REPRINTS: ■; -.:- : f:s of SKETCHESo:TRAVE 'Lu iV LAX1J AX1 J SKA ? THE CREGAN- CURSE, FTC. FTC 1 ■">>• \V.\1. I I K XK^' 1 ', 1 ■ KM Jl-l'i'T I The dozen letters herein reproduced from the columns of the Eock Island Union are collected together in this form to supply a number of friendly requests for them which it was not convenient to otherwise comply with. The story of 'The Cregaii Curse" and the verses following are added as seeming to have a flavor in consonance with certain portions of the letters. "The Cregan Curse" is wholly fictitious as a tale, and even as a Manx picture was purposely made untrue in identification of its particular scenery. UNION PRINTING OFFICE, ROCK ISLAND, ILL. BY LAND AND SEA. i. ■-. DAYLIGHT TRIP OVER THE ROCK ISLAM) RAILWAY — THE WESTERN PROSPECTOR — THE THKMOXT- loLANTHE. Chicago, May 30, 1883. When Rock Island scribes voyage to Moline or travel to Milan. Illinois City or Coal Valley, they are apt to tell all about it in print. r>ut when they step across the state to Chicago it seems to be their habit to refrain from relating their perils and adventures by the way. as well as those en- countered after reaching the city. The former abstinence is probably because they mostly make the trip by night and see nothing. The latter maybe the result of an uncon- scious feeling of rivalry between the two great ports of entrance to the east and west confines of the state: Chicago and Rock Island: creating a generous delicacy. Both cus- toms are to be deprecated. A trip from Hock Island to Chicago by day is a sedative which is good to take at this season, particularly if the sun shines, as it did on Tues- day. Leaving by the 7:55 Chicago & Rock Island train, one rolls the distance by the time the afternoon has well begun, almost as smoothly as a ball traverses the length of a bil- liard table. A seat in a chair car is restful, a temporary place in the dining car completely obliterates the recollection of a ISY LA XI) AM) SKA possibly too hasty breakfast, and the view of the bright given face of nature, passing so swiftly, rounds out the sensation of content. Of course, among the throng of quiet and pleas- ant people in one's car, there is the man who has been out West, prospecting But he is like the steady, interminable clack of the rolling gear of the train. He is part of the journey, and attaches himself to an aged man, hard of healing, to whom he communicates, in a voice of ear pierc- ing clearness, the whole of his experiences. It takes him about six hours to tell how he circumvented people and things out West and as far back as Council bluffs, and he leaves the train with the old gentleman, evidently intending to go to the same hotel to finish his yarn. When he is in the car he has an exasperating way of laughing, without hav- ing said anything funny. It is his way of taking breath to go on with, and, as soon as one recognizes this, one lose> the suspicion that he is indulging his amusement at the crowd for permitting his egotistical rattle. The old gentleman says little, but that little induces reverence. It is in the form of hints, suggesting that he is one of the multitude to whcin the present site of the city of Chicago was once offered foi a pair of ooots. a jack-knife and that inconsiderable portion of tobacco known as * "chew." An agriculturist would relish the day tiip. and would crit- ically note the myriads of little pigs frisking about their portly mothers. tLe calves and infantile colts without num- ber, and the pools and fields sprinkled thickly with gosling- anil ducklings, while the fair promise of such, stands of corn as are up and the good showing of small grain, particu- larly oats, would assure him that a crop is coming, though it is backward and rather too partial in appearance as _\et. As for the generous delicacy in saying nothing about Chicago, look at it properly, from a Rock Island point of BY LAX I) AX J) SEA. view, and it. seems sheer neglect. The Hock Island man goes straightway to his own hotel, the Tremont House, where Messrs. Hilton & Cobb give him peculiar greeting as such, and he tinds that, with all their constant influx of visitors, they have still the room, the fare and the comforts which the material part of his soul loves. And Mr. Milton, himself a Hock Island boy of yore, in speaking of home ami casually touching upon Mr. Harper's tine system of tire escape and protection at the Harper House. Rock Island, points out that the Tremont House, too, has its outside ladders to the ground, and its stand-pipes, at the end of every corridor: its four staircases, with red lamps burning at the head of each to mark its place; its wide-awake watchmen in the dif- ferent halls at night, with four electric gongs in every hall, under control of the office, to sound their din by the hour together without resetting, and its system of other devices to guard against danger from fire, which, in this solid and massive structure, is reduced to the minimum of possibility -and. as the tire station is within half a block, the electric signal from the office to the station would bring the firemen to the hotel in thirty seconds. But these precautions have to be taken, to keep up with the times, danger or no danger. Then there is another Rock Island attraction. Mrs. Ot - tilie Abel- Haas is playing, with the Chicago Church Choir Co., in Gilbert it Sullivan's latest comic opera, "Iolanthe." She is the principal of three fairies ruled by a Queen. Her name is "Celia" and she is what Brother Baldwin would term "the belle of the ball/' Clad in a loose robe of a delicious shade of green, and made up as a dark-eyed blonde in hair and complexion, the airy grace of her movements and the perfect ease with which she acts her supernal role hardly need the aid of the pair of diaphanous wings which spring from between her shoulders to proclaim her a true daughtei 10 BY LAND AM) SEA. of Fairyland. From the opening solo of the piece, in which, speaking for the trio, she sings: "We are dainty little fairies, Ever singing, ever dancing; We indulge in onr vagaries In'a fashion most entrancing — " she is a favorite with the audience, and the charming can- dor with which she answers, when told by the Fairy Queen that to love a mortal is weakness: "We know it's weak- ness, but the weakness is so strong!" comes at the close of an impersonation which it is pleasant to praise. "Iolanthe" is being performed at McYicker's Theatre. In amusing in- congruities it is own brother to the other Gilbert A' Sullivan pieces. Its first act is scened in an Arcadian landscape, with a river and cascade running at the back of the stage; its other act being set in the yard of Westminster Palace, with the Palace, all ali»ht at night, spanning the whole rear of the stage. The fairy crowd, or the Peris, are enchanting, and the gang of twenty Peers of the realm, who finally fall in love with the Peris, are immense. They are covered with gorgeous cloaks of velvet and each one wears upon his head the typical coronet telling the plebeian beholder that he is a duke, marquis, count, viscount, or baron, as the case may- be; and the horror with which the bunch hear the promulga- tion of the doctrine that the peerage ought to be thrown open to competitive examination, and the abominable ab- surdity of seeing the Lord Chancellor, in a full bottomed wig. and two of the noble lords in coronets dancing a solemn break-down in the palace yard, are but a couple of the sub- limely ludicrous things, which, interspersed with the ele- gant comicalities and more serious effects of the whole piece, combine to call forth repeated encores from the audience. BY LAND AND SEA. 11 II. FROM CHICAGO TO THE SEABOARD — SCENES AND INCI- DENTS ON A BALTIMORE & OHIO TRAIN — NEW YORK AND ITS ANGLOMANIA. Chicago, June 4. The Baltimore & Ohio track was dry, but not dusty, the whole distance from Chicago and the sun shone brightly during its Hunted hours, making the chance to see the beauties of "the picturesque line of America"a good one. The first few miles, except for peeps at the water of Lake Michigan on the left hand and the perusal of fence-board literature on the right, were of course, as quiet as they were swiftly traversed. When a few of our passengers had seen all they cared of the lake and had committed to memory that they must eat a certain man's candy, go to some one's museum and stop at a number of different hotels and places where masculine garments are purchaseable at low rates, — on their return to Chicago. — they went on a stroll through the train. On their completion of the round of cars, notes were gravely compared. There was a pretty heavy passen- ger list, composed mostly of a good grade of folks, not more exciting to look at than dignified respectability usually is. But there were three, and possibly five, newly married couples, and a tall, slender bride, with dark eyes and a pale face, was voted (ayes II, nays 2), to be the prettiest. The minority vote was for a bride with round, rosy cheeks and fuzzy brown hair. In deference to the minority it was al- lowed that she was the prettiest, too. There was considerable decorous unction in making up this report. Then it was voted unanimously that "the in- 12 BY LA XI) AND SKA cident in the smoking car was a disappointment, almost amounting to a sell." It had happened that, as the commit- tee of inspection entered the smoking car. an old lady therein, in a blue veil, had asked if it was 12 o'clock. Her query was addressed to an old gentleman in a skull-cap with a basket on his knee. A reply being made that it was just 10:30, the old lady sighed deeply, paused a moment, then reached in the basket and brought forth two raw eggs. She handed one to her consnrt and both went to work, on the approved formula: milking an aperture at the apex. ;i corresponding one at the base, and extra -tin" the fluid 1>\ suction. The committee watched the placid disposal of seven eggs, four by the old lady and three by the old gen- tleman, and would have waited an hour, if necessary, to see what expression of face would result from one or the other of the parties striking a bad egg and getting a mouthful of it. But, by the time the chances were seven to one in favor of success, the lid of the basket was shut down and the show was over. It was afterward surmised, from the grand square meal the old couple disposed of at dinner time, at (rarrett. that the eggs were taken as a kind of animal oyster. to create appetite. Two of the newly married couples left the train at way stations, one of them being very enthusias- tically received by a lot of country friends. The three others subsequently disappeared in the curtained recesses at one end of a sleeper, in a berth adjacent to which were stowed away three nice, but travel-weary