lived there with him, while the other wives
resided in a large house named the " Bee Hive ; " but
we w^ere told by the daughter of one of Brigham
Young's servants that his other wives had each a
separate house and a separate establishment quite
distinct from one another. I got a capital photograph
of Brigham Young, who died in 1877. He was
President of the 142 hardy " Pioneers " who entered
the valley in 1847, who suffered many privations, but
who, with extraordinary religious zeal and pluck,
have succeeded in founding a beautiful city, making
what was once deemed for ages a barren waste into a
most fertile country, where every luxury can be ob-
tained, and where useful factories abound.
Brigham Y'oung's tomb sh(Tuld be seen. Our
previous informant told us that many of his devotees
still believe that he is not dead, and that others were
so superstitious that they placed sentinels over his
IN THE VIC TORI AX ERA. 237
grave for some time ; and recently they affirm that
his gravestone has shifted ; therefore, to make things
more secure, they have placed a more weighty slab
over the original, and one can see the stone ready
for fixing. The visitor should not fail to pay a
visit by train to Lake Park bathing resort, a sort of
Brighton to the citizens, situated on the shores of the
Salt Lake, about twent}* miles oft", and In* all means
try a bath in the buoyant water, which contains
22 per cent, of pure salt, in which it is impossible to
sink. Care should be taken that none of the water
gets into the mouth or nostrils, otherwise there would
be danger of suffocation. To the porter who busied
himself in getting our luggage into the train I put
the question, with as little offensiveness as I could
muster, "How many wives have you got?" He
replied, very readily, " Only one, and I find some
difficulty in maintaining her. It is only the rich
nobs and higher classes who can afford to have a lot
of wives." This answer recalled me to the social
condition of Turkey, where the rich pashas only can
indulge in a harem. We will now resume our journey
eastward, and before we reach the mountains we pass
through a grand valley some miles in extent, full of
Mormon settlements smiling with fertile fields and
orchards in the highest state of cultivation, brought
about by the persevering industry of the people, who,
through hard work and irrigation, have turned this
valley from a wilderness into a garden that blossoms
like the rose. Just look at the bright-eyed and
healthy children who meet you with baskets of fruits,
strawberries, raspberries, currants, apples, ^v., and
-238 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
you will be convinced that you are in the land of
milk and honey. A very pleasant little town on this
route, and a summer resort for the well-to-do, is
Provo, where you can get an excellent dinner at the
station.
A short distance to one's right we see the beautiful
Lake of Utah, a large body of fresh water, which the
Mormons call the Lake of Tiberias, and from this
lake runs a fertilising stream they name the Eiver
Jordan, flowing into the Salt Lake, styled by them
the "Dead Sea" ; hence the Latter Day Saints desire
to draw an analogy between this disposition of nature
and that in Palestine, and that it is in accordance
with the Divine plan and purpose that this beautiful
valley should be blessed as the abode of the Mor-
monites !
Now we will commence the romantic story of the
route from west to east of the Pdo Grande and Denver
Ptailway, 700 miles in extent. Passing through these
gigantic barriers, necessitating the ascent of our
train to elevations of 7,465 feet, 10,852 feet, and
7,238 feet. These have to be surmounted, and then
we have to penetrate through awful gorges, or canons,
as they are called, which are such remarkable features
in the Ptocky Mountain railway system. Soon after
leaving Provo we begin the ascent of the first of
these tremendous bulwarks, and by all sorts of
twistings and zig-zagging gain what is termed the
" Soldier's Divide," the summit of the Wahsatch
Piange, which sends up its tall spires of rock high up
into the skies. After traversing a certain amount of
plateau we begin to descend, and get some scenery
IX THE VICTORIAN ERA. 239
■which, though picturesquely fine, is but a faint fore-
sliadowing of that which is soon to be our delight to
gaze upon. The first and foremost ol)ject to astonish
and fascinate our attention is the Castle Gate
entrance to Price River Canon, one of the grandest
single objects in the entire mountain world. It con-
sists of two immense projections from the sides of the
gorge of solid rock, dyed with a rich colouring of red,
while the pine trees growing about them reach only a
short way up, but serve to intensif}' the varied hues
of rock and shrubs. These two huge pillars are
respectivel}^ 500 feet and 800 feet high, and guard,
like sentinels, this narrow passage through the heart
of which the railroad runs side by side with the
river, one pressing closely upon the other in fearful
proximit3\ The train is brought to a stand here that
we ma}' all admire and take away such a recollection
as never can be forgotten. After passing through
the winding canon with its lofty and precipitous
walls varying in colour at every turn, showing a
strife with the elements over thousands of years of
time, we debouch at last upon the broad valley of
Crreen River, a stream of good size, which fifty
miles further on joins the Grande, to make up the
far-famed Colorado. The valleys between these two
rivers are rich agricultural lands, extending over a
hundred miles. After this our train has to traverse
a weird piece of country, reminding cue of the Nevada
desert, the dreariness relieved only by the sight of
a remarkable formation called the Book ClilVs, re-
sembling piles of books on a shelf, and in the distance
the glistening mountains of Scrra da Sal and San
THE ROYAL (lORGE. PASSAGE OF THE EOCKIES.
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 241
iiafael. Soon after passing Montrose, we arrive at
the Black Canon of the Gunnison river, considered
one of the most stupendous and awe-inspiring
scenes in the world, penetrating a gorge of several
miles in extent, with perpendicular walls of solid
granite on each side, rising from 1,000 feet to 2,000
feet, between which tears along an impetuous torrent,
splashing and foaming over its rocky bed ; and by the
side of this gushing stream has been blasted from its
granite side a sufficient platform to lay down a single
line of rails. Upon these our train passes through
numerous windings and projecting rocks, adding an
overpowering impressiveness to the scene. On the
bottom of this deep gulf the sun never shines. One
of the special features of this magnificent caiion is
the Currecanti Needle, a huge granite monolith that
rises from the gorge with all the grace and symmetry
of an Egyptian obelisk, which is red from base to
summit, and stands like a grim guardian in watchful
solitude.
As we emerge from this weird chasm we welcome
the sunny quiet of the Gunnison valley, which
affords a happy relief to one's over-wrought feelings,
for our hearts have been standing still for some time
with the awful grandeur of this wondrous pass.
