, 
 
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 <ill the 4 
 
CHICAGO. 83 
 
 influences of these vast expanses of fresh 
 water. Skirting the southern shore of Ontario 
 as far as Hamilton, our train then turned due 
 west by Dundas, Harrisburg, and Paris to 
 Woodstock, where we crossed the Thames, 
 and, following its right bank past Westminster 
 arid Dorchester, we arrived at London. Here 
 we were moved to another train, and taken 
 past Lambeth and Hyde Park Corner to the 
 frontier at Point Edward. This strange con 
 fusion of familiar names of places caused ,us 
 great amusement. 
 
 We had now completed a not very interesting 
 journey of 230 miles through British territory, 
 but our return to the United States was 
 effected in a fashion which quite compensated 
 us. 
 
 By the time we got to Point Edward it was 
 dark, which increased the mystery. Our 
 entire train was moved slowly on board a 
 gigantic ferry-boat in order to be ferried across 
 the St. Glair Kiver to Port Huron. The dark 
 ness, the swift stream, the shipping, the shore 
 lights, and the heavy grunts and puffs of the 
 engines of the terry-boat, which was moved 
 apparently by paddles, combined with a strange 
 
 F 2 
 
84 A TKIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 helpless feeling, when we were finally cast 
 loose from the shore, all added to the novelty 
 of the situation, and gave us an experience 
 which was new to most of us. 
 
 Lake Huron is 250 miles in length, and 100 
 miles in width, and the St. Glair Kiver or 
 Strait, which forms the only outlet of the lake, 
 is about 1,000 feet wide, the stream running 
 four miles an hour. 
 
 When morning broke we were hurrying 
 along over the levellest country I ever saw^. 
 This part of Michigan and Illinois is as flat as 
 the lakes which adjoin it, and is little raised 
 above their level. The railroad must have 
 been constructed at little cost, for it only 
 needed to lay the sleepers on the surface, and 
 turn up the sides for ballast. 
 
 There is a saying that " All railways go to 
 Chicago." And there is much truth in it. 
 Its position on the west shore of Lake Michigan 
 makes it naturally the great receiver and 
 forwarder of Western produce, whether 
 brought by land or by water, to the East and 
 Europe. 
 
 Originally a small Indian trading station ; 
 the first brick house was built in 1833. In 
 
CHICAGO. 85 
 
 1837 the population numbered 4,170. After 
 the lapse of half a century it is estimated that 
 Chicago now contains at least 600,000 persons. 
 During the past year more than 20,000,000 
 dollars (4,000,000) have been expended 
 in the creation of over 4,000 buildings, 
 many of which are as fine as any in the 
 world. 
 
 The energy and enterprise displayed at 
 Chicago is without a parallel in history. 
 Before the awful fire of October 8th, 1871, 
 had completed its work of destruction, plans 
 were being prepared for rebuilding the doomed 
 city. The greatness of the blow may be 
 measured to some extent by a comparison with 
 the Great Fire of London, which extended 
 over 430 acres, while that of Chicago covered 
 three-and-a-half square miles, and did damage 
 to the amount of 40,000,000. Charitable 
 help poured in on all sides to lessen the misery 
 of the burned-out inhabitants, and offers of 
 loans to help the work of reconstruction w r ere 
 lavishly made. 
 
 Let me here record one out of many kindly 
 deeds of my host, Mr. liufus Hatch, whose 
 early days had been spent in Chicago, and 
 
8(5 A TRIP TO AMEBICA. 
 
 whose interest in the welfare of its inhabitants 
 has never ceased. 
 
 Knowing that an old friend had lost his 
 house and everything it contained, including 
 a valuable scientific library, " Uncle Eufus " 
 wrote from New York saying that he had, un 
 known to his friend, been carrying on a little 
 speculation in shares on his behalf, charging 
 him interest for the money, and that now he 
 had closed the account, and had the pleasure 
 to hand him so many thousand dollars as the 
 result of the transactions. I could relate 
 similar instances of his unostentatious kindness 
 which came to my knowledge, but this shall 
 suffice. 
 
 The roadways of New York are none of the 
 best, but those of Chicago, at least in the 
 more frequented parts of the city, are bad 
 beyond description. It is a singular trait of 
 American character that while erecting palatial 
 warehouses or private residences, they arc 
 content to approach them by streets by com 
 parison with which a drive over hedge and 
 ditch across country would be almost smooth. 
 
 The Grand Pacific and the Palmer House 
 are the chief hotels in Chicago, and are two of 
 
CHICAGO. 87 
 
 tlie largest and finest in America. We were 
 accommodated in luxurious style at the Palmer 
 House, an establishment which deserves more 
 than a passing mention. It has no less than 
 85,000 square feet (or nearly two acres) of 
 marble floor, which conveys some notion of 
 its size. The entire ground floor is open to 
 the public, who, with the guests of the hotel, 
 circulate freely throughout it. There is 
 scarcely any need to go outside the precincts 
 of the building for anything you may require. 
 Here yon may buy your railway ticket, have 
 your luggage checked, your hair cut, your 
 boots blacked. Here is a post-office, a billiard- 
 room, a ten-pin alley, a barber's shop, a news- 
 vendor's stall, a stationer, a chemist, a 
 hosier and shirt-maker, a hatter, a cigar and 
 tobacco store, a telegraph office, a bar, a 
 restaurant, a coffee-room, a broker's office, a 
 special stock and grain exchange, and, finally, 
 here you may order what the Americans call 
 your " livery," that is to say, any carriages 
 or horses you may wish to hire. 
 
 Comfortable armchairs and spittoons are 
 placed all around in nooks and corners, and 
 here from morning to night men sit, or stand, 
 
cS8 A TKIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 and talk, nearly all consuming tobacco in one 
 form or another. It is a strange sight to 
 watch all this from a conveniently placed 
 balcony of the entresol of the hotel above, for 
 the guests of the Palmer House live over all 
 this, but, whether they ascend to the first 
 floor by elevator, or by marble staircase, they 
 need only pass through one corner of the busy 
 scene. 
 
 In 1877 a wonderful piece of engineering 
 was successfully accomplished in the raising 
 of the massive iron roof of the Palmer House. 
 The sixth story had been originally con 
 structed lower than the others, being intended 
 for servants' quarters. More rooms being 
 needed, Mr. Palmer determined to raise the 
 roof four feet, carrying up the walls. The 
 roof of this great fire-proof building is most 
 substantially constructed, entirely of iron and 
 cement, and its weight is necessarily enor 
 mous. Five hundred jack-screws were used, 
 being turned in unison to the sound of the 
 foreman's whistle. Meanwhile the work of the 
 hotel was not interrupted, the 700 or '800 guests 
 in the house at the time knowing nothing of 
 what was going on. 
 
CHICACrO. 89 
 
 There is no lack of objects of interest in 
 Chicago. You may drive through Lincoln 
 Park, along the shore of the great inland 
 freshwater sea, whose waves roll in with wildly 
 foaming hreakers when driven by a northerly 
 gale for there is no land in that direction for 
 320 miles making fierce inroads into the 
 roads and pavements that skirt the shore, 
 and driving heaps of sand inland. 
 
 I should doubt if any city is better pro 
 vided with parks and boulevards than Chicago. 
 The area of the parks amounts in the 
 aggregate to about 1,500 acres, and the boule 
 vards, many miles in length, vary from 200 
 to 400ft. in width, the Avenue de riinpera- 
 trice at Paris having been the model which 
 has been followed. Of course everything is 
 not yet so completely "fixed up " as in the 
 Old World, but both parks and boulevards are 
 fine examples of landscape gardening, and at 
 the date of my visit, the miles of flower beds 
 were absolutely dazzling with colour. 
 
 Then, again, there is the waterworks' 
 system, which is unique in its way. Unfor 
 tunately there is not much to see here except 
 the great engines which pump the thousands 
 
90 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 of millions of gallons required yearly for the 
 needs of Chicago. To obtain this water a 
 shaft was sunk on shore, and from it a tunnel 
 was run out two miles in a straight line into 
 Lake Michigan. Through this " big bore," 
 as the Chicagoans call it, the cool, clear, 
 healthy waters of the lake find their way into 
 the great well under the waterworks building. 
 From this well the water is pumped to the 
 lofty stand pipe, and so distributed through 
 500 miles of mains into every part of the city. 
 This water is most delicious to drink, and a 
 bath at Chicago is the very luxury of softness. 
 In a city which has suffered so much from 
 conflagrations, the arrangements for the pre 
 vention and extinction of fires are naturally 
 brought to a very high pitch of perfection, and, 
 in fact, are not unlike a well practised panto 
 mime trick. The moment an alarm of fire is 
 given, a single turn of a handle liberates the- 
 horses, an automatic whip touches their flanks 
 not that it is needed, for these animals know 
 their duty the harness suspended over them 
 drops on their backs, they walk to their places 
 on either side the pole, the collar closes on 
 their necks with a spring, the driver, who may 
 
CHICAGO. 91 
 
 be sleeping in the floor above, is turned out of 
 bed and comes through a trap door into his 
 seat, and the engine is on its way to the scene 
 of destruction in less time than it has taken 
 me to write this. 
 
CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 CHICAGO. STOCK YAKDS PULLMAN 
 CHUKCHES. 
 
 I DON'T know whether I ought to class the 
 [Union stock yards and their adjuncts among 
 the sights of Chicago. They more naturally 
 belong to the smells. The guide-books to 
 Chicago are in doubt as to the meaning of the 
 name, which, of course, is of Indian origin. 
 )ne thing, however, is clear, the name 
 Chicago " has to do with bad smells. It is 
 erived either from the wild onion, which 
 ;rew profusely on the banks of the creek, or 
 mm the skunk or polecat, an animal supposed 
 have abounded here. The name seems to 
 me prophetic, and, setting aside the onions 
 and the skunks, I pin my faith to the pig- 
 killing establishments at the stock yards as 
 being worthy to have their awful stenches 
 Represented in the name of the city. 
 
STOCK YAliDS. 93 
 
 The bullock slaughtering is offensive enough 
 to the -eye and nostril ; the all-pervading odour 
 of cooked meat in the "canning" rooms is 
 not without its merits as a good nauseating 
 smell. But for a thoroughly abominabla 
 appalling, and asphyxiating stink, the pig 
 killing department surpasses anything in in; 
 experience. Nothing would induce me t< 
 visit it again, neither do I care to dwell an; 
 longer upon it now. I will only add that 
 among our party were some strong-minded 
 ladies, whose thirst for knowledge apparently 
 overcame all other feelings, and who lingered 
 so fondly among the horrors of the place that 
 the weaker sex (in this case the men) were in 
 despair. At last \ve breathed the fresh air 
 outside, and were congratulating ourselves on 
 our escape, when, on turning a, corner, a 
 stench of a different character utterly con 
 founded us. It was a heap of thousands o 
 bullocks' horns sweltering and decomposin 
 in the hot sunshine. 
 
 Perhaps it would be only fair to state that, 
 notwithstanding my remarks on the odour of 
 the "canning" department, I do not wish it 
 to be inferred that there is any want of clean- 
 
1M A TK1P TO AMERICA. 
 
 liness, or even a suspicion of unsoundness, 
 in the meat which is being packed up. On 
 the contrary, the most scrupulous cleanliness 
 pervades the place, and my confidence in the 
 honesty of purpose of the great "canning" 
 firms of Chicago is unshaken. 
 
 The bullock and pig slaughtering depart 
 ments are, after all, only adjuncts of the great 
 stock yards, and a visit to the one does not 
 necessarily imply a visit to the other. The 
 company owns 360 acres of land and forty 
 niles of railway track, laid with steel rails, in 
 connection with all the railroads entering 
 Jhicago. Only 175 acres are " under plank," 
 is they style it, meaning, of course, "en 
 closed." A hundred acres are devoted to 
 cattle yards, and seventy-five to covered hog 
 and sheep pens. There are 1,200 cattle pens, 
 sufficient to accommodate 20,000 cattle ; 1,300 
 log pens, capable of holding 150,000 hogs ; 
 300 sheep pens for 5,000 sheep, and stabling 
 or 1,000 horses. Fifteen miles of macad- 
 mised streets run through the yards, and 
 brty miles of water and drainage pipes under 
 neath, while more than 500 men are con 
 stantly employed. Six large artesian welLs, 
 
PULLMAN. 95 
 
 varying from 1,100 to 1,200ft. in depth, provide 
 pure water in abundance for every animal in 
 the place. In the course of twelve month! 
 nearly 2,000,000 cattle and calves, am 
 about 6,000,000 hogs, besides 750,000 shee] 
 are received in these yards. Let me t]H 
 to convey some idea of these numbers 
 in another shape. If, for ten hours of every 
 working day in the year, t a constant stream 
 of cattle at the rate of ten per minute, 
 of hogs at the rate of thirty per minute, with 
 the small addition of four sheep every minute, 
 passed through these yards, it would fall short 
 of the actual numbers brought to this market 
 for sale, slaughter, or distribution ! 
 
 All animals which are destined for the 
 slaughterhouse are killed with a minimum 
 of suffering to themselves, while all the live 
 stock, whether for sale or slaughter, are made 
 exceptionally comfortable while in the yards. 
 
 Our visit to the Stock Yards, as usual, had 
 been made early in the day, so that we were 
 ready by noon to go to Pullman, a town be 
 longing entirely to the Pullman Palace Car 
 Company, and "located " (as they say) elovni 
 miles south of Chicago. Here are the exten- 
 
96 A T1UP TO AMERICA. 
 
 sive workshops, which on an average, turn out 
 one complete Pullman Car every day. The 
 workmen to the number of 2,500, with their 
 families, are accommodated in houses, adapted 
 to their various grades, but all neat, pretty, 
 and comfortable. The total population is about 
 8,000, and every provision is made for the well- 
 being and amusement of the inhabitants, but 
 especially for their sobriety, the rules as to 
 the sale of intoxicating drinks being very 
 strict. 
 
 The magnificent Corliss Engine, (which 
 supplies the motive power to the establish 
 ment) the water tower, the shops, the arcade, 
 the library, and theatre, were visited and 
 admired in turn. 
 
 The theatre is one of the most perfect 
 conceivable, being a model of elegance and 
 convenience. A visit to it would make 
 Londoners very dissatisfied with what is pro 
 vided for them. We were fortunate in having 
 in our party the Misses Sophie and Fanny 
 Robertson, and they most kindly tested the 
 acoustic properties of the theatre by singing 
 on the stage, as a duet, " Ye banks and braes." 
 An excellent dinner, which followed at the 
 
1'ULLMAN. 97 
 
 Hotel Florence, was unfortunately not honoured 
 by the presence of Mr. Pullman, but in his 
 absence we did not fail to remember his effort 
 to reconcile capital and labour, and make the 
 lot of the working man happier arid better. 
 
 Mr. Emery A. Storrs, one of those humorists 
 who are found only in America, convulsed us 
 all by his speech in returning thanks for the 
 toast of " Chicago." I only remember his 
 concluding words, 
 
 "Chicago," he said, "may now claim to 
 be a civilized city. It has the three essentials, 
 though many of you Eastern people may not 
 be aware of it. It has gospel privileges, it has 
 the A tlantic Monthly, and it eats with a fork. ' ' 
 
 No visitor ought to leave Chicago without 
 seeing one of the large grain elevators in full 
 operation. This is not easy unless you are 
 lucky enough to time your visit to the exact 
 moment when the operation of unloading cars 
 takes place. 
 
 The work is very swiftly done. The elevator 
 swallows the grain like a hungry dog devours 
 a mouthful of meat, and is ready for more 
 before any more is ready for him. The train 
 of cars usually runs inside what may be called 
 
98 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 the ground floor of the elevator, and their 
 contents are shovelled out by machinery into 
 the cellars, from whence the grain is "elevated" 
 many stories high to the very top of the 
 building, by means of scoop-shaped buckets, 
 attached at short intervals to an endless band, 
 running over drums. Having been "elevated," 
 it finds its way into one of the vast receptacles, 
 where it is weighed, and awaits such further 
 disposal as may be ordered. 
 
 It is obvious that, having been raised to 
 this height, it is the simplest of operations to 
 cause it to descend down any of the numerous 
 wooden pipes in any direction that may be 
 desired. All the arrangements are most 
 systematic, and every kind and quality of grain 
 is kept quite distinct nay, it is almost im 
 possible that there should be any admixture or 
 confusion of the property of different con 
 signors. There are sixteen of these elevators, 
 with a combined capacity of 18,500,000 bushels. 
 The total receipts of grain of all kinds last 
 year, were about 165,000,000 bushels. The 
 number of vessels clearing the port (on the 
 lake, of course) was about 14,000, with a gross 
 tonnage of 4,750,000. 
 