little children. who affectionately kicked each other and squealed for more than half the night. The difference since the Baltimore & Ohio came to own and operate its own sleepers is very perceptible. The sleep- ing cars are magnificently built and fitted, and the familiar white-capped officials who are on duty upon them are so BY LAXf) AX1> SAM. 1:! civil and assiduous iti their attention-; that they add a charm to the infinite variety for which this route is famed, particu- larly from the Ohio to the Potomac. Adjectives have been exhausted in eulogy of the gems of nature displayed by the long, graceful sweeps and constant succession of curves in which this road pencils out its 'dine of beauty" through the wild grandeur of the Alleghanies and looking deep down in- to their lovely valleys. To point the situation by the favor- ite method of figures, read the sign-hoard at one cool and breezy station: "Deer Park, altitude 2,70(1 feet." The sheer declivities into some of the valleys defy figurative descrip- tion, but the awe inspired by the first glance at them vanishes quickly as the eye admiringly encounters the varied green- ery showered down upon their slopes and shelves, with sharp and rugged features peeping out here and there, and the relief is completed by the streams which thread their hurried way, through the valleys' base, plashing and eddy- ing, leaping over a thousand rocks within the scope of a glance, and each one doubtless singing its song to those near enough to hear: "For men may come and men may go, but I flow on forever." But the best of views have to be parted with in transit, and one of the last things one notes as the beautiful panorama ends is an amused recognition that John Brown's Fort at Harper's Ferry maintains its desirability as a place to cover with circus posters, which some one seems to tear down with equal desirability, the Fort thus serving to inflame and aggravate the public mind with fragmentary pic- tures of a lion's head with its fangs well demonstrated, go- ing to bite something which has been removed: the hind legs of a tiger, in hot haste after somebody unseen, and oth- er suggestive but unsatisfying glimpses of tragic import completing the impression that there is some live show trav- eling somewhere, and that John Brown is indeed dead. H BY LAXD AM) SKA. New York is — is— is more so. if anything, than it used to be, and the roar of the streets is at one moment like the hoarse voice of the cataract of Niagara, and at another like the racket of a railway train. As the multitude rapidly laces and interlaces its particles in a never-woven fabric along its streets, a whimsical thought occurs to the listless observer, peering from some window, of the "millions in it" if these thousands could only, by some electric method of under- standing, arrange for a part of their number to carry the messages of the whole. But the secretiveness of humanity, in the matter of its personal business, will proba- bly prevent this idea from ever being patented. There is. in certain sections of the city, a large "lay-out" on the part of merchants to stamp everything as "English." and it is possible that if they had a Rock Island or Moline plow to sell it would be vaguely announced to be "English " But a partial cause for this is not far to seek. The main rush of ocean travel is for the island containing Eng- land, Scotland and Wales, and he who hasn't been is mostly "thinking of going sometime." Of fifty ocean steamers sailing from here this month of June, twenty-one go to Liv- pool and five each to London and Glasgow; total thirty- one; the remaining nineteen being divided up between Bre- men, Hamburg. Antwerp. Havre, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Mr. John Holland, the directory man, reached here from Liverpool on Saturday and was met by our friend, Ctipt A. E. Wells. Mr. Holland has been in England ten months. He weighed 155 pounds when he left here, and comes back weighing ] ( .»4. ('apt. Wells asks after everybody in Rock Island. When called upon, at the office of the New York Times, he and his brother i who is his chief) take delight in showing the Rock Island visitors the most wonderfully per- fect composing department possible to imagine. BY LA XI) AXD SEA. 15 III. a voyage from new york to queenstown— the inma.n steamship •'city of berlin." On Board the City of Berlin, / June 7 to 15. \ Most of the passengers on this trip of the Innian steamer City of Berlin came on Board on Wednesday evening (June ''.I. The dawn of Thursday brought the remainder, and, at i>:2tl a. M. the courteous Capt. Leitch (Commodore of the Inman tieet) and one of his officers took their places on the steamer's "bridge" beside the pilot, the signal was given to cast loose from the pier aud the tow-boat E. M. Millard helped the big vessel to back out of her berth. Out she went, stern first, with a graceful sweep which brought her head-on to her path down the North river, a crowd of friends at the end of the pier having never ceased to frantic- ally wave handkerchiefs and tiny flags during the manoeuvre of departure. A small boat took off the pilot at the light- ship — and that was the last taste of shore. Soon, the tell- tale faces of the two telegraph indicators on the bridge showed that the word had sped, like a flash, to the wheel- house and engine room, to steer the vessel steady on her course, full speed, ahead. Shortly after leaving land, the hot haze, telling of the in- tense heat left behind in New York, cooled into fog, which lifted but once during the afternoon, only to fall again, and scarce giving a moment's interval, later, in which to catch Ill II Y LAND AM) SKA B\ LAND AXD SKA. 17 sight of the new moon, sinking in the far West. TLe mourn- ful sound of the ship's steam-gong, or fog-horn, was heard, once every minute, Tittering its deep-toned warning of the coming of the great ocean steamship. There was a breeze on the starboard bow and the foresail, fore-topsail and try- sail were set, steadying the motion of the vessel into a long swing and gentle roll, amid which could be perceived the smooth, pulsating thud of her powerful engines, beating- like a life current of fifty-five throbs per minute. Of course, some passengers were sick by this time, their smiles having paled in color and grown few in number until the climax of their nausea. (Those who have seen Mr. Bishop play the part of the steamship passenger in "Strictly Business," at Harper's Theatre, will particularly appreciate their con- dition). But a fair proportion of the passengers were not sick at all. Of these, some walked, some talked, some began to read numbers of the "Seaside Library," and oth- ers, as the evening closed in, leaned their elbows on the bulwarks, looking at the white night-caps which the fresh- ening breeze was putting on the heads of the waves, noting the deep, widening furrow ploughed by the ship through the dark blue sea, broad streaks of froth speeding from the share of the giant plow to the furrow's ridge, whence the wind snatched the white crest and swept it away in a shower of spray. Or, looking astern, they saw how the propelling screw churned up the water with furious strength, the ship's wake being one indescribably turbulent commotion of brilliant blue, boiling with pure and snowlike foam as far as the eye could see. yet looking unutterably cold. Hovering over the wake were some of Mother Carey's chick- ens, brown birds with white girdles: each in appearance, size and manner of night, suggesting a maritime whip-poor- will. These birds followed the ship for three days and then IS II V LA XI) A XI) SEA. gradually gave way to the large Atlantic seagull, whose white body ami gray-brown wings might be seen at times dnring most of the rest of tbe passage. Friday was foggy till noon, and again at night. Saturday was fog or haze all day. the heavy humidity of the atmos- phere at night streaming in water from the awning over tin- spar and promenade decks. The wind was ahead and made convalescing sick folks keep cpriet. but the little children on board, and those of larger growth who were well, kept busy with swinging, skipping rope, leap-frog, shovel-board, rope 'limits, checkers, chess and other amusements: or men went into the barber-shop for an artistic shave, or perhaps sought the ever-cheerful society of Mr. J. T. Kavauagh. the Pur- ser. Mr. Kavanagh has tilled the position of Purser on this route of ocean travel for twenty-eight years, has crossed the Atlantic ocean over 500 times and is the senior veteran of all the pursers on this ocean, though still a youthful looking man. He is an enthusiast upon the subject of the Inman line and its steerage passage, and is said to have (stowed away somewhere) a scrap-book full of newspaper clippings. of testimonial, reporterial and editorial nature, thankfully praising his conduct of the Inman steerage, or in grave ap- proval of him generally. As the steerage is just forward of his office, it is handy to get him to show one through. The steerage is a vast cabin, occupying the forepart of the ship. All along its sides are row- of sleeping apartments, conduct- ed so as to secure decency and privacy. The sea-breeze blows, fresh and pure, through the numerous open ports, and the absolute cleanness and wholesomeness of the place are most inviting. The broad, long centre of the steerage is where its passengers take their meals, at the tables there. What they eat and what they drink are precisely the same things eaten and drunk in the first cabin, and their fare only BY LAND A XI) SEA. 19 differs from that of the first cabin in there being fewer nu ru- bers on the programme. For instance, the steerage passen- gers are given for breakfast (at 8 a. m.) tea and eoffee, with milk and sugar and oatmeal porridge, followed (at 10 a. ji.) by beef-tea and French rusks. For dinner (at 1 p. M.), they are furnished with pea soup, or fresh vegetable soup, )■ iast and boiled beef and potatoes, and rice or other pud- ding (with rich plum pudding on Sunday). Their supper [■"> p. JI.) is of gruel, tea with sugar and milk, and fresh white rolls and butter. Sometimes as many as 1,450 steer- age passengers sit down to each of these meals, and that number is every hit as big as it sounds, when packed away on hoar 1 in the steerage of this ship, yet is there comfort for all. and one cannot wonder that the kindly, firm super- vision of the veteran "business man." Air. Kavanagh, wins him repeated encomiums on board the City of Berlin, as also may be heard in the various ships of the fleet, the system modeled by him being carried on throughout it. The Inman line was the first to furnish, cook and serve food to steerage passengers, just as it was the first to carry steerage passen- gers at all across