Leaving Gunnison behind, we now begin the ascent
of all ascents — the most exhilarating and surprising
railway ride in the world. We first of all have our
long train divided into two portions, each to be drawn
by two powerful ten-wheeled engines, and we begin
our climb to the " Continental Divide," called so
because it separates the eastern from the western
17
242
SE VENTY YEABS OF LIFE
side of America. As our rise becomes steeper the
engines puff out a sullen roar, indicating ; the tre-
mendous strain upon them; and then, as we get
higher we begin to wind round the mountains, and,
after struggling by steep gradients for^four miles, we
find that we have only got upwards about half a
mile above the railroad we see below us, on which,
comes, following in our wake, the other portion of our
train, apparently going in an opposite direction. We
wave our handkerchiefs one to*another as a passing
BAILWAY OVEE THE EOCKIES.
salute. On and upward we go into the skies, with its
rarefied and exciting air, along narrow ledges of rock,
through cuttings in the solid stone, and passing banks
of snow and stunted pines. The track frequently
doubles upon itself, and slow is the progress till we
begin to think that we shall never reach the top ; but
everything comes to him who can be patient, and so
we reach at last the Marshall Pass, which is covered
with a long wooden shed. Here we come to a stand
after a gradual climb of 10,852 feet above the sea-
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 243
level, and yet we are at the base of Mount Ouvry,
which is 4,000 feet still higher. On each side of the
ridge arises, on the eastern, the Eiver Arkansas,
which goes to join the Mississipi^i, and on the western,
the River Gunnison, which flows into the Colorado.
We are not kept long on this, the backbone of the
Rockies. A cry of "All aboard!" is shouted, and
we have to resume our seats, and, having detached
one of our engines, we go down very slowly and
cautiously ; but this gives us more time to gaze upon
the magnificent scenery of the eastern slope. The
grand Sangre de Cristo range stands boldly out
against the skies right in front of us, and below
us are the peaks of hills with green valleys and
sparkling brooks between them, till we reach the
Arkansas plains. At every turn we must admire and
laud the great engineering skill which could devise
this railroad and overcome its varied difficulties, and
yet one never hears his name mentioned. Our de-
scent is by grades of one foot in twenty-four. We
soon reach a dining-station, and for a moment our
thoughts do not go back to the glories of the Marshall
Pass. After this refreshment we were better able to
enjoy a trip through the Royal Gorge, the Grand
Canon of the Rockies, whose wonders and super-
lative magnificence surpass anything we have yet
seen, and that is saying a great deal. To make a
passage through this gorge the engineer's hand has
surpassed itself in ingenuity. No photographer, or
writer, or painter, can convey to the eye of man a
tithe of its awful and fascinating grandeur. The skill
and dogged perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon is here
244 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
very apparent. With the dasbiug, foaming River
Arkansas rushing through this chasm, the engineer
has carved his way by its side through the Uving
rock, and constructed a roadway for a single Une of
rails. There was scarcely room for the river alone to
get through it, and granite projections blocked the
way with their mighty bulk. When one reflects that
this gorge extends fourteen miles, the very thought
was enough to make any man's heart siak within
him ; but he faced the difficulties with superhuman
efforts, and the numerous obstructions were gradually
blasted out of the way, and, following the contour of
the rocks, a thoroughfare was at last pierced, and its
hidden glories revealed, which, once seen, can never
be effaced from the mind of the fortunate tourist who
is permitted to behold these mighty works of the great
Creator and His inspired creature — man.
We come to a stand at the entrance, and our con-
ductor goes through the train, informing the several
passengers that the Denver and Eio Grande Company
have, in order that they may see the gorge to greater
advantage, placed at the rear of tbe train an " obser-
vation car," into which about a hundred and fifty
persons pack themselves ; it is all open top and side,
like a long truck with seats in it. From this point of
vantage we can see at our ease the extraordinary
wonders of this rocky cleft. We pass down very
slowly with the Arkansas river, a very " hell of
waters " by our side. The deeper we go, higher and
higher become the perpendicular walls of granite,
without a shrub to mar their smooth surface, towering
to a height of 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet, between which
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 245
we see an arch of blue sky, but no sun ever pene-
trates to the bottom of this abyss. No sign of a bird
or any other Hving thing, and the noise of the rushing
torrent only breaks the awful stillness.
Overhanging crags overshadow the track here and
there, and threaten to fall down and crush us. If we
could but mount up to one of these and look down,
what a veritable pigmy our train would appear amid
such overmastering surroundings ! With this fancied
picture on our minds, we will now emerge from this
grand undertaking of which the Americans may well
be proud of as their country's chef d'osuvre. As we
are now re-entering civilised life again, we will defer
its description for another chapter.
CHAPTEE XXYII.
Emerging from the Royal Gorge we next come to
the Caiion city, where may be seen a monster build-
ing, like two or three of our workhouses rolled into
one, with a well-armed guard pacing up and down its
grim walls. On inquiry we are told that this strong-
hold is the Colorado State Penitentiary. After a
further run of forty miles we reach Puebla, an old
Spanish town, full of life and activity. Continuing
our journey northward for 120 miles, we arrive at
Denver, our road having run along the base of the
Rocky Mountains. On our left, from which may be
seen issuing peaks, 12,000 feet to 15,000 feet high,
while on our right we behold an interminable plain or
prairie, which is like an ocean with nothing but the
horizon in the distance, unbroken b}' hedges or trees,
but whose fertility by irrigation from the watershed of
the Rockies is unbounded. Those who have money
to si^are and well-lined pockets should strike off at
Puebla for Maniton, described as the Saratoga of the
West. There they will find large, sumptuous hotels,
with every elegance and luxury- for wealthy summer
246
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 247
visitors who are in search of health or pleasure.
The beauty of the surrounding scenery cannot be
surpassed in America. The ascent of Pike's Peak
is easy for ladies or gentlemen, though it does run up
14,000 feet into the heavens. From thence they
better can see the boundless plains, giving a grand
sweep of vision towards the east ; and though this
peak is so high the American Government have
erected an observatory on its summit. It might
indeed be justly said that no trip to the Piockies
can be considered complete which omits a stay at
Maniton. Again, another chief attraction is a
carriage drive to the "Garden of the Gods" and
Glen Eyrie, where one will be fascinated by a
series of coloured rocks of fantastic, unearthly shape,
which impart to the scenery a weird aspect in the
midst of the most peaceful surroundings.
T\ e will now hark back to Denver, one of the magic
wonders as a city on the American continent. Many
another has sprung up in mushroom fashion, but
none have come up to Denver in the rapidity of its
rise ; the population having increased from 5,000
to 125,000 in eighteen years. It is the commercial
centre for the mining district of Colorado, and here
are situated the great smelting and reduction works,
and some good mineralogical specimens can be pur-
chased. The hotels are excellent, and the trams run
in every direction. We attended divine service at
the cathedral, which has been erected through the
imtiriug zeal of Dean Hart, formerly of Blackheath,
near London, who came here for the benefit of his
health, and is now well and rol)ust, and very popular
'248 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
as an extempore preacher, the only kind of preaching
that goes down in the States. The suburbs of Denver
are very pretty and neat, and easily reachable by
train. The houses are most comfortably built, and
very picturesque in the Queen Anne style, each in
their own separate grounds. Such satisfaction and
contentment do these residences give the people that
Denver has been called "the city of homes." The
citizens are a rich and go-ahead race. We jiassed
the huge town-hall and state offices with its central
dome, and which is to cost when finished one and a
half millions sterling. The station buildings are
immense, and it is quite a sight to see the grand
baggage depot for passengers' trunks, &c. We now
take our places in the train starting for Chicago,
shortly called " Sheego," by the people. This is a
run of 1,025 miles, and to get there we have to pass
the three great States of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.