CHU11CHES. 99 
 
 I have not hitherto alluded to the Churches 
 of Chicago. There are more than 300 places 
 of worship of the various denominations, and 
 I was told that all were well attended. Of the 
 Episcopal Churches, the most noteworthy are 
 the large and handsome Church of St. James, 
 the richly-decorated edifice of Grace Church, 
 and the Cathedral, with its elahorate services 
 and fine music. There was, however, one 
 little Church which interested me above all 
 the others. I refer to the Church of the As 
 cension, at the corner of Elm and La Salle 
 Streets, on the North Side. Here the Rev. 
 Arthur Ritchie, who is the Rector, is sorely 
 exercising the minds of the Low Church party, 
 by what they regard as advanced Ritualistic 
 practices. One great cause of disagreement 
 is that at the High Celebration at eleven, he 
 does not administer the Holy Sacrament, but 
 encourages, what he styles in the service book 
 which he distributes, a ' Solemn Mass when 
 there is no Communion of the people." I had 
 some conversation with him, and he explained 
 to me that he preferred his communicants to 
 attend the early celebration at eight o'clock, 
 but he was quite willing, on receiving notice 
 
100 A TK1P TO AMEKICA. 
 
 before service, to administer the Sacrament to 
 any member of his congregation at the midday 
 celebration. Mr. Kitchie, for this and other 
 similar reasons, is somewhat in difficulties 
 with his bishop. He is a very earnest, pleasing 
 man, and has the power of preaching with 
 great effect, but with a strong American accent 
 and style, which, by their strange quaintiiess, 
 are liable to provoke a smile from the Britisher. 
 It is singular that the accent almost entirely 
 disappears in conversation, and only manifests 
 itself when Mr. Eitchie begins to preach. 
 The ceremonial at the Church of the Ascension 
 did not strike me as being very excessive. It 
 was much less elaborate than several churches 
 I could name in London. But the general 
 effect, with white marble altar, surpliced choir, 
 vestments, and lovely music, was very beautiful. 
 The congregation was not large, but thoroughly 
 devotional. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD 
 ST. PAUL MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 CUE departure from Chicago was the real 
 commencement of onr journey into the great 
 North- West. It was then that we found our 
 selves for the first time in the railway train 
 which was to be more or less our home for the 
 next three weeks, barring, the time spent in 
 the Yellowstone district. 
 
 Immediately behind the engine was a 
 capacious car for our luggage and for the stores, 
 fruit, vegetables, cases of champagne, claret, 
 apollinaris, and lager beer, and other things 
 necessary for the luxurious existence which 
 we enjoyed. Next came the dining-car, with 
 kitchen, pantry, store-room, and ten tables, 
 five on each side, to accommodate four persons 
 each. After that followed four Pullman 
 
102 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 sleeping cars, which were turned into drawing- 
 room cars by day, and were furnished with all 
 toilet necessaries ; and after them the private 
 car of Mr. John C. Wyman, of Providence, 
 Ehode Island, the orator of our party a 
 gentleman of remarkable eloquence and geni 
 ality, always amusing us with some fresh joke 
 or story. Finally, at the tail of the train was 
 what is called an " observation " car, with a 
 platform at the end where such travellers as did 
 not mind dust, might sit and enjoy the scenery 
 as we passed along. From this platform to the 
 engine there was a complete thoroughfare 
 right through the middle of the carriages, the 
 only troublesome part being the crossing from 
 carriage to carriage. 
 
 Punctually at 7.30 a.m. the serving of break 
 fast began, at one o'clock we had luncheon, 
 and the dinner hour was six. We were about 
 seventy persons, so we had to take our meals 
 in two divisions. The "bed boys," or coloured 
 attendants, who acted as chambermaids, 
 began to make up the beds soon after nine 
 o'clock, and by eleven everybody was fast 
 asleep. It was a very strange sight to 
 watch these darkies at their bed-making. 
 
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC EAILROAD 103 
 
 Their rapidity and dexterity were marvellous. 
 Their civility and attention too, were beyond 
 all praise. 
 
 At half-past-nine in the morning we moved 
 out of Chicago and crossed the State of Illinois, 
 181 miles, to Rock Island, where we obtained 
 our first view of the Mississippi, as we crossed 
 the mighty stream to Davenport. The im 
 pression conveyed by this portion of our route, 
 of a previously inconceivable expanse of level 
 country, was A 7 ery strange. Illinois has been 
 very appropriately called the " Prairie State," 
 for fully one third of its 55,000 square miles is 
 composed of high level grassy plains, at an 
 average of about 500ft. above the sea level, 
 while the remainder of the State is much of 
 the same character. At Davenport we were 
 in the State of Iowa, and our journey from 
 this point became slightly more northerly 
 until we arrived at Cedar Eapids (259 miles 
 from Chicago) when our route turned almost 
 due north across the State. Cedar Eapids is 
 a busy thriving place on the Cedar Eiver, a 
 tributary of the Mississippi, and is a good 
 example of the rapid growth of towns in 
 America in favourable positions. Thirty years 
 
104 A TRIP TO AMFJUCA. 
 
 ago it consisted of three houses. Now it 
 contains a population of 10,000 souls. 
 
 It was night when we crossed the northern 
 boundary of Iowa and entered the state of 
 Minnesota, and as morning broke we were 
 running steadily along through that State of 
 many waters, as its name implies, and arrived at 
 the important city of St. Paul at eight o'clock, 
 having completed the journey of 529 miles 
 from Chicago in twenty-two-and-a-half hours, 
 including stoppages at Davenport, Cedar 
 Rapids, &c. Our average pace was under 
 thirty miles an hour certainly not an excessive 
 rate of speed, but we were delayed by what is 
 technically known as " a hot box." 
 
 Our cars had each a name, such as Fargo, 
 Minneapolis, Wamduska, Pyramid Park, or 
 Billings. I happened to inhabit a section in 
 the coach known as " Billings," a new and 
 very comfortable vehicle. But, as often 
 happens with new cars, one of the wheels 
 worked stiffly and with a large amount of fric 
 tion on its axle. The natural result of this was 
 the over heating of thebox, and several times 
 during the night the train had to be stopped 
 in order to extinguish the flames. This bad 
 
ST. PAUL. 105 
 
 behaviour on the part of "Billings" rendered 
 necessary his removal from the train at St. 
 Paul, and I and my companions had to be 
 transferred to " Minneapolis," a steady and 
 well behaved car, which gave us no cause for 
 any further anxiety. 
 
 Mr. P. H. Kelly, Mr. Finch, General Averill, 
 Dr. Sweeney, and several other leading citizens 
 of St. Paul gave us a hearty welcome on our 
 arrival. We found fourteen open carriages 
 which they had provided for us, and in which 
 we made the tour of the city, having all its 
 leading features shown to us. Our long pro 
 cession wound its way through the hilly streets 
 and out into the suburbs, where we were 
 amazed at the picturesque and luxurious resi 
 dences which met our view on every side. One 
 of my companions, who had not altered the 
 time of his watch since he left England, 
 remarked that, although the city clock showed 
 it to be 9.50 a.m. at St. Paul, it was 4 p.m. in 
 London. 
 
 St. Paul apparently sprang into existence 
 because here occurred the first obstruction to 
 the free navigation of the Mississippi. From the 
 mouth up to this point, a distance of 2,070 
 
106 A TEIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 miles, there is nothing to impede the traffic 
 along the river, except the sand and mud 
 hanks continually shifting as the great river is 
 flushed by heavy rains or diminished hy 
 drought. But about nine miles above St. Paul 
 are the Falls of St. Anthony, where the 
 Mississippi, a quarter of a mile in width, 
 descends seventy- four feet, eighteen of which 
 are perpendicular. 
 
 In 1837 the Indians ceded to the United 
 States a small tract of land here and a 
 military and trading station was established. 
 Lumbering, trapping, and hunting were the 
 only industries, and the only white population 
 up to 1849 was that scattered about the 
 military and trading posts and the mission 
 stations. This year we saw a flourishing city, 
 a great commercial centre, with its hotels, 
 State capitol, Opera-house, public squares, and 
 a population of 100,000 persons. 
 
 The Falls of St. Anthony, having, by their 
 obstruction, given birth to one large city, soon, 
 by their usefulness, called into existence 
 another city almost, if not quite, as large. So 
 important a means of water power could not 
 long remain idle. Timber had to be sawn, 
 
MINNEAPOLIS. 107 
 
 wheat had to be turned into flour. The flour 
 mills of Minneapolis and the superiority of 
 their products soon became known all over the 
 world. In 1860 they produced 30,000 barrels, 
 in 1881 3,142,974 barrels. The entire whole 
 sale trade including flour, grain, and lumber- 
 will this year reach to close upon 100,000,000 
 dollars. All this prosperity has had its effect 
 on the rapid expansion of Minneapolis, which 
 now stands almost within sight of St. Paul, 
 each of the twin cities annually stretching out 
 its arms farther and farther, and the time 
 must soon come when the hands will touch- 
 but not clasp. Oil, no ; the rival twins are 
 too jealous of one another. It is said that 
 whenever that time comes, each will build a 
 wall to exclude the other. 
 
 The city of Minneapolis is remarkable for its 
 fine churches, residences, and public buildings. 
 The Court-house, the Academy of Music, the 
 City-hall, the Opera-house, and the University 
 of Minnesota, are buildings which would 
 excite admiration anywhere, but to find them 
 in this infant cit t y of the West calls forth pro 
 found astonishment. We had been welcomed 
 here as at St. Paul, and I had the good fortune 
 
108 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 to l)e accompanied in my inspection of the 
 town by Mr. J. C. Whitney, one of the original 
 founders of the place. In fact, he was able to 
 point out to me the house which he built 
 thirty years ago, the first house ever built in 
 Minneapolis. And now there are 100,000 
 inhabitants. It was indeed strange to be 
 reminded that within twenty years, this neigh 
 bourhood was the scene of one of the most 
 awful massacres by Indians ever recorded. 
 