the Atlantic, the first to introduce the screw propeller ami the first to call at Queenstown to re- ceive and deliver mails and passengers and always carries more passengers of all classes than any other line. Fog still — hut there is more of the ship to see and talk about. On inquiry, one finds that the City of Berlin, now just eight years old. is 525 feet long and 45 feet in beam measurement; his orlop, lower, main, spar and promenade decks, five decks in all. has three masts, fore, main and miz- zen. and may be known by her square canvas to be full ship rigged. Her company includes 175 officers ami men of all kinds, and she carries ten commodious boats. Her engines are compound: high pressure 12 diameter, low bid, length of 2ii BY LAND AM) SEA stroke 5j feet, (fifty-live strokes per minute being (heir full speed), with steam power supplied by twelve boilers, carry- ing 7-") pounds pressure, and consuming only Kid tons of coal per day. The main saloon, in which the first-class passengers take their meals, occupies the whole width of the ship on the main deck and is -ioxoo feet in area. Its four long rows of tables seat If JO persons at once, are adorned with hot-house plauts in full bloom in fancy pots and are furnished with an equip- ment at meal -times both solid and elegant, above a score of stewards waiting upon a table which has no superior in that of a first-class hotel ashore, while the fittings and finish of the whole saloon are perfectly enchanting. By day. the many crimsoned-curtained ports light this grand cabin, but at night its splendor is intensified by the Siemens electric light. — which system also illumines the passages on the main and lower decks and the engine room, the remaining interior of the ship being lighted by ingenious lamps, fed by oil of similar merit. As for one's state room, or private cabin, it is UxN feet in area, 11 feet high, fitted on one side with two berths, each 25 inches wide and containing spring beds, and on the other side with a luxurious lounge of padded crimson velvet. Above this lounge is a port (a circular window, ten inches in diameter . through which one can gaze upon the ocean, or which one can open for air. (though the ventilation is am- ple without that i. or can screen by its tiny crimson cur- tain-. In other matters, the floor is carpeted, the gilt-edged wash-stand is supplied with water by the touching of a knob. there are all the usual accessories for a complete toilet (with a bath room next door) and the pressure of an ivory button brings, literally by electricity, the steward, or stewardess on dutv in one's section. BY LAND AND SKA. 21 There was fog all Sunday, with slight intermission . In the morning, the various crews of the ship's boats were lined up in squads along the spar deck and were formally inspect- ed las is done every Sunday morning, as well as just before sailing,) and Capt Leitch then read prayers in the grand sa- loon. The day was cool, and, after the southernmost point of the Bank of Newfoundland had been passed in the after- noon, the cold grew severe and but few faced it and the searching damp of the fog, even if clad in the warmest wrappings. The fog lifted at noon on Monday. The after- noon was fair, but rain fell at night. Head winds con- tinued. Tuesday was wet and foggy. The weather cleared up on "Wednesday, but the head winds continued until Thursday afternoon, when all breeze departed and soon the ocean had not a wave upon it, but became one uni- versal sheet of undulating smoothness. And so it was when the sun went down in gold and crimson glory, throw- ing a brilliant gleam of light straight from the West nlong the scarcely dimpled water to where the eyes of so many were homeward looking back in silent contemplation. Friday (which is to-day) has been tine, with a fresh breeze on the port bow. The loneliness of the wide waste of water has been relieved by the sighting of several sails. -a feature exceptionally scarce hitherto during this trip. In the afternoon, land was sighted and Fastnet was passed, since when laud has been continually to be seen on the port beam: the coast of Ireland. And now, late on in the long hours, Queenstown is neared. the tender to take off mails and passengers is at hand and all the leisure time of the past week is suddenly exchanged for half an hour of hurry, in which seems hardly time enough to write "All's well!" and add one's signature. P. S. — At the last moment, the following document, sign- •1-1 RY LAND A XI) SKA. ed by the whole of the steerage passengers, is handed to Mr. Kiivanagh: "To lh> huiKtn Steiimtihip Company: "Inmax Steamship City of Berlin, ' Off Qteenstown, June 15, IH83. i "We, the passengers in the steerage desire to express to you our satisfaction with the cleanliness and good order which have prevailed throughout the passage, also the attention and civility of the stewards and the plentiful supply of good provisions. " BY LAND AND SEA. IV. THE ENGLISH SHORES AND THE BATHING MACHINES — THE INNS. THE STREET SIGHTS AND THE SHOPS. Liverpool, June 24. The steamer City of Berlin made a very pleasant trip from Qneenstown to Liverpool, passed Holyhead with the red ensign and all her ribbons streaming gaily, with a mag- nificent view of the Welsh coast all the way after entering the channel. The passengers were enthusiastic over the beauty of the panorama, until entering the mouth of the river Mersey, where, on the shore of New Brighton, there was to be seen an array of tiny little houses, each on four wheels. "Whatever are those?" demanded the uninitiated. "Those," responded a quiz. ''Those are the sentry boxes of the Horse Marines, the celebrated cavalry corps which al- ways goes on duty under cover and on wheels." A general laugh greeted this explanation. The little buildings were then recognized as bathing machines and some one describ- ed how they are operated. You enter the machine, at the tail end. by a flight of steps, and begin to undress. A horse is hooked to the front end. The individual bestriding the animal waits till he thinks you are pretty well tangled up in the operation of pulling off your shirt over your head, and then starts up his horse with a jerk. The machine has no springs and you bang about all over its interior until the splash of the horse's progress down into the water ceases. Then you pick up your clothes from tbe floor, hang them 24 BY LAND A XI) SKA. on pegs, go out at the front door, take a cold-blooded im- mersion and get back into the machine. The equestrian drags it up out of the water, and two or three persons who want to bathe sit on the front steps while- you dress, and abuse you to each other for being so slow. Finally, with your feet feeling sandy in your socks, you come out and they take their turn at the fun. The steamer stopped opposite her dock on the Liverpool side, not far from the month of the river, and two steam tenders came alongside. One took off the baggage and the other the passengers, and away they went up the harbor to the Prince's pier, a shower of rain falling meanwhile. On landing there was the usual unsystematic, tedious business of the customhouse inspection to undergo: kindly enough done, but all of the rough and ready order, or disorder: and then one was at liberty to go. Maybe one went to the Adelphi Hotel and reveled in its delights Maybe one went to the newly furnished Washing- ton and felt more at home in its appearance and ways, or may- lie one went to one of the old hostelries. where there is fur- niture of the last century, where the bedstead is a spacious four-poster with curtains, and the bed consists of a couple of thick mattresses, with a tremendous feather bed on top. tightly stuffed with feathers and rising up to it- centre like a dome. It is interesting to storm one of these citadels, and to feel one's-self simultaneously dropping to sleep and slip- ping down the side of the dome, until, at last, one's weight tells, the feathers begin to sink in the middle and a seuse of security absorbs all other senses in the first sleep ashore after a sea voyage. Liverpool is very unlike New York. In certain mercan- tile circles of New York everything, to command attention, must be English. In similar circles of Liverpool, every- BY LAND AND SEA. 25 thing is American, if it expects to be sold. That is a com- parison, showing how similar the dissimilarity of the two places is. Other comparisons would involve a statement of relative conditions, would be trivial in result and hair-split- ting to make. The city is beautifully clean in its more pre- tentious parts, and an idler rinds that Le hardly seems to get anywhere for gazing into the shop windows, most of them fronted with vast sheets of plate glass. What millinery and feminine gear, displayed on wax figures, life size! What hat shops, tailors' shops, furniture shops! What shops full of glittering cutlery, of dazzling jewelry, of 'cute little things one would like to buy! What windows full of books! All the authors you want, full editions of each, hnndsomely bound in everything, all the way from half calf up, to be had for what seems so little money! And what shop windows full of fruit! Oh. bother the old statues and the public buildings and the miles of shipping! Let's look at these immense grapes and gigantic strawberries and cherries, all hot-house grown. The supply seems inexhaustible. Anil those lovely West India pine -apples and ripe figs! At last one gets where one was going, and strolls back in like manner as he went, the only interruption being from the swarms of children trying to sell him boxes of matches, or from news- venders whose sharp eyes detect whence he hails and who try to tempt him with the latest New York papers. Or there is the seedy-looking, red-nosed man, who begs the price of a glass of beer from one sort of way-farer, or a copper to- ward a cup of coffee from another. But none of these are more than civilly importunate. Out-door "minstrelsy" is abundant particularly at night-fall. There is an old time barrel-organ playing airs by Verdi at one end of a street, a modern piano-organ giving far more pleasing strains at the other, a man with a sort of piccolo whistle in full blast half BY LAXD AX I) SKA. way between, and another, at the intersection of a blind-al- ley, suggestive in name of his own sightless orbs, singing something unrecognizable to the tunc he is squeezing out of an accordion, inaudible, amid the general din. while each musician has an attendant stretching out a well-worn cap for the pence which the hurrying populace seems not to care to bestow. Such, to the superficial eye of one who has no curiosity to see the "lions" of the place, who is bent upon not weary- ing himself with beginning a scrutiny of the evidences of the grandeur of the great