, TRIP TO AMERICA BY WILLIAM HARDMAN. WITH MAP. LONDON : I T. VICKERS WOOD, CHURTON STREET, BELGRAVE ROAD, S.W. 1884. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED BY T. VICKERS WOOD, CHURTON ST. TO ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS, WHOSE KINDNESS WE CAN NEVER FORGET, BUT MORE ESPECIALLY TO OUR GENIAL HOST, EUFUS HATCH, MORE FAMILIARLY KNOWN AS " UNCLE RUFUS," TO WHOSE UNBOUNDED HOSPITALITY, MY WIFE AND MYSELF, ARE INDEBTED FOR ONE OF THE GREATEST ENJOYMENTS OF OUR LIVES. M629369 CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGK. I. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC 1 II. NEW YORK AND ITS WAYS 10 in. THE "CONFIDENCE MEN" OF NEW YORK 17 IV. NEW YORK AND ITS FOOD 26 V. SOME PECULIARITIES OF NEW YORK 34 VI. NEW YORK THEATRES AND PRISONS- 44 VII. HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS 58 VIII. THE IMMIGRANTS AT CASTLE GARDEN GO IX. NEW YORK HELL GATE AND THE HUDSON 67 X. A RAILWAY JOURNEY NIAGARA 78 XI. CHICAGO 82 XII. CHICAGO i STOCK YARDS | PULLMAN ; CHURCHES 92 XIII. THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD ST. PAUL MINNEAPOLIS - 101 XIV. FARGO 112 XV. ACROSS THE PRAIRIE THE GROS VENTRES 124 XVI, LITTLE MISSOURI TO THE WONDERLAND 133 XVII. THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS 140 XVIII. THE MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS - 147 XIX. THE GEYSER BASINS - 157 XX. SITTING BULL AT BISMARCK 176 XXI. BACK TO NEW YORK WASHINGTON 188 XXTI. WASHINGTON PHILADELPHIA - 197 INTRODUCTORY. I AM not fond of Tables of " Errata," but I am most anxious to correct a few errors into which I have inadvertently fallen, and which have been pointed out to me too late for amendment in the body of the work. The Hon. Eoscoe Conkling has never been Attorney-General of the United States. He is an ex- Senator, and has been offered, but declined, the position of Judge of the Supreme Court. Mr. E. A. Quintard, our genial companion, is a very popular member of the Union League Club, but is not the President of the Club. He is President of one of the largest Saving Banks in New York. VI. INTKODUCTOKY. With regard to my remarks on the East Kiver Bridge, an American friend writes : " The opposition to opening the Bridge on the Queen's Birthday, originated among, and was sustained by, Irish Dynamite Clubs and their sympathisers. I never heard a real native American object to it, and when, at last, some of the Irish in a ' League ' or ' Council ' meeting, openly advocated violence and the use of dynamite against the Bridge structure, unless the Trustees made a change in the time of opening the Bridge, the better sentiment the American sentiment crystallized in a day. Instantly there were universal demands that the Trustees should adhere to the day fixed, and the fidelity of the troops who were to take part in the parade and ceremony, was referred to as sufficient to sustain the Trustees, if necessary to do so, by force." A TRIP TO AMERICA. CHAPTEE I. ACKOSS THE ATLANTIC. THE number of English visitors to the United States and Canada is rapidly increasing. During the past year various causes have been at work to encourage this sort of emigra tion. Every Englishman who can spare the time and the money the latter being a very important factor in the enterprise should visit the great English-speaking nation on the other side of the Atlantic. He cannot fail to return with his mind enlarged, his sympathies quickened, and his Old World ideas of hospi tality greatly extended. He will feel pride in the enterprise and advance of the Anglo-Saxon race ; but he will not escape a sense of sadness when he realises what has been lost to England by the folly and mismanagement of its rulers A TKIP TO AMERICA. a century ago. However, that is a lesson which it is well to learn, especially in these days, when so little trouble is taken to'keep on pleasant terms with colonial dependencies. The dread of the long -voyage of over 3,000 miles deters many people, especially ladies ; but these terrors are all in anticipation, rarely, if ever, in fact. Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co., the spirited owners of the White Star Line of Steamships, have revolutionised not only the time taken by the voyage, but have in every way so added to the comforts and convenience of their passengers, that the end of even only a tolerable passage is viewed with regret. I went out in the Adriatic and returned in the Britannic, two of the finest ships in their fleet, and I shall ever recollect with pleasure and gratitude the kindness of the captains and officers of both vessels. The Adriatic carried about 400 steerage passengers, chiefly English, Irish, German, and Scandinavian. There were about 100 saloon passengers, and the crew numbered another 100, making 600 souls in all. The steerage passengers pay 26 dollars each (about , for which they have a bunk and their ACKOSS THE ATLANTIC. food, but must find their own bedding and utensils. It is impossible not to feel interested in these emigrants. Among them were married couples with young children, the parents, especially the mother, with grave and anxious faces looking forward into the future. There were men without encumbrance, who smoked and chatted cheerily. One of these asked me if I knew of any work for him in New York, when an Irish emigrant, overhearing our con versation, exclaimed, " Oh, the divil take the work ! It's not that I want, it's the money." There were also. among these poor travellers not a few old people, especially old women, who had been sent for by their children to share their happier lot in their new home. And there were some Norwegian peasant girls in quaint dresses, much plaited, and very short in the waist. Before landing at New York all the emigrants had to submit to a very strict examination by the doctors belonging to the immigrant department. I was informed that, whether they have undergone the operation previously or not, they must be vaccinated before they are permitted to land, and if the A2 A TKIP TO AMERICA . authorities in America say that any particular act must be done, you may rely upon their orders being carried out. On Saturday afternoon the steerage passen gers had a ball, to the great amusement of us 011 the saloon deck. Very merry they were until sunset, when, according to inexorable rule, the men were relegated to one end of the ship, and the women to the other. When Sunday came, one or two well-mean ing enthusiasts among our party, anxious for the welfare of the emigrants, tried in the afternoon to get up a sort of informal prayer meeting. But the wind got up at the same time, and the rain came down in torrents, so that the whole affair was a fiasco. An increas ing greenish pallor rapidly spread over the faces of both speakers and hearers, and the meeting quietly melted away. The purser read prayers in the saloon, and a very impres sive scene it was. Our ship by that time had become our little world. We were almost exactly half way. Fifteen hundred miles of ocean separated us from land on either side. I think all our hearts .must have thrilled with unaccustomed feeling as we ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. joined in that beautiful hymn for those at sea " Eternal Father, strong to save ;" and I am sure the collection, on behalf of the institution at Liverpool for the widows and orphans of sailors of all nations, was not diminished by this feeling. Life on board the Adriatic was relieved of its monotony by the active interest taken by the purser (Mr. Kussell) and the doctor (Mr. Murray) in getting up games on deck, in which the English were always ready to join. A few infatuated persons, chiefly, I believe, Americans, played for considerable stakes at " poker " in cessantly in the smoking room from morning to night, but they were not held in high esteem. Amongst other games on deck, Messrs. Kussell and Murray organised cricket, which afforded infinite amusement, and no little bodily exercise. The carpenterwas called to our aid, and soon constructed the requisite implements. The stumps, which, of course, could not be driven into the deck, had to stand on a flat board. To them the bails were attached by>a string six inches in length. The ends of the bats were padded with leather to A TEIP TO AMERICA. prevent injury to the deck, which is sacred in a sailor's eyes. But the ball was the most curious arrangement. I believe the carpenter had made that as well as the bats and stumps. It was very soft for a cricket ball, and not very perfect in shape, but it sufficed. Externally it was of canvas, to which was attached a long piece of cord about 20 yards in length, the other end of the cord being tied to a stanchion. This cord was always doing unexpected things. It got under the feet of the bowler, and checked the ball in its mad career ; it tied itself in knots ; it got wet and twisted. But, no matter, whatever it did only added to the fun. So, with the aid of shuffle-board, deck quoits, cricket, reading and chatting, the monotony of the Atlantic Ocean was relieved. We were soon off the tail of the Great Bank of New foundland and approaching the American coast. The fogs were rather troublesome, not only because they delayed us, but because they called into use that fearful instrument of torture, the fog-horn, which for one entire night, at half-minute intervals, bellowed and trumpeted like a herd of elephants. The first " touch," so to speak, of the other ACKOSS THE ATLANTIC. side is the pilot, who came on board more than 300 miles from New York. The excitement as the time approaches for the arrival of this functionary is very amusing. There is a sweepstake as to his number, which is seen in gigantic figures on the sail of his boat. Then bets are freely made as to which foot he will place on board first ; whether he will be light or dark, married or single, any children, how many more sons than daughters, or the reverse, and so on. The lady passenger who first sees his sail is entitled by a singular custom to a bottle of whiskey, which was duly sent to the cabin of the fortunate winner, after which I can only add that nothing more was heard of it. Sometimes the pilot comes on board 500, and even 600, miles from New York. This is the result of the rivalry and competition between them, for the pay is very handsome. Our last night at sea was enlivened by a mild dose of the fog horn, but at sunrise the mist cleared away and we could distinguish the low sandy shore of Long Island on our right. The gigantic hotel, with its 700 beds, on Eockaway Beach loomed through the hot morning haze. The English passengers gazed with interest as A TRIP TO AMEliK'A. the coast gradually passed in reviewbefore them , while our American friends evidently enjoyed the pleasure of pointing out the different places and explaining everything that was needed. The Navesink Highlands, on our left, stood out in bold relief, and soon we approached Sandy Hook, familiar to most of us by name, and knew that we were only some twenty miles from New York. Sandy Hook is the extreme northern point of the New Jersey coast, and, as its name almost implies, is a strip of sandy beach projecting into the water. Staten Island, Coney Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Jersey City, were duly introduced to us by our friends as we steamed by. The strange ferry boats, the uncanny-looking steamtugs, the steam elevators plying for hire to remove grain from canal boat to ship, and all the novel objects on the Hudson Eiver interested us vastly, while the fine harbour of New York excited our warm admiration. We called it pic turesque, to which one of our American friends ''replied, "Yes ; it is an elegant harbour," thus giving us an early experience of their singular misuse of this adjective, which is applied indiscriminately to a sunset, ACKOSS THE ATLANTIC. 9 a mountain, or a piece of beef, but never to a lady. The Adriatic was, with the assistance of an active, fussy little steam tug, backed into one of the numerous little docks which disfigure the water front of the city, and are quite un worthy of the harbour and its vast traffic . The Custom House officers were active and in quisitive in their examination of luggage beyond the officers of any douane on the European Continent. The English passengers escaped easily, but the gigantic Saratoga trunks of the Americans were ransacked to the very bottom, especially if their owners were, as was the case in several instances, in the habit of crossing the Atlantic frequently. The difference in the price of articles of clothing, especially for ladies, in London or Paris, and New York, is so great as to go far towards recouping the travellers the expense of the journey. CHAPTEK II. NEW YORK AND ITS WAYS. THE first thing that strikes the traveller on his arrival in New York is the entire absence of cabs, as we understand them. There are carriages, usually drawn by two horses, for hire. They are similar to the broughams hired from a London livery stable. With the drivers of these vehicles, it is necessary before entering the carriage to have a distinct under standing as to the fare to be paid, for the New York hack driver is never content to accept the legal fare for there is nominally a legal fare until he is satisfied he will get no more. In a conversation with the Hon. Eoscoe Colliding, one of the most distinguished Sen ators of the United States, I mentioned the unsatisfactory nature of the cab accommodation in New York. He entirely endorsed my view, and related to me an incident which occurred NEW YOKE AND ITS WAYS. 11 to himself. He had crossed from Hoboken by one of the ferry boats to New York, and -over heard a lady, with children and luggage, make a bargain with a hack driver to convey her and her belongings to a certain hotel for two dollars. By chance, Mr. Conkling was going to the same hotel, and arrived there just in time to hear the driver, in loud tones, de manding from the unhappy lady three times the fare he had agreed to take. To use Mr. Conkling's own expression, he "went for" the hack driver, with the result that justice was done. The driver might safely bully an unprotected female, but the Attorney- General of the United States was not a person to be hauled before the mayor under such circum stances. Besides, he is considerably over six feet in height, with physique in proportion. Having made your bargain and entered your carriage, the next thing that strikes you is the exceeding badness of the pavement. We had scarcely jolted 300 yards over rough stone blocks before we were nearly turned over at the corner of a street. The wretched paving of the city may be due to two causes. One is that locomotion is mainly carried on by tram- 12 A TKIP TO AMEEICA. way cars and elevated railroads, and the other, that the money raised by the authorities for this and other purposes does not always find its way into the channel for which it was intended. However, strong efforts are being made to improve the pavements, and I heard a rumour that hansom cabs were soon to be established under the auspices of a wealthy company. Of course you will have had it dinned into your ears ad nauseam that the baggage ar rangements in the United States are so superior to ours. " What do you think of our system of checks?" you are asked, "Is it not perfect? You have nothing like it in your country." You admit that it has its merits, but you are not quite unacquainted with it. It is very useful for large packages, whose delivery, if delayed for many hours, is not a matter of supreme importance. But in my case, when all I had in the (new) world was contained in my limited amount of luggage, it was distinctly inconvenient to wait five hours. I tried to be resigned, but I could not help thinking that, had I been landed at a London wharf or railway station, I should have been able to call a NEW YOKE AND ITS WAYS. 13 "growler" and transport myself and all my belongings to my hotel at the same time. In Broadway and the principal thoroughfares, the view is obstructed and the general effect of the street and its architecture entirely spoiled, by the forest of lofty telegraph-poles, with their multitudes of cross-bars supporting the wires. It is difficult to understand how such a disfigurement of their city could ever have been tolerated by the New Yorkers. They make much more use of telegraph and telephone than we do. On June 1st, 1877, there were but 200 telephones in use in the United States ; at the present time there are 150,000. The telephone is worked over thou sands of miles, and the blows of the hammer which drove the last spike of the Northern Pa cific Railway, in the territory of Montana, were heard at New York, 3,000 miles away. In fact, electricity in its various uses is more general than with us. The electric light, instead of being the exception, is almost the rule, and you meet with it as you journey onwards at every place of any importance. If the telegraph poles are a disfigurement, the elevated railways are more so. On iron 14 A TEIP TO AMEEICA. piers and girders, on the level with the first- floor windows, run these trains at three-minute intervals during the day. They form a species of arcade above the tracks of the horse rail roads, and however convenient they maybe to the general public, they have done great injury to individuals, whose wishes were never con sulted, by depreciating the value of property in the streets through which they pass. Efforts are now being strenuously made in the courts to recover compensation, and no doubt so just and reasonable a claim must in the end be admitted. The fare on all the lines, regardless of distance, is 10 cents, except between 5.30 and 8.30 a.m., and 4.30 and 7.30 p.m., when it is 5 cents. Smoking is not permitted either in the carriages (to be more correct I should call them cars) or in the stations. Passengers being admitted at the ends of the cars, instead of at the sides as in England, and there being no compartments, the seats running down each side from end to end, with a passage in the middle, there is none of that slamming of doors which is so great a nuisance on our Metropolitan Underground line. NEW YOKE AND ITS WAYS. 15 The Roman Catholic population of the state of New York exceeds in numbers the whole of the other religious denominations put to gether, and New York City alone contains no less than fifty-seven Catholic Churches. The Cathedral of St. Patrick, in Fifth Avenue, although unfinished, is a noble building of white marble, majestic in its simplicity. It was projected by one, whom my wife and myself, notwithstanding that we differed from him in creed, w r ere proud to call our friend, I mean Archbishop Hughes about 1850, but the corner stone was not laid until 1858. Its architecture is of the same period as the nave of Westminster Abbey. The Church of St. Francis Xavier, in Six teenth Street, which is served by the Jesuit fathers of the adjoining College, is a magnifi cent example of the Renaissance style, and was crowded on the Sunday after our arrival by a congregation of about four thousand persons, eager to listen to the first sermon preached by Monsignor Capel in America. It was the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, and the Monsignor, although he was obviously nervous, delivered a very powerful discourse, which was 16 A TKIP TO AMEKICA. * mainly a panegyric on Loyola's character and work. Without great oratorical effort he held the attention of his hearers by his clear resonant voice and sincere manner. An Irish man who gave me a seat in his pew was greatly interested when I told him the Monsignor was a friend of mine, and asked me numerous questions about him. He seemed disappointed when I explained that Capel was not an Irish man, and he could scarcely believe that any Englishman could be a Catholic ! Before the sermon my neighbour opined that Capel could not compare with the much beloved Father Tom Burke, but afterwards he was rather shaken in his opinion. CHAPTEE III. THE " CONFIDENCE MEN " OF NEW YOEK. Travellers in New York, especially if they bear in their appearance obvious signs of being strangers, will find themselves the objects of much attention from certain persons whom they will inevitably meet in Broadway, Fifth Avenue, or in the vicinity of the wharves. They will be warmly greeted as old friends by individuals they have never seen in their lives. These are the "confidence" men, who literally swarm near the landing-stages. Walking one day from Broadway to the landing-stage of the White Star Line, I was accosted by 110 less than four of these rascals in succession. One of them, by getting in my way on the crowded trottoir, succeeded in engaging me in conversation. Offering his hand, he said cheerfully, " How do you do, sir ?" 