 The State of Minnesota is in the centre of 
 the continent of North America, and its 
 elevated plateau is the highest land between 
 the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson's Bay, and 
 forms the water-shed of the three great river 
 systems of the country. The surface of the 
 State is an undulating plain at an average 
 elevation of 1,000ft., except where a group of 
 low sand hills, known as the " Hauteurs des 
 Terres," rise to a height of about 600ft. above 
 their surroundings, and form the dividing line 
 between the Mississippi and Lake Superior, 
 and between the Mississippi and the Red River. 
 Scattered over the surface of the State are 
 more than 7,000 small lakes, varying from one 
 to thirty miles in diameter, while several of 
 
MINNEAPOLIS. 109 
 
 them have an area of from 100 to 400 square, 
 miles. The Mississippi rises in one of these, 
 Lake Itasca, and flows, winding about, for 
 nearly 800 miles, through the State, receiving 
 the Minnesota at Fort Snelling, between St. 
 Paul and Minneapolis. 
 
 We did not visit both the twin cities on the 
 same day. It would have been too much in 
 such hot weather as we were enjoying. After 
 seeing St. Paul we took train to Miiinetonka 
 Beach, about twenty-live miles to the north 
 west. It is the favourite summer resort of the 
 inhabitants of the two cities, of which it may 
 almost be regarded as a distant suburb. Miii 
 netonka Lake is one of the 7,000 to which I 
 have just alluded. It has an area of twenty- 
 three square miles, but so many are the bays 
 and indentations that the coast line is one- 
 hundred miles in length. There are no 
 frowning mountains such as surround the 
 Swiss lakes, only gently undulating land, richly 
 wooded, encloses this lovely sheet of water. 
 Everything is peaceful and suggestive of happy 
 rest. 
 
 Here not so many years ago was the home 
 and favourite hunting-ground of the Sioux and 
 
110 A TKIP TO AMEKICA. 
 
 Chippewa Indians, and the middle of the lake 
 was the boundary between the two nations. 
 It was they who called it " Minnetonka," or 
 the Big Water. Now large steamboats, the 
 largest capable of holding 2,000 passengers, 
 ply upon it, and hotels and private residences 
 are springing into existence in every direction. 
 
 The Hotel Lafayette, which was our des 
 tination, is a good example of the great 
 American watering-place hotel. It is built 
 entirely of wood, and is architecturally of the 
 Queen Anne style. It was, when first com 
 pleted, 700ft. in length, but it has been 
 increased by 400ft. during the past twelve 
 months. The ground 011 which it stands is not 
 very high, and yet it is the highest in the 
 lake's circumference. Shady walks, pleasant 
 drives, boating and bathing-houses, and a 
 spacious wharf for the steamers are among 
 the many advantages offered. Of course, the 
 electric light is everywhere.. 
 
 As an instance of the enormous increase in 
 the value of the land here, I may mention one 
 island on this lake, scarcely an acre in area, 
 for which the present owner ten years ago 
 paid the Government price of Is. (1 dollar). 
 
MINNEAPOLIS. Ill 
 
 He has recently refused 2,000 (10,000 dollars) 
 for it. Here is " unearned increment ' : 
 sufficient to make Mr. Chamberlain's mouth 
 water, but of this he may rest assured that if 
 he were to promulgate any of his views in the 
 United States casting any doubt on the owner's 
 right to the full market price, he would soon 
 be taught a very valuable lesson. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FARGO. 
 
 WHILE surveying the surrounding landscape 
 from the level plateau which forms the roof of 
 the Pillsbury Mill at Minneapolis, with the 
 thermometer at 85deg. in the shade, I was 
 told that if the flour produced hy the estab 
 lishment underneath our feet in twelve months 
 were packed in railway cars, it would extend 
 seventy miles in one direction, while the wheat 
 brought in to produce it would extend seventy 
 miles in another ! This is one of those 
 striking calculations which some persons are 
 so fond of making, and the accuracy of which 
 it is difficult to test. But I have no doubt my 
 informant was correct, for the producing 
 power of the mill is no less than 5,000 barrels 
 per day. It is a saying in Minneapolis that if 
 a man wants credit from his banker he must 
 go to him with his coat well lloured. I can 
 
FAKGO. 113 
 
 only say that if that condition were all that a 
 Minneapolis banker required, I was in a 
 position at that moment to have successfully 
 negotiated a very considerable loan. 
 
 Returning to St. Paul I spent the afternoon 
 in trying to keep myself cool in a sweltering- 
 heat of over BOdeg. Our special train had to 
 wait until the evening so as not to interfere with 
 the ordinary traffic. As I sat in the train, 
 melting helplessly and trying to fan myself 
 with a newspaper, a boy in a local train that 
 was just starting had his sympathy excited, and 
 calling out " Here, take this," threw something 
 in at my window. It was his fan. I was very 
 grateful to that Good Samaritan of a boy. 
 He deprived himself of something that was 
 almost indispensable to his comfort in order to 
 benefit the less-acclimatised stranger. 
 
 It was 8.30 that night before we started from 
 St. Paul. We were now for the first time on 
 the Northern Pacific Eailroad, along which we 
 were to travel for the rest of our journey west. 
 When I left Chicago I was told that I must be 
 prepared to "rough it," but at St. Paul and 
 Minneapolis, hundreds of miles away, comfort 
 and luxury of every kind (excepting always 
 
114 A TRIP TO AMEKICA. 
 
 good roads) still surrounded me. Many miles 
 had yet to be traversed before the " roughing 
 it " was to commence. It was a lovely night, 
 the moon was full, and the ride over the prairie 
 was very delightful. The air was singularly 
 light and invigorating, and its coolness went 
 far to restore exhausted nature after the 
 oppressive heat of the town. 
 
 We reached the boundary of the State of 
 Minnesota at daybreak, and at six o'clock our 
 train came to a standstill at Fargo, on the 
 other side of the Bed River, just within the 
 territory of Dakota. A board on the station 
 informed me that we were 274 J miles from St. 
 Paul, arid 1,641J miles from Portland on the 
 Pacific Coast. There is nothing like being 
 exact to half a mile when dealing with such 
 distances. It was Sunday morning, and in 
 accordance with Mr. Kufus Hatch's inexorable 
 rule we were never allowed to travel on 
 Sunday. Our train was switched on to a 
 siding, and we prepared to spend the day. 
 
 Fargo is as remarkable in its way as any of 
 the other important places we had passed. 
 Here we found a city of nearly 12,000 inhab 
 itants, with twenty-eight hotels (such as the}' 
 
FAKCH). 115 
 
 were), with three daily and live weekly news 
 papers, a post-office, where eight mails arrive 
 and depart daily, banks, waterworks, opera 
 house, theatre, two skating rinks, and, literally 
 to crown all, the electric light in full operation. 
 From the summit of an. iron frame- work 200ft. 
 high, when night came, a cluster of electric 
 lights on the Brush system of 20,000-candle 
 power, shed their radiance on this prosperous 
 little city. 
 
 We were received with great cordiality by 
 the leading citizens, who did everything in 
 their power to make us welcome. The mayor, 
 Mr. Yerxa, had requested all who could place 
 their carriages at the disposal of Mr. Hatch's 
 guests to be at the Head-quarters Hotel at 5 
 p.m. to take us for a drive round the city. 
 The president of the First National Bank was 
 good enough to act as my escort, driving my 
 wife and myself in his light spring buggy in all 
 directions through the beautifully-wooded park 
 on the banks of the Ked River and out over 
 the prairie, pointing out everything of interest. 
 It was a strange experience, because often 
 there were no roads worth mentioning, and 
 our ideas of driving were considerably enlarged. 
 
 H 2 
 
116 A TEIP TO AMEKICA. 
 
 You had only to hold on at critical moments 
 and you could go anywhere. 
 
 By the way, I was rather taken aback by 
 finding that the fame of my adventure with the 
 "confidence men " in New York had preceded 
 me. In fact the Argus, the chief paper of 
 Fargo, had that day, in anticipation of my 
 arrival, republished the whole story as it had 
 appeared in the New York Tribune nearly a 
 fortnight before ! 
 
 Colonel Donan, the editor of the Argus, is 
 undoubtedly " one of the most remarkable men 
 in our country," as his fellow- citizens said. 
 He is unsurpassed in that style of writing and 
 public speaking that is known as "high falutin." 
 His " Scream from the American Eagle " has 
 passed through more than ten editions, and is 
 a wonderful piece of composition. It is a 
 " Fourth of July Oration," and was reprinted 
 by the Passenger Department of the Chicago, 
 Milwaukee, and St. Paul Eailway " as a 
 characteristic specimen of the fertility of the 
 new North- West in eloquence," with a recom 
 mendation to the reader " when through " to 
 11 pass it along " to his neighbour. 
 