In Iowa they are prohibited from brewing or selling
spirits, consequently there is not such a demand for
maize (corn) for the purpose of distillation, hence
the}^ say the corn trade is depressed in that state, yet
to the tourist it seems as flourishing as any of the
others. We traverse for miles and miles a more or
less undulating prairie with an everlasting sameness
of aspect, the chief features of which are its rapid
agricultural development, varied with towns and
villages cropping up in every direction, shaded by
woods and plantations. The farming produce is
truly remarkable ; for instance, it is said that the
maize crop, or corn, as it is called, alone in these
fertile plains would fill a goods train '2,000 miles in
IN THE VICT OBI AN EBA. 249
length, or if we placed the corn on our English
waggons it would constitute a procession of trains
that would reach round the world. In Iowa the
maize is so plentiful, such a veritable glut in the
market, that they use it for fuel to heat their ovens.
The eye wearies over this never-ceasing land of
plenty, " this grand republican valley, watered and
drained by its huge republican rivers," the mighty
Missouri, and its still mightier brother, the majestic
Mississippi, the " father of waters," as the Americans
so proudly call it ; and we are glad to reach Omaha,
the most populous city we have seen since we left
Frisco. It has an immense w'holesale trade, large
smelting works, extensive stock-yards and packing
houses, and the visitor might do worse than break
liis journey here, after his wearisome passage over
the prairies, where his patience has been not a
little tried. Buy a photo of a settler's family on the
plains entitled, " Getting a Start." Mounting our
train again we soon reach the bridge which crosses
the Missouri, a splendid structure of 3,000 feet in
length. It is a grand piece of engineering skill, and
as graceful as it is substantial. It may be seen to
great advantage from the left-hand windows, sup-
posing that you are approaching it from the western
side. The volume of water wliicli is calculated to
flow under this bridge in the winter-time is immense ;
viz., 750,000 gallons per second ; l)ut it decreases so
rapidly in June that it shrinks into comparatively
small dimensions, hence at that season one would
little imagine that large steamers navigate the river
for 'J,l}()0 miles above this point. At Burlington,
'inO SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
which is a picturescjue city on the banks of the
Mississippi, we cross that river which never becomes
as shallow as the Missouri, and has a finer appear-
ance because its sides are more richly wooded. The
bridge which spans the river is also a very magnifi-
cent one of 2,237 feet long, the draw span being itself
362 feet in extent. Between Burlington and Chicago,
which are separated by 200 miles, we get into a most
prosperous and highly-cultivated country, and as
interesting as it is beautiful, more like England,
being better wooded, and with clean, white home-
steads standing in cozy nooks surrounded by green
shrubs and trees. The huge red barns indicate the
prosperity of the farmers, who ought to be well con-
tent living in the midst of such Arcadian loveliness.
Thus we pass onward through the granary of the
world until at last we come to a very pretty suburban-
like series of villas, through the centre of which our
train runs, and on inquiring as to our whereabouts
were told that we had entered the outskirts of
Chicago, and that we had yet twenty-four miles to
travel before we reached the heart of the city. This
will give the tourist a fair notion of the extent of
this famous metropolis. It is the most wonderful
of modern cities in its rapid strides, as a great centre
of population, combined with its W'Orld-wide commerce
as a meat-producing community. Its growth since
it was burnt down about fifteen years ago is quite
phenomenal. To give au instance of the rapid
way in which they can build, I may mention the
"Auditorium." This remarkable building was begun
and completed in the sJiort sjyaee of two years. Its
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 251
frontage is 710 feet, is 270 feet high to the lantern,
it has eleven storeys, contains a theatre, opera house,
hotel, library, museum, and an observatory on the
top, &e., and up to which one goes in a "lift." The
weight of this monster is 110,000 tons, and, wonderful
to relate, fifty million pieces of ornamental marble
were put down by the human hand. As there will be
an immense gathering of people from all parts of the
globe to visit the "World's Fair," to be opened in
May, 1893, at Chicago, I must be excused if I enter
a little more into detail respecting the greatness of
this wonderful mart. I will begin by saying that
when the Queen ascended the throne the population
of Chicago was onl}' 8,000, now it contains one million
and a half of the most energetic and enterprising
people on the face of the earth. The length of the city
is 24i miles long by 14|- miles wide, and stands on an
area of 175 square miles. With the advent of rail-
ways it soon became one grand centre for railroads
from all j^arts to focus in, which are kept very busy
in transmitting to every corner of the civilised globe
its live and dead stock, and its unlimited stores of
grain. A visit to its stockyards, many acres in
extent, into which thousands of hogs and bullocks
are carried by rail every day, is a wonder worth going
thousands of miles to see. The day we went there,
and there is no difficulty in getting a ticket of admis-
sion, there were nearly 8,000 pigs to be slaughtered
and packed away. During the twenty minutes that
I was on the platform of observation, I saw sixty hogs
killed, the carcase dropped into a tank of scalding
water, where all the bristles were shaved off bv the
252 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
fans of a water-wheel constantly revolving in the
trough, and the body passes out over a slide as clean
as a new-born babe. One carcase follows another in
quick succession into the cooling gallery without the
hand hardly touching them, and almost noiseless, so
that each pig is killed, cleaned, cooled, cut and
quartered and quite ready for the cook in thirty-five
seconds ! This sounds too ridiculous to be true, but
I can vouch for the truth of it. Otherwise I would
ask, how could 8,000 hogs be disposed of in one day
if this expeditious mode of killing, &c., did not exist ?
In the packing-houses 6,000 men are engaged, and
what is quite incidental to this business is the small
one of 50,000 lbs. of sausages made daily. Now I
will take the visitor back through the busy streets,
as thronged as London Cheapside, to the immense
pile of buildings of ten storeys high, with polished
granite pillars, which they call the Board of Trade
Buildings, in which is held the Bourse, as noisy as
that in Paris, a veritable Babel of tongues. Here we
saw on the notice board as one day's sale — 700,000
lbs. of lard, and innumerable barrels of packed pork,
ready to go to the ends of the civilised world. There
is rather a remarkable sight, and in the very heart
of the city too, such as one would not meet with in
any town in Europe, but everything must give way to
the general good of the many in a republican place
of business — every sentiment is swallowed up by the
trading deity. This ugly monstrosity is a huge iron
revolving bridge, which turns on its axis to allow of
large steamers passing along the Eiver Chicago. It
is amusincf to watch the sudden cessation in the
IN THE VICTORIAN EBA. 26a
traffic in a wide bustling street while this proceeding
went on. Every class of vehicle and every style of
person had to submit patiently for about fifteen
minutes on both sides, and then ensued a rush as if
to catch up so many dollars that had been lost by the
delay to the traffic ; fancy all this at the bottom of
Ludgate Hill in London, then you can imagine the
concourse collected at every stoppage. I met a
gentlemanly-looking man who was wearing a tricolor
decoration in the button-hole of his coat — blue, red,
and white, and getting into conversation with him on
the subject of the American War, and knowing that
Americans looked down witli contempt on war medals
and other insignia of distinction, I asked him what it
signified, and he said it was the Military Order of
the Loyal Legion of Americans, instituted b}^ the
ojlicers who had been engaged in the War of the
Eebellion ! They have a club, and they meet once
a month. If a tram be entered in the centre of the
city, where the large hotels are situated, the visitor
will have a good opportunity of seeing its long, wide
thoroughfares, bristling with grand stores and shops
for about eight miles, w^hicli will bring him to
Lincoln's Park, a most lovely promenade, very
prettily laid out with flowers and shrubs, and within
which is a good zoological collection of wild animals ;
the elks, buffaloes, and red foxes being very fine
specimens. The young people seemed very happy
with their boats and swings, &c., all free and un-
fettered, apparently without a sign of a keeper to
keep guard over its proprieties and protect it from
any breach of its privileges. A pleasant restaurant.