city-port, who is easily pleased with such surface attractions as readily arrest the attention of a sojourner to the momentary exclusion of the stirring world around — such is one little glimpse of Liverpool. Hut. while these last words are being written, the evening bells in the church towers ring out a remonstrance against forget- ting them, an entreaty to pause a moment and listen to what they have to say: peal upon peal, rippling and swelling in a flood of harmony that drowns all other sounds. There is not a happy thought they do not seem to crack their throats to utter before the mind can frame it. nor a sad one that can intrude upon their cheery melody. BY LAND AND SEA. 27 THE (ITV OF MANCHESTER AND ITS GENERAL FEATURES. — A "'PLACE OF MEN" OLDEK THAN THE CHRISTIAN ERA. Manchester, July 5. Manchester is not a ''show" place. Foreign visitors do not rush to it to gaze at ancient castles, with dungeons and places of torture beneath, or to view magnificent scenery, or yet inhale invigorating breezes. They come to it, almost in- variably, from motives in some way connected with busi- ness. The same is true of a large majority of its business men. who live out of town and merely spend their hours of toil iu the city. It is situated a little north of east of Liver- pool, from which it is reached in forty-five minutes by train. The editor of a publication called ''Manchester Illustrated," in remarking that "Manchester is no modern mushroom city" points out that "tradition says that, sixty years before (.'hrist, a fort was erected by the natives, and was called by them Maucenion, a place of tents. Seventy-nine years after Christ this fort was conquered by the Romans and was call- ed Mancynium, a place of men. " He goes on to say that thus "the old town can look back on a history of eighteen centu- ries of busy doings on the banks of the Irwell, once a pleas- ant fishing stream, but now the muddiest, dirtiest, most hard-worked stream of the smokiest, dirtiest, most hard- worked city that flourishes in the reign of Victoria the (Treat. He who would know what Manchester is, and what Manchester men are, must live and toil in their midst. No •28 BY LA XI) A XI) SKA. pen or pencil can portray their industry, tact and persever- ance. The noblest monument of all is the city itself, its factories, warehouses, shops ami streets." These candid avowals and these claims are supported in the publication by a most important array of facts ami fig- ures, which is perhaps enough to say in comment upon their particular generalization. "What Manchester is in one or two other respects by which Americans are accustomed to judge of communities, can be sufficiently well deduced from tabular information, regarded with a special view. The city limits of Manchester contain a population of not far from 700,000. A movement has been on foot, for some time, to extend those Hunts, the continuity of the dense place hav- ing long ago spread far beyond them, like a vast spider's wel). and swallowed up. in all but municipal fact, numbers of what were once surburban town and villages, each then encircled by its own suburbanism; so that, to-day. the pop- ulation crowded within a radius of rive miles of the Man- chester Royal Exchange is nearly a million, making the place the largest in the nation, after London. The mass of the population consists of working people, more or Un- skilled, and the labyrinths of streets of dwellings built especially for their needs and means are beyond the com- prehension of a stranger used to more evenly varied social clusterings. Ami. to quote again, "the vast mass of people, engaged inactive employment drawing more or less of the rougher elements, requires an energetic and efficient organ- ization to control it. and the police force numbers s lT, Manchester has rive theatres on its list: also one permanent circus building and six public halls, the total capacity of it^ places of amusement being 24. KHi seats. On the other hand there are 441 places of worship: Episcopal 111. Methodist 87. Independent 39, Primitive Methodist and Catholic 3~> BY LASD AXD SEA. 29 each, United Methodist 31, Presbyterian 16, Baptist 17, and other chapels and mission rooms 70. Of all these, the Cathedral, which is now being completely restored, is the oldest, having been built -111 years ago. (Close by it, and recently entirely rebuilt on a much larger scale, is the Gram- mar School, founded by Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exter, 373 years since ) The restorations, and the rebuilding of old institutions whose vital usefulness has proved more en- during than their masonry, emphasize the fact that the man- tle of material age has almost slipped from the shoulders of Manchester, for the match of improvement has swept away everything of lesser contemporaneous standing, with a rul- ing exception here and there, and the stranger's search for antiquated appearances is chiefly rewarded by the sight of more or less solitary examples of residence buildings not more than a century or two old and resembling faded grand- eur elbowed and jostled by modern utility. But they are not truly solitary, because of this elbowing and jostling, and, in many instances, are so tightly hemmed in by the multi- plied successors of their contemporaries as readily to pass unnoticed in the soot-stained crowd of inferior picturesque- ness. One of the noteworthy exceptions in the way of con- ferred insignificance is that of the Seven Stars Tavern, a hos- telry within a few minutes' walk of the Exchange. This tavern is the oldest place of entertainment of its kind in the united kingdom, having been licensed to refresh "man and beast" for more than rive centuries. There is nothing especially modern in its immediate surroundings and it looks good for centuries more. To return, for a moment, to the showing of places of worship: A "blue book" just pub- lished, speaking of places registered for religious solemni- zation of marriage in England and Wales, gives the propor- tion of 14,575 establishment (Episcopal) churches to 21,343 30 BY LAXD AND SEA. pliices nf worship of other kinds, demonstrating the "church" to be in a solid minority of 6,7G8. The figures given for Manchester may afford some idea of the way in which the divided majority is subdivided. To speak of public buildings with any degree of fairness — those of a municipal, scientific or collegiate nature are here especially in mind— could not possibly be done in the limits of a letter, or in many letters, for they are chiefly as stupen- dous in their history and workings as in their massive, smoke-craped masonry. It may serve to pick out one or two for mere mention. An old one is the Cheetham Library, built in 1656. The infirmary was first opened in 1755. Then come the Royal Institution and Free Trade Hall, the latttr of which was built in 1856. The Assize Courts building was put up in 1864, at a cost of over £100,000. More recent structures are the new Owens College ami the Town Hall. This last named building cost more than £1.1100.0(10, and is already as grimy with smoke as if its originally delicate colored stone masonry hail stood for ages in a city whose at- mosphere is of an average cle ; mm j ss. It stands on 8,648 square yards of land. Its tower rises to a height of 286 feet from the ground and is fitted with a set of bells arranged to ring or chime tunes every three hours. To one used to the lofty blue arch of the American sky and an incomparably purer atmosphere 'to be found almost anywhere else in the world than in this big foundry of com- merce. I it is an intense relief to escape awhile from the city of Manchester to one or other of the half dozen of people's parks, in its outskirts, or to its g ivdens: botanical and zoolog- ical: there to ponder and try to realize the immensity of the. ooncentrition of enormous commercial undertakings and belongings, whose 'apparently endless phalanx has monoto- nouslv met his eve and understanding, turn which wav he BY LAND AND SEA. 31 would. Reflection upon this subject is something like an endeavor to comprehend Niagara Falls. They are each one unvaried thing, each the biggest thing in the world of its kind, and each grows bigger in the mind during the time one has patience to bestow in deliberate thought upon it,— after which, it is to be presumed, familiarity would accom- plish its proverbial result, at least to the extent of one's tak- ing a great deal for granted that was too large to grasp and hold. VI. THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF MANCHESTER — THE COL- LECTIONS OP PICTURES AND STATUARY — SOME ANI- MALS AND BIRDS, ETC. Manchester, July 1(5. The people of Manchester are provided with six free parks: Peel. Seedley and Ordsal, in Salford; Queen's, in Harpurhey: Philips' in Bradford, and Alexandra, in Moss Side. All are easily reached by tram-car (as street-cars are called.) Peel and Queen's parks contain tine museums. Two of the parks, located at opposite points, may be taken as samples. Alexandra park is now about fourteen years old and is the youngest of all. It stands upon what was once Green- heys Fields, and anyone who would get a glimpse of what they were should read the first chapter of the best work of the Manchester authoress, the late Mrs. Gaskell, (whose aged husband still preaches in his venerable chapel in Cross street, Manchester,) "Mary Barton," (Seaside Li- brary No. 125, ten cents). This locally revered breathing 32 BY LAXD AXD SKA spiit was deprived of its lingering rusticity by the hand of municipal improvement, jusr in time to save its life from being crushed out by the demand for building space. The surrounding land thus became more valuable and is now covered with vastly better residence houses, etc., than had threatened to occupy it The park is a very attractive piece of landscape gardening, with tine walks and terraces, and much skill is displayed in scheming and management of its flower beds, shrubberies and pretty ornamental waters, upon the latter of which are a well varied display of aquatic birds. Indeed, the way in which the immediate vicinity of the large manufacturing city is set at defiance by the garden- ers provokes admiration, for the smoke daden breath of that city's atmosphere is a serious impediment to successful gar- dening. As is usual in these public parks, there are separ- ate play grounds, fitted with gymnastic apparatus, for the two sexes, a bowling green, plenty of seat accommoda- tion, etc. Peel park is two or three times as old as Alexandra and has, comparatively, the appearance of a prematurely aged place. Its struL, r L, r le with the smoke-burdened air envelop- ing it is apparent at a glance. But the battle is gallantly fought and the enemy has not. as yet. the best of it. The