 Boasting, as is essential on the 4th of July, 
 
FAEGO. 117 
 
 of the greatness of the United States, Colonel 
 Donan refers more especially to Dakota in the 
 following terms. 
 
 11 No bigger mosquitoes were ever broiled 
 and served in fashionable restaurants down 
 East, as snipes on toast, than those that in 
 dustriously ply their profession along all our 
 romantic streams and lake sides. No sharper, 
 nobler, wide-awaker, straighter tobacco- 
 spitting, more enterprising, whole-souled, 
 generous, true-hearted, and public-spirited 
 men than ours ever left their stoga boot-prints 
 on the golden sands of time," with much 
 more to the same purpose. 
 
 But amid all this amusing nonsense, Colonel 
 Donan does not fail to give some sound prac 
 tical advice, as the doctor administers a 
 nauseous powder to a child in raspberry jam. 
 He appeals to his fellow citizens to make 
 Dakota " a land of God and morality, of law, 
 order, and the broadest liberty. Let the taper 
 spire of church and school house be ever, as 
 now, the first landmarks in all your towns." 
 
 Let me retrace my steps a little, for I have 
 omitted to mention a fresh surprise which was 
 in store for me. 
 
118 A TRIP TO AMERICA. , 
 
 After breakfast I determined to see what 
 sort of a place the Episcopal Church of 
 " Gethsemane " would be, and after plodding 
 along the .wooden side walks, which are- the 
 rule in these out-of-the-way places, I came to 
 a very unpretending structure, of course, built 
 of wood. To my amazement, on entering, I 
 found myself in a beautiful little church of 
 the best Anglican type. All the fittings, 
 except a handsome stone font, were of pine 
 wood, substantial, and in admirable taste. 
 The sittings were free. There was a rood 
 screen, prettily- carved seats for the choir, a 
 lectern, and a neat pulpit. The altar was 
 decorated with flowers and prairie grasses 
 surrounding a brass cross, and was vested with 
 a beautifully embroidered altar-cloth of green 
 satin. 
 
 After service I had the pleasure of being 
 introduced to the rector, the Eev. B. F. Cooley, 
 and I then found that the seasons of the 
 Church were duly marked by equally handsome 
 altar-cloths of appropriate colours, one of the 
 cloths having been given by a gentleman of 
 New York, the others having been embroidered 
 by members of the congregation. 
 
FAimo. 119 
 
 Presently the organist played an opening 
 voluntary, and, singing a processional hymn, 
 a choir, twenty-six in number, all in cassocks 
 and surplices, headed by a cross-bearer, 
 marched in and took their places. I could 
 scarcely believe my eyes. Here, in this remote 
 spot, in the very heart of the American Conti 
 nent, was a church and a service that was an 
 example to scores of churches at home. Every 
 thing was done with the greatest reverence 
 and care, and following the- best traditions of 
 the Anglican Church. 
 
 Mr. Cooley preached us an excellent sermon 
 on the Good Samaritan, and made an earnest 
 appeal for funds for the further enlargement 
 of the church, which has already been enlarged 
 once during his incumbency of only twenty-six 
 months. Yet even now it only holds 200 per 
 sons, and then is crowded.* Mr. Cooley told 
 me he had 150 communicants, and that he had 
 a choral celebration once a month ; the usual 
 
 * During the six months which have elapsed since my 
 visit, " Gethsemane " has been greatly enlarged, and the 
 total capacity of the Church, inclusive of the Galilee on 
 the west side, is not far short of 500 sittings. Every one 
 of these sittings was occupied when Bishop Walker, of 
 
120 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 early celebration at eight being plain. Geth- 
 semane Church was built in 1875, two years 
 after the first lots in Fargo were sold by the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad Company. In 1872 
 Fargo was inhabited only by the wild Indian. 
 
 It was a very great pleasure to find the 
 spiritual wants of our Church people in the 
 Far West so well cared for, concurrently with 
 their material interests, nay, almost in advance 
 of them. The ground has been acquired for a 
 Cathedral, and Fargo will be an episcopate 
 before many months are gone. 
 
 There are slight but curious differences 
 between our Anglican services and those of 
 the American Episcopalians. But substan 
 tially, so far as I could judge, there was no 
 material discrepancy. 
 
 The Lessons are read from the version 
 sanctioned by the American Bible Society. 
 Various amusing concessions are made to 
 Republican prejudices. For example, "King 
 
 North Dakota, in whose diocese Fargo is, paid his Epis 
 copal visit in February last. It was a notable occasion 
 for the Episcopalians of Fargo, and Mr. Cooley had good 
 reason to feel proud of the success that had attended his 
 unfailing exertions. 
 
FARGO. 121 
 
 of kings and Lord of lords," is changed to 
 11 Supreme Eider of the Universe." For some 
 reason or other, too, the good old Saxon word 
 " wealth " has been replaced by " prosperity." 
 
 There are forty- nine places of worship of 
 all denominations in Fargo. The Eoman 
 Catholics and Lutherans are largely in the 
 majority in point of population, the Lutheran 
 element being due to the numbers of Scandi 
 navians who settle in this locality. 
 
 I had some interesting talk with Father 
 Stephan, the priest of the Eoman Catholic 
 Church at Fargo, a most zealous missionary 
 among the Indian tribes, and a great friend of 
 " Sitting Bull," whom he is said to have con 
 verted to Catholicism. He had a much higher 
 opinion of the Indian Chief than I had ; but I 
 reserve iny remarks on Indians until a more 
 suitable opportunity. 
 
 We were off the next morning at half-past 
 eight, and soon covered the twenty miles 
 between Fargo and the celebrated Dalrymple 
 Farm, or rather group of farms. These farms 
 are divided into forty blocks of a square mile 
 each, but all have not yet been brought into 
 cultivation. Our train drew up, and we were 
 
122 A TBir TO AMERICA. 
 
 presently scattered over the prairie, some on 
 horseback, but the majority in waggons. We 
 saw the whole process of reaping, binding, and 
 threshing on a large scale. Not that there 
 was much novelty in that. What struck me 
 most was, not the present production of grain, 
 but the future possibilities under a different 
 system of farming. 
 
 The Eed Eiver Valley, probably, in remote 
 times formed the bed of a great freshwater 
 lake. The surface soil is a rich, dark, cal 
 careous loam, of great fertility, extending 
 more or less to a depth of from two to five 
 feet, It is only necessary to " scratch " the 
 surface, sow the seed, and in four months you 
 have a yield of from twenty to thirty bushels 
 of wheat to the acre. Oats yield fifty bushels, 
 and barley and rye do equally well, while 
 potatoes grow to an astonishing size. As far 
 as the eye could see there was nothing but 
 waving wheat in every direction. Here and 
 there on the horizon was a manager's house 
 and homestead. The farming operations are 
 directed by means of the telephone. The 
 stalk of the wheat was short and sturdy, 
 capable of bending to the stormy blasts 
 
FARGO. 123 
 
 that sweep over the prairie and recovering 
 itself. 
 
 I was told that the only drink supplied on 
 the farm was water, in fact I saw the cart 
 going its rounds with barrels of water to 
 quench the thirst of the labourers. The 
 foreman, who drove me in his waggon, assured 
 me he had been a total abstainer all his life. 
 He also, in answer to my inquiry, informed 
 me that their steadiest and most valuable 
 workers were young Irishmen, adding, 
 
 " Not those fresh from Ireland, but the next 
 generation who have been born in America 
 away from the large Eastern cities, and who 
 have forgotten, even if they ever knew, all 
 the nonsense about their old country." 
 
 These men come to Dalrymple for the 
 summer season, and return to various other 
 trades in more populous localities during the 
 winter months. Indeed, only the few who 
 are absolutely necessary remain on the farms 
 during the winter season, when the temper 
 ature, which may have reached lOOdeg. Fah 
 renheit in July and August, descends to 20deg. 
 below zero in January. 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 ACROSS THE PRAIRIE THE GROS YENTRES. 
 
 AFTER leaving the great Dalrymple Farm 
 district, the traveller by the Northern Pacific 
 Railroad begins to have real experience of the 
 prairie. He has seen prairie before, away 
 East, but only on a moderate scale compared 
 to the landscape that now meets his eye on 
 every side. There is often little variation for 
 miles and miles. It was much as if the At 
 lantic Ocean had become solidified, and we 
 were crossing it in a railway train instead of a 
 White Star steamship. At long intervals we 
 passed or stopped at some station, adjoining a 
 street with wooden houses, a National Bank, 
 and usually a daily newspaper. 
 