18 A TRIP TO AMERICA. . I stared silently at him. He went on " You have forgotten me, I daresay." " No," I replied, " I don't think I have "- he was about to interrupt me cheerily, when I continued " because I feel sure I never saw you in my life before." This rather staggered him, but he returned to the charge " Well, sir, perhaps there may be some mistake, but the likeness is very remarkable. Would you mind telling me who you are ?" " I don't think," said I, " that you have any right to ask that question. May I ask you, in return, who you take me to be ?" " Oh, yes," was the prompt reply, "Judge Wilson, of Long Island." I winked solemnly, and saying, " No, my friend, you are wrong ; but this is all a little too 'thin' for me," wished my chap-fallen interviewer good morning. These attempts to impose upon me partly amused and partly annoyed me. The annoy ance chiefly arose from a suspicion that I must look like a fool a very painful suspicion it is needless to say. One day a man accosted me near the THE u CONFIDENCE MEN." 19 Brunswick Hotel, whither I was going to see a friend, and so took ine off my guard that I told him the name of the ship in which I had crossed, and also the name of the captain. He begged my pardon and we parted. I thought this man really was mistaken. I went on to the Brunswick, and, my friend being absent, returned almost immediately. Almost on the spot where I had just been stopped I was accosted by a tall thin-faced man, with a fair moustache, faultless as to dress, and most voluble as to speech. "How do you do?" I stared blankly. " Ah, I see you don't remember me. My name is Harry Jennings, and I am the nephew of Captain Jennings, with whom you came over in the Adriatic." The names of " Jennings " and Adriatic had only passed my lips a few minutes before, a few yards from where I was now standing, and now they were uttered by another perfect stranger, who claimed my acquaintance as an old friend. I saw through the scheme of the two con federates, and thought I would keep up the B 2 20 A TEIP TO AMERICA. deception ; at any rate, so long as it suited me to do so. My voluble companion talked incessantly, a nod or monosyllable of acquies cence being almost all that was expected of me. It was a fine summer's afternoon, about half-past three. I had nothing better to do, and I had no little curiosity to see what the voluble one's " little game" was. He took my arm, and we walked across Madison Square. " You will be glad to hear that since I saw you 011 the Adriatic I have been to Boston and won a prize in the lottery for the distri bution of Longfellow's library, and I am now going to see if the books have arrived. The books, unfortunately, are both alike, but each has the poet's autograph. I shall only require one, you can have the other if you like." I thought to myself this man must take me for a fool, and I felt half inclined to tell him so and leave him. However, I went on. We entered a horse- car in Third Avenue, he kindly paying my fare. We got out at Fourteenth Street, a locality with which I was perfectly familiar, and went to a house THE "CONFIDENCE MEN." 21 about two blocks distant. A woman of the housekeeper class admitted us, and we turned into a room on the right hand with windows open overlooking the street. Behind a table sat a very thin, pale, well-dressed man. He gravely informed Mr. Jennings, with many expressions of regret, that the books had not arrived, but would be at his office next day. It seemed there were also some money prizes attached in some cases to the books, and Mr. Jennings inquired if he had been lucky enough to win one. The thin man, after referring to a large book, and to several smaller ones, replied that he had won 500 dollars, which he handed over to him. I was asked if I should not like to see how this lottery business was managed. I said, " Nothing would give me greater pleasure." Unrolling a piece of oilcloth divided like a chess-board into squares, in which were numbers and gold stars, and producing a pack of cards, each with a different number (from one to thirty, I should think), I was asked to draw, on behalf of Mr. Harry Jennings, six cards. I complied, the numbers on the cards were added up, and resulted in a number 22 A TEIP TO AMEEICA. corresponding with one on one of the squares. Jennings wildly congratulated me, and said that I had won 2,500 dollars for him, which he would share with me. I was asked to draw again, and after one or two failures, the causes of which were rapidly explained to me with more than Mr. Jennings 's usual volubility, I again won for him 2,500 dollars. In both instances a bundle of " greenbacks," fictitious, of course, was handed across the table. Up to this time I had not staked anything, and, of course, did not mean to. Mr. Jennings now tried to persuade me to try my luck to the extent of the small sum of II dollars. If I lost, he would hold me harmless, but he could not go on winning unless I staked. He whispered confidential remonstrances behind his hand, so that the other worthy might not hear, and grew almost angry at my obduracy. At last I thought it time for me to ring down the curtain, so I rose and said, " I am much obliged to you. As a stranger I like to see all I can. The ways of criminals have a peculiar interest for me, for in my own country I am accustomed to punish them. THE " CONFIDENCE MEN." 23 You have lost some valuable time and 5 cents car fare ; good day." The two men stared at me open-mouthed. Neither uttered a word or attempted to inter fere with my departure. The voluble man, whom I afterwards found was " Hungry Joe," one of the cleverest of the " Bunco " men in New York, was pale and speechless. I was half inclined, at one time during the interview, to bring these two worthies into the clutches of the law, but discretion intervened, for although I knew very little of American police, I recollected that there was a prison specially reserved for witnesses whose presence at a trial was doubtful, and I feared lest I might involve myself in engagements which would interfere with my journey to the Yellowstone. Eeturning to my hotel, I found a gentleman on the staff of the New York Tribune waiting to see me. To him I told my story, and he, from my description, at once recognised " Hungry Joe," as the voluble conductor of the enterprise, which, in my case, had failed so signally. The next morning I awoke to find myself 24 A TRIP TO AMERICA. famous ! The Tribune published a very faith ful and spirited account of my adventure, under the heading of, "A Bunco-steerer's wasted labour." My personal appearance, my pecu liarities, my " aggressively British outward man," my " portly form," my previous history, were all described in a manner essentially American, and made me roar with laughter. I was the talk of New York. Nay, more, afterwards as I journeyed to the Great North West, my approach was heralded by several of the local newspapers as the victorious hero of the great Confidence Trick : the article in the Tribune being reprinted either partly or in extenso. The eccentricities of American newspapers might well form the subject of a separate chapter. American ingenuity is apparently inexhaustible in its power of inventing novel and sensational headings. I was told that on more than one journal, a member of the staff specially skilled in this art, is employed at a handsome salary to do nothing else. I will only mention two examples which occur to me. The body of an unfortunate suicide is dis covered floating on the surface of the lake in CONFIDENCE MEN.' 2/5 which he has been drowned. One would have thought that the account of the Coroner's inquest would have heen headed, " Suicide," or " Inquest," or " Found Drowned," or some thing similiar. No. The sensational writer preferred " The Floater," which, however correct in one particular, conveyed but an imperfect notion of what had happened. Another heading struck me as peculiarly appropriate, and not altogether unworthy of adoption on this side of the Atlantic. A long list of cases and punishments in the Police Courts was entitled, " The way of the Trans gressor !" CHAPTEK IV. NEW YOEK AND ITS FOOD. I shall never forget my feelings when a waiter bluntly placed before me for the first time a list of the food provided for breakfast I can not call it a menu at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and asked what I would take. The Fifth Avenue Hotel is a magnificent commanding structure of white marble, and is capable of accommodating a thousand guests. In every respect it is a first class house. Its decorations and appointments are most sumptuous, and the service and cooking excellent. It is admirably situated, overlooking Madison Square, in a conveniently central position, and is conducted on the American plan, as they call it, which really is very similar to the pension systems of the Swiss Hotels, though on a more expensive and luxuriant scale. The guests may partake of as many meals as they NEW YOKE AND ITS FOOD. 27 choose between 7 a.m. and midnight. Break fast, dinner, luncheon, tea, and supper follow and overlap each other in rapid succession ; so that whenever hunger seizes you, if such an intruder as hunger is ever to be found in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, you may instantly sit down to a " square meal " and extinguish him. Perhaps it will be more convenient to let the catalogue of breakfast speak for itself, so here it is, premising that, as a matter of course, a large slice of water-melon, a bunch of Concord grapes, some bananas, or half-a-dozen peaches, are disposed of by most Americans to pass the time until the more solid viands arrive. These fruits are not included in the catalogue : FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL. BREAKFAST. BROILED. Beefsteak. Tripe, plain. Pickled Tripe. Veal Cutlets. Calf's Liver. Smoked Bacon. Mutton Chops. Ham. Mutton Kidneys. Pigs's Feet, breaded. Spring Chicken. FRIED. Pig's Feet, breaded. Oysters, with crumbs. Pickled Tripe. Calf's Liver. Tripe, plain. Clams. 28 A TEIP TO AMEKICA. STEWED. Clams. Veal and Mutton Kidneys. Oysters. Hashed Meat. FISH. Fried Codfish, with Pork. Salt Codfish, with cream. Hashed fish. Boiled Salt Mackerel. Smoked Salmon. Digby Herrings. Broiled Salmon. Broiled Spanish Mackerel. Fish Balls. EGGS. Omelets, plain or with Parsley, Onions, Ham, Kidneys, or Cheese, boiled, fried, scrambled, or dropped. COLD MEATS. Roast Beef. Corned Beef. Tongue. Ham. POTATOES. Stewed. Lyonnaise. Fried. Baked. Fried Indian Pudding. Oatmeal Mush. Dry and dipped Toast. Boston Brown Bread. Muffins. Eice Cakes. Graham Bread. Graham Eolls. Cracked Wheat. Corn Bread. French Rolls. Hominy. Fried Hominy. English Muffins. Coffee, Chocolate, Oolong, Green and English Breakfast Tea. Being of an experimental turn of mind, and doubting, moreover, whether all these various dishes could exist anywhere but in the " cata logue," I used to amuse myself by testing the capabilities of the kitchen. But it never failed, although I often did, to eat what I had ordered. One morning, while I was wondering what I should select, a Very charming American NEW YOKE AND ITS FOOD. 29 lady of our party sat down to the table, and, scarcely glancing at the " catalogue," knowing, in fact, by experience what there would be in it, she said to the " boy," " I don't feel as if I could eat much this morning, but you may bring me some oatmeal mush, some tender loin steak and fried potatoes, some fish balls, some chicken hash, some corn bread, some griddle cakes and maple molasses, and some dry toast." If she had ' taken the trouble to read the menu she would have seen that she had not quoted accurately, but the "boy" understood her, and soon returned with a multitude of small, oval, shallow, open pie dishes, in which reposed the several viands or the equivalents. But you must not suppose that she ate all these things. She ate of them. She sat with a square yard of table cloth covered with these various dishes before her, and, like a well known lady of fiction, she " dodged about among the tender pieces with a fork." She left more than half of what she had ordered, following therein the usual American fashion. The waste food of a large New York Hotel, conducted on the American plan must be 30 A TEIP TO AMEKICA. enormous, and it is to be hoped that it is not entirely sacrificed, but is turned to some use. Dehnoiiico's disappointed rue. Perhaps its reputation is so great that it has become care less. Or perhaps the proprietor, having amassed a large fortune, has ceased to keep that strict personal supervision which is so necessary in establishments of that sort.* One peculiarity, however, could not fail to be re marked, and that was the manner of the waiters, most of whom. appeared to be French or Italian. In place of that abruptness which characterises the same class in America, these waiters at Delmonico's had a faint glimmering of the dignity of their profession, and took an intelligent and kindly interest in their custo mers' dinners, thus recalling, though remotely, the solemn g argons of the old " Trois Freres Provencaux " of long ago. But if Delmonico's should be disappointing, the Hoffman House Cafe, the most splendid drinking saloon in the world, cannot fail to arouse feelings of astonishment and admira- * Poor Mr. Delmonico ! He was found a few months later frozen to death in the mountains near New York, whither he had wandered in a state of temporary insanity. NEW YOKK AND ITS FOOD. 31 tion at the taste displayed in its arrangement, and at the almost priceless character of some of its works of art. Foremost amongst these is a genuine Correggio of great value. Correggio, as is well known, usually painted sacred subjects, and only in seven instances did he select a mythological incident for his canvas. The Correggio at the Hoffman House Cafe is one of these, and is an undoubted original. The subject is Narcissus. There is also, among other pictures, a grand painting of " Nymphs and Satyr " of the French school, by Bou- gerreau ; lovely statuary in marble and bronze, a large and unique piece of Gobelin tapestry made for Napoleon III., and a very choice selection of articles of vertu and rare plants. The chief pictures are handsomely mounted on crimson velvet, 'each with its special well- shaded electric light to show off its beauties to the best advantage. Having ladies in our party we hesitated to go in, and tried to obtain a view of the brilliantly lighted interior through the large uncurtained windows, but the manager seeing us, and that we were a party of foreigners, came out, and begged us all to come 32 A TKIP TO AMEBICA. in, assuring us, as was quite true, that although the saloon was for men alone, still there was nothing to cause the least offence to ladies. If we had not accepted his invitation we should have missed a very great treat. The traveller will rejoice, especially in August, over the abundance of ice which is to be met with everywhere in America. The severe and unvarying winters provide an un limited supply, and arrangements for its storage are made on a gigantic scale. In public insti tutions, merchants' offices, clubs, hotels, steamers, railway cars, and private houses, there is always the capacious receptacle for iced water with its glass and drainer, which is free to everybody. The water of New York, supplied from the Croton river, is deliciously pure and soft, and although the New Yorker may possibly drink more of it when icy cold than is good for him, there is not nearly that consumption of stronger drinks with which the Americans are usually credited. Goblets of iced water are supplied ad libitum at every meal, and are amongst the most conspicuous objects on the table. Before visiting America everyone will have NEW YOKK~AND ITS FOOD. 33 heard of clams, soft shell crabs, and terra pins. The terrapin properly cooked is a toothsome dish, but the clam is detestable ; in fact I was told that the taste for clams was an acquired one. I could imagine a castaway on a desert island coming to love them so much as to enjoy them even without the usual squeeze of lemon juice; but 'in a -country where food, and especially the ouster, is abun dant, I cannot understand how clams ever obtained favourable notice. Perhaps they are better when cooked and eaten al fresco at a " clambake." The true clambake is only to be met with on the New England coast, where the clams are cooked in seaweed in a stone oven. But the raw uncooked clam is an unworthy dish wherewith to neutralise an appetite ; and the soft shell crab is equally unworthy, more especially because it is uninteresting. CHAPTER V. SOME PECULIAETTIFS OF NEW YOEK. AMONG things conspicuous by their absence in the streets of New York are dogs. The visitor to that city will, after a day or two, begin to wonder, and to ask the question, " Where are the dogs ?" And the reply he will get will surely satisfy him that I was right when I asserted in a former chapter that when the American authorities order any particular act to be done, you may rely upon their orders being carried out. There is something in this thoroughness and determination to " stand no nonsense " which is particularly charming to the