254 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOBIAN ERA.
with simple refreshment and mild, cooling drinks,
was there, with plenty of seats and nothing to pay.
The want of beaiit}^ and grace in the womenkind both
in Denver and Chicago is very remarkable. In the
latter the men are well-made and tall ; but the pallor
of the face and the dark rings under the eyes denote
that the place and surroundings are not health-giving,
and the strongest feel a sense of weariness and have
a washed-out look. I heard it said that if a man did
not make his fortune in ten years in Chicago, tke
wear and tear is such that the constitution gives way !
It would be unjust and ungrateful to take leave of
Chicago without a word in favour of that splendid
hotel called " Sherman House," with its four hundred
rooms, and its pretty central hall with its promenade
gallery looking down on its bustling floor, and from
which issues of an evening some delightful music and
singing. The dining-room is on a large scale, the
cuisine is first-rate, and the waiting unexceptionable ;
the variety of dishes to choose from quite puzzles an
Englishman. Of course, being in the very heart of
business life and places of public amusement, it is not
a dead calm at any time of the day, and what it will
be when the Exhibition is on it is not easy to imagine.
We therefore leave these nice luxurious quarters with
regret, and proceed on our journey to the Niagara
Falls. En route we pass through a grand fertile
country again, with numerous ranches of wide extent,
in which we saw large herds of cattle, and the pro-
prietor was said to be fortunate if he could boast of
having a thousand head or more, the lot being defined
as a " fine bunch " of cattle, in the same manner as
256 SEVENTY YEAliS OF LIFE
they would say in Australia wbcm a lucky squatter
rejoiced iu a large " mob " of cattle, where the wives
of the aborigines, called " Gins," are such adepts not
only in collecting the animals, but as drovers also.
We rattle along in a most superbly appointed train,
in which we are regaled with most sumptuous fare,
cooked " on board " in a wonderfully small space, and
waited on by obsequious black attendants in white
caps and jackets, with soft voices and noiseless tread,
with luscious dessert of strawberries and cream, and
especially of peaches, which are indeed the boast of
the State of Michigan, where they grow to such ])er-
fection ; and not only its fruits, but it is proud of its
splendid crops of corn, its output of copper, and the
production of a large quantity of salt. Traversing
this state to its northern end, we reach its handsome
commercial capital containing 250,000 inhabitants,
Detroit by name, and there we cross the river, and
on the other side enter the province of Ontario, where
we find ourselves once more under the British flag ;
but now nothing more of interest worth recording
takes place till we get to the " Welland Canal," which
has been constructed to unite the Lakes of Erie and
Ontario together, a union rendered necessary in con-
sequence of the Falls of Niagara and its whhlpool
making the stream unnavigable. We are soon
startled by the conductor, warning us that we are
approaching the greatest of waterfalls, where the
train pulls up for about three minutes to give the
passengers an opportunity of seeing from the carriage
windows this wondrous roaring cascade ! After making
a slight curve we pass over a cantilever railway
IN THE VICT OBI AN ERA. 257
bridge, a great height above tbe Eapids, and on the
other side we find ourselves once more on American
soil and soon in a large commodious station, where
we descend from our car and drive off to the Pro-
spect House Hotel, where we took up our abode for
three or four days. This hotel is said to have been
patronised by the Prince of Wales, Duke of Con-
naught, and Prince Leopold, &c. All very well for
such high folk ; but an ordinary tourist, whose purse
has its limits, it would be as well to think twice
before entering such expensive quarters. The best
thing for a tourist to do is to get a public conveyance
with a pair of horses, and, after having settled as to
the charge, then to take first the American side and
drive off to see respectively the " Goat," " Bath," and
"Luna" Islands, then the "Three Sister" Islands.