natural advantages of this park in the way of bluff and val- ley situation are considerable and are utilized to the utmost In a grand old mansion, enlarged from the original, are a museum, galleries of pictures and statues, a free library with a well supplied reading room. and. in the basement, a "tee- total" refreshment room. The museum is literally crammed with riches of natural history and the usual belougings <>f such an abode of curious collections, among which the American is frequently reminded of his home, even to the extent of seeing an ear of corn. In the last twelvemonths, BY LAND AX J J SEA. 33 nearly 700,000 visitors have enjoyed themselves in the museum, to say nothing of the vast number of persons who only use the park. Specially worthy of mention in this building are the samples of Assyrian sculpture, casts of Grecian metopes, from the Parthenon, and a number of Egyptian, Mexican, Chinese, Oriental, Greek, Roman, Cel- tic and other antiques, including armor of the most respect- able antiquity, accompanied by weapons of bloodthirsty ap- pearance and cruel suggestion. The pictures in the galler- ies area large and valuable collection, of great variety and. in many cases, of striking beauty. Among them may be mentioned ''The Queen of the Tournament.'' "The Last Sleep of Argyle," "The Last Scene in the Life of the Mar- quis of Montrose," "Princess Elizabeth Before the Rom- ish Council," "The Assertion of Liberty of Conscience.'' "A Dinner Party at Moliere's Villa." "John Wesley with bis Friends at Oxford," "The Meeting of Esau and Jacob." "The Salford Lass,'' "A Torrent Scene in Norway," "Ameri- can Apples." "A Lancashire Witch," "Meeting of the Wes- leyan Conference in Manchester in 1838," " Belshazzar's Feast," and portraits of "Chatterton, the Poet,'' "Thorvald- sen, the Sculptor." "Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator," "Sir Robert Peel, the Statesman.'' "James Watt, Inventor of the Steam Engine," "Richard Arkwright, Founder of the Present Factory System," "John Dalton, the Philosopher," "Handel, the Composer," and "Sir Isaac Newton." who was England's greatest philosopher. Scores of other grand paintings silently claim mention, including many of local celebrities, — regarded by the people with commendable pride . but these will serve. Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the scan- dalously unclad, but lovely, marble sculpture centre-lining the galleries, more than to mention the colossal group of "Venus Disarming Cupid" (she holding his snatched-awav- :S4 flY LA XI) AND SEA. bow at arm's length, while the little rascal is begging to get it hack, i and Pereival Ball's beautiful life-sized statue 'The (renins of Lancashire.'" This last is the figure of a young woman. By her feet, all in snowy marble, are a shuttle and other tools typical of the manufactures of Lancashire, and she stands, bending forward, in the act of snapping a sword across her knee, her face turned to the left and having the peculiarity of seeming to smile when viewed from the front. while "being fall of grave and steadfast energy as seen from the direction to which it is turned. Among the free breathing spots of verdure should also be mentioned Ardwick Green, the nearest of all to the centre of the city, and including, among its surroundings, an old church, thickly covered with ivy. and a number of old houses, once residences of more importance than any occu- pants can ever make them again, because their vicinity is so built up with houses of an inferior grade and places of busi- ness. Ardwick Green is a small promenade park, orna- mented with flowers and trees and a little water. It is pretty, and unexpected. There are three other places where the' lungs seem to play more freely than in the heart of the city. Out- is the Botani- cal Gardens, whose adjective title leads the visitor to expect a good deal more in the way of scientific plant culture than he rinds. These gardens are the property of a "proprietary body," but the public is admitted to them, by payment, on flower show and musical promenade occasions. Another is the Pomona Gardens, also a "proprietary" place, but. always open to the public. Galas, festivals and. occasionally, political meetings are held here, and the gardens are also fitted with a monster "hall." an open-air plat- form and several large buildings for horse, dog. cattle, poultry, pigeon and other shows. The third, and last BY LAND AND SEA. 35 on the list is the greatest, and by far the most attractive of all. This is the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens, about ten min- utes by tram-car beyond Ardwick Green, and two miles and a half from the centre of the city. In default of the exact measurement of these gardens (they may cover three-quar- ters of a mile square, or perhaps not so much,) an idea of them may be gained from their contents. You pay as you go in, and find free stabling provided for several hundred horses. Then there are an immense hall, a large open-air platform, two artificial lakes and some lesser ornamental ponds, all with islets in them; an Asiatic kiosque, an Italian garden, a croquet lawn, nursery and kitchen gardens, orna- mental lawns and terraces, a large grazing paddock for ruminant wild animals, a camellia and orange house, a number of ferneries, hot-houses, conservatories, sum- mer-houses, two mazes, constructed of tall, impenetrable hedges; several aviaries, two bear-pits, a very handsome monkey-house, built after the style of an Indian temple; a museum, long rows of dens and cages, some very large and all well-fitted and beautifully clean, for the wild beasts, birds and reptiles; refreshment and tea-rooms to accommo- date thousands at once, a confectionery, a bakery, gas works, an electric light system, a printing office, a parcels office and other departments, easily overlooked, which go to complete the independence of the establishment, an establishment whose patronage may be judged by the fact that it is said to import its own tea from China by the ship-load. As for the zoological treasures of the gardens, there is no need to classify them, more than to try and show the parts of the world they come from. They include samples of the kestrel hawk and falcon, wood and barn owl, badger, fox, raven, rook and chough of England; the deer, of Scotland; 36 BY LAND AND SEA. the ruff, of Holland; the wolf, of Sicily; the imperial eagle, of Greece; the pelican, eagle-owl brown bear and wolf, of Russia; the cinereous vulture, of Spain; the Bactrian camel, of Tartary; the lion, of Babylon; the dromedary, of Egypt; the tailless ape, of Borneo; the white-headed love-bird, of Madagascar; the sun-bear, of Thibet; the falcon, of Persia: the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, porcupine, civet-cat. ante- lope, zebra, wattled crane, gallinule, rat. jackal, weaver- bird, bishop-bird, whidah-tinch, manoikiu, lion, caffre-buf- falo, spotted and striped hyena, leopard, and monkeys of the hussar, calathrix. mandril, mona and dog-faced baboon varieties, of Africa; the elephant, nylghau-antelope, Sam- bur-deer, leopard, wild-cat, ichneumon. Bengal tiger, hog- deer, axis-deer, Brahmin cow, Zebu cow; yak and sacred and bonnet monkey, of India; the sheep, mandarin duck, and gold and silver pheasants, of China; the black panther, of Malacca; the crowned and demoiselle crane, of the Balea- ric Islands; the paroquet, blue mountain lory, wedged-tailed eagle, laughing kingfisher, piping crow, opossum and cock- atoo, of Australia; the agouti, of the West Indies; the black and gray squirrel, blue-jay, quail, dove, beaver, nightingale, "Wapiti deer, bison, black bear, musk-rat. wild-duck and horned-owl, of America; the indigo-bird, cardinal, parrot, paca, tiger-cat«»razor-bill, tapir, puma-lion, jaguar, macaw. alpacca, llama, condor and spider-monkey, of South Ameri- ca; the sea-lion, of the Pacific ocean; the seal, white-bear and white-fox, of the Arctic regions; beside varied speci- mens of the love-bird, wild cat. vulture, deer, alpacca, mou- fion, goat, pea-fowl, chough, pheasant, beaver, cow. camel, duck, swan, emu, cockatoo, paroquet, monkey, squirrel, dove, serpent, crocodile, lizard, eagle-owl, falcon, pelican, wax-bill, etc., from many different parts of the world, sam- ples of most of which have already been credited to other BY LAND AND SEA. W places. Though "lumped" together, bird and beast, in this enumeration, their proper separate accommodations have already been mentioned, for they can only be "a happy fam- ily" when rooming apart. The largest "lake" at the Belle Vue gardens is more than eight acres iu area, and numerous pleasure boats and small steimers ply upon it. Near it are steam-horse and ve- locipede rings. On the long strip of land in the other "large lake" is the great sensation of Belle Vue. Danson's grand open-air picture, — a different one each year. Thi# year the scene is the battle-field of Tel-El-Kebir. The pic- ture is many immense pieces of magnificent scene-paint- ing, covering thousands of square yards of canvas, and each piece set apart from its next neighbor, which both heightens the effect of the admirable perspective and permits the up- and-down-hill maneuvering of a large body of performers, who. provided with a band of music and accompanied by a number of baggage and ammunition laden camels and dromedaries, approach the now historical conflict in the evening, at 9:45 o'clock, just as the long twilight begins to yield to darkness, or lets the moon have undivided sway. The performers are in regimental and native Egyptian at- tire. As they march, the first deep booming gun sounds. In the light of camp tires, seemingly half extinguished, are seen the fresh water canal, the village of Tel-El-Kebir, the round tower and the desert and mountains in the distance. In the fore-ground are the batteries, and the lines, redoubts and entrenchments of the Egyptians, upon whom the Brit- ish and Indian forces are marching in the night. As the warning gun thunders out from the Egyptian lines, the whole front of the position breaks into jets of red flame from rifle and cannon, the enemy pours in upon the Egyp- tian forces and, in fifteen minutes, all is over. But, M BY LA XT) AND SEA. during those fifteen minutes, the great scenic picture is a tumult of well acted strife, illumined by a pyrotechnic display of a dazzling grandeur, unsurpassable — one may say. A grand transparency, in myriads of jets of colored fire, closes the performance, and the night nov looks black and dark as the people present make their way to carriages, tram-cars or railways near the gates of the gardens. The last letter gave the graver aspect of "the dark city"— at least a peep at it. This treats upon its brighter public spots, [t may have been worth