 Surmounting the slightly elevated land 
 which divides the Red River Valley from the 
 great basin of the Missouri, we came upon the 
 James River, which flows eventually into the 
 
ACROSS THE PRAIRIE. 125 
 
 Upper Missouri, and we stopped at Jamestown, 
 a rising city, in a district rich in agricultural 
 resources, about ninety-four miles from Fargo. 
 I was told that nine years ago four small 
 shanties at the crossing of , the James Kiver 
 marked the site of the city, which now boasts 
 of a mayor, a public park, four banks, and five 
 hotels, good schools, three fine churches, and 
 two daily newspapers. Three years ago there 
 were less than 400 inhabitants. Now, there 
 are more than 3,000 ! 
 
 Fifty- eight miles more of prairie, varied 
 only by here and there a settler's wooden hut 
 or canvas tent, and we arrived at Steele's 
 Farm. We were just becoming accustomed 
 to the dreary, treeless waste of land, when our 
 train pulled up at a pretty and prosperous 
 settlement, blessed with most of the com 
 forts of civilisation, always excepting afternoon 
 callers to break the monotony of their exis 
 tence. This defect was so amply supplied by 
 our arrival that we seemed literally to take 
 the place by storm. But the hospitable Steele 
 family were equal to the occasion, and nothing 
 daunted, offered us a hearty welcome and the 
 best their house afforded. In the garden a 
 
126 A TKIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 hammock was suspended under a large um 
 brella, which proved that some one there 
 either had, or expected to have, some idle time. 
 The house, which, of course, had been sent 
 from St. Paul or Chicago ready made and 
 only requiring to be put together, was a pretty 
 villa residence. Among the furniture a really 
 good piano had not been forgotten. A charm 
 ing old lady, with white hair, and her daugh 
 ters received us with every well-bred grace 
 and courtesy. The farm buildings were 
 extensive, especially the arrangements for 
 poultry, which were very perfect and on a 
 large scale, for milk and poultry command 
 high prices in this out-of-the-way region. 
 
 Still on and on over this eternal prairie ! 
 until one wonders how a railway came to be 
 built where there are such sparse customers ; 
 where, in fact, there are no persons to travel 
 until the railway plants th em there . One thing 
 is clear, the railway does not require much 
 constructing. Lay the sleepers on the prairie 
 and turn up the sides for ballast, spike the rails 
 on the top, and the thing is done. Still labour 
 is expensive and so are materials, for every 
 thing must be brought from a great distance. 
 
ACBOSS THE PEA1RIE. 127 
 
 To tempt speculators to build the Northern 
 Pacific Eailroad, and so open up one of the 
 most productive regions in the world, a rich 
 bait was offered. The United States Govern 
 ment, in order to aid the construction of this 
 line, has granted to the company lands extend 
 ing from the Montreal River, on the eastern 
 boundary of the State of Wisconsin, to Puget 
 Sound, in Washington territory, a distance of 
 about 2,000 miles, and embracing an area'of 
 about 42,000,000 acres, equal in extent to 
 England and Wales combined. The Govern 
 ment grant confers upon the company the 
 odd-numbered sections (each section being one 
 square mile, and containing 640 acres) for a 
 distance of forty miles on each side of the 
 road in the Territories, and for twenty miles 
 in the States. 
 
 Writing in 1876, Lord Uunraven, describing 
 his visit to the great Wonderland of the Yel 
 lowstone, says : " ' When the railway is 
 made,' is in Montana a sort of equivalent 
 for our phrase, ' When my ship comes home.' 
 The Northern Pacific Railway was surveyed 
 through the best parts of the Territory, and 
 under the benign influence of that great 
 
128 A TKIP TO AMEKICA. 
 
 civiliser Montana would rapidly have devel 
 oped into a prosperous State. But the North 
 ern Pacific came to an untimely end. No 
 one but Providence and financial agents can 
 possibly say whether it is ever likely to be 
 ' put through,' and in the meantime the 
 Northern Territories are steadily ' advancing 
 backwards.' ' 
 
 A few years only have passed, and now the 
 railway is " put through," the last spike has 
 been driven, and the days of prosperity fore 
 told by Lord Dunraven are close at hand. 
 
 It was dark when we arrived at Bismarck, 
 forty-three miles from Steele Farm, an im 
 portant busy city, of longer standing than 
 most others we had passed, because of its 
 position on the eastern bank of the Missouri, 
 with 1,200 miles of navigable river above, and 
 2,500 miles below it. Our train remained 
 
 more than an hour at Bismarck, and we were 
 
 
 
 honoured by a visit from Mr. Ordway, the 
 governor of Dakota Territory, a gentleman 
 whose courteous manners and noble physique 
 seemed to justify his selection for the im 
 portant post which he filled. After he was 
 gone our train was moved on five miles further, 
 
AC-BOSS THE PRAIRIE. 129 
 
 across the Missouri Hiver, to Mandan, where 
 we remained all night, sleeping, of course, in 
 our travelling hotel, the train. We had got 
 through 200 miles altogether that day, which, 
 considering our many and lengthy stoppages, 
 was not very bad travelling. 
 
 Mandan is only about two years old, but its 
 population numbers 1,500. At breakfast we 
 were asked by newsboys to buy the Mandan 
 Daily Pioneer, a flourishing journal, whose 
 chief business is to chant the praises of 
 Mandan. Its editor ask the foreign visitor to 
 " gaze with mingled feelings of pride and 
 awe." He assures us that "no place seems 
 more worthy of a setting in the crown which 
 the intrepid financier (Mr. Yillard) so richly 
 deserves, as a tribute from a grateful people 
 whose prosperity has followed the advent of 
 the steam-engine across the country, than 
 Mandan, which was known three or four years 
 ago only from a few log- cabins, through whose 
 port-holes anxious eyes kept daily watch for 
 the dusky savage, and which stands to-day a 
 prosperous city of 2,500 people." 
 
 I think, by the way, that the figure " 2 " 
 must have slipped in in place of "1," or else 
 
130 A TEIP TO AMEEICA. 
 
 the editor's enthusiasm has made him see 
 double. However, Mandan, which is a busy 
 shipping point for Missouri River Steam 
 Boats is, no doubt, progressing rapidly, and 
 has a great future before it. Amongst other 
 features of the place the eye is attracted by 
 excellent buildings of red brick, manufactured 
 from clay found on the spot. Foremost among 
 these is the Inter- Ocean Hotel, a most com 
 fortable and admirably conducted establish 
 ment. 
 
 We left Mandan soon after breakfast, and 
 our next resting place was Richard ton (eighty- 
 five miles), a small town of fifty inhabitants, 
 with streets duly marked out, and, no doubt, 
 looking very extensive and important "on 
 paper." In twelve miles further Gladstone 
 was reached; and here, I believe, it was that 
 we came upon a very shabby-looking party of 
 Indians standing perplexed on the platform, 
 hoping for a lift on their road west. They 
 were of the Gros Yentre tribe, and were on 
 their way to hold a " Pow-wow " with their 
 friends the Crows. They carried a docu 
 ment, without which no Indian is allowed 
 to travel from his reservation, giving permission 
 
THE GROS VENTRES. 131 
 
 to " Eabbit's Head," "Porcupine Head," 
 "Kidney," and three or four others, all named, 
 to be absent for twenty-five days from the 
 Agency to visit their friends at the Crow's 
 Agency. Mr. Eufus Hatch, kind-hearted as 
 usual, offered them seats on the observation 
 platform of the last carriage of our train as 
 far as Little Missouri, about fifty- three miles 
 further on. We all crowded to look at them, 
 arid some ladies of our party bought bracelets, 
 bags, and pincushions, while an energetic 
 French schoolmaster bartered knives with 
 them for a tomahawk-head and a red clay pipe 
 decorated with feathers. 
 
 In my boyhood I had almost worshipped 
 the " Last of the Mohicans." Was his name 
 Chingachgook or Uncas ? I know somebody's 
 name was Chingachgook. I had longed to 
 clasp these noble savages to my heart, to sit 
 entranced while I was addressed in solemn 
 and dignified tones as " Pale Face." The 
 realities of life have extinguished nearly all 
 the romance which I ever had. But I still 
 clung to the noble savage of Fennimore 
 Cooper's novels. Alas, now all is gone. 
 
 Those hideous, dirty, sly-looking imbeciles, 
 
 i 2 
 
132 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 the " Gros Ventres " have to answer for 
 this. 
 
 All on board the train were heartily glad 
 when we, not without difficulty, induced them 
 to land at Little Missouri, which we reached 
 just before sunset. They were evidently dis 
 gusted because we did not take them further 
 on their journey, and they did not show any 
 gratitude for the service we had already ren 
 dered them. I feel sure they would have 
 enjoyed nothing so much, if they had had the 
 chance, as scalping our whole party. 
 