Englishman, wearied by the hubbub and opposition raised on all sides in his own country whenever any decisive step, no matter how useful, is taken which necessarily involves the treading on somebody's corns. Beyond a few very small pet dogs carried by ladies there SOME PECULIAHITIES OF NEW YOEK. 35 are practically no dogs to be seen in New York after the 1st of June until the summer is past. Every year at this season the mayor appoints the official dog-catchers, pound master, and other necessary persons to carry out the city regulations. Every dog not properly muzzled and led by a string is captured and taken to the pound, a temporary structure erected annually on the most convenient available site on the bank of the East river. Once there, if not redeemed, by payment of twice the amount the city pays the dog-catcher, within twenty-four hours, the dog's fate is sealed. He is put, with other companions in a similar predicament, into an iron cage, which is swung out over the water and then lowered into it until all its occupants are dead. Whether canine rabies is more common in summer than winter is a questien open to doubt. But the City of New York has made up its mind on the sub ject, and the streets afford an example that London might follow with advantage. One of the wonders of New York is the East River Bridge. We in England know it better as the Brooklyn Bridge, a name which is never applied to it in New York. Brooklyn c2 3(5 A TRIP TO AMERICA. and New York are two separate cities, divided by a ship channel (for it is not really a river) of great width. Brooklyn, "the overgrown village," as it has been styled, is the third city in point of population in the United States. It is situated on Long Island, and is the capital of King's County. Since New York absorbs almost all the business, Brooklyn is left in peace and quiet. To it thousands of busy New Yorkers retire to sleep off the cares and anxieties of Wall Street and Broadway. It acts in fact as a sort of great dormitory for its more active neighbour. To avoid the inevitable rivalry between the two cities as to which should give its name to the magnificent Suspension Bridge which con nects them, it was better to let the nomencla ture come from the channel common to both which separates them, and therefore the gigantic structure is known as the East River Bridge. It is nearly 6,000 feet in length. The central span is 1,595 feet from tower to tower. The distance from each tower to the anchorage of the cables on each side is 930 feet, and the approaches together amount to 2,534 feet. The total length of the bridge is, there- SOME PECULIARITIES OF NEW YOEK. 37 fore, 5,989 feet. It is 85 feet wide, and includes a promenade in the centre of 13 feet, two railroad tracks, and four waggon or horse-car tracks. From high-water mark to the floor of the bridge in the centre is a distance of 135 feet. It had only been formally opened for traffic on the 24th of May, 1883, a few weeks before my visit, and was consequently still an object of curiosity and interest to the inhabitants as well as to strangers. By the way, the day selected for the opening ceremony, being the birthday of Queen Victoria, roused feelings of bitterness and jealousy among the more prejudiced Americans, of whom, it must be confessed, there are a few, although our beloved Sovereign is, with these insignificant exceptions, held in the highest esteem throughout the States. It was a lovely Sunday afternoon when I went to see the East River Bridge, and the fine weather, combined with the holiday, caused a remarkable number of people to be bent on the same errand as myself. Along the footway in the centre an almost continuous stream of people poured each way without intermission. Everybody was in holiday 88 A TKIP TO AMERICA. attire. Many nationalities were represented, and were dressed (the women especially) in the distinctive costumes of their countries. Here were to be seen Swedes and Norwegians, Dutch, German, and Italian peasants, Arme nians, Chinese, and, of course, Negroes. But, amid all this mixture of tongues, the one alone audible above the rest was the Irish brogue. A few policemen scattered at long in tervals sufficed to direct the two streams of traffic, and prevent them from interfering with each other. They did not waste words, and possibly did not mean any incivility, but if any one encroached beyond the imaginary boundary of the space allotted to his stream, the policeman would point with his truncheon (always, it may be remarked, suspended from his wrist), and in a gruff, commanding tone, would say, " Here " or " There." I endeavoured to make an approximate calculation of the number of individuals on the bridge that Sunday afternoon, and I con cluded that, at a moderate estimate, there could not have been less than 15,000, and there were certainly not twelve policemen to preserve order. Yet, these preservers of order SOME PECULIARITIES OF NEW YORK. 39 were unnecessary, and only issued their monosyllabic commands for the sake of doing something to earn their pay. Every one of these 15,000 persons was as anxious to pre serve order as the constables. There was none of that "rough " element which is the pest of all public and popular sights in London. Very likely watches and purses were no more safe there than with us under similar circumstances ; but the respect able, well-to-do, happy appearance of the crowd, and its quiet and orderly behaviour could not fail to attract the notice of a stranger from London. The policemen deserve a word of notice in passing. They lack entirely that compact, semi-military, business-like character, which more or less distinguishes the whole of our metropolitan force, from the A Division down wards. As a rule, the New York policeman seems to have been selected because he is tall, badly-proportioned, and not well set-up. Judging from his sleek shaven face, I should say that he got his share of the good things of this life. I was informed that each or dinary constable, or " patrolman" as he is 40 A TEir TO AMERICA. called, receives from 800 dollars to 1,000 dollars per annum i.e., from ,160 to 200, and that the entire force numbers about 3,000 men The absence of smartness in the New York policeman is aggravated by his dress. He wears a badly-fitting, greyish-blue uniform, with a coat much too long in the skirt. He has turndown collars, and necktie of such pattern as pleases himself, and his head is covered by a grey felt helmet, round which is fastened a twisted silk cord tied in a knot, with tassels at the end. It is possible that he may be a very terrible person in the eyes of the gamins of New York, but to me he was rather a joke than otherwise. I had not been in the city many hours before I received cards informing me that the courtesies of the two great opposing political clubs the Union League and the Manhattan had been extended to me, and I was welcome to use them during my stay.. My first visit was to the Union League Club, which is situated in Fifth Avenue, at the corner of Thirty- Ninth Street, and to which I had been introduced by Mr. Quintard, the President of the Club, I was duly shown over the building, SOME PECULIABITIES OF NEW YORK 41 and was much impressed by its size and the comfort of its arrangements. It is very magni ficent, but decidedly dark, which darkness is much increased by the heaviness of its decora tions, and by the handsome coloured glass which seemed to be always obscuring the light exactly where it was wanted. The offices are all at the top of the building, but a couple of " lifts," or " elevators " as they prefer to call them, in constant work, make access to these offices very easy. The spacious kitchen, laundry, butler's pantry, with glass, china, and plate cupboards, all most carefully and syste matically arranged, well repay a visit. The large number of bedrooms for the use of members surprised me. There are no less than thirty-three, eleven on each floor below the offices. There are also many private dining-rooms, drawing-rooms, writing-rooms, cosy smoking-rooms, a spacious library, and in the basement a billiard-room with eight tables, a cafe, and a large bowling- alley, which when in full play must resound all through the building. The Manhattan Club is also in Fifth Avenue, at the corner of Fifteenth Street. This is the 42 A TEIP TO AMERICA. Democratic Club, and although not to be com pared with the more magnificent Kepublican establishment, is more quiet and home-like. The Union League Club must not be con founded with the Union Club, which, besides being non-political, is the most exclusive of the New York clubs. The love of decency and order, to which I have alluded, is shown in many ways, but in none more than in the fact that the great open squares of New York, such as Madison Square and Union Square, are available at all hours of the day and night without offence to any one. Madison Square, bounded on one side by Broadway, consists of about six acres, and is completely open, without any railing, to the public. Broad asphalte pavements run in every direction among the grass and flowers, and there is a fountain and fine shady trees, among which are dispersed innumerable com fortable benches divided by low arms into separate seats, for in this country of equality everybody is entitled to his share and no more. High in the centre is a lofty pole, at the summit of which is a group of electric lights, which cast a lovely light, brighter than SOME PECULIARITIES OF NEW YORK. 43 moonlight, over the scene and make of it a veritable fairyland. In London such a place after dark would be a perfect den of abomina tions. In New York it is a charming public garden, where any one may sit or walk and enjoy the cool of the evening without the smallest annoyance. Union Square is the same, only it is half the size. It must be remembered, however, that these squares do not immediately adjoin the districts inhabited by the evil-disposed classes. CHAPTEE VI. NEW YOKK THEATRES AND PRISONS. A VISIT to the Madison Square Theatre is a treat that cannot fail to be appreciated by the London play-goer. This theatre stands alone in the world in one respect it has a double stage. There are two stages, one over the other, which are elevated or lowered as occasion requires. While the action of the play is proceeding on one stage, the scenery for the next act is being carefully set on the other stage. When the curtain drops, the stage, in a few seconds, is moved bodily up or down, and the next act is ready. Of course the plays have to be written for or adapted to the theatre, for there is naturally no provision for changing scenes during an act ; and also a stage constructed on this plan must neces sarily be limited in size. You could scarcely have it at Drury Lane, for example. This NEW YOKK THEATEES AND P1IISONS. 45 arrangement specially suits an American audience, for our cousins are not noted for patience, and do not like long " waits " be tween the acts. When the orchestra begins to play, you wonder whence the noise comes. There is not a fiddle visible in the usual place. At last you discover that the musicians are placed in a beautifully artistic balcony in the arch over the intensely aesthetic curtain. I need not say that the effect is admirable. There is another improvement which we in England might adopt with advantage. After the final fall of the embroidered curtain, in stead of the lights being lowered, the brown holland being brought out in haste to cover the boxes and decorations, and the audience being hurried out helter skelter for fear of being locked up with the watchman and fire men, the band performs a piece of music duly set down in the programme, and gives the finishing touch to the performance by " playing the congregation out." I may add that this is the practice, so far as my experience goes, in all American theatres. After the play Mr. Frohman, the manager, 46 A TKIP TO AMEEICA. took us over the theatre, and with great courtesy showed us the working of the machinery behind the curtain. We sat in the stalls while the stage was moved up and down, and all necessary connections of gas and water made. There was. a considerable stream of running water in one " set," but it was managed without any appreciable delay. The ventilation was also elaborately perfect, and could be adapted for either hot or cold air. At the time of my visit cold air was largely in demand, so it was conducted over huge blocks of ice, and directed by means of multitudes of pipes underneath every seat in the auditorium, being thus distributed without creating any draught, while the foul air was drawn off from above. The result was that the theatre on that hot summer night, was really cooler and fresher than the outside air, although I entered it after the large audience had been seated some time. The plays produced at the Madison Square theatre are commonly domestic dramas, which are selected with care to exclude everything in the least degree objectionable from a moral point of view. In fact, the proprietor has one NEW YORK THEATRES AND PRISONS. 47 chief object before him namely, to elevate and improve the public taste. The play-bill ought not to be overlooked, for it is a fine specimen of colour-printing, and worthy to be carried away as a pretty memento of a pleasant evening. It furnishes an example of the novel use of English words, or their substitution for others more familiar, in the following notice : " THE INTEKMISSION BETWEEN EACH ACT WILL BE FIVE MINUTES." The law of the State of New York requires all managers or proprietors to print on their play bills ground plans of each floor of their theatre, with the routes and points of exit distinctly marked. In the Madison Square theatre the safety of the audience receives additional assurance from the fireproof construction of the building, and the fact that the dressing- room and other work-rooms all in their way models of comfort are in a separate building, entirely shut out from the theatre, and that the vestibule is large enough to afford ample standing room on its fireproof floor for all who can be admitted to the two galleries. The Casino, at the corner of Broadway and 48 A TKIP TO AMEBICA. Thirty-Ninth Street, is another theatre worthy of a visit, chiefly, it must be admitted, on account of the novelty and beauty of its con struction. Both externally and internally it is built upon Moorish models, some of the courts of the Alhambra having been almost exactly copied in the decorations. The venti lation is complete. At the end of the performance three-fourths of the audience ascended either by the long winding stair, or by the " elevator " to the roof, where a novel spectacle presented itself. The entire roof was turned into a summer garden, open to the heavens, and there, scattered about at little tables placed among the shrubs and flow r ers, and listening to the music of a large orchestra, the people sat and smoked, and took light refreshment. The general equality of station and fortune among Americans produces its result in the theatres. Beyoud a few proscenium boxes, which, however, are quite open to the public gaze, there is nothing to remind one of a London theatre. There are no stalls or pit. You enter in the centre at the back of what would be our dress circle, and from thence the NEW YOKK THEATEES AND PEISONS. 49 floor slopes gradually down to the stage, and is covered with fixed chairs, at one uniform price of one dollar and a half if hought at the box office, but two dollars (or any sum according to the demand) elsewhere. The front rows of the balcony overhead fetch the same price. A wide passage runs down the centre, afford ing easy access to the chairs on either side and greatly facilitating exit in case of fire. It is a sad breach of good manners in the United States to stand up, turn your back upon the stage between the acts, and survey the rest of the company through your opera- glass. A Viennese friend of mine did it at Chicago on one occasion, and was utterly at a loss to comprehend the cause of all the noise and ironical cheering which he heard on all sides. I and some friends witnessed the whole proceeding from a box and were con- A^ulsed with laughter. The more our friend gazed around through his opera-glass to discover if possible the cause of the disturbance, the more noisy the audience became, until at last, sublimely unconscious, he resumed his chair,' and the hubbub ceased. But he never could be brought to believe that he had been the culprit. 50 A TEIP TO AMERICA. Whether fashion varies in New York with the season, I cannot say, but my experience in August and September w r as that evening dress for either men or women at theatres was practically unknown. At the Star Theatre, where Mr. Irving afterwards appeared for the first time on an American stage, I found myself alone, among a crowded audience, in a dress coat and a white tie. The only persons to keep me in countenance were the check- takers of the theatre and the waiters at my hotel ! After such an experience, I did not hesitate to fall in with the American custom, and do at New York as New York does. The American women are given to wearing large hats, with an abundance of ostrich feathers, and consequently they somewhat interfere at times with a good view of the stage. While making these comments on New York it may not be without interest to let the other side have a word, and hear what the intelligent American thinks of some features of our dear old smoky London : " We took up our abode," said my friend- let us call her Mrs. Boston " at one of your best private hotels, frequented by your best NEW' YOKK THEATRES AND PKISONS. 51 people. The street, which led out of Picca dilly, was narrow and gloomy, the weather was foggy and brown. The rooms were dull, the furniture heavy and dark, the carpets were shabby, and the wall-paper depressing. The lights a pair of candles only made darkness visible, and failed to illuminate the room. We had endless trouble on our way from the ocean steamer in looking carefully after our luggage ourselves, for you have none of our convenient system of checks. How ever, by dint of much fatigue of body and anxiety of mind, our bags and boxes safely reached our bed-chamber, an apartment still more gloomy than our depressing sitting-room. The carpet was worn and dull, but we were not permitted to use it, for oilcloth protected it in front of the toilet-table and washing-stand, and wherever a foot was likely to be placed. Oh, how fond you English are of oilcloth ! Yet can anything be more forlorn ? Our dinner was served in excellent style, I must own, by the most respectful of waiters, a man of noiseless movements and a trained demeanour. Cer tainly in the waiting you beat us. The silver service was old and eminently respectable. D 2 52 A TBIP TO AMEHICA. We felt almost a sense of awe at the large dish-covers, but when they were removed we found very little beneath. American appetites cannot feed on silver and china, however im posing in quality." CHAPTEE VII. HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS. Having been furnished with a special permit from the Cornissioners of Public Charities and Correction (a curious combination, you will say), I spent a most interesting day on the islands in the East Eiver, but chiefly on the largest of them, Blackwell's Island, a long, narrow strip, extending from opposite East Forty-Eighth Street to Eighty-Third Street, with a channel on either side navigable by the largest vessels. On this island are the Charity Hospital, Smallpox Hospital, Penitentiary, Almshouse, Workhouse, Hospital for Incur ables, Blind Asylum, and Lunatic Asylum for females. The island contains about 120 acres, and is chiefly of rock, from which the convicts have quarried the stone and built the several institutions above named. 