And descending the steps to where the tower stood
before it fell down, one gets very near indeed to the
edge of the Cataract, and if the visitor has nerve
enough he will see a sight which passes far beyond
all human description or painter to depict. He will
see a volume of water 15 feet thick rush over a
rocky precipice 120 feet high, and some hundreds of
feet in width, and finally take a bird's-eye view of the
whole from a corner of Prospect Park, and then the
visitor has something photoed on his Ijrain that will
never fade from it. Now we will take to the carriage
again, and drive down the right bank till we get ta
the Inclined Piailway, a sort of lift such as one sees
at Scarborough, which takes us down easily to the
edge of the whirling torrent ; thence we can look up
at the Falls, and the boiling waters at our feet,
18
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN EB A. 259
and on returning to the office on the bank a good
large photo can be purchased as a shadowy reminder
of the great original. Driving further on we come to
the Whirlpool Kapids, where Captain Webb lost his
life in his endeavour to swim them ; it was supposed
that he got stunned by striking his head against a
projecting rock. The wire on which Blondin crossed
the Niagara may be seen. Now we will cross the fine
suspension bridge, 1,268 feet long, and get on to the
Canadian side again, from which a still grander view
of the Falls may be obtained, and even a water-
proof dress hired, with a guide who will pioneer us
behind the fall of water, if you feel so inclined. It is
quite safe even for ladies, who often do it in perfect
safety. On returning over the suspension bridge stop
the carriage midway across it, and gaze at your ease
on this " hell of waters," d la BjTon, in front and
beneath you, and that from a mid-air standpoint,
because the bridge is 190 feet above this raging
tumultuous stream. The " publics " are open on the
American side, but there was no rowdyism or brawl-
ing on the Sunday. We attended St. Peter's Episco-
palian Church. The service was of the higher order
of ritualism, and in the evening all was choral and
no sermon was given. The congregation was a thin
one. I have omitted to mention that the huge volume
of water which passes over the Falls is the concen-
trated collection from the Lakes Superior, Huron,
Michigan, and Erie. All this rushes down the pre-
cipitous sides of the River Niagara and empties itself
into the Lake Ontario, which is the head-spring of
the great Eiver St. Lawrence. Having now seen
200 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
and notified everything worth describing at Niagara,
we will proceed onward to New York. Our first halt
is at the bustling town of Buffalo, where we changed
our carriage, and for two dollars extra each we have
the privilege of riding in the " vestibuled car," which
is without an equal in any country. The superior
style in which it is furnished is only comparable by
the excellence of its viands, which taste the more
delicious amid such elegant and refined surroundings,
and the look-out over the charming scenery as we sit
at ease and glide smoothly but swiftly along, must
be done to give a fair idea of the position. There
is, however, "no rose without its thorn," hence now
and again our peace was disturbed by the loud clang-
ing of a hell and the bray from the engine before
reaching a level crossing, or a run down the centre
of the main street of a town, to give out a tremendous
vigorous warning to the inhabitants that the traffic
must be temporarily stopped. As there are no
bridges over the line as we have, the carriages can
he huilt any height. Passing along this run of 462
miles we come to the great cities of Eochester, Syra-
cuse, and Albany, interspersed here and there with
pretty towns and country villages of smaller note,
but infinite in number. Large manufacturing build-
ings, like the cotton mills in Lancashire, crop up
constantly, with the everlasting steam-engine pre-
dominating everywhere and for everything over the
handwork of man ; but all this is diversified and
beautified by the intermixture of some splendid agri-
culture, which makes the New York State so worthy
of its title, "the Empire State." But before we reach
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 261
that head centre of commercial vitality and incal-
culable wealth, I have to describe and admire the
last but best bit of our journey since we left the
Eockies, and that is the delightful run from Albany
to New York, a distance of about a hundred and fifty
miles, along the left bank of the Hudson Eiver, which
may not only be compared to, but stamped as of
superior beauty to the Rhine in Germany. The
traffic is so immense that it has a double line of rails,
and the iron road follows the windings of this grand
river, about two miles wide, and bounded on each side
with picturesque scenery of the most fascinating
character conceivable. After passing down the line
for thirty-five miles, the famous Catshills are seen
to great advantage, and on reaching the Fish-
kill Landing, the gorge known as the Highlands
is entered, rough and grand, at the northern end of
which the " Storm King " commands one's attention.
Again, six miles further down on the same side,
standing out on a most romantic site, is the United
States Military Academy of West Point. Steaming
on another twenty-five miles we get a sight of the
basaltic columns, known as the " Palisades." Besides
these sights we pass the ''river cities" at various
intervals, some of which have an exceedingly pic-
turesque appearance. We may note Poughkeepsie,
with Vassar College in its rear; Tarry toon, with
its quaint old Dutch church, and Yonkers. The
Hudson has some sad tales to tell in connection with
the Revolutionary War ; for instance. Major Andre's
trial and execution. We lose sight of the river
at Spuyten Duyvil as we turn eastwards, and
262 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
Harlem Bridge is the next object of our attention,
and then the terminus of the Elevated Eailway,
and behold we are in the heart of New York before
we can realise it ! But we have not quite done with
the beautiful Hudson, with its shining surface speckled
over with large white paddle-steamers, some for plea-
sure, others towing half-a-dozen long barges in double
line like a big duck convoying a brood of small duck-
lings, interspersed here and there with yachts carry-
ing high white sails, flitting across the water like so
many butterflies, a bright, lively sight and no mistake,
and " good for sore eyes," as the Scotch would say.
Another very striking feature to a tourist is a number
of large buildings on the right bank at frequent
intervals on the very verge, and even overhanging,
the water. These, we were told, were factories or
depots for ice ! Enough, one would sui3pose, to supply
the whole world ; but no, iced water is such a
favourite drink with the residents of New York that
it is placed at your side at every meal, and even
supplied to every bedroom — no doubt a great luxury
when the temperature in the shade is at 100° Fahr. ;
but it does seem extraordinary to an Englishman this
crave for ice. Every bit of vantage ground that a
house can find a lodgment on is secured at a fabulous
sum to erect a residence for some city millionaire or
other ; and no wonder, the prospect being lovely in
every direction, which a combination of rock, wood,
and river can give to the exquisite picture ! a view
seen at every turn in the river, with a train on the
right whisking along round the corner between two
projecting rocks and the shipping in the centre of
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 263
the stream. Just imagine it — picture it to your mind
if you can.
]\Iy last chapter I shall devote to my recollections
of New York.
CHAPTEE XXVIII.
Landing at the Central Station, well known as the
grand central depot in 42nd Street, it is difficult
to give any foreigner an adequate idea of the scene.
Supposing we rolled the Euston, Midland, and
Charing Cross stations into one, it would be no
exaggeration to say that its two facades of 1,000
feet each would be equal to those three combined,
and I don't think then that those stations stand on
so large an area of ground as this gigantic building.
I must here premise this description as only a start,
because as w-e go on w^e shall find that everything in
the building line is on a tremendously exaggerated
scale in the city of New York. The rooms for the
reception alone for the trans-continental luggage are
immense, and here we found our baggage quite safe
and uninjured, which had been forwarded from
"Frisco," and which they will, for a small fee, keep
in hand and transmit to j^our steamer when you have
made up your mind to take your passage home.
Just as we were getting our wraps together a respect-
ably dressed lady-passenger asked us if we were
going across the city to join our Atlantic steamer
that night, and on replying in the negative we were
266 SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTOEIAN EBA.
surprised to hear her say that she knew we were
foreigners ! As both parties were speaking good plain
grammatical English we were rather startled, I must
say, at being called foreigners ! But the fact is the
people feel a certain pride in being Americans, and
do not look upon it as any compliment to be regarded
as English. The native born views his country as
the first and most go-a-head of any in the whole
world. In New York at any rate an Englishman
soon feels himself rather " boiled down " from a
pufled-up estimation of himself or his country.
First of all, then, we must suppose ourselves settled in
a good hotel in Broadway, the focus of liveliness, where
we can secure a good room and every luxury, barring
intoxicants, from 12s. to 14s. a day ; but if we desire
to put up at a more fashionable one, in the Fifth
Avenue for instance, we must expect to pay more, the
fare, however, would be no better. The city has so
much increased in size and changed in its appearance
since my last visit to it thirty-eight years ago, that
I was puzzled to know where to start from with a
visitor who wanted to see everything and had not
much time to do it in. I was told if I wished to
ascertain how very much New York had extended it-
self, that I could not do better than take a seat m
the Elevator Eailway at Castle Garden and run
up the city on one side and then down the other,
which we did, and after traversing numerous streets
and avenues we reached the terminus at 129th Street:
there we descended, and took a horse tram across
the city to the terminus of the "Elevator" on the
other side and ran back to Castle Garden, a distance
208 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
of twenty-two miles there and back, at the small cost
of 7icl. each. A cheap piece of sight-seeing truly !