the time to look at these things, Manchester being a place with which even the best travelled American tourists have little acquaintance, a^ a rule BY LAND AND SEA. 39 VII. THE TRAMWAY AND ITS CARS — THE HIGHWAY AND ITS BEASTS OF BURDEN — A TRIP ON THE IRISH SEA TO THE ISLE OF MAN. Douglas, Isle of Man, July 25. A peculiarity of Liverpool and Manchester is that the roadway of their streets is almost exclusively paved with sets of stone of flinty hardness. The tramways, or rails upon which the street cars run, are laid in this pavement and level with its surface. The tramway is a perfectly flat rail, with a groove indented along it, and the presence of the rail in the pavement can hardly be detected by the foot of a person walking across it, and will not be noticed unless he is thinking about it. Thus these tram- ways are no obstacle to the flat tired wheels of ordinary vehi- cles swerving across the rails. The wheels of the tram-cars are each slightly but sufficiently flanged to fit into the rail grooves. Each tram-car is constructed to carry nearly forty passengers, inside and outside. The insiders sit with their backs to the sides of the car. The ontsides sit back to back, each of the two rows of them facing the buildings along the sides of the streets. They reach the roof of the tram-car by a comfortable winding stairway, whose outside is covered or screened so as to prevent an undue display of ankles on the part of the numerous ladies who prefer the outside of the car to its interior. The fares for ordinary distances are three-pence inside and two-pence outside. Weather per- mitting, the outside is much the pleasantest part of the car. 40 BY LAND AND SEA. This opinion may be thought to indicate a cheap and vulgar mind, influenced by the "tuppence." The "thrippenny" pas- senger certainly sets more for his money. His toes are more trodden upon and stabbed by the points of umbrellas and sticks, more elbows are stuck in his eye, he is more sat down upon in mistake for a seat, and, if an old lady with a stony glare enters the car. he is more apt than not to find her plant herself opposite him and stare him out of bis counte- nance all the rest of the trip. Manchester has an admirable feature in its tramways. Except at necessary dead ends of lines in the suburbs, the tracks at the termini loop round a block, the cars thus going back upon their return trip on another track, parallel to the one oil which they came. This prevents the necessity and delay of switching. The whole arrangement is patented, and perhaps its most minions point is the way in which, when it is necessary to turn a car back at the dead end of the line, the horses simply walk round in a semi -circle, the body of the car revolving with them on a pivot on the wheels-truck beneath, (somewhat af- ter the fashion of t lie swinging of the bridge-draw at Rock Island, and similarly bolted in place when the act of revers- ing the car is completed.) Another feature of the roads of Liverpool and Manchester is noteworthy. This is the "beasts of burden" which toil along them. Of course, there are plenty of fancy carriage horses, which "toil not neither do they spin," except meta- phorically. These are not referred to. nor are the useful light-draft horses, which are employed formally readily im- agined purposes The "beasts of burden" intended to be specified are the heavy-draft horses, those huge cart horses used to draw lurries and other vehicles constructed to carry heavy loads. A lurry (the word is local' is a four-wheeled wagon or drav without ends or sides, the loading of weightv BY LAST) AND SEA. 41 press-packed bales of uncertain dimensions being found to be easiest on this shape of vehicle. The truck of the lurry is of great strength and the wheels are massive, their broad tires suggesting stout armor plate. The usual motive power of the lurry is one horse, harnessed in the shafts. If more power is needed, particularly in going up-hill, a second horse is placed in front of the shaft horse, and sometimes a third horse is added, also tandem. More horses can be strung on ahead, of course, if necessary A fine lurry horse weighs probably not far from 3,000 pounds, is so symmetri- cally proportioned as not to look at all awkward and is usually as rounded as an apple and as sleek as velvet, its full mane and tail beiuj,' dressed with scrupulous care and the shaggy hair of its fetlocks assiduously combed. It some- how conveys the impression of a pet lion, though that can only be by its evidence of majestic, controlled strength. These horses are perfectly broken and obey their teamsters- commands at the mere word, while in many situations seem- iiiLf to exercise a human intelligence in manceuvering in densely crowded and sometimes very narrow streets. It is a si^'ht to the unaccustomed stranger to see a lurry horse start off with a load. A word from the teamster and the big animal leans firmly forward into its collar. Its movements then are steadily cumulative. A dull snapping sound is heard as the links of the harness adjust their accurate fit to the strain, the shoes of the hind feet grasp the flinty square- set stones of the level pavement, their large calks having a roomy tit between the flat tops of the stones; the haunches steadily strain till dee]) creases appear where the greatest roundness was, the wheels of the lurry begin to revolve, and, as the horse's hind legs reach their stretch, the powerful calks of the shoes on the fore-feet grip the pavement in earnest, sparks of fire fly as the hind shoes release their 4-2 BY LAX I) A XI) SKA grasp and take fresh foot-hold, the heavily loaded lurry has "way" and moves off ponderously. Au exhibition of great strength, intelligently used, is generally a fascinating sight, and it is no unusual thing to see the Manchester man pause and glance admiringly while the spectacle of a lurry horse, starting a load which is nearly up to its full strength, is in process. And the teamsters, who are extremely proud of their individual horses, are happy men at such moments. One other draft animal should be mentioned. This is the donkey, that unconscious cause of so much facetious- ness; whose unfortunateness in the matter of ears and voice are so often thrown into its teeth by persons who grudge it the possession of the estimable quality of firmness. Quite a surprising number of donkeys are used in Liver- poo] and Manchester, and it is fair to say that these patient and cheaply maintained beasts seem to be generally well- treated. Otherwise they would not be seen trudging or trot- ting along the streets with the sprightliness they show. In- deed it is rare to see one with the downcast appearance which follows ill-usage. The vehicles drawn by the donkeys are, almost invariably, small, two-wheeled carts, specially con- structed for them, and some of the carts are very nicely put together. One of these donkeys thinks nothing of trotting contentedly along, at a good speed, with a couple of men, or three or four boys. or. on Sundays, its fat Master and plump Missis in the cart. And ponies, about the size of the donkeys, are also quite the thing with a certain class. The proprietor of one of these, got up regardless of expense, with the brim of his shining silk hit very far down toward hi- nose and the tip of hi- cigar or the bowl of his fancy short pipe tilted up to his hat-brim, sitting in the attitude of a fashionable Jehu and having altogether an indescribably knowing aspect, may oc- BY LAND AND SEA. 43 casionally be seen, out for the day. His name is probably 'Arry, or it may be 'Orace or Halbert. Street boys look on him with a lingering envy and are consumed with speechless admiration. To them he is the gemiine article, the summit of their social pinnacle. They know it, as does he. and there is a kindly glance of understood and accepted appre- ciation in his eyes as he bestows a passing look down upon the Arabs. From his little pony cart it is not very far down, and maybe the secret of the admiration is partly because he is so splendid and yet so lowly. Any way, the boys re- serve their offending sarcasm for such high-mounted speci- mens of "Arry's class-superiors as look as if they would be sorely worsted in an effort to earn their own living and that of a pony as well. Large delegations of the Lancashire multitude, and num- bers from other points, generally manufacturing places, reg- ularly make their summer trip to the Isle of Man, an island centrally situated in the Irish sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. The island, not taking extreme points into consideration, may be said to be thirty miles long and ten wide; say seventy miles in circumference and containing an area of about 225 square miles. Its middle is on 54 degrees, 46 minutes north latitude. The parallel of its northernmost point is that of Downpatrick, Ireland, and Ambleside, England; the parallel of its most southerly point being that of Kil- more, Ireland, and Lancaster and York, England. Being equidistant, some sixty to seventy miles, from its neighbors, the mountainous coast scenery of Ireland, Scotland and England can be readily seen from its high ranges on a clear day, and Welsh moimtains, still further off, are also often distinctly visible. The town of Douglas, which is in all re- spects the most important on the island, is the one to which the large majority of the visitors go, making incursions t4 BY LAND AND SEA. thence by carriage, railway, or on foot, to the many points of interest in other parts of the island. Swift 1 steam- ers run from several ports in the different countries to the island, but principally from Liverpool and Barrow. The average sea passage from Liverpool, seventy-five miles to Douglas, is made in four and a half hours. The voyager goes 011 hoard from the Prince's Pier. Liverpool, and proba- bly finds that he has 70!) or 800 voyagers to shire the three- deck accommodation. Uppermost is the promenade deck, next is the saloon deck, the lowest being the deck contain- ing the dining saloon. Different boats have different ar- rangements, but these will do for an idea. The seat accom- modation on all the decks is excellent, that (if the saloon proper being all of the "ohdet-me-lie-down-and-die" order, luxurious little lounge berths with soft pillows. A channel passage is notoriously disastrous to poor sailors, and it must be admitted that the steamers often roll on a swell and a cross-sea. even without any wind worth mentioning, all the way from port to harbor. But the way in which so many passengers agonize themselves with sea-sickness on the journey is remarkable, their suffering in some instances be- ing truly pitiable to witness. And th- well can hardly help seeing, and must hear and otherwise perceive, the sick. Then- is