54 A TKIP TO AMEEICA. A steamboat belonging to the Commissioners left the pier at the end of Twenty-Sixth Street at 10.30, and in little more than ten minutes we were at the first landing stage on Black- well's Island. There were many people on board the boat, patients going to the hospitals, and friends going to visit, besides a large number of ordinary visitors from curiosity. On landing I went direct to the Penitentiary, leaving the hospital for another occasion. I found that there were between 700 and 800 prisoners confined, whose sentences varied from one month to five years. The buildings are old and inconvenient, but the prisoners have in other respects not much to complain of. They are so well treated that they come back again and again, and generally arrange, if possible, to spend the winter there. Most of the cells are very small 8- ft. long by 7-ft. high and 4- ft. wide. In many of these cells two prisoners sleep, the beds being arranged like berths in a sleeping-car, one over the other. Instead of solid doors wide gratings are sub stituted, so as to insure ventilation. The convicts dine together, standing elbow to elbow at high tables. HOSPITALS ANF) ASYLUMS. 55 I asked the warder who showed me the establishment if the prisoners had the same right as ours, of having their bread, &c., weighed to see if they have the correct num ber of ounces allowed by the prison scale of dietary. "No," he replied, with a smile at the absurdities of English prison management. " If a man wants more bread he has only got to hold up his hand, and it is brought to him by a warder ; but if he was fool enough to complain of his dinner he'd just be told to go right away, and he'd get no dinner at all that day." I found nothing worthy of special mention in the course of my walk through the Almshouse, Incurable Hospital, and Blind Asylum, where there were only very few blind persons. The Workhouse, however, had some points of interest. And first let me explain that " Work house" in America means what its name implies, a place where people are made to work against their will. The helpless, aged poor, live in comfort at the Almshouse ; but the Workhouse is a place of punishment for minor offences, drunk and disorderly persons, 56 A TRIP TO AMERICA. women who misbehave in the public streets, men who desert their wives and families, and other misdemeanants. It is, in fact, a branch of the Penitentiary, and the prisoners in the two establishments do all the work of the island. At the time of my visit there were 450 men and 650 women in the Workhouse, and in addition to these about 1,000 of both sexes who had been transferred to do other work of the department elsewhere. I was shown over the building by an old man apparently about 70, but actually within a few weeks of 80 years of age. His manner was gentlemanlike and dignified, and he had evidently seen better days. I was led by these considerations to ask him how he came to be in such a place. He told me he was a Southerner, who had been ruined and reduced to poverty by the War of Secession. " I was too proud to beg,' 1 he said, " I had nobody to help me, I was too old (60) to get employment, so I 'committed 1 myself here, and have been here ever since." He has been kindly treated and allowed many privileges, among them being that of showing visitors over the establishment and HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS. 57 taking charge of the lending library for the use of the inmates. In fact he himself was largely instrumental in getting up the library, and he has the whole of the books and registers in excellent order. At the Lunatic Asylum, which is for female patients only, I was most kindly 'received by Dr. Franklin, the medical Superintendent, who gave me into the charge of Dr. Eminett C. Dent, the principal assistant physician, to show me everything about the place. The buildings, like the Penitentiary, are old and inconvenient, so that I was not able to learn much that was new or useful to me. There were 1,457 patients in the asylum, and the average cost per head is Is. a day. Economy has to be most carefully practised, for the money granted by the city is barely sufficient, and is doled out with a very sparing hand. But Dr. Franklin cheerfully encounters all his difficulties and vanquishes them. A very large proportion of the patients are Irish, and, in fact, British subjects form nearly one half (48 per cent.) of the inmates. Very few patients are under restraint. To prove 58 A TKIP TO AMERICA. this, Dr. Franklin sent a messenger to each of the twenty-eight wards unexpectedly to ask at each door, " How many patients have you at this moment under restraint ?" The answers were soon brought hack duly signed by the attendant in charge. Out of 1,457 patients only five were under restraint. Entertainments of various kinds, musical and dramatic, are furnished by the kindness of friends, and occasionally the patients are treated to an excursion on a steamboat be longing to the department. The " Code of Eules and Eegulations for the Government of those employed at the Asylum," prepared by Dr. Franklin himself, afforded me much amusement by the terse common sense which marks its composition, and the singular quaintness with which the worthy doctor enunciates his views. " All duty among the insane," says Dr. Franklin, "is responsible and respectable, but arduous, confining and teasing. The self- indulgent should never undertake it. The mentally or physically unadapted should never be encouraged to continue. The un- bendable, the querulous, and the shirkers HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS. 59 should be cut off. Then all who stay may be trusted, encouraged, and advanced." The Doctor is especially anxious that the delusions of patients should not be humoured or encouraged. They must, on 110 account, be addressed by the titles which their disordered fancies lead them to claim. On the contrary, they are to be dealt with truthfully and honestly, in order to win that confidence which " lies close to the root of discipline." As examples of quaintness of expression, I may quote from the " Eules for Attendants." Their dresses are to be neatly and plainly made, " without trail," and on no account are they to " use window-sills as clothes horses !" CHAPTEE VIII. THE IMMIGRANTS AT CASTLE GARDEN. Castle Garden, where the immigrants are received on landing, is well worth a visit. It supplies abundant evidence of the care which the authorities take of the thousands who come to seek a home in the New World. It is no exaggeration to say that the State is ready to standzV/ locoparentis to the immigrant. Nay, no parent could be so potent in protecting these poor people. Castle Garden was originally a fort, after wards converted into a summer resort, and among other things is celebrated as the place where Jenny Lind made her first appearance in America. It was first used as an immi grant depot in 1855, since which time defects in the arrangements have been gradually corrected, and now it would be difficult to imagine anything better adapted for the pur pose for which it is intended. THE IMMIGKANTS AT CASTLE GAliDEN. 61 The cost of its maintenance is about 150,000 dollars a year, and it is managed by a com mission of nine members, six being appointed by the Governor, the other three being ex-officio the Mayor of New York, and the Presidents of the Irish Emigrant Society, and the German Society. A tax of half-a-dollar a head is levied 011 all immigrants, and is paid by the Steam ship Companies. This tax used to be one-and a-half dollars per head, and was collected by the State of New York, but a recent decision of the Supreme Court determined the illegality of this tax as being " a regulation of commerce, and, as such, a usurpation of the powers of Congress," The tax is now collected by the Federal Government, and handed over to the State Government, which makes good any deficiency if the cost of maintenance exceeds the amount received. One result of this decision has been the commencement of actions by the Steamship Companies to recover the sums illegally paid by them during previous years. Although the Statute of Limitations will bar this demand to a considerable extent, the amount claimed is enormous. When I visited Castle Garden the Helvetia 62 A TKIP TO AMEKICA. had just arrived, landing 279 immigrants. Among these were 12 Armenians from Turkey, who were the special objects of interest for the day, as there had been some difficulty in rind ing an interpreter for them. Any European language has its interpreters at the depot, who are ready to speak to or write letters for the new arrivals ; but these Armenians were the first of their kind who had come. However, the difficulty was soon got over. I had the good fortune to be accompanied in my round of inspection by Mr. Forrest, one of the commissioners, and by Mr. Jackson, the secretary to the commission, both of whom were most anxious to supply me with all the particulars I required. The circular red sandstone wall of the old fort still remains, forming a gigantic amphi theatre, covered with a light but substantial roof. Here, in various divisions, were the emi grants who had arrived that morning, chiefly Germans and Scandinavians, with some Irish. Their lighter baggage lay scattered about, yet all in order. The heavier packages of those who were going West, had been placed in an adjoining storehouse, duly checked and tic- THE IMMIGRANTS AT CASTLE GARDEN. 63 keted. Two of the Armenians lay 011 dirty striped Turkish rugs, spread over the baggage of the party. They were young men of 18 or 20, and their dark eyes seemed to look sadly at us as we passed. In this amphitheatre the immigrant finds a broker who being under conditions which make fraud impossible will change his money for him at strict official rates ; a railway ticket office where he can buy tickets for any part of the States ; a doctor, if he requires one ; and a restaurant where he can obtain plain food at moderate prices, but no beverages stronger than lager beer. As many as 8,000 immigrants have been received here in a single day, but frequently 5,000 have passed through the depot in that time. Between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 have landed here since the establishment of the commission. On landing, the immigrant makes an affidavit as to the circumstances under which he has left Europe, his family, intentions, and the friends, if any, who are willing to receive him. These matters are carefully inquired into before he is allowed to pass. A widow woman 64 A TRIP TO AMERICA. with half-a-dozen children and no friends, who would inevitably become chargeable to the rates in a few days, would obviously be re jected. A pauper demoralised by workhouse experience, would stand a very bad chance. Upon my remarking that in England we had found out that the taint could never be eradi cated from the child born and bred in a work house, and that we were doing our best to obviate this, Mr. Commissioner Forrest be came quite excited for an American, and appealing to Mr. Secretary Jackson, exclaimed, " There now, is not that just what I am always trying to impress upon them ?" However, although workhouse paupers are justly dreaded, the immigrant without a farthing in his pocket, will by no means be rejected. I saw many of these waiting in. the Labour Bureau to be hired. There is no doubt that the Irish cause a great deal of trouble ; they frequently behave so unreasonably. For example, a few days before my visit, a family of assisted emigrants, an Irishman with his wife and a couple of children, had arrived and stated that they had friends in THE IMMIGRANTS AT CASTLE GAKDEN. 65 New York anxious to receive them. On en quiry this was found to be correct. The friends came, received them with open arms, and vowed to do all they could for them. The same evening other Irish friends came in to see the new arrivals. Whiskey was produced. One of the visitors contemptuously styled the new arrivals, " Government paupers." Retort followed, ending in a row, in which the friends who had promised so much in the morning took the most prominent part in belabouring the new comers, who were found battered and bleeding on the kerbstone by the police. Especial care is taken of women and girls, and woe betide any man who has the temerity to misconduct himself with regard to them. The boarding-houses to which the immi grant is recommended are kept under constant and rigid supervision by the commissioners. Those who wish to start at once for their destination are sent direct to the railway or steamboat, without any need to run the many risks of such a city as New York. If a man is unlucky in his first effort to make a living, the commissioners will take him back and give him a fresh start ; and if 66 A TEIP TO AMERICA. he is ill or meets with an accident, he is received into the hospital on Ward's Island, where he is kept until cured, while if an operation is necessary, it is not performed except by, or in the presence of, one or more of the Board of Physicians and Surgeons, which consists of the first men in New York, who give their services gratuitously. The Labour Bureau is a novel sight. In a large semicircular apartment, divided in half, I saw seated on each side about 200 men and women, in almost equal proportions, waiting to be hired. The women are in charge of a matron, and anyone hiring them must give a satisfactory account of himself, unless known personally to the office. While I was there a gentleman wishing to hire a domestic servant was sent back to produce evidence of his res pectability. No charge is made to the hirer, and of course none is required of the immi grants, everything being done for them entirely free of cost. I learned that 1,271 immigrants had been landed that day from seven steamships, and that not one of them had been rejected. CHAPTEE IX. NEW YOKK. HELL GATE AND THE HUDSON. " AND this is Hell Gate !" I exclaimed, with ail enthusiasm which surprised an American friend on hoard the Yosemite, as that model steam yacht made her way through the dis- turbed water of the channel between Ward's Island and Long Island, and which is the connecting link between the East Eiver and Long Island Sound. I had long wished to see this celebrated strait, which, like all places and persons connected with the War of In dependence, had always interested me greatly. The name of Hell Gate was not inappro priately bestowed on this dangerous rapid, formerly only navigable under very favourable circumstances by vessels of light draught. The harbour of New York can be entered through two channels, one by way of Sandy Hook and the other through Hell Gate. E 2 08 A Tliir TO AMEUICA. Lord Howe settled an annuity of 50 a year on a negro pilot who brought the Experiment^ a frigate of 50 guns, successfully through this passage when the Sandy Hook route was blocked, thereby reinforcing his little fleet most seasonably. It is recorded that when the Experiment was in the most critical part of the boiling channel, Sir James Wallace, the captain, gave some orders on the quarter deck, which, in the negro pilot's opinion, interfered with the duties of his office. He touched Sir James gently on the shoulder and' said, " Massa, you no peak here." Sir James felt the force of Sambo's remark, and interfered no more. The passage of this 50-gun frigate through Hell Gate was a notable event at the time, but the memory of it has passed away. The United States Government, feeling no doubt that New York Harbour could be protected in this direction by other means than the sunken rocks which made Hell Gate dangerous, decided to free the channel from the obstruc tion. Engineers were employed from 1870 to 1876 in drilling the principal rocks and charg- HELL GATE AND THE HUDSON. 69 ing them with nitro-glycerine, and in the latter year the whole mass was exploded. The debris is at present in process of removal, and further excavations and explosions are intended, but the passage can now he safely navigated at all states of the tide. Before starting on our journey of 3,000 miles into the Great North- West, our host, Mr. Rufus Hatch kindest and most hospitable of men gave us a sort of preliminary canter (if I may so call it) one day up the East River and Long Island Sound, and on the next day up the Hudson River to West Point and Newburg. Mr. John Roach, the eminent shipbuilder of New York, not only placed at our disposal his beautiful steam yacht the Yosemite, but he and his son accompanied us. This was how I came to pass through Hell Gate. The Yosemite is a very swift boat, and did her twenty to twenty-two miles an hour quite easily. The noisy fashion in which her captain greeted or hurled defiance at almost everything we met or passed was very amusing. He shrieked shrill whistles at one ; he trumpeted deafening fog-horns at- another; but when we 70 A TRIP TO AMERICA. passed Mr. Jay Gould's yacht the Atalanta, lying at anchor off Twenty- Third Street, he combined all the hideous noises in his power, and crowned them by the unexpected discharge of a brass cannon, the Atalanta returning the salute in due form, and with equal noise. The Hudson River and its banks are classic ground to anyone interested in American history and literature. Here is Fort Wash ington, captured by the British in 1776, with all its garrison of 2,500 men. Here is Spuyten Duyvil Creek, where the sturdy old Dutch trumpeter was drowned in his attempt to swim the Harlem River, " in spite of the devil," (hence the name) as recorded by Washington Irving, and a little higher up the river is Sleepy Hollow, also immortalised by Irving in his " Eip Yan Winkle." .At Yonkers was fought a naval battle between British and Americans. Near here is the place where poor Major Andre was captured and executed as a British spy, and finally, amid lovely scenery, we arrive at West Point, famous in American History. The cordial welcome accorded to us by Mr. Henry Cranston gave occasion for many HELL GATE AND THE HUDSON. 