for our vision was simply glutted with the numerous
church towers and spires, public halls, monster
hotels, and still bigger warehouses, public gardens,
and squares, &c. ; but what astonished us not a trifle
as we passed along was the singular sight of ladies
sitting calmly and unconcerned in their drawing-
rooms, into -which we could plainly peep as we glided
past from the carriage windows, but everybody and
every interest must give way where it clashes with
the benefit of the masses ! Just fancy carrying an
** Elevator " along Piccadilly or Pall Mall in London,
who w^ould dare to introduce the Bill into the House
of Commons ! When I inquired whether the
" Elevator " had not been the ruin of the owners
of the mansions in the fashionable avenues, they
replied, " Oh no, no, not at all, just the reverse had
happened. They paid better when let for stores or
offices than they did as residences, especially those
near the stations, which brought the merchants into
touch W'ith one another at every quarter of a mile or
so." Underneath the "Elevator," which was erected
on a delicate- looking iron trellis- work, was a horse
tramway, which could deposit one at any inter-
mediate point. This convenient mode of locomotion
to commercial men to whom time is gold, is of course
everything, for they can time their visits to each
other to the half minute.
Having reached Castle Garden again, we descend
the stairs and walk about the pretty grounds, which
are historically interesting. Here are deposited all
IN THE VICT OKI AN ERA. 26»
the immigrants from Europe, representatives of every
nation and speaking a diversity of tongues, it is a
curious Babel of sounds. A tljousand can be sheltered
within the walls, but tliey do not remain many hours
but are sent up-eountry to their various destinations.
The}' must all show that they have means of support
otherwise they are not allowed to land but sent
back to their own country ; at any rate they are not
permitted to loaf about New York as our immigrants do
in the East End of London, often adding to our list
of pauperism. In Castle Garden was formerh' a fort
which subsequently became the basis of a concert
hall, in which I heard an opera at my lust visit to
New York. Jenny Lind sang here under Barnum's
management and was a great success, ver^- unlike the
place as it now appears. As we are now near the
lower end of Broadway, we will walk along that
renowned commercial highway, with its great variety
of architecture, its shops and throngs of people.
The first monster building which attracts our atten-
tion is the Equitable Life Office, got up in the
most expensive style, its marble hall and wide staircase
are faced with all kinds of precious stones, notably
onxy and yellow marble — very bright and beautiful,
nothing like it in London. Next comes the New
York Life Office, hardly second to it in beauty and
grandeur. The proprietors of these expensive
buildings say it is a cheap way of advertising their
business. Old Trinity Church must be visited and
its man}' quaint inscriptions in its yard be read ;
the many shrubs and flowers form a singular oasis
in the midst of such a desert of granite, marble, and
BROADWAY, NEW YOKK.
SEVENTY YEARS' LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. Til
sandstone. Opposite the church is Wall Street, so
often quoted in money transactions, a busy thorough-
fare, and looking back from the bottom of it, the
spire of Trinity stands out nobly through the narrow
vista of tall houses. Continuing our walk along
Broadway we next come to the Post Ofhce, with its
fine solid frontage of granite, triangular in form,
each of its four stories being ornamented with
columns, and near here we see terminating many
lines of horse trams, while others are passing to
and fro in Broadway, and here we can best study
the moil and turmoil of New York Street traffic to
the fullest extent — the crossing is actually dangerous.
Behind the Post Office we see the Houses of Assembly,
now dwarfed into insignificant dimensions by the
side of the tallest building in the city, which boasts
of fourteen stories of brick and stone, and on the top of
these three more stories of iron trellis-work inclosed,
and in which the printing and editing of the Neic
York World paper is carried on. The proprietor
was determined to outdo even Cyrus Field's huge
edifice of twelve stories, upon which it looks down
and on everything else for miles round. It makes
one quite giddy to look up at this pretentious erection,
which is a high-standing evidence of the extent
advertising is carried on by means of buildings of
exaggerated size and outward show ; for every one
naturally asks, What is that ? Taking our places in
a tram-car we i)ass on till wo arrive at Grace Church,
the most elegant Gothic structure in the city, having
a high tapering spire of white marble which glistens
in the sun, and is a very prominent feature at the
272 SEVENTY YEARS OE LIEE
turn which Broadway makes at this point. Joining
our friend the tram again, for it must be known that
Broadway is five miles long and hard work to v/alk
its length. We get down in Madison Square., one of
the chief centres of American amusement and
fashion. It abounds in theatres and concert halls,
several first-class hotels and restaurants and half-a-
dozen clubs, all on a grand presumptuous scale.
The gardens of six acres is very prettily laid out with
shrubs and flower-beds, and on summer evenings is
a pleasant resort to smoke a cigar in, while during
the day it is overrun by no end of nursery maids in
charge of well-dressed children — plenty of benches
with backs, and the sexes keep well apart on
separate seats, and don't intrude one upon another
— an instance of gallantry which we might well
copy from. As the ever- convenient tram skirts the
square we mount it again, and continue our journey
now to the end of this extraordinary, crowded,
bustling thoroughfare, replete with its diversified
wondrous sights, a tithe of which cannot be depicted
by the pen of the most gifted ready writer, and we
are dropped at the entrance to the Central Park, a
pleasure ground now justly termed the most beautiful
in the whole world. This I feel is no Yankee boast,
for in all my travels I have never seen anything to
be compared to it in either sphere of the universe.
Twenty years ago it was little more than a swamp
with projecting rocks in it, and it shows what an
energetic, wealthy, and unfettered community can do
in so short a time by the aid of skilful engineers and
landscape gardeners. Though the size of this park
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 273
is only two and a half miles long and half a mile
wide, there are nine miles of carriage drive 60 feet
M'ide, and bridle-paths five miles long, 17 feet wide,
while the footpaths varying from 13 feet to 40 feet wide
are twenty-eight miles in length. As to the seats,
these are for the million, and count up to ten thousand
and not a cent to pay : how different to our parks in
London ! There are some lovely bits of artificial
scenery with picturesque peeps here and there from
its five hundred covered arbours. The lawns are
kept green and smooth like a bowling ground, and no
one is allow^ed to w'alk on the grass, but rigidly
confined to the walks and drives. It is the fashion-
able promenade for the superbly appointed family
equipages and fast-trotting horses. The water area
covers forty-three acres, and one lake of twenty acres
is divided by a narrow channel crossed by a bridge.
On this lake may be seen flitting about in all direc-
tions pleasure boats at 5d. a row round its lovely
shores. The next thing to see is the menagerie,
containing a fair collection of birds and animals. A
very fine specimen of a bison and some prairie wolves
■well rewarded our visit. On leaving the Park we soon
enter the renowned Fifth Avenue, in which one can
admire some of the handsomest private mansions in
America. Foremost is the one belonging to Mr. Van-
derbilt, the wealthiest man in the city, said to be
worth twenty-five millions of pounds. There is one
thing in particular to be noticed in the front of his
house, and that is a huge flagstone in one solid
perfect piece, 24 feet by 18 feet and 6 inches thick.