 Before leaving these redskins I may men 
 tion that I was told that certain ancient forts 
 of great antiquity had recently been discovered 
 near Mandan. These forts are supposed to 
 have been built by the Mandari tribe of Indians, 
 who have long been extinct. They are con 
 structed most scientifically, and give evidence 
 of a very remarkable knowledge of what are 
 believed to be modern principles of strategic 
 warfare, far in advance of any of our latter-day 
 Indians. So I suppose we may take it that 
 the race has degenerated. 
 
CHAPTEK XVI. 
 
 LITTLE MISSOURI TO THE WONDERLAND. 
 
 IT was at the railway station of Little Missouri 
 that I had my first real experience of that 
 rough and reckless mode of life which is insep 
 arable from the outward margin of civilisation, 
 where the ordinary course of law is difficult 
 and uncertain, where everyone carries his life 
 in his hand, and where Judge Lynch (not a 
 bad Judge, by the way) is supreme. Little 
 Missouri is in a basin sourrounded by hills, 
 many of quaint shape, and looking like the 
 partly-burnt ballast-heaps of the giants. Lig 
 nite abounds in this locality, and has been 
 burning for ages over many square miles, 
 reducing the strata of clay in which it is found 
 to red fragments of brick. This imports a 
 beautiful rose tint to the " buttes " (pro 
 nounced " butes "), and consequently a land 
 scape sketched and coloured from nature in 
 Pyramid Park would resemble nothing else in 
 the world. 
 
134 A TKIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 The " bad lands," as they are called, which 
 lie around these parti-coloured " buttes " are 
 not so bad as their name would imply. They 
 are capital for grazing purposes, and among 
 other settlers a certain French Marquis, well 
 known in Paris, accompanied by his pretty 
 young wife, a New York lady, has established 
 himself. The Marquis has money and brains, 
 and has bought much land in the locality. 
 He has an extensive and very productive cattle 
 " ranche," and has naturally taken up the 
 leading position among his neighbours. He 
 is as agreeable and handsome a man as any 
 one could desire to meet. It is not suprising 
 that his success should have aroused the envy, 
 and even jealousy, of some of his less fortu 
 nate neighbours. If matters ended here there 
 would be no great harm done. But unfortu 
 nately men in these parts carry firearms, mid 
 use them. 
 
 One of the first structures erected in a new 
 settlement is a drinking saloon, where bad 
 passions are inflamed by bad drink, and where 
 " envy, hatred, and malice" assume a prac 
 tical shape in the form of a revolver or a bowie- 
 knife. Thus it was that the more reckless 
 
LITTLE MISSOURI. 135 
 
 spirits among the jealous frontier men decided 
 to finish the Marquis. But, forewarned, the 
 Marquis turned the tables, and one of the 
 envious cowboys (not the leader) bit the dust. 
 
 When we arrived at Little Missouri the 
 Frenchman had just returned from a judicial 
 investigation into the charge against him, 
 resulting in a verdict of "justifiable homicide." 
 He told me that his deadly foe, Frank O'Don- 
 nell, had expressed a wish to be friends for 
 the future, and the Marquis added that he 
 thought he was in earnest. But, for all that, 
 neither party abated by one jot his usual pre 
 cautions. Two faithful attendants, with 
 Winchester rifles, never left the Frenchman's 
 side, and the Marquis himself was a complete 
 perambulating arsenal of concealed weapons. 
 
 Five minutes after speaking to him I was 
 talking to O'Donnell, a tall, bony, not un 
 pleasant looking man, a complete type of the 
 frontier hunter. He was the sort of man that, 
 if the choice were thrust upon me, I should 
 prefer to have as a friend rather than an 
 enemy. But if it made no difference, I should 
 like to strike him off my visiting list altogether. 
 He was very obliging, however, and made 
 
136 A TEIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 himself useful by bringing his influence and 
 knowledge of their language to bear upon 
 the Indians to induce them to quit our train. 
 It was a strange scene, and one I shall ever 
 remember, at that wild roadside station of 
 Little Missouri. 
 
 I was not sorry when our engine had laid in 
 its stock of lignite, quarried from the over 
 hanging cliff, and delivered direct into the 
 tender without its leaving the main line. 
 The slouched hats, the Mexican saddles and 
 stirrups, the leather garments, the abundant 
 supply of weapons, added to the knowledge 
 that a "shooting" might come off at any 
 moment, and the station platform be strewn 
 with corpses, not necessarily of those per 
 sonally interested in the quarrel, made most 
 of our party glad to be once more en route. 
 
 The train wound along among the u buttes," 
 seeking the easiest course, and climbing up a 
 somewhat steep gradient, until, at twenty- 
 seven miles, the 104th degree of longitude 
 (west of Greenwich) was passed, and we 
 entered the territory of Montana. Thirty- 
 nine miles more brought us to Glendive. AYe 
 had now descended into the basin of the 
 
WONDERLAND. 137 
 
 Yellowstone Kiver, which we were to follow 
 to its source in the Eocky Mountains. The 
 Yellowstone joins the Missouri near the eastern 
 boundary of the territory at Fort Union, about 
 sixty miles below the Glendive. Our train 
 kept " pegging away " during the night and 
 the whole of the next day, past Miles City 
 (eighty miles), Big Horn (eighty-six miles), 
 Billings (fifty-nine miles), until at five p.m. 
 we drew up at Livingstone (115 miles). We 
 had completed 556 miles since quitting Man- 
 dan, and were now 7 at the entrance of the 
 canyon, through which a further journey of 
 sixty miles w^as to carry us to our destination 
 in the great Yellowstone National Park. 
 
 There were not wanting sceptics in our party 
 whose spirits drooped lower and lower, as day 
 after day went by, and our train still sped on, 
 and only boundless and monotonous prairies 
 were in view. We breakfasted, lunched, played 
 whist, dined, smoked, sang, recited, told tales, 
 guessed riddles and puzzles, played cards again, 
 went to bed, got up the next morning to find 
 much the same scenery and no apparent pro 
 gress towards our journey's end. How long 
 would this last ? And should we be really 
 
188 A TETP TO AMERICA. 
 
 rewarded by the wonders in "the Park?" 
 Five days and nights had been spent in our 
 train since leaving St. Paul, and now we had 
 come almost suddenly upon a totally different 
 scene. There were noble mountains with 
 patches of snow on them, seeming in that 
 clear atmosphere much nearer than they act 
 ually were. Here was a foretaste of something 
 more exciting than the boundless prairie. 
 
 The " City " of Livingstone is really a 
 village of wooden houses and shops, rising, 
 progressing, active, and pushing. These 
 North- West villages are all so much alike 
 that it is difficult for the most sharp-witted 
 tourist to distinguish between them. The 
 National Bank is a useful test. In the east 
 ern, cities it may be a handsome structure of 
 marble or wood; as you go West it becomes 
 first brick, then wood, until finally it is canvas. 
 At Livingstone it was wood. 
 
 From Livingstone a branch line diverges 
 south from the main Northern Pacific line 
 through the canyon, known as the Gate of the 
 Mountains, in the direction of the Wonderland. 
 This junction has already made Livingstone 
 an important centre, although its existence 
 
WONDERLAND. 139 
 
 only dates from last year. It is a rough place, 
 and we were advised not to wander about far 
 after dark. Our train, in which we slept, was 
 carefully locked and guarded on its siding. 
 The mining element is rather strong in Liv 
 ingstone, and gambling saloons, with their 
 accompanying recklessness in the matter of 
 revolvers, are in great force. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 NEXT morning, at 5.30, after seeing a lovely 
 sunrise from the open plain, our train plunged 
 into the Gate of the Mountains, the sun was 
 shut out by the lofty peaks, and I enjoyed a 
 second, more lovely, sunrise an hour later, 
 with all the varying lights and shadows of the 
 snow-patched summits, which hemmed us in 
 on all sides. A most novel and picturesque ride 
 of three hours or more brought us to the end 
 of the railway track. The rails were laid for a 
 mile or two further, but for some reason or 
 other I think because beyond this point there 
 was no siding or switches so as to transfer the 
 two engines to the other end of the train, to 
 haul it back we were turned out here. 
 