71 goodnatured jokes, when our American friends were reminded that there was a time when any attempts on the part of " Britishers " to reach West Point, would have met with a most determined resistance. When the Yosemite got back to New York, it was thought more convenient that we should be landed at the end of Twenty- Third Street, in which our hotel was situated. It was quite dark when the first boat was lowered from the davits, and the ladies were put into it. Presently, before it was filled, it was found to be filling in another fashion. There were loud shouts of "You've left the plug out." " We are all wet," followed by a hurried disembarkation. Even in such a well-regulated yacht as the Yosemite the usual mistake had occurred, and when the seldom-used boats came to be un expectedly launched the plug of one of them was missing. .It was well the mistake was discovered in time, for we were half-a-mile from the shore, and the strings of barges and the night-boats going to Albany, made the landing sufficiently dangerous without having the plug out of your boat ! 72 A TRIP TO AMERICA. The next morning at eight the various members of the " Kufus Hatch " party mustered at the Christopher Street Ferry, crossed to Hoboken, and left at 9.30 in a special train of Palace cars on the Delaware and Lacka- wamia Railroad for Buffalo, en route for the Yellowstone. CHAPTEE X. A E AIL WAY JOURNEY. NIAGARA. To call the structure on which we crossed from New York to Hoboken a ferry boat, does not convey at all an accurate idea of its nature and general appearance. It is more as if an enormous slice off the New York road, ter minating in a covered shed with every comfort and protection from the weather, were trans ferred across the Hudson and joined on to the Hoboken road, close to the railway station, which was our destination. New York being built upon an island, and a large portion of the population being non resident, has necessitated the construction of ferries on a large scale, to convey daily back wards and forwards hundreds of carts and carriages and thousands of foot passengers. The North, or Hudson River, is a mile in width, and substantially built vessels are 74 A TETP TO AMERICA. required to ensure safety to the passengers, especially when the winter months come and floating ice descends the river. On several occasions a ferry boat has been carried away, locked in the ice, half way down the bay before it could be extricated. The railroad which was our route to Buffalo is known as the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Line, or more concisely as the Lack awanna Line, named after the pretty valley through which it passes. A railroad in America is not the thing apart which it is with us. It is not built high upon arches ; it does not burrow underground. On the contrary, it forms part of the daily experience of ordinary life among those whose means do not enable them to live in more favoured localities. America is essentially a country of level crossings. The ordinary high road runs along side or crosses on the level, as occasion may require. The inhabitants sit at their front doors to see the arrival of the train. The children play in the gutters on either hand. There are accidents every now and then, no doubt, but in America you must look out for A RAILROAD JOURNEY- NIAGARA. 75 yourself. Occasionally a train smashes up a street car which gets in its way. But that is a detail. On the whole, the plan does not work badly. On an American railway every engine is provided with a large, deep-toned bell, placed on the saddle of the boiler. To this bell is attached a cord, which connects it with the little glass and metal apartment in which the engineer and stoker are sheltered from the weather. Before an engine is set in motion a few strokes of the bell give warning of its intentions, and so long as the machine moves about within the limits of a station, or at a junction, or in fact where there is any possible risk to human beings, the solemn tolling of the bell is kept up. After this warn ing the engineer would not be held responsible if he ran over any heedless unfortunate. The result of all this tolling of bells is that the traveller, on first arriving at a railway station, naturally thinks that some religious services are about to be carried on in numerous churches and chapels, in and about the depot. But the most weird effect is produced, when, courting sleep in vain, in the small hours of 76 A TRIP TO AMERICA. the morning, yon are travelling express speed and meet another train, whose engine-driver blows his whistle and rings his bell as he rushes past you in the darkness. The mixture of solemn toll with wild, discordant shriek, is the most unearthly combination of sounds that can well be heard at such a moment. A special train of Pullman cars awaited us, and punctually at 9.30 we started. The Lackawanna line passes through some lovely scenery, mounting the ridges of the Alle- ghanies, or " Kittatinny," as the Indians used to call the great ridge running north-east and south-west for hundreds of miles. Advantage has been taken of the Delaware Water gap, where that river cuts the chain and makes its way to Philadelphia, to carry the railroad through the chasm, whose sides tower up to a height of 1,500 or 1,600ft. As the day wore on we mounted higher, until the magnificent expanse of the Genesee Valley opened before us. We gazed in ad miration as the cars hurried along, until, after a lovely sunset, darkness suddenly settled down upon us. We arrived at Buffalo at 9.30, having A KAILKOAD JOURNEY NIAGAKA. 77 occupied exactly twelve hours in our jour ney of 450 miles across the State of New York. Early in the day we had stopped for a few minutes at Scranton, a town which has rapidly sprung into existence in consequence of the enormous output of anthracite coal which abounds in that locality. Here a sad accident happened to one of our party, but happily was not so serious as it might easily have been. The train having stopped long enough for a dozen of us to get down, suddenly moved on for a hundred yards or so. A gentleman from Boston, thinking he was going to be left behind, made a foolish attempt to get " on board," and, missing his step, was hurled violently against a truck, with the result that his head was cut open for six inches. Luckily it was only a scalp wound, but the sight of a fellow-passenger with blood streaming from his head, partly carried and partly led into a waiting-room, acted somewhat as a damper on our spirits at the commencement of our great journey. However, it was the only mischance which we encountered from beginning to end. The injured man of course had to be left 78 A TKIP TO AMEKICA. behind, but he was well cared for, and was able to return home in a few days. Buffalo, at the foot of Lake Erie, is a great centre of commerce, and has splendid docks, wharves, wide streets, handsome public buildings, and most luxurious hotels. At any rate, I can vouch for the Genesee Hotel as a model of luxury and comfort. Only stopping for the night, we pushed on next morning to Niagara, about twenty miles away. Of course I thought that, like many other places about which one has heard such lavish praise, I should be grievously disap pointed when I saw it. Not at all. I don't believe it possible for any description to ex aggerate the glory and loveliness of Niagara. Nay more, the longer you look at it the greater must be your admiration. Photographs of the Falls are simply gross libels. They naturally convey not the smallest notion of the dazzling white foam, the delicate tints of blue varying from pale cobalt to deep indigo, the vast cloud of spray now carried here, now there, as the wind takes it, nor any of the marvellous atmospheric effects which fascinate the beholder. A KAILKOAD JOUKNEY NIAGAKA. 79 You can sit and watch Niagara for hours, as the wondrous rapids hurry on in haste to pour their waters over the ledge of the Horseshoe Fall, and then, as if satisfied with their work, or stunned by the descent, roll lazily away from the cataract, until compressed by the narrowing gorge, and quickened by a more sloping bed, they exert themselves again, and rush madly along past the spot where that poor infatuated fellow, Captain Webb, blinded by his vanity, madly courted certain death. Any one, with a grain of common sense, must see at a glance that the bed of the river where Webb was last seen is covered under neath the boiling torrent with gigantic blocks of stone, which must inevitably slay anyone who failed to float on the surface like a cork. Besides, the force and violence of this awful Malstrom must entirely take it out of the power of the cleverest swimmer to regulate his movements. The guides point out the exact place where Webb threw up his arm and went down, either sucked under by tho tossing breakers, or carrying out his mad scheme (as is supposed) of diving past the 80 A TKir TO AMEUICA. most difficult and dangerous portion of the passage. There could only be one result. His body with the life beaten out of it was found in the awful whirlpool below, where the dark green waters slowly collect their scat tered senses before moving steadily along towards Lake Ontario. It would be an old story to tell of the height, width, depth, speed, volume of water, and such like details of the Falls. Have not these matters been amply set forth over and over again ? Everybody has heard also that the American commercial spirit has shown itself so power fully, that every part of the American shore from whence a view of the Falls can be ob tained has been bought up and turned into an exhibition, with an exorbitant entrance fee. It is only on the Canadian side that a view of Niagara can be obtained free of cost. The same grasping spirit, however, is not entirely absent on our shore, many important points, such as the Eapids and the Whirlpool, having been seized upon by speculators. The electric light is employed at night to illuminate the American Fall and Goat Island A KAIL ROAD JOUKNEY NIAGAKA. 81 with moonlight and coloured effect. This, to my mind, was almost a desecration. For tunately the great Horseshoe Fall was too far off to catch any rays of this unworthy Vauxhall illumination, and thundered grandly in the darkness. The Clifton House Hotel on the Canadian shore is undoubtedly the best place to stay, commanding as it does an uninterrupted and perfect view of the Falls. It has the advan tage also of being just far enough to escape the wetting of the spray, which is an im portant consideration. CHAPTEB XI. CHICAGO. THE fascination of Niagara is enthralling ; it is hard to tear yourself away from the fairy giant. Softer and deeper was the blue of the Horseshoe Fall, higher and higher rose the lovely veil of spray, until it floated away in misty rain a thousand feet in air, a brighter rainbow spanned the stream, when the morning came for us to leave. Chicago was to be our next resting place, after a disturbed night spent in the cars. Our route lay through the province of Ontario, along the Grand Trunk Kailway of Canada. This portion of Western Canada is in the heart of the great lakes. It has Huron on the north, Ontario on the east, and Erie on the south, and it experiences () A TRIP TO AMERICA. that was their habit of chewing tobacco and spitting no, splashing great floods of yellow juice all over the place. When the distance from the outer world was considered we were 2,000 miles from Chicago, and 3,000 miles from any Eastern city the accommodation at the Hot Springs was wonderful. Certainly we had not the luxurious carpets and frescoed rooms of the Fifth Avenue Hotel at New York. But we had very good and clean beds, an excellent table, the best of champagne, and plenty of Lager beer also. The beer, by the bye, did fail for one day, and the next waggon load was eagerly watched for in its progress over the hillside, and its arrival was duly cheered. At every meal the French cook used to give us that great luxury in such a climate- American ice cream. I say " American " ice cream advisedly, for you must cross the At lantic to taste ice cream in perfection. It is a staple article of food with them in tho hot weather. A promos of the French cook, who was an importation from New York, having arrived only a day or two before our party, he bore the journey pretty well, until he came to THE MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS. 151 the descent of the last hill before reaching the hotel, and then he exclaimed, "Do you mean to tell me that any one will come here for pleasure ?" Facing the verandah of the hotel we saw a picturesque range of mountains, in the middle distance were wooded hills, and in the near foreground was the most remarkable object in the Park a vast white and yellow mass, resembling nothing so much as the Rhone Glacier, but of greater dimensions, protruding from the side of the mountain. This was the more recent deposit of the Mammoth Hot Springs. By "recent" I mean since the geo logical period known as the glacial epoch ; for these springs were active long before that date, and the actual area of their deposits is many square miles in extent. I devoted such spare time as I had to a careful examination of the country round this formation, and I discovered distinct traces in two instances of lofty craters which must have been active in remote ages before they were partially buried beneath the moraine which now surrounds them. Our time in the Park was far too limited for anything more than the A THIP TO AMERICA most cursory investigation of a portion only of its natural wonders. In the plateau on which the hotel stands are numerous extinct craters, bahy geysers, small boiling lakes, and bottomless caves. The whole of the drainage of the hotel is carried into one of these extinct geysers, and it was a matter for speculation as to what effect, irritating or otherwise, it might have upon the hidden machinery and the unseen workers in the regions below ! The soil, if so it can be called, is an incrus tation of brimstone, but, save for the sense of insecurity, not unpleasant to walk upon. A lovely wood of pines, yew, and juniper, carpeted by sage brush and cactus, tempted me to wander to the blue sparkling waters of the Gardiner Kiver. There I found several anglers. I was, unfortunately, not provided with a fishing rod, but one of our party, MY. Thomas Mack, of Boston, had gone to the river for the express purpose of doing what has been so contemptuously discredited in England, but which is a common feat in the Park, namely, to catch a fish in one stream, and cook it immediately in another without THE MAMMOTH HOT S1T,1N(!-S. 153 shifting your position. The Water of the geysers is boiled at great pressure, and cer tainly for some reason retains its heat much longer than ordinary boiling water. A stream of this boiling water comes out of the earth and runs for some distance by the side of the Gardiner Kiver before joining it. The Gar diner abounds with small and not very healthy trout, which are easily caught. Mr. Mack was not long in hooking a fish, and he dropped it, still hanging to the hook, into the geyser water, which, being hotter than he expected, cooked the trout so quickly that it almost fell to pieces. A second attempt was more suc cessful, and in a few minutes a second fish was caught and cooked, several of us partaking of morsels of it, for the sake of saying that we had done so. The earlier as well as the later travellers to the Yellowstone Park have had their stories discredited. But I can assure my readers that this fish catching and cooking holds a very unimportant place among the wonderful curiosities of the region. The whole Park, or rather series of Parks, is or has been, more or less given up to this geyser action, and I can well understand how the 154 A TIUP TO AMKKICA. Indians avoided it as a place inhabited by evil spirits. To the artist, the scene at Mammoth Hot Springs is at once an allurement and a cause of despair. Who shall give the most remote reproduction of that deep blue sky, that cloud less dome of cobalt ? The hills reflect the yellows of the glorious sunshine, and at my feet is the Hot Spring Lake, a dazzling sur face of brightest orange and burnt sienna. The bubbling water in the centre is of a blue, so delicately brilliant that no artificial colour could convey any idea of it. There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous, and in the midst of one of nature's grandest scenes, I am compelled to compare the Hot Spring Lake to a huge cauldron, perhaps a quarter of a mile in dia meter, resembling nothing so much as poach ing eggs on a gigantic scale. The deepest of deep yellow yolks are there, and the whitest of froths seethe and bubble around them, while at the edge of the cauldron lies quiet clear blue water, looking so innocent, but at boiling heat. From the terrace where I am standing, the THE MAMMOTH HOT SPUIMIS. successive terraces of this sulphurous deposit extend for more than 1,000 feet down to the river, clothed at their base with fir, cedar, and junipers, which have thrived in the alkaline formation until they have become forest trees. Looking upward to the horizon of the moun tain ridge, 2,000 feet above me, I see the same formation clothed with mighty forest trees to the summit. The terrace whereon I stand, with its giant egg-poaching establishment, is only the modern living example of the vast formation. The ground beneath is full of rumblings and murmurings. A slight crack of a few inches wide reveals a fissure of unknown depth, from which issues a noise as of big steam-engines bubbling and hissing, while the smell I en counter beggars description. That smell of sulphuretted hydrogen pervades the park. Wherever you may go you can scarcely ever escape from it. How dry the air is ! The thermometer stands at from 90 degs. to 100 degs. and yet the skin shows no moisture. The perspi ration evaporates as quickly as it is given forth, the result being that you never feel 156 A TRIP TO AMERICA. cool. For days and weeks clouds may threaten overhead towards sunset, but there is no rain. The next morning the sky is as blue as ever. CHAPTER XIX. THE GEYSEII BASINS. TWENTY-SEVEN miles of hard riding or fatigu ing waggon driving had to he undergone before we reached the nearest geyser basin, named, after one of the commandants of the park, the N orris Geyser Basin. The first business was to climb the moun tain side for about 3,000 feet. The road lay through a dense forest, and was the steepest, dustiest, and hottest I ever remember. After two hours' hard struggle we got our waggon and its contents safely to the plateau at the top. I did not know at the time, but I found out afterwards, that we had to return down this terrible hill. On the way back one of the waggons, team and all, turned over and tumbled down the mountain side. Fortu nately the occupants had wisely taken to their 158 A TRIP TO AMERICA. feet just before the accident, and the only result was the loss of a lady's dressing bag, for the horses recovered their feet, and did not seem to trouble much about their sudden descent. When once we were on the summit we found a long level elevated valley, with a pretty lake, called Swan Lake, but I saw no swans, for the reason that there are not any. Passing beneath the lofty cliffs of obsidian, or volcanic glass, along the shores of Beaver Lake with obvious traces of the dams and houses of these quaint animals, all of whom have long since been trapped, we left a poisonous green coppery stream on our right, and mounted another terrible hill chiefly of sulphur and magnesia, and catching a glimpse only of the Lake of the Woods, entered another level valley, partly prairie, partly forest, and arrived at our first night's camp at 4 p.m. One of the greatest drawbacks of travelling in the park, is the difficulty of obtaining water that is fit to drink. On the route we had just passed there were two springs deliciously cold and pure, but all other streams, small or great, THE GEYSER BASINS. 