This remarkable monolith was quarried without
V.)
274 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
a crack, and conveyed on special rails and then
on trollies and fixed down as a pavement before the
house ; and would pass unnoticed, but it is well worth
examining, and fills one with surprise that such
a large flat piece of brittle freestone could be safely
laid down without a flaw — it only shows what money
can do. Nearly opposite Vanderbilt's is St. Patrick's
Cathedral with its two fine spires of white marble,
rather prominent objects in the sunshine. We will now
leave New York and go over the East Eiver to quiet,
sleepy Brooklyn — a city of families and a city of
churches with high spires, which has a million of
people. Should one happen to be there on a Sunday
morning one can follow a surging crowd which will
take us to the late Mr. Beecher's church, a simple
building, but containing 2,800 seats. These used to
be put up to auction annually, and have realised as
much as £12,000. He certainly was a wonderful
leader of men. But what takes the visitor more prac-
tically over to Brooklyn is to see the splendid and
magnificent suspension bridge over the East Eiver.
The whole length of this grand structure is a few feet
short of 6,000. Between the towers the span is 1,595
feet. It is 85 feet wide ; this gives a central space of
13 feet for foot-passengers, underneath a double
railway track for passenger cars, worked to and fro
by a fixed engine, and on each side of this track is a
carriage way. The total length above high water is
272 feet. Its cost was some 15 millions of dollars.
It was opened in all its parts in September, 1883, and
in the first nine months its railway alone carried
5^ millions of people. The fare is three cents and for
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 11 o
pedestrians one cent only. It is of a light airy
appearance compared with that of our Forth Bridge,
■which strikes one as so heavy and cumbersome. The
visitor had better walk one way over it and return by
the railway.
If the visitor would really enjoy a delicious treat
he should not fail to make his w^ay again to Castle
Garden, and then take a steamer across to Bedloes
Island in the centre of the harbour, on which is
erected Bartholdi's statue of " Liberty," the pride
of America ! Its height is 305 feet from the base to
the torch, which represents Liberty enlightening the
world. I give some of its dimensions, which will
convey a fair idea of its great size. For instance,
the head from the chin to the cranium is 17 feet,
and in which forty persons can comfortably stand.
The length of the right arm is 4'2 feet, and in the
gallery round the torch, which is hold in tlie hand,
twelve persons can stand comfortably. The tablet in
the left hand is 23 feet long and 13 feet wide. The
steps of the ladder up the centre of the body are
very slippery, the metal being smooth and polished
by constant use ; hence it is easier to mount if the
shoes are taken off. I need hardly say what a
splendid bird's-eye view of New York, Brooklyn, its
bridge, and the great length of seventy quays with
ships not countable is to be had from the top. Fail
not to see this grand national monument. The
High Bridge is well worth a visit. First take the
Elevated Railroad from Sixth Avenue to 155tli Street;
then a horse tram will carry you to the bottom of
a wooded, sloping hill (Washington Heights), up
27() SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
which there is a path. Along it you wallc till you
reach the bridge. This bridge was built to convey
the Croton Aqueduct across the Harlem river and
valley. It is 1,460 feet long, and has thirteen arches
resting on granite piers. From the footpath along
its side, 116 feet above the river, a very fine prospect
is to be had. The fresh water it supplies to
New York passes over it in iron pipes 7 feet in
diameter, inclosed in a tunnel of brickwork. A short
walk further on brings one to a splendid doubled,
arched-iron, cantilever bridge spanning the same
valley, with a grand carriage roadway 75 feet in
width. It well deserves the name of " Washington."
On Sundays crowds of excursionists visit these two
bridges, near to which are several tea-gardens and
convenient hotels. I forgot to mention that the
Croton Eeservoir, which receives this water — 1,000
millions of gallons in quantity — extends the whole
length of the Central Park on the left-hand side,
that is, two miles at least !
I think I may venture to conclude now by saying
that I have written a small illustrated account of all
those '' lions" of New York such as a visitor en
passant would care to explore, and which, in my
opinion, are worth a voyage across the Atlantic to
see, to enjoy, and to admire. And especially so is it
worth a week's or ten daj's' sojourn en route to, or
from, those tourists going to visit the Chicago Exhibi-
tion. If, however, any tourists, men of leisure and
of money, are curious to see the seamy side of human
nature, they can do some " slumming " by taking a
detective, whose charge would be i*5 ; then they can
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 277
imitate the freaks of London society in our East
End. Thus safeguarded, evening parties of men can
pay a visit to all the miserable dens of iniquity
which will occupy the whole night. Passing from
water " dives," the home of the " Border Gang," to
Sebastopol on the east side, and then on to "Battle
Eow " and " Hell's Kitchen " on the west side.
May it be to their moral edification !
Before I finish, it would not be out of place just to
give a few characteristics of the Xew Yorkites. First,
then, comes the cab and its driver, extortionate as
our own when they have a chance ; hence make
your bargain before you enter. As they are painted
black and yellow, they are popularly known as
"black and tan." The charges are Is. a mile
or 4s. an hour. A trunk outside is charged
Is., and each parcel 5d. — very dear in com-
parison with London. Now for the mode of living.
Americans are exceptionally fond of hotel life, and at
all the hotels large numbers are permanently boarded,
at a considerable discount to what a passing gue-^t
would have to pay. Again, those who cannot afford
the hotels go into boarding-houses, which abound
in every quarter, and meet the needs of every grade
in society, the charges varying from i'l to £,^ a week ;
but the better sort in the avenues go up from i'2
to t'lO or more, all depending upon the styJe and
position of the room or rooms one occupies, but the
meals are alike for all — breakfast and dinner at night.
The women-servants, or heljis, are not obliging. It
would be better for the stranger that he or she should
be slow to make acquaintances, and take rooms
278 SEVENTY YEAES OF LIFE
week by week, for fear of meeting disagreeable
neighbours. The "Norman" and the " Earle "
hotels are of moderate dimensions in comparison
with some. Let us not forget that the charge for
cleaning a pair of boots in the hotels is 5d., and
not to walk abroad in dirty shoes, otherwise the
shoeblacks will bore you at every corner with
calls for a " shiner," for which they demand
2|d. I don't know whether my readers have
ever been to Petticoat Lane in London, but if they
have not they would see a great resemblance to it at
the Bowery in New York. It consists of rows of
cheap stores, mostly displayed on the sidewalks ;
numerous low concert and beer saloons ; stands with
fruits, pea-nuts, and soda-water. You are greeted by
the vendors of every article of every variety by
the call of "A great bargain!" The rumbling
sounds from four tracks of horse-cars below, and the
noisy puffing of the Elevator Eailway above, produce
a sight so unique as not to be seen in any other part
of New Y'ork, and to the uninitiated is indeed most
bewildering. There are four hundred churches of
every denomination in New Y'^ork, which afford a
sitting capacity for 250,000 persons out of 2,000,000.