no chance of any practical retirement. The keen eyes of the experienced stewards instantly spot those whom nausea is overpowering, a commodious tin receptacle of spittoon pattern is invitingly placed at the feet of each vic- tim, ami — the vessel rolls on. For those who have sea legs and stomachs, and they are a respectable number, the pas- sage is a delightful and exhilarating trip. The tightly built ami beautiful steamer speeds on with pleasantly exciting commotion, its buzzing paddles dashing the water in froth- ing heaps behind them on either hand, and its straight, thin BY LAXD AXD SEA. 45 stem cutting the chopping seas into hillocks of leaping spray. There is music on board, too; a blind man who performs superbly on a concertina in one part of the boat, and, in an- other, an Englishman in a Scotch cap, who plays patriotic British and Irish airs upon a Welsh harp. He plays well and the pathetic, even plaintive melody which seems to un- derlie almost all national music, is swept on the light breeze with a peculiarly soothing sound. Distant ships and steam- ers are quizzed through binocular glasses and telescopes for a while, but, when the steamer is within good sight of land, everything else is subordinate to the interest excited by the rock-bound island, looming ahead and gradually revealing what is claimed to be the loveliest bay in the world, with the picturesque Tower of Eefuge on the dangerous rock in its centre, and the still more picturesque houses of the old town rising, as if upon ascending terraces, in the back- ground, every shade of green carpeting the sloping, many- headed highlands, from waving wheat to dark hued gorse and heather, down to the sharp face of the seaboard, where all verdure abruptly ceases, except in sheltered nooks. The water gradually shoals, and the strange translucence it has here is becoming apparent. In a minute or two the sea- weed meadows covering the rocky bottom of the bay will be to be seen through the deceptive purity of the crystalline water, the gun from Douglas head has sounded away aloft, its echaes scarcely ceasing to reverberate from Banks' How and the crescent of mountains when the Battery Pier is pass- ed, and the gun from Fort Anne booms on the port beam as the steamer dashes up with a short check to the Victoria Pier, where crowds await her arrival. It is at this moment that the pent-up breath of excitement escapes in sighs of satisfaction from the bosoms of the passengers, and they say, with one accord: "Well, we're there?" 46 BY LAXD AND SEA. VIII. MONA'S ISLE — ITS GOVERNMENT AND AREA — THE THREE LEGS — A PARADISE OF FLOWERS AND FRUIT — A RUGGED SEA COAST — A BATHING PLACE — "HI KELLY!'' Douglas, Isle of Man, Aug 4. The Isle of Man, like the world itself, is pre-historio. It is also known as Monti's Isle. The word Man is said to be an abbreviation of the Manx word Manuin, or Meadhon-in, sig- nifying Middle Island (between Scotland, Ireland and Eng- land). Mona is said to be from Mon, meaning isolated. The population of the island, according to census returns made three weeks ago, is 54,089, not including men at sea. Sixty years ago, the population was 40,081, the strongly emigrative habits of its prolific people causing the increase to seem small. The emigration has been chiefly to America, the Manx people having a great bias toward self-government. The island has its own parliament and law courts, entirely inde- pendent of those of England. The legislative body is the court of Tynwald. the parliament consisting of the Council and the House of Keys, and every bill passed and royally assented to is read publicly, in the Manx and English lan- guages, on Tynwald Hill, to which the place of meeting for this purpose was removed 300 years ago. The electoral qual- ification is, in the country, the ownership of real estate of the yearly value of £8, or occupation at a rental of £12, while the payment of C8 rent per annum qualities a town resident as an elector,— and women are allowed to vote on the same BY LAND AND SEA. 47 basis. A great deal could be, and bas been, written about tbe curious features of tbe government of tbe island, but it is enough to add, here, that it works admirably and is as digni- fied as if it ruled a vast continent, or at least bad such a task upon its mind. Who was ruling the Isle of Man at the time of the flood is uncertain, but the Welsh had sway from the sixth century to the tenth, after which the country was variously owned and ruled by Scandinavians, Scots and English, aud its coat of arms was a ship in full sail until, in 1270, Alexander of Scot- land changed it to "the three legs," its heraldic badge now for over GOO years, and bearing the motto: "Quocunque jec- eris stabit," freely translated: "Whithersoever thrown, I shall stand," or "Whichever way yon throw, it will stand," — sup- posed to have reference to its ancient reliance upon the in- dividual help of England, or Ireland, or Scotland, if any one of these three countries menaced it. Tbe heraldic descrip- tion of the armorial bearings is: "Gules, three legs (of a man) in armor, conjoined in fesse at the upper part of the thighs, Hexed in triangle, garnuled and spurred." The legs, each bent at the knee, are uuited at the hips, like the spokes of a wheel are at its axle, and each leg seems to be (literally) spurring at top speed in the vain endeavor to overtake the leg next in front of it. Regarded vertically, one, if not two, of the feet of the legs is mathematically compelled to appear standing, while the other two, or one, are waiting in the air in readiness to relieve guard at the first symptom of a move. The "three legs" are funny, but the people love their quaint symbol and affix it to everything possible, and no visitor leaves tbe island without buying a few keepsakes stamped with the "three legs." An old story, the moss upon which is always fresh and green, is told of a worthy couple from some English town. Quoth the husband: "I tell you again, IS 73 r LAXD AXD SEA. my love, that them's the Minx arms." "No they isn't." re- sponded the wife, indignantly, pointing with her umbrella to the subject of controversy, painted life size on a sign, "No they isn't! Them's legs!!" A recent competent authority says that ''the Isle of Man is thirty- three miles long, twelve miles in greatest width, and has an area of 150.000 acres, two-thirds under cultivation. At its southwestern extremity is an islet, known as the Calf of Man. containing HOI l acres, a portion of which is under cultiva- tion. A chain of lofty hills traverses the island longitudinally. The coast line is very hue. with bold, lofty headlands and beautiful sweeps of bay. The sea has a clearness rarely seen. The climate is like that of the south of Devonshire. England: moist and mild, ami the vegetation is peculiarly abundant. Flowers, which in the greater part of England require shelter in winter, flourish in the open air all the year round and attain extraordinary dimensions." Hydrangeas are almost trees and the hedgerows are of fuchsia, privet and hawthorn, usually clipped to nearly the height of a man. but sometimes allowed to grow three or four feet higher. To see a dense, impenetrable hedge of fuchsia, crimsoned with its multitude of drooping flowers, as at this season, is a lovely vision. There is one. near where these lines are written, the trunk of each fuchsia of which is that of a tree, from rive to seven inches in diameter. In front of a house, within half a mile, grows a handsome palm tree, perhaps twenty feet high, of the kind usual'y seen in the great hot houses of "show" places. Hoses are in marvelous profusion and vari- ety, and the air s,-,-ms sometimes overpowering with the scent of ihein. combined with that of the prodigal wealth of other kinds of flowers. Wild flowers line the roads, and the houses, particularly the smaller ones in the country, are al- most imbedded in flowers, wild and cultivated. These BY LA XI) A XI) SEA. 49 things sound like a romance, and are, in effect to unaccus- tomed eyes, "a dream come true." Fruit follows bloom, in 'uxuriance. One strawberry, the largest in the box (costing live pence) bought at a shop a few days ago, measured in circumference seven inches one way and six inches the other way. Miss Todd, proprietress of one of the numer- ous strawberry gardens of Douglas and vicinity, selected the largest and best of one day's picking in her garden and found that twenty-four of the strawberries completely cover- ed a china plate, from outside rim to outside rim, a diame- ter of nine and a half inches. Fifteen of them covered the plate's surface and the other nine made up the pyramid in- to which a show plate of strawberries is usually shaped. •Jargonelle pears, greengage and dark plums, black, red and white currants, raspberries, gooseberries, apples, grapes red and white-heart cherries, vegetable marrows, etc , some going out and others coining in. look and taste well, but the strawberry mow beginning to go out) is king of all. He is, of course, very numerously eaten with cream, but those who have reduced the eating of him to a tine art obtain his tine flavor to the fullest degree in a different way. By them, he is divided by a fruit knife into two or three slices, accord- ing to size. The cut surfaces are then gently dabbed on loaf sugar ground to dust, and but why excite emotions which cannot possibly be gratified until another strawberry season comes round? Douglas is a town of 15.000 inhabitants and has an enor- mous patronage in the line of visitors, whose average stay is a week or ten days. During the height of the season as many as 30,000 visitors are accommodated at once. The streets are alive with most attractive shops and marts and the endless throng of persons during the season leave a great deal of money behind them. The pretty town, whose .",(1 BY LAX I) AND SKA. castellated structures and picturesque houses and public buildings rise over each other's heads from the tideway up the bosom of the steep slope of the background, stretches around the arc of the bay for two miles, between the shoul- ders of the two promontories, Douglas- Head and Banks' How (or Onchau Point.) whose arms reach over a mile into the sea on either side, the height of each promontory being 300 feet. Standing facing the water, at the middle of the arc of the bay, Banks' How is on the left hand and Douglas Head on the right. The left half of the shore is partly a sand slope, used for bathing and dotted with a hun- dred bathing "machines, "' each looking like a tall Noah's-ark on wheels, and the slope is separated into two territories, for the different sexes. The males wear no dress in the water, except a tiny pair of very apologetic drawers, while the fe- males are attired in hideous blue-flannel