159 were more or less poisonous, from the coppery stream I have just mentioned, which was simply and obviously deadly, to the river by which we were now encamped, and which was highly impregnated with alkali and sulphur, although difficult to detect by the taste. When the park has been more thoroughly ex plored no doubt many valuable springs will be found, which will refresh the traveller of the future. About a mile from the Hot Spring Hotel there was a delicious spring very fully charged with carbonic acid gas, and which was actually an Apolliiiaris spring. There is much of this gas escaping on all sides, but it generally finds its way to the open air through a hot medicated water. No doubt this Apolli- naris spring will yet be turned to profitable account, with many other valuable Briinnen at present unknown. Our camp made a good deal of show exter nally, but it was not well provided. The ravenous tourist was difficult to satisfy. Our cook and his wife lost their tempers and their civility. The accommodation w r as not equal to the demand, and I was not sorry, when darkness closed round us, to wrap myself in a 1(50 A TKIP TO AMEKIOA. rough grey blanket, put my overcoat under my head for a pillow, and sleep on the bare ground the sleep of the just. The Norris Geyser Basin was about half-a- mile beyond our camp, and was on our route to the Lower Geyser, Midway Geyser, and Upper Geyser Basins, the first of which is about twenty and the last about thirty miles distant. The Norris Geyser Basin is doubt less the oldest and the highest in the Park, being about 7,400 feet above sea level. Its geysers are not so large as some at the Upper Basin, notably those known as " Old Faithful," "The Castle," "The Giant," " The Giantess," " The Beehive," and others. But the Norris Basin has this great advantage over the others, that it is the first "fire-hole" that greets the astonished eyes of the visitor who enters the park from the Mammoth Hot Spring side. It is of vast extent, and jets of steam rise from the white surface as far as the eye can reach up to the low fir- clad hills that are its boundary. Beyond, in the extreme distance, rise the bare, parched mountains of the Gallatin Kan^e. The whole basin is a collection of T1J1-; CrUYSEll 1JASINS. 101 hot springs and pools, varying greatly in colour. "Frying-pans," as the guides call them, sputter and hiss violently ; "paint-pots " boil and bubble ; and geysers, little and big, throw up their columns of water at long or short intervals. The earth rumbles and shakes, and the air is hot and stinks abomin ably. Where the water does not boil over, it seethes and gurgles underneath, and great caution is necessary in selecting your path where the surface is so treacherous. The chief geyser in this basin is known as " The Monarch." He is said to spout once in twenty-four hours, throwing up an immense volume of boiling water through three capacious orifices to a height of over one hundred feet. The eruption lasts for about twenty minutes. When I was there, of course it was not his time for showing off his powers, but he was very busy getting ready his forces for another display. We did our best to provoke him, by pitching great lumps of rock down his throat so as to destroy the equilibrium below. But he contented himself with grum bling severely for a short time, and then returned to his normal condition of active 162 A Tllll' TO AMEUICA. preparation. However, there were plenty of less important geysers to exhibit the working of the machinery. There is a most useful little model geyser called the " Minute Man," which punctually once every sixty seconds spouts a bold stream to the height of twenty- five feet or thirty feet from an orifice about six inches in diameter. I should add that " The Monarch " had cleared the ground for his operations by blowing out a large gap in the side of the mountain. Surrounded by fir trees whitened by the steam and spray, is " The Workshop," and certainly it is well named, for the varied sounds given forth by this "funiarole" exactly resemble the noise of a busy establishment with much machinery hard at work. In fact it is difficult to believe that there is not some place of the kind among the trees. Another very striking effect is produced by a " blow hole " in the rocks by the side of the road. The name of "The Steamboat Vent" has been given, to this evident safety valve. You feel instinctively that if the safety valve were screwed down, the appalling force of the steam must necessarily lift the neighbourhood far THE GEYSE1I BASINS. 163 and near into the air. The steam escaping from " The Steamboat Vent " is so super heated, that it is not visible in the form of steam for some distance after it leaves the ground. Its roar is awful, and branches of trees laid across the aperture shrivel up in a few moments. In these various basins, besides many others less important, the apertures whence steam, water, or coloured mud are discharged have never been counted. I should say there must be hundreds, if not thousands. Some geysers discharge their contents in such a manner that a deposit is formed round the aperture, which assumes in many instances fantastic shapes. Thus you have the Monument, the Castle, the Beehive, the Orange, the Liberty Cap (an extinct geyser), &c. " Old Faithful " in the Upper Basin is the tourist's pet geyser, because of the frequency and regularity with which his magnificent eruptions occur, thus affording excellent oppor tunities for observation. Its crater, an oblong opening, two feet by six feet, is situated on a mound of geyserite about twelve feet in height. This mound is composed of layers of deposit L 2 101 A TKIP TO AME11K A. formed in the manner referred to above. "Old Faithful" "operates," as the Ameri cans say, every hour or thereabouts, throwing a large column of water for four or five minutes to a height of 100 feet or 150 feet. This geyser affords amusement to the tourist by kindly acting as a laundry on occasion. Pocket-handkerchiefs placed in the crater during the period of quiescence are punctually restored, thoroughly washed, to their owners when the eruption takes place. I was told that it was made to take in washing on a larger scale sometimes, by the surveying ex peditions which have camped for a long time in the Park. General Sheridan's men, in 1882, found that linen and cotton fabrics were uninjured by the action of the water, but woollen clothes were torn to shreds. The whole scene is very wonderful, very unlike anything else, very well worth seeing, ex tremely uncanny, and very difficult to get at. And no one can say it does not repay him. A third hard ride brings the traveller to the climax of his journey, after which all are agreed that the majesty and beauty of the scenery of the Rockies can no farther go. It THE GEYSER PAS INS. 165 ends in the Falls of the Yellowstone River and the Grand Canyon. The Upper and Lower Falls are about half-a-mile apart. The Upper is not so grand as the Lower, but it is more picturesque. The clear height of the Fall has been accurately measured, and is 112 feet. The Lower Fall is about 310 feet in height. After quitting the pool at the foot of the Upper Fall the river turns somewhat abruptly to the left, rushing through Cascade Creek until its sea-green water leaps from the brink of the Great Fall into the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is supposed to be unique and one of the wonders of scenery. It is of the nature of a Swiss defile, and yet so totally different that the recollection of any well known pass in no way helps the description. But try to imagine a huge mountain, with two jagged summits and a " col " of the brightest coloured rock- no dull greys of slate or granite, but yellow and orange tinted strata, to which the rocks at Alum Bay may be compared as pigmies to giants ; and then imagine this bright coloured mountain cloven in two to its very base, and in the fissure, flowing at an immense depth, sometimes 166 A TRIP TO AMERICA. visible, sometimes quite hidden, the. Yellow stone Eiver. It is a scene never to be for gotten. A bridle-path goes for ten miles on the summit of the fissure on the left bank of the river. Above the path rise lofty " dents " and " aiguilles." On the opposite side are displayed the dazzling sides of the huge mountain, on which the brightest hues alter nate with each other, from, the most brilliant canary, orange, and bronze, to the mossy green of the river's bed. The burning rays of the sun play on these colours, shining in full force down the gully. This gorgeous scene lasts throughout a ride of ten miles, leaving an impression that can never be effaced. " Of its kind," said one of our pa.rty who gave rne this description, " there is assuredly nothing finer in the whole world !" Several of our party found their way back over Mount Washburn to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, but the inadequacy of tlio means of transport, the want of horses, and the general breakdown of the commissariat department, added to the illness of more than one, interfered greatly with the plans as THE GEYSER BASINS. 167 originally projected. Another summer mat ters will be very different and much better arranged. As it was, the majority of us retraced our steps. At one place on the road back the crust in the vicinity of a crater gave way, and the contents of one of the waggons were precipitated into it. The occupants of the vehicle, among whom were two ladies, had fortunately got out a few minutes before, otherwise the accident might have been more serious than the laughter which it aroused. Among the articles turned out into the geyser was a basket containing fresh eggs, and the negro servants from the railway train, who had accompanied us, grinned with delight when they finally fished out the eggs and found they were boiled hard ! The Great Yellowstone Lake in the south eastern quarter of the Park was not included in our hurried tour. In itself alone are the materials to occupy the explorer for a much longer period than we had at our disposal. Up to the present it is known only to much more hardy travellers than we were. No attempt even has been made to accdinodate travellers, and the hut of a 108 A TRIP TO AMERICA. trapper here or there is all the shelter its banks afford. The lake is reported to be full of curiosities, sub-aqueous boiling springs, geysers like cauldrons on its shores, and the enterprising but cautious traveller can take a hot or cold bath in its waters, as he may prefer. Strange to say, it abounds with trout, but they are unhealthy and " wormy." The Park generally has but little game. I saw a dead bear, a tame elk, and an abundance of wild ducks. Possibly the bears, buffalo, elk, and other large game go elsewhere during the summer months. Elk is plentiful somewhere in the vicinity, because we had it as food at the hotel. But the sportsman and we had a good many in our party will assuredly be disappointed if he goes to the Yellowstone Park in the hope of securing a great bag. Our sporting friends had gone prepared to find bears and wolves as plentiful as blackberries, and were provided with such an arsenal of weapons and ammunition as to be objects of apprehension to their more peaceful fellow- travellers. But they never killed anything or (happily) anybody. One of the party went away with a hunter into the mountains for THE GEYSER BASINS. 00 ten days, but he only killed one elk and some ducks, catching, however, an abundance of fine trout. In addition to the wrong impression which has gone abroad with regard to the abundance of game, there is another very prevalent in the United States, and that is that there are glaciers among the mountains. As an old and very unworthy member of the Alpine Club, I may be allowed, at any rate, to say that I know a glacier when I see one. In this part of the range of the Rocky Mountains, I saw some detached patches of snow remaining unmelted from last winter and lodged in deep hollows and crevices. But there was not a trace of a glacier. The limit of perpetual snow in Switzerland is about 9,500 feet. The mountains of the Yellowstone rise to 10,000 feet or 12,000 feet, and the Park is consider ably south of Switzerland, and in a country under very different climatic conditions. There is an abundance of beauty and interest in the Yellowstone Park, but it is not, and never can be, a Switzerland. The roads, which are now unworthy of the name, are being rapidly improved by the 170 A TRIP TO AMERICA. United States Government. President Arthur, accompanied by General Sheridan, Mr. Sec retary Lincoln, Mr. Crosby, Governor of Montana, Captain Clark, and others made the tour of the Park this season, with mounted military escort, baggage mules, and relays of horses. Even with so many advantages the task was not an easy one. There are difficulties of climate, the sulphurous soil and smells, the heat, and the sometimes sudden changes of temperature to frost at night. Moreover, the supply of water has to be chosen with great care, or the traveller may be prostrated. Warnings are to be put up at the poisonous springs, rivers, and lakes, and notice given also to travellers when they may freely drink of the roadside springs, or bathe in wholesome water. The uncertainty of procuring fresh food, wine, or spirits, makes it advisable for each party to provide themselves to a great extent with their own supplies, and not to depend upon the chance of what they may find at the " Hotel Tents " in the interior. The supply of horses, too, is at present quite inadequate to the demand of the travellers, when their numbers, the badness of the paths, THE GEYSER BASINS. 171 and the length of the stages twenty, thirty, or forty miles are considered. But we, pioneers, cheerfully submitted to these dis advantages, feeling that the energetic Ameri cans will have many improvements by next summer and in every succeeding summer. So new is the Yellowstone Park to the people in the Eastern States of the Union, that no photographs of its geysers could be obtained in New York, when we were there. But the State Department at Washington is causing large maps, drawings, and photo graphs to be made. Their employes were engaged on this work last summer, and any art publisher can now be furnished with copies on application. Dr. Oskar Berggruen, of Vienna, who was one of my companions, is about to reproduce them in his forth coming book 011 the Yellowstone Park, which will be translated into French and English, and will be one of the most valuable ad ditions to the literature of the Yellowstone yet given to the public. On the return journey to the Hot Springs Hotel we suffered terribly from heat, especially when, on the open prairie near Swan Lake, 172 A TRIP TO AMERICA. where there was not a particle of shade, our team, which had been a great trouble and anxiety to us all day, finally gave out. One of our horses fell as if dying, and the other declined to struggle on any farther. 'The heat was awful. Our driver, a particularly pleasant young fellow, appealed, and happily not in vain, to a "freighter," who was ahead of us with two waggons and two teams, to spare us one team. With that desire to help one another in difficulty, which is a marked charac teristic of the rough denizens of the frontier, this man immediately hitched one of his waggons on behind the other, and taking the team thus set at liberty put the horses to our waggon and drove us to the end of our journey down the terrible hill, which I have already described. We found Judge Pierrepoint quitting his carriage in order to make this dangerous descent, which he thought it safer to do on foot. The Judge, who was formerly American Minister in London, had been furnished with mules and a military escort by the United States Government, and was travel ling, so to speak, in grand style. I had after- THE GEYSEK BASINS. 173 wards, the pleasure of having him as my partner in many a friendly rubber of whist, during our stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, and a very good " hand " he played. In America they have a species of whist which is neither "long" nor "short," but between the two. Seven points are "game," and "honours" are not counted. Several days passed before the whole of our scattered party was once more collected under the roof of the Hot Springs Hotel. It was a happy result when all had got back without injury beyond that arising from heat, bad food and water, and fatigue. Each detachment as it arrived had its own special story of difficulty, danger, or disappointment. The negro ser vants shook their heads earnestly, and told me they did not like it at all. But, then, who expected that they would ? For myself, I suffered up to the time I left the district from a mild but unpleasant attack of fever of an intermittent character. One day the President of the United States arrived with all his party at the superinten dent's house, the most conspicuous object on the mound in front of the hotel. It gave us a 174 A TKIP TO AMERICA. new sensation to see the " Stars and Stripes " flying like the Royal Standard to inform our small world that the Head of the State was in our neighbourhood. After dinner that evening we went in a body to serenade the President, who received us by his camp fire. It was a sight never to be forgotten, so wild and so strange was it. Later in the evening President Arthur re turned our visit, bringing with him General Sheridan, Secretary Lincoln, and the other members of his party. We were all especially interested in making the acquaintance of General Sheridan, who is not only a remark able man, but a remarkable looking man, being very short and stout, in fact, almost as broad as he is long. He has grown much stouter since the time when he made his celebrated "Ride" of twenty miles to the fight. I was especially favoured by being placed on the President's right hand when we ad journed for a cigar to a private room. I found him a most courteous and agreeable man, ready to speak of public matters with less reserve than I should have anticipated. He THE GEYSEli BASINS. 