Where do the great majority go to on the Sabbath ?
Strangers are welcome to all the Sunday services,
and there is no collection, each church depending
on its pew rents and subscribers. The free-school
systems give to the children of parents in all grades
of society the opportunity to acquire a good education,
second to none in general excellence. No separate
schools noic exist for coloured children ! There are
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 27»
evening scbools for those who are obliged to work
during the day. The cost to the city is four millions
of dollars, or £800,000 of our money. .Beer is fast
superseding all other beverages except uater in the
affections of the citizens. The breweries — 151 in
number — are colossal in size, and yield three millions
of barrels in a year. It is sold everywhere at live
cents the glass, or ten cents for a larger one called a
" schooner." If 3'^ou ask for foreign beer they will
charge at least double for it.
From what I have seen I should say the New
Yorkite working-class are abstemious in comparison
with the same grade in London, and especially may
this be said of their women. The Society for the
Suppression of Vice is ever on the alert, and the laws
are verj- rigid in regard to any obscene or immoral
publications. The acuteness of the trading com-
munity is of such world-wide notoriety that little need
be said, other than to remark that they deal in imports
to the extent of 500 millions, and of exports to the
value of 400 millions of dollars ! Tluy must be all
wide-awake and to the fore, especially on the Stock
Exchange, where the transactions arc prodigious.
250,000 to 300,000 shares of stock change hands daily
and the value of the railway and other bonds dealt
in range from two to three millions of dollars ! This
Exchange has 1,100 members, and the market value
of the seat is worth i;0,500, transmissible to the
members' heirs ! The Produce Exchange, held in
a magnificent building, has 3,000 members, who deal
in every kind of food. Then, again, there are the
Cotton and Petroleum Exchanges, at all of which
280 SEVENTY YEABS OF LIFE
bustling, seething crowds, buzzing like so many Ijee-
hives, or creating a noise and confusion resembling a
veritable Bedlam, are speculating with the almighty
dollar — that dollar which holds its own with such
despotic sway !
Before leaving America and the many friends who
have been so kind and courteous, and enlivened our
visit with so much pleasure, a few remarks respecting
the ladies who have locked bands in matrimony with so
many Englishmen during the past few years would not
be out of place. As soon as we enter the " Empire
State" we cannot fail to observe that the looks, dress,
and style of the women is notably better than those
we have left behind. In New York itself this change
is very perceptible. The height of fashion predomi-
nates, and it is nothing singular to see " sweet
sixteen " in three or four different gowns during the
day. The girls in their teens are not only very
attractive in their attire, but piquant and fascinating
in their manners and address. They can hold their
own and queen it in their mothers' drawing-rooms in
a way that outshines English girls of the same age ;
and what is more, their handsome faces, beaming
with a lively expressiveness, and their conversation,
sparkling with wit and repartee, far surpasses a like
number of girls in any of our large centres of popu-
lation. The American father will slave away at home
in order that he may give his daughters a liberal
education in accomplishments, backed by an expensive
tour in Europe, while the girls in their turn get
well posted up in all the passing news and popular
literature of the day, and convey the information to
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 281
their parent, who is too busy bunting up tbe dollars
to spare mucb time for book-learning. In a word,
tbe cbild becomes a kind of domestic encyclopiedia to
tbe fatber, wbo is often a self-made man, and bas bad
few scholastic advantages.
Hearing that the White Star line of steamers
were the largest, swiftest, and most admirably
equipped of any crossing the Atlantic, we asked a
friend known to the company to secure for us a
passage in that splendid ship, the Majestic, 10,000
tons and 582 feet long, with twin screws revolving
with little or no noise or thudding. Our cabin, called
a " saloon " room, was 10 feet high, furnished with
two berths soft and easy, delightful marble appliances
for washing, with electric light and bells. We had,
all told, 1,536 souls on board, but it can accommodate
2,180 — quite a little tov/n in itself !
Having ordered our heavy luggage from the Central
Depot to be sent down to the pier No. 45, where the
steamer lay, we had nothing to do but to walk on
board and take our places. Easier said than done.
We were quite staggered to see such a crowd of
people, friends of the passengers, who brought with
them quantities of floral decorations in different
designs, some of them worth £5 or more, notalily
two most beautiful little yachts, w'ith the rigging
covered with roses and geraniums, A:c., and when
placed on the saloon table at dinner-time were the
centres of admiration. Indeed, tbe large saloon was
literally overdone with the load of tlowers, hiding, as
they did, the gold and white gorgeous ornamentations
of the room itself. After a cood deal of handshaking
282 SEVENTY YEARS OF LIFE
and kissing, amid much arriving and departing of
carriages, the pedlars shouting their wares, and all
the hurry and pkurry of departing friends, the bell
rings, and the gangway is removed ; then the truly
majestic vessel swings itself out into the stream,
amid the cheers and waving of handkerchiefs of the
assembled crowd, and the answering shouts from the
passengers. Then we have spare time and free space
to scan and admire the splendid appointments of this
magnificent floating hotel, its smoking, card, and
retiring rooms, its well-stocked gratuitous library, its
delicious wa-iting- and reading-room, where one can
quietly read and write in ease and comfort, for there
is little noise or motion during the steaming of this
great monster of the deep. The vessel being so
unusually steady, a good deal of dancing was enjoyed
by the young people on board. One would have
supposed that this simple, innocent amusement could
have been carried on without any reflections of a
mercenary nature emanating from their elders,
looking on, and apparently admiring the lithe figures
and handsome dresses. Not so. Money calculations
seem deeply engraved on the minds of fathers and
mothers in general, and on those of the American in
particular. Hence one was amused by the following
remarks originating in the fertile brains of two
financiers present, lost to all social sentiment, who
were footing up the probable amount of capital which
the parents of those dancing possessed : — "' Now, I
say, Nobbs ; I calculate that there lot represents 200
million dollars. What think ye, old boy ? " " Well,
I should say that 3'ou are very near the mark."
IN THE VICTORIAN ERA. 288
"And I say again, Nobbs ; if the M. girls" (these
rich young ladies stood aloof) "had joined the others,
then there would not have been a cent less than 250
millions." '• Ah well," said his friend ; " I guess you
are about right now." So the}' turned on their heel
and left the lively scene, perfectly satisfied that they
had done a good stroke of business for future develop-
ment on the stock market.
We reached Queenstown in six days and sixteen
hours, and I saw no sickness on board. Our food was
delicious, consisting of every conceivable luxury, as
if we were on land. As to the attendance, well, we
had a waiter to about every third chair, hence that
department need not be praised. We reached Liver-
pool that night, and the docking of the huge steamer
bv the aid of two tugs was a sight worth seeing.
THE KND.
tJNWIN EltOTHEHS,
CHILWORTH AND LONDON,
L 006 314 656 7
iDDAPv f aril iTY
AA 000 970 709 2