 Some rough-looking men were seated on 
 railway sleepers and rude benches outside a 
 canvas drinking- saloon, the only habitation 
 for miles, 
 
THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 141 
 
 The first piece of news that greeted us was 
 that two hunters had just brought in a mur 
 derer, who had beaten a man's brains out with 
 a big stone the night before. They had fol 
 lowed the murderer into the mountains, and 
 there had " held him up," which means that 
 unexpectedly so far as he was concerned- 
 coming upon him, with revolvers pointed at 
 his head, they had required him to hold up 
 his arms while they removed his weapons. I 
 need scarcely say that had he hesitated or 
 moved a hand in the direction of his revolver, 
 he would have been mercilessly shot. He was 
 now sitting quietly on a mound, talking 
 cheerfully to one of his captors. The principal 
 hunter, who had, so to speak, run him to 
 earth, was a very picturesque object. His 
 brown hair fell in long waves over his 
 shoulders, and his handsome sunburnt face 
 and blue eyes, naturally inspired confidence, 
 which even his slouched hat, rough clothes, 
 belt of cartridges, and the usual arsenal of 
 weapons did not tend to destroy. He was well 
 educated, spoke English like a native, was a 
 graduate of a German university, and a most 
 intelligent companion. I saw him frequently 
 
142 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 afterwards, and we became quite good friends. 
 He was passing under a feigned name, and 
 had spent five or six years amongst the 
 " Eockies," trapping and shooting. I think 
 his wife was dead, but he had several children 
 living with friends in New York. Several 
 weeks later I saw him on his way to rejoin 
 them. He is a wonderful shot with a rifle, 
 and is now earning his living by exhibiting 
 his powers as a marksman in the cities further 
 East. He told me he could with certainty hit 
 a half dollar held between the fingers of any 
 one endued with sufficient confidence in his 
 powers to stand the test. 
 
 As to the murderer, he was taken to Boze- 
 man, the chief place of the Territory, where 
 his captors and other witnesses were held to 
 bail to attend and prosecute him at the next 
 assizes in December. This was in August, 
 and the probability was that when his case 
 came on, the prosecution would fail for lack 
 of evidence. Not that my hunter friend meant 
 to fail. I asked him how he intended to get 
 over the thousands of miles from New York 
 and back. He informed me that the Govern 
 ment made a liberal mileage payment to 
 
THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 143 
 
 witnesses, and, as lie should be able by the 
 friendly aid of the railway authorities to travel 
 gratis, he 'should make a good thing out of the 
 trial. 
 
 No rain had fallen for weeks, and the 
 country was brown and dusty. The prevailing 
 vegetation consisted of a low-growing cactus 
 spreading in all directions among the dry soil 
 and hot stones. The temperature at daybreak 
 had been 25 deg. Fahrenheit ; by 3 p.m. the 
 thermometer stood at 105 degs. in the shade. 
 It was only a quarter- past nine now, but the 
 sun had acquired terrific power, and blazed in 
 a sky of amazing clearness when we com 
 menced our journey of some twelve miles from 
 the drinking saloon (the place had no name), 
 to the Mammoth Hot Springs. I was put 
 into the first waggon with six others and the 
 driver, eight in all, sitting two and two, under 
 a canvas tilt from end to end of the vehicle. 
 
 It is superfluous to say that there were no 
 roads, only tracks, and it was easier riding 
 where no vehicle had been before than along 
 the beaten route. Up hill and down dale we 
 went, jolting, bumping, thumping on hard 
 seats, steadying bodies and nerves as best we 
 
144 A TKIP TO AMEEICA. 
 
 could. The surrounding neighbourhood for 
 miles had been laid under contribution to pro 
 vide waggons and horses for our party, and we 
 met the various teams hurrying to the drinking 
 saloon to meet the train, each with its accom 
 panying clould of thick dust. It had been 
 anticipated that our train would have taken 
 us further on, else these vehicles would have 
 been in readiness on our arrival. 
 
 We had neither time nor breath to admire 
 the scenery. Our attention was largely 
 devoted to keeping ourselves in the waggon, 
 and extricating our feet from the loose luggage 
 which slid backwards or forwards at the bottom 
 of the vehicle as we ascended or descended 
 the hills. Finally, we descended a steep pitch, 
 which made all else seem level, and were 
 landed breathless, but unhurt, at the rough 
 wooden steps of a huge wooden structure, and 
 found ourselves at the Mammoth Hot Springs 
 Hotel, Yellowstone Park. It was half-past 
 twelve, and more than three hours had been 
 spent in travelling those fearful twelve miles. 
 I felt as if I had travelled fifty ! 
 
 Yellowstone Park, Wyoming Territory (for 
 \vo passed the boundary of Montana during 
 
THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 145 
 
 our last torture), is in no sense of the term 
 what we in England understand by u a Park." 
 In the United States a park is any piece of 
 ground set apart for the public use or enjoy 
 ment. It may be only one square mile, or it 
 may be, as in this case, several thousand 
 square miles. It is mainly in Wyoming 
 Territory, but it really includes a narrow strip 
 of the adjoining territories of Montana and 
 Idaho. The boundaries of the park do not 
 describe any natural divisions. They include 
 a region which stretches a few miles east of 
 the meridian of 110 deg. west longitude, and 
 about the same distance west of the meridian 
 of 111 deg., and a few miles north of the 
 parallel of 45 deg., and not quite so far south 
 as 44 deg. north latitude. These purely 
 arbitrary lines contain an area fifty-five miles 
 in width from east to west, and sixty-five 
 miles in length from north to south, or about 
 3,575 square miles. No portion of the park is 
 less than 0,000 feet above the level of the sea, 
 while the mountain ranges rise to a level of 
 from 10,000 to 12,000 feet. 
 
 In 1872 the Congress of the United States 
 passed an Act setting apart this large tract as 
 
146 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 a public park or pleasure ground, " for the 
 benefit and enjoyment of the people." This 
 measure is a very remarkable example of the 
 foresight of the Americans, for it was based 
 upon the report of a single official survey that 
 of Professor Hayden in 1871 made at a time 
 when the country was almost inaccessible, and 
 when a lack of sufficient interest in the matter 
 might well have been excused. The park was 
 placed under the exclusive control of the 
 Secretary of the Interior, who may, in his 
 discretion, grant leases for building purpose, 
 for terms not exceeding ten years, of small 
 parcels of ground at such places in the park as 
 should require the erection of buildings for the 
 accommodation of visitors. Hence the Mam 
 moth Hot Springs Hotel, at which we now 
 descended dusty and .wayworn. 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS. 
 
 WE were confessedly a party of pioneers, and 
 expected to have to u rough it." But I must 
 say that our " roughing " was, even here, 
 greatly softened by the admixture of the 
 " smooth." The hotel at the Mammoth 
 Hot Springs, erected by the Yellowstone 
 Park Improvement Company, of which Mr. 
 Bums Hatch is president, was simply the 
 most remarkable product of civilization in my 
 experience. I don't think that any of us 
 appreciated it at its true value until after we 
 had quitted it. 
 
 A plateau of the vast formation of sulphur 
 and magnesia, deposited by the Hot Springs, 
 has been selected for 'its site. A level area of 
 many acres surrounds it, with mountain and' 
 forest on every side, except where, far away in 
 the valley beneath, the Gardiner Eiver rushes 
 along to its junction with the Yellowstone. 
 
 K ^ 
 
1 18 A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
 
 The hotel is throughout of wood, except 
 the chimneys, which are of red brick. Only 
 a third of it has been completed at present. 
 A very picturesque structure, with gaily 
 painted red roof and deep verandahs, capable 
 of accommodating a couple of hundred guests. 
 The very trees of which it is built were grow 
 ing in the adjoining woods in March ; the 
 foundations were laid in June, and in August 
 it was crowded with travellers. The rooms 
 and corridors are very spacious, and the latter 
 are illuminated by the electric light. There 
 are two excellent billiard-tables, and Steinway 
 has presented the Yellowstone Park Improve 
 ment Company with one of his finest grand 
 pianos. I should like to have that grand 
 piano's opinion of the journey from the end of 
 the railway track. It had come much farther 
 in a waggon than I had, for the railway had 
 advanced ten miles since its arrival. 
 
 The novelty of having anything approaching 
 civilisation in their midst, attracted all the 
 hunters, drivers, settlers, and "cowboys" for 
 miles round, and they congregated in the 
 great hall of the hotel until it resembled a 
 stage filled with the "supers"in "FraDiavolo." 
 
THE MAMMOTH HOT SPUINGS. 149 
 
 Sombrero hats, high leather boots and leg 
 gings, belts of cartridges, and revolvers 
 abounded, especially at night. It was rather 
 an alarming spectacle to some of the ladies, 
 especially when they were told that Mr. 
 Hobart, the able but impulsive manager of the 
 hotel, had found it necessary to pitch one of 
 these gentlemen off the verandah some days 
 previously, and it was rumoured that a 
 " shooting " was possible at any moment. 
 However, " use is second nature," and we 
 were soon all accustoned to our melo- dramatic ' 
 or operatic surroundings, and should probably 
 have accepted a little revolver practice as an 
 ordinary incident of everyday life. 
 
 It was really a mistake to imagine that our 
 visitors were so dangerous as they looked. 
 Several of them were gentlemen by birth, and 
 had received university or public school edu 
 cation. These were the " failures " of society, 
 come out here to seek their fortunes amid the 
 rough life of the frontier. I soon came to 
 know several of the rough fellows well, and to 
 feel quite at home with them. But there was 
 one peculiarity which was an insuperable 
 drawback to the pleasure of their society, and 
 
!;">() 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