175 had much, to tell me of his travels in Alaska and Oregon. He was also good enough to give me his views on Ireland, Protection, and Fair Trade. I found from him that his grand father had fought at Waterloo, and that he still preserved as a valued heirloom a decora tion which had been bestowed upon his ancestor by the Duke of Kent. The President and I had both been "rough ing it," but he had undergone much more of it than I had. We had both been out of the vicinity of washerwomen for some weeks ; but I flattered myself that he looked the shabbier and dirtier of the two as we sat side by side ; besides, the skin hung in strips on his nose, which did not improve his appearance. However, I enjoyed a very pleasant chat with him for three-quarters of an hour, and I doubt if any other Englishman ever before had an interview under similar circumstances with any of the chiefs of the Great Republic across the Atlantic. The next morning, soon after sunrise, he broke up his camp, and, making for the nearest point of the railway, returned to Washington. CHAPTEE XX. BITTING BULL AT BISMAKCK. ON the morning of my departure from the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, I was awakened at an early hour by the sounds of the " Stein- way." It was a well-known popular tune which reminded me strongly of home. A family of Americans, travelling, as is their habit, with all their children, had arrived a few days before. The ladies remained at the hotel, while the gentlemen made the tour of the Park. One of the girls, with a sweet voice, had taken possession of the " Steinway," and was singing " In the gloaming," which was soon followed by some selections from "Patience." Later, Mr. Hermann, of New York, who was one of our party, favoured us with a succession of magnificent performances, bringing out all the brilliant qualities of the KETUKNING. 177 piano. Mr. Hermann's taste and execution are well known, and as a pianist he is unsur passed. The music seemed somehow to match the glorious sunshine outside. Anything more beautiful than that morning it is impossible for the most lively imagination to picture. The sun blazed from a cloudless sky of the richest blue A light cool air fanned our cheeks. The atmosphere was so free from any trace of mist or haze that, without exaggeration, mountains twenty miles away seemed within an easy stroll. Our drive to the termination of the railway was one pro longed chorus of amazement and delight. During our stay in the Park the line had been advanced seven miles, which very materially reduced our rough waggon-ride. The Negro bed-boy of our car, a most civil, pleasant fellow, grinned unmistakable delight at our return, and we were not less pleased to see him, and to be once more in our travelling hotel, the railway train. The ride back by the red-coloured rocks of the Cinnabar Moun tain and the Devil's Slide, and so through the Gate of the Mountains to Livingstone, was very lovely, its grandeur being heightened by 178 A TEIP TO AMERICA. the gathering thunderclouds over the lofty peaks. No rain fell, however, and after an hour's delay our train started on its long East ward return journey along the Northern Pacific line. Our numbers were somewhat reduced, for several of our party had left us for sporting purposes, and others had gone further west to the Pacific Coast, intending to visit San Fran cisco, and return by Utah and the Salt Lake. During the next night others parted from us to visit a large " ranche " belonging to one of our companions, a most agreeable gentleman from St. Louis. This disintegrating process continued as we went eastward, until we arrived at New York a mere remnant of the seventy who had inaugurated the Hot Springs Hotel three weeks before. All through the night our train sped steadily along, and without any incident worthy of record, until late the next afternoon we were landed at Mandan, where we were to remain all night, crossing the Missouri the following morning in order to be present at the laying of the foundation stone of the Capitol at Bis marck. Here we were to meet the large SITTING BULL. 179 party invited by Mr. Villard, the I regret to say late president of the Northern Pacific Eailroad. Monetary difficulties have necessi tated his resignation. But I am anticipating. At Mandan we found, in the large room of the railway station, no less a person than the great Chief of the Sioux Indians, Sitting Bull, the warrior who lias earned the modified respect of the Americans by having dared to declare war against the United States ! Although only sixty miles from the " agency" where he is bound to reside, he was regarded with interest as a curiosity by the Americans themselves, as well as by the foreigners of our party. Sitting Bull was accompanied by his sister, Beautiful Feather, and his cousin, the wife of Spotted Horn Bull, and by Gray Eagle, Bone Tomahawk, Fool Heart, Tall-as-the-Cloud, Crow Eagle, Horn Bull, Two Bears, Long Soldier, Long Dog, and Holy Ghost. The origin of the last name I was quite unable to discover. These notabilities were attended by the captain, sergeant, and four soldiers of the Indian police, all in Uncle Sam's uniform, and apparently very proud of the distinction. M 2 180 A TKIP TO AMERICA. They were also accompanied by Major M'Laughlin and his wife from the agency. The dress of the Indians consisted for the most part of an army blanket, buckskin leggings, a necklace of beads or teeth, and the regulation bad beaver hat, punched in many places, and ornamented with turkey tail feathers. Sitting Bull himself had no hat, but from the scalp, which, as an American bystander remarked, he has worn too long, protruded a pair of eagle's feathers. Sitting there, surrounded by his brother savages, looking more like an old woman than a chief, wrinkled, silent, dirty, he was a most objec tionable looking person. Now and then he exchanged some guttural remark with his neighbours, while all the time he was busy driving bargains for his signature at the rate of 1 dollar 50 cents, each. Most of my companions were good customers to him, not only for his signature, but for beads, necklaces, bracelets, and any article he had to spare. For my part I had no desire to touch, much less possess, anything belonging to him. His eyes glanced furtively around as if he might be suspecting treachery. Occasionally SITTING BULL. 181 what seemed to be a smile passed over his hideous countenance, but the effect produced was, as the bystander before alluded to remarked, about as attractive as a stray bit of sunshine upon a heap of mud, His intelli gence is no doubt vastly superior to that of his fellows, but that is not saying much. It is alleged that he has but to raise his finger to provoke - a fresh war between the races. I very much question whether the finger will be raised; but there is no knowing. On this point, and on other matters connected with the Indians, there is no better authority than Father Btephan, the Eoman Catholic priest of Fargo. Father Stephan is now be tween sixty-five and seventy years of age, with white hair and beard, tall and erect, and with a prepossessing expression of face. Edu cated in the Ecole Polytechnique of Belgium, he has been in turn civil engineer, soldier, priest, Government agent, and missionary. He believed when I saw him, that he had converted Sitting Bull and his sister to Christianity, and they were to be baptised into the Koman Catholic Church at an early date. The miserable Pagan, however, de- 182 A TRIP TO AMERICA. dined to be baptised, and join the Chnroli when he found that it would conflict with his polygamous tastes. He refused point blank to give up either of his squaws, and his baptism is consequently indefinitely postponed. Father Stephan does not think that the Sioux pronounced " Soos " surrendered all their arms and ammunition. He believes they have a large store of rifles cached at the present moment and, while they may never again be used, except in the hunt, it is neither the policy nor the nature of the Indian to part with them or to reveal their place of con cealment. As to the final solution of the Indian problem, it is Father Stephen's opinion that the Sioux Indian is shrewd enough to see that he can no longer successfully compete with the white man ; that the country is fill ing, and he is being practically surrounded by a race of brave and hardy settlers, that towns and villages are springing up around his reser vations, railroads running to their very edge and waiting to get in, and that under these circumstances he must either remain quiet, or yield to force. " Treat these men," said Father Stephan, SITTING BULL. 183 " fairly and honestly, and they will make good citizens ; if not, there will be trouble in the future." I suggested that the Government did not act wisely in encouraging the distinction of race, and keeping the Indians in idleness as pensioners of the State. Would it not be better for both parties if habits of industry were encouraged, and the Indians taught to fight the battle of life side by side with the citizens ? They would thus become interested in the general welfare of the nation, and be gradually absorbed. To this I got no definite reply. The next morning at sunrise we crossed that superb specimen of engineering, the steel railway bridge over the Missouri, and arrived at Bismarck. It was now about seven o'clock, and the streets near the railway station were filled with people, horses, and vehicles. Find ing I had a quarter of an hour to spare, I was rash enough to place myself in the hands of a local barber. The crowds, the bands of music, the Indians, and all the life of the streets distracted the attention of my " opera tor," so that, while professing utter indiff- 184 A TKIP TO AMERICA. erence to the procession and ceremonies, he held on to my nose with one hand, his razor flashed in the other, while one eye was 011 my chin and the other looked out of the window. It was a very bad quarter of an hour so far as I was concerned. About half-past seven a procession was formed and went to the site of the Capitol, three-quarters of a mile north of the town, on the hill. There were firemen, volunteers, bands, citizens, and guests in carriages, ladies, gentlemen, and small boys on horseback, and an immense throng of people of all classes and conditions on foot, all hurrying as fast as they could across the prairie. A waggon-load of little girls dressed in white attracted my attention, for they looked at a distance like a Sunday school in a van, but on a nearer view I saw they represented little gods and goddesses of various sorts. Of course the Goddess of Liberty was not left unrepresented, but she had a car to herself, and was a full- grown woman. Hard work she had, too, to preserve her equilibrium in her rapid jolt across the fields. The Indians had got themselves up in a BISMAECK. 185 fresh coat of red paint, and looked very flushed and comical with their rubhle-stained cheeks. Sitting Bull had daintily tipped the eagle's feathers on his head with red ribbon. On the line of route I crossed an unenclosed plot of ground which was obviously an old burial- ground. I was told that most of those interred there had " died with their boots on ;" in other words had come to some sudden and violent end in the rough, gambling, law less days of the past. Of course there were banners of all sorts and sizes, covered with emblems, portraits of the German Chancellor, and mottoes. " Wel come to Henry Yillard," " Welcome to Kufus Hatch," " Welcome to Sitting Bull," " Wel come to Everybody to Dakota, the Eden of the World." One banner especially amused me. It was carried by a singularly stolid-looking young man, who seemed thoroughly bored by the whole proceeding. Over the banner, attached to the pole, were gilded models of agricultural implements, sickle, scythe, rake, plough, &c., while on the silk suspended underneath was a rather well painted chubby goddess of Agri- 186 A TRIP TO AMERICA. culture, and below in clear gilt characters, "In his signihus vinces." Possibly Dakota may intend to start a Latin of its own. But perhaps I ought to have been satisfied at find ing the classics recognised at all so far West, and should not have criticised Dakota's adap tation of the well known motto too severely. After the first stone had been duly laid, and General Grant had spoken the longest speech he was ever known to make, followed by the "orating" of other notabilities, another hurry- scurry across the prairie landed us again at the railway station. Here we exchanged hearty greetings with a number of English friends, who were going West in the Villard trains, for there were several the party being so large that no single train could possibly contain it. The " Villards " went one way in detach ments, and the " Hatches" went the other, in a compact body, at noon. As night came on, the effect produced by the burning of the straw on the great farms was singularly impressive. At present the only way of disposing of the straw after the grain is threshed out is to burn it. This is terribly wasteful, but doubtless a more profi- CHICAGO AGAIN. 187 table method of dealing with it will come in time. The burning of these thousands of tons of straw illuminates the country for miles round, and when first seen is certainly rather alarming. We reached Fargo at eleven o'clock, but only remained a short time to look at the decorations of the station, which had been left untouched for our especial benefit. At noon the next day we were at St. Paul, and in about twenty-six hours more we reached Chicago, where we rested for a few days and enjoyed the hospitality and kind attentions of some of our companions whose homes were in Chicago. The word "home " reminds me of the pretty way in which Americans use the expression. In England we say, " Come to my house." In America they say, "Come and see me at my home." I did so, and shall always re member the hospitable welcome I received. CHAPTEE XXI. BACK TO NEW YOKK. WASHINGTON. No one should miss the opportunity of travel ling between Chicago and New York by the Pennsylvania Eailroad. There is no finer example of railway construction and manage ment than that portion of the line between Pittsburgh and New York, a run of 444 miles, which is made with but three stoppages at Altoona (117 miles), at Harrisburg (132 miles), and at Philadelphia (105 miles). The Limited Express accomplishes the entire distance between Chicago and New York, over 1,000 miles, in twenty- six- and- a-half hours, regardless of the steep gradients encountered in crossing the Alleghany Mountains. Throughout its entire length the line is laid with a double track of steel rails fastened to oak sleepers embedded in broken stone ballast, with splice joints between the sleepers (which are ap- BACK TO NEW YOEK. 189 parently not more than six inches or eight inches apart), so arranged that the connection on one side comes opposite to the centre of the rail on the other, thus preventing the jar which is often so uncomfortable with the ordinary method of construction. It is cer tainly the steadiest line I ever travelled upon. The engine takes up its water supply from the track tanks as it goes along, and the time is made by uniformity of progress more than by increased speed. The scenery of the Alleghany Mountains is very fine. They are, however, gigantic hills rather than mountains, clothed with dense forests to their rounded tops, and separated by valleys miles in width. At the summit the train passes through a tunnel 2,160 feet above sea level, and 1,200 yards in length. Just before reaching this point, Cresson Springs, a favourite summer resort is passed, but so rapidly that there is only time to glance at the gigantic wooden hotel known as " Moun tain House," where 1,000 guests can be comfortably accommodated. After quitting the tunnel we get our first view of Altoona, far away, where the extensive workshops of 190 A TEIP TO AMEKICA. the railway company are situated, and which is now a town of 20,000 inhabitants. At Kittatinny Point the road is carried round a curve which is one of the wonders of en gineering. This is the famous Horse Shoe Bend. The traveller ought to be careful so to arrange his journey that he may traverse this portion of the line by daylight. . The difference in time between Chicago and New York is about an hour, so that, travelling eastward, everything happens before you expect it, and your watch is worse than useless. I had no actual experience, of a journey by this celebrated Limited Express train, which leaves Chicago at 5 p.m. and arrives in New York the following evening at 7.25. Our party was still too large, although greatly reduced in numbers, to be accommodated on a train of this character. So we had to leave by the mail forty minutes later, arriving in New York eleven hours after the Express. This gave us two nights in the cars, from Monday afternoon to Wednesday morning. So ended our long picnic into the Great North- West, a journey which I shall always AMEEICANS AT HOME. 191 look back upon with extreme pleasure. It gave me the opportunity of becoming ac quainted with a number of the most agreeable Americans from all parts of the States, and of appreciating their many good qualities, among which a warm-hearted hospitality is not the least. Many of them are almost more English than we are ourselves, occupying now the same homesteads in which their ancestors have lived uninterruptedly for 250 years. Traces of old English manners and customs still survive among them which have long been lost to us. There is, in short, so much to bind together the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race on either side of the Atlantic that it ought to be our interest, as I am sure it would be our pleasure, to promote this union. Having some days to spare before the de-- parture of the Britannic for Liverpool, we determined to utilise them by paying a visit to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. The distance from New York to Washington is 260 miles, and is accomplished with few stoppages in six hours. The change from New York to a point so many miles due 192 A TKIP TO AMERICA. south produces a marked difference in the temperature, which is apparent everywhere. I had hitherto only noticed stray patches of tobacco plants, but, as we traversed Maryland, tobacco was to be seen growing in large fields, while considerable tracts were covered with tomatoes. The first view of the Capitol at Washington is very impressive, its white dome being visible for many miles. The railway enters the city along the middle of the street, with houses, footways, and carriage ways on each side. It seemed as if every person we saw in the streets and at the doors of the houses was either a negro or more or less coloured. This was because we were traversing the poorer portion of the town, for the white population actually outnumbers the coloured in the propor tion of two to one. The train eventually came to a stand in the very grounds attached to the Capitol, for shrubs, flower-beds, broad walks, and green grass plots extended up to the base of the great white building. The Baltimore and Potomac Eiver Railway Depot at which I had arrived, was the scene of the assassination of President Garfield. A marble tablet in the wall of the waiting-room CHUKCH OF THE HOLY CEOSS. 193 records the fact, while a brass star let into the floor marks the exact spot. It was certainly warm at Washington. Let there he no mistake about that. And there were mosquitoes, strong able-bodied creatures, anxious to make the acquaintance of the succulent stranger ! Never having been troubled by them during the whole of my journey, I was unprepared for their attack, and many were the apologies at my hotel for the oversight in not providing me with mosquito curtains, when it was too late, and had become a question whether I should not have erysipe las. A friendly negro waiter, who fanned me as I ate my breakfast, said, " very strange, sir, but they never bite me!" "No," I replied, not wishing to retort harshly, " but you see they like to eat of a fresh dish." How hot it was that Sunday morning as we slowly made our way on foot to the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross at the cor ner of Massachusetts Avenue and Eighteenth Street. I chanced, in making some enquiries, to address myself to the Eector's wife, who entered most pleasantly into conversa tion, arid begged us not to go away after 104 A TRIP TO AMKKK'A. service without speaking to her husband, the Rev. Dr. Han-old. The Church of the Holy Cross occupies a lovely situation on high ground, standing 011 a plot which is unenclosed, a triangular space covered with grass, and with frontage on three roads. The building is simple and unpre tending, of brick, painted a dull olive green. After service Dr. Harrold told me of his struggles and difficulties, on which point Mrs. Harrold had already enlightened me. He had fought his way bravely, and I hope he may long live to enjoy the more prosperous state which now seems in store for him. Fifteen years ago he bought the plot on which the Church stands for 500 dollars. It was then far outside the city, but latterly the building of handsome residences had extended up to and beyond it. The land had increased amazingly in value. He had just been offered 40,000 dollars for it, and had made up his mind that he would accept 50,000 dollars, which would enable him to buy a cheaper plot elsewhere and transfer his church to it, besides leaving a sum sufficient for a moderate endowment. CHUKCH OF THE HOLY CKOSS. 195 The service was conducted entirely by him self, his family assisting him in the choir and at the organ. It was a very earnest hearty ser vice, possibly too Ritualistic to please every one, but the Eector had decided opinions of his own, and had gathered round him a good body of supporters of whom he was justly proud. I shall never forget his sermon. It was the Sunday following Holy Cross I3ay, the festival of the dedication of the church, and he made that the subject of his discourse. One passage was very characteristic. He was describing the manner in which he had freed the church from debt, an operation which he had accomplished, although, as he said, " we have never had a fair, we have never had a dance, we have never had a frolic, we have never had a candy-pull, we have never had a molasses stew!" I had neither the time nor the courage to ask him to explain to me more in detail these various methods of obtaining money for church purposes, and also whether he had said " stew " or " chew," of which I am uncertain. I must not forget to mention that nearly every person in the congregation had a fan. N 2 190 A TRIP TO AMERICA. The women fanned themselves, the men fanned themselves, and the organ blower worked the bellows with one hand, while with the other he performed the double duty of fanning himself and the organist. CHAPTEE XXII. WASHINGTON PHILADELPHIA. ARLINGTON House, on Arlington Heights, about four miles from the Capitol, formerly the home of Washington's adopted son, and afterwards the residence of the celebrated Confederate General Kobert E. Lee, who married a daughter of that adopted son, is well worthy of a visit. The surrounding park and gardens, with their grand old forest trees, are essentially English, and the house itself is an interesting but ugly old English house of the last century, with heavy stucco pillars and portico. In fact, were it not for the lovely view of the Potomac and the brilliantly white Capitol in the distance I could have believed I was in England. The house is entirely denuded of furniture, except a desk for the visitors' book, a friendly dog or two, and a grumpy custodian w r ho had lost his arm (and his temper) at Gettysburg. 198 A TRIP TO AMERICA. In 1864 General Lee's estate at Arlington Heights was confiscated by a special Bill in Congress, and was sold by the Government, except 200 acres which were set apart as a national cemetery. In this cemetery lie the bodies of 16,000 soldiers who fell in the war of Secession. A vast number have neat graves and headstones, and the unknown, to the number of 2,111, whose bones were gathered from the battlefields of Bull Run, and the route to the Rappahannock after the war, are mingled in one common grave, over which is placed a granite sarcophagus. The bitter feelings naturally engendered by the war have to a great extent become things of the past and the value of the, estate was afterwards restored by Congress to General Lee's heirs. So also with other matters. There was a time when no Federal regiment ever passed through Harper's Ferry, the scene .of Captain John Brown's insurrection in 1859, and practically the starting point of the war, without singing the well known chant, " John Brown's body lies rotting in the grave. But his soul goes marching on." Now all is changed, and the only experience DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 199 I had of the great anti- slavery monomaniac was a curious fact in his family history re corded in a modified version of the old war song, and sung by American and British members of the Kufus Hatch party during their last evening together on the cars be tween Chicago and New York viz., " John Brown's baby liad a pimple on its nose ! " The Londoner has become accustomed to see the Virginian Creeper, or Ampelopsis hederacea, as I believe the botanists call it, flourishing luxuriantly all over the metropolis. It has taken kindly to the London atmosphere and is valued by us all in proportion. Natur ally, being in Virginia, I looked for my old friend, expecting to see its luxuriance increased tenfold in that lovely climate. Not at all. The contrary effect is produced. . In London the vigour of the plant is expended in putting forth endless trailing shoots and masses of foliage, with occasional bunches of a stunted insignificant flower. In Virginia, on the other hand, its efforts take another direction, and, in some examples which I saw, the rich purple berries, hanging in clusters, were more con spicuous and abundant than the leaves. 200 A TRIP TO AMERICA. I had vowed solemnly, on going to America, that I would not leave the country without seeing the original Declaration of Indepen dence, and more especially the original draft of the same, in Jefferson's handwriting, cor rected and toned down a little by Adams. Jefferson was so proud of having done this, that he wished for nothing else to he recorded upon his tomb except the fact that he wrote the original Declaration of Independence. Now, as a foreigner not that I could ever he convinced that I was a foreigner, I naturally expected that these two original documents would be most carefully treasured, and their whereabouts known to every American. They were, in fact, so carefully treasured that no one seemed to know where they were ! The first rebuff I received in my search at Washington was from one of the most distin guished members of the United States Bar, who said he believed they were in Philadelphia. Not disheartened, I asked at the Capitol, and was referred to the Patent Office, where I had the satisfaction of being shown the place where they had formerly been. The official in the room was not quite sure whether they had been DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 201 returned to Philadelphia or were in the National Museum. I determined to try the Museum, in spite of the heat, and the fact that everything in Washington is a mile at least from everything else. It has been rightly named the "City of Magnificent Distances." The National Museum received me with courtesy, but the object of my quest was not there. The " Washington relics " were there, and I was urged to step inside and inspect them, but I was not to be diverted from my purpose at that time. I was recommended to try the Smithsonian Institution, which adjoins the Museum, as a likely place to find the Declaration. I did so, but with no result, excepting that I had the advantage of seeing a most picturesque Gothic building of red sandstone, erected at a cost of 90,000, with money bequeathed to the United States by an Englishman, James Sinithson, a natural son of the first Duke of Northumberland. The official who received me assured me that the Declaration really was in the National Museum, although the authorities seemed not to be aware of it. I returned to the Museum and enjoyed an inspection of the u Washington 202 A TRIP TO AMERICA. relics," which are most interesting, and are all nicely arranged and preserved in glass cases. But there was no " Declaration of Independence ! " Somebody now suggested that the Declar ation might possibly be in the State Depart ment just beyond the White House. If it were not there, it was impossible to say where it could be found. At this moment, almost in a state of dissolution from the intense heat, I saw for the first, arid almost the only time in America, a hansom cab. In another minute I was seated in it. The pavements of Washington are excellent, being mainly of asphalte, and my hansom rolled smoothly along. What bliss ! and the cost not excessive ; 75 cents., or 3s. an hour. At the State Department my perseverance was rewarded by a sight of the documents of which I was in search. There they were, carefully framed behind plate glass in a folding mahogany frame, so that both sides could be in spected. The Declaration itself is nearly illegible from having had a press facsimile taken of it, so that the signatures are almost obliterated, but the original draft by THE WHITE HOUSE. 203 Jefferson is perfect. The courteous official who accompanied rne was evidently much amused by the interest I took in the docu ments, and the personal discomfort which their thorough inspection necessitated, for they are fixed at such a low level that I had to kneel on the hard tiled floor in order to see them properly. I called at the White House, hoping to have the honour of renewing my acquaintance with President Arthur under more civilised con ditions than those under which we met in the Wonderland of the Eocky Mountains. Un fortunately he had gone to New 7 York to attend the funeral of an old friend, but the negro hall porter who took my card showed extraordinary interest when I explained where I had met the President. That evening a military band performed a well-selected programme on the grassy slopes under the fine trees in front of the Presidential residence. The music, the electric light, the fountains, the bright moon, the orderly crowd, combined to produce a charming effect, which was only dissipated by the last piece " Yankee Doodle " a vulgar production unworthy of a great nation which., 204 A TRIP TO AMERICA. however, seemed to please the sovereign people, for they insisted on an encore. The visitor to the different public buildings at Washington (or Philadelphia), is assailed on every side by portraits of the General of that name in every shade of badness. There are scarcely any worth looking at as even moderate works of art. This repetition of "Portrait of General Washington " becomes comic, and, in spite of my admiration for the original, I could not help being bored. I pointed out, on more than one occasion, the conspicuous absence of another portrait, which surely ought to be there. I mean that of George III., whose foolish obstinacy had as great a share in bringing about American Independence, as had the patriotism and courage of General Washington. At Philadelphia I and my wife, who had been my companion throughout my long journey, were most hospitably received by an American friend who had been with us on the Yellowstone excursion. Under his auspices we were introduced to everything worth see ing in the historical city, beginning with Independence Hall, where the Declaration of FAIHMOUNT PAKK. Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, and from whose steps it was afterwards publicly read. The American Congress met here until 1797 ; here Washington was appointed com mander of the American army ; here in 1787 he resigned his commission into the hands of Congress ; and here, in 1796, he issued his farewell address to the people of the United States when he declined to be re-elected to the Presidential chair for a third term. The old Congressional Chamber has been, so far as possible, kept in its original condition. The chairs in which the signers of the Declaration sat are placed round the apartment, and their portraits adorn the walls. I was told that the original simple, unpretending blue check cur tains had, by some means, been recovered and again draped the windows. The Academy of Fine Arts, the Masonic Temple, the City Hall (now nearly completed), a magnificent building, the Girard College, and other objects of in terest were shown to me in turn. Finally we drove to Fairmount Park, which is larger by more than 500 acres than our Eichmond Park, and, in fact, is the largest 206 A TRIP TO AMERICA. park in the world, (for in this comparison I naturally do not include the Yellowstone National Park) being five miles in length by six in width. The Sclmylkill River winds through it between lofty and picturesquely- wooded banks. I am reminded that it was by the foresight of certain citizens, foremost among whom was Mr. George Childs, that this park was secured to the city of Philadelphia. I had the pleasure of making Mr. Childs' acquaintance, as all Englishmen should who visit the Quaker City. Beginning his career as a shop-boy, he is no\v the wealthy proprietor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger a journal of world wide repu tation. His generosity and hospitality are unsurpassed, and he is one of those men who deserve to have riches, because they administer them so wisely. Not only is he the benefactor of his own land, but he delights to honour English literature here and in the mother country. He has put up at his own expense in Westminster Abbey a stained glass window to the memory of the poets George Herbert and William Cowper. He wished to defray the entire cost of the monument in Kensal G-men AN ALAKUM. 207 over the then unmarked grave of Leigh Hunt, but was only allowed to give a liberal donation, and he is the largest subscriber to the fund for the window to be erected to the memory of Thomas Moore. His private office in the Ledger building is so crowded with objects of artistic value and interest, many of them gifts from friends, that there seems to be 110 room for anything more. All his life he has been an accumulator of autographs, and his taste and judgment having served him well, he possesses now a most remarkable collection. I am nearly at the end of my long gossip, and have only one or two additional incidents to mention before quitting the land which had received me so hospitably. Several competing companies in New York, for a fixed charge per month, will place an in strument in your house, contained in a minia ture iron box, having a small crank on the outside. By means of this you can summon at will a boy messenger in uniform, a policeman, a fireman with an extinguisher, or a fire engine. Breakfasting one morning with Mr. Eufus Hatch, he volunteered to show me how the thing worked. 208 A TKIP TO AMEKICA. " Take out your watch," lie said, " and note the time." I did so. He turned the crank, and in about fifty seconds a boy in uniform was in the room, breathless with running. Again Mr. Hatch turned his crank and a policeman appeared almost as quickly as the messenger. I seemed incredulous, and half suggested that the whole business had been arranged before. I was asked to choose what the crank should do next. " Summon another policeman," I said. In a minute a second policeman was standing in the room. "Shall I call the lire engine?" said Mr. Hatch. But I thought that too serious a matter, and was satisfied with what I had seen. Most of these companies furnish service all night, and houses are often left untenanted, with no protection but that supplied by the electric wires attached to doors and windows, and so contrived that at the neighbouring office it is known instanta neously, not only that a burglar has entered the house, but in which room he is. My last evening in New York was passed very agreeably, and formed a brilliant ternii- LAST EVENING. 209 nation to my American trip. Mr. Whitelaw Beid, the well known editor of the New York Tribune, gave a dinner, of the choicest kind, in one of the cosy rooms of the Union League Club, to about sixteen guests, of whom I had the good fortune to he one. Two Englishmen besides myself were there, Lord Bosebery and Mr. Lucy, the clever contributor to more than one London paper. Among the Americans present there was scarcely one who was not distinguished in some way. To begin with there was the Hon. W. M. Evarts, head and chief orator of the American Bar. Then came the Governor arid Ex- Governor of the state of New York, Mr. Edson (the Mayor of the City of New York) ; Mr. Hugh J. Jewett (President of the Erie Eailroad) ; Mr. 13. 0. Mills, of California, one of the wealthiest men in the world -whose daughter is married to Mr. Whitelaw Beid, Mr. Joseph Choate, Mr. Morris K. Jessup, Mr. Chaimcey M. Depew, Mr. Eandolph Robinson, Mr. Gresham (the Postmaster- General) ; General Bristow, w r ho was Secretary to the Treasury under General Grant's Adrninstration ; and last, but not least, Mr. \Yalter Phelps, Member of Congress 210 A TEIP TO AMEEICA. for New Jersey, and formerly American Minis ter at Vienna. I was assured that there were no less than three of those round the table who were mentioned as probable Presidents of the United States. I shall watch the future with some interest. Here ends my long story, and I have only to record with a sad pleasure the genial part ing from my American host, " Uncle Eufus," who, with many other friends, came to the landing-stage and wished us God-speed as the Britannic turned her bows down the Hudson, and so eastward to England. THE END. T. VICKERS WOOD, PRINTER, CHURTON ST., S.W, IA YC13C777