garments, of for- bidding aspect and (they say) incommoding effect. Left of the bathing part, the shore merges into an expanse of rugged rocks as far as the "arm-pit" of Banks' How. Here stands Derby Castle, from which a grand display of fireworks is "let off" at lfl o'clock every night. From the middle of the arc, an iron pier stretches, seventeen feet wide with a pa- vilion at its extremity. l,(MI(t feet into the bay, — which is nearly three miles across between the points of Douglas Head and Banks' How and not very far from two miles deep from the centre of its width between the points to the centre of the arc. Close by the latter, is the inevitable stand of don- keys and horses, not imported from America, but just the same as at Atlantic City and elsewhere on the Atlantic coast. The half of the shore on the right is mostly utilized for a vast pleasure-boat business, and, as in the other case, merges into a hilly stretch of sharp rocks, which would tear the bottom of a ship to rags. Based upon one dangerous BY LAND AND SEA. 51 jetty of rock is the Victoria Pier, a magnificent piece of work, fifty feet wide, 1,100 feet long and thirty-one feet above low watermark. It is built of large blocks of concrete stone, and stands where once stood an ancient fort with a dungeon beneath. The passenger steamers generally land at this pier. A short distance to the right, with rocks and some sandshore intervening, is the "'old red stone pier," forty feet wide and 520 feet long, with a light-house at its extremity. Again to the right, curving diagonally to the left from the elbow of Douglas Head toward the Victoria Pier, is the Battery Pier, a breakwater nearly of the dimensions of the Victoria Pier, built likewise of blocks of concrete stone, with a stout, high, parapetted sea-wall at its outer edge and terminating in a lighthouse. Then come some awful rocks, with intervals of pebble -floored nooks or fissures, in chinks at the foot or base of Douglas Head. One of these, named Port Skillion, is a popular resort for men who are good swim- mers. Small caves in the rock serve them for dressing rooms, and little piers of concrete stone skirt the cruel rocks so that they may dive therefrom into the dazzlingly bright, clear water. It is a spot of fascinating beauty, especially when looking down into it from the path edging and round- ing the precipice some 200 to 800 feet above, leading to the Head. On a large rock jutting from the foot of Douglas Head is another lighthouse, serving, like the other two, to mark the only safe course into the fine harbor nearly en- closed by the arms of the Battery and Old Red piers, with the Victoria Pier partially screening the entrance. The har- bor is also the estuary of the Douglas river (formed by the union of the Dhoo, or ,; black" and the Glass, or "grey" riv- ers, ) and vessels ride in it, with safety, during even the most furious gales. In the hay, about half way between, and fur- ther out than, the extremities of the Victoria Pier and the in LAND AND SEA Iron Pier, is a formidable rocky islet known as the rock of Conister, upon which stands, in strength seemingly as rug- ged as itself, the stone Tower of Refuge in which unlucky mariners may shelter, if need he. Many a life, as well as boat, was lost on Conister rock before, half a century ago. the tri castellated tower was built upon it. On this ruck are oyster beds of considerable value to Douglas. The names of many Manxmen are, like the tailless native cats, peculiar to the island, though emigration has spread them in the world. Take a few: Clucas. Qualtrough, Myl- chreest. Quayle. Taggart. 'JYare, Cain. Quirk, Christian, Kermode. Rkillicorn, Quilleash, Kissack. Quinney, Qnine, Quiggi*, Quilliam Kewley, Kneale, Kelly. This last is so common that it is related how an English visitor, landing on the pier and desiring the assistance of a man whose name he knew to be Kelly, called out "Hi! Kelly, come and take my bag!" — whereupon twenty-seven porters and boatmen rush- ed up and tore the two handles off the bag in a second. It is the by-word and epitome of wit with those of the visitors inclined to innocent levity, who must give their exuberant spirits vent or burst. It is own son to the query relating to the man who struck Billy Patterson. At any moment, on the broad concrete stone promenade, whose sea wall skirts the right half of the bay. one may expect to hear, from the top of a passing tram-car: "Hi! Kelly!" Or, at the railway station, a youth will stick his head out. as he starts for Peel or Ramsey, and call back to the friends he haves behind: "Hi! Kell-ay!" Or Tom Thistletop, who has climbed on Douglas head to watch a steamer come in. will shout down to Jack Bumblebottoin, who is inspecting the lighthouse be- low: "Hi! Kell-a-a-y!" Explosions of laughter greet each of these sallies. They convey a well understood joke, and light- hearted holiday makers need little to rouse their merriment. 751' LAND A XI) SEA. 53 IX. THE ISLE OF MAX — ITS EQUABLE CLIMATE, BEAUTIFUL SCENERY AND GRAND ANTIQUITIES— RUINED CASTLES AND CHURCH INSTITUTIONS— THE FISHERIES. Douglas, Isle of Man, Aug 15. In a pretty little hand-book, the Isle of Man Steam-Packet Company casually gives a few accurate figures about the isl- and, pointing out that its situation, in the midst of the Irish Sea, which, through St. George's Channel, is continous with that part of the Atlantic in which the Gulf Stream flows, gives it the benefit of that strange oceanic current flowing from the Gulf of Mexico. The Isle of Man contains exactly 145,325 acres of land, or 227 square miles and 45 acres. Its northern mountains cover an area of 19,898 acres, and its southern mountains 8,495 acres, above the line of cultivation, the mean height of the northern group being 1,545 and that of the southern group 1,355 feet. The small size of the island and the great number of masses of elevated '"land'' within its limited area tend to preserve the equable temperature afford- ed by the surrounding sea. The limited area forbids protrac- ted frosts and intense cold, and it is claimed that the elevated masses, the mountains, seem to store up the summer heat, giving it out during the winter months, thus postponing the rigor of the season until the sun has regained some of its power. Opinions may differ on this, but the mean temper- ature of the Isle of Man in January is 41.40 degrees. In July, the mean is 59.80 degrees and the mean of the whole year is VI BY LAND AND SKA. 49.40 degrees. The wannest summer clays are invariably fol- lowed by a refreshing coolness at night, which is safe and not chilling. Thns it will readily be understood that the atmos- pheric conditions of the island are of an enviable equability, and when it is added that the many gentle rains only meas- ure a total of 27 inches in the year it can be understood how rich are the verdure and floral beauties of the land. It must sound curious to say that the places of interest in the island are so numerous as to puzzle a letter writer what to select from them for mention, but such is the case, and those spoken of must perforce be an imperfect selection. Across the old stone bridge above the harbor of Douglas, the Nunnery is not far to seek. It is a grand castellated stone building, a residence, covered, as is also its stone fencing, with dense ivy. But little remains of the ancient nunnery, said to have been built in the sixth century. The surrounding grounds are beautiful and include a time-hon- ored "lovers' walk." buried in foliage. Beyond, with lovely gardens and grounds intervening, is Kirk Braddan, the old churchyard of which contains some rough stones of reputed Druidic origin. The stones are supposed really to be in memory of ancient Scandinavians. There are many inter- estin." old gravestones, too, and not a few of them in mem- ory of persons drowned at sea, or slain in battles in foreign lauds or in naval warfare, in bygone days. There is also a handsome new "kirk" near by, in which the services are now held. A race course, with a stand to accommodate 1 .000 people, is a short walk farther on. but it is a financial failure. Many pretty roads lead round and into Douglas. but the sweetest is one over what is called the Quarter Bridge, from which, embowered in nestling shade trees, one looks down into the clear Glass river and watches the gliding fish beneath. BY LAND AND SEA. Let it be supposed that one chooses spots to visit, starting from Douglas (three fourths way down the east side of the island) and going south round to the west side, up the west, round the north and down the east, back to Douglas, — by laud, partly by rail or carriage, or on foot. First in the cir- cuitous route comes Port Soderic, a rocky cove, approached by a glen of surpassing beauty. It has three caves, one of which extends several hundred yards underground. These caves are said to have been much used by smugglers in for- mer times. Ferns of rare species grow wild by the side of the brook which runs into the sea at Port Greenock, and there is an ancient barrow, or burying-ground, on the cliffs above. Castletown, in a tine bay looking south, has a stone pier '200 yards long and possesses a celebrated sun dial, composed of a ball of stone with thirteen dial-faces on it, by which, it is said, the time can be told by moonlight as well as sunlight. The castle, Castle Eushen, was built by the Danes in the tenth century and rebuilt, centuries later, by the Normans. The kings of Man used the castle as their royal residence for many years. Its walls are twelve feet thick at the base and several feet thick at the top. Its towers stand seventy-rive feet high, at each angle, and in the south tower is a clock, presented by Queen Elizabeth in 1597. The battlement wall is twenty-five feet in height, nine feet thick, has seven square towers and is surrounded by the re- mains of a moat. The castle is of great strength, and, in earlier days, was often besieged, holding out, on one mem- orable occasion, for six months against the warrior Robert Bruce. Finally, it has a full equipment of the most respect- able ghost stories, after hearing a few of which the visitor does not want to stop there alone all night. Port St. Mary is stowed away in another southern bay, It is a fishing vil- lage, with a small harbor and a fleet of nearly 100 fishing BY LAND AND SEA. boats. Geologically speaking, it is famed for its black mar- ble and very hard stone. 1*011 Erin lies round the west side of the southernmost point of the island (off which point lies the islet called the Calf of Man.) Port Erin, only an hour by rail from Douglas, has a beautiful bay and beach, with a low water lauding pier 310 feet long. At the head of the bay is St. Catherine's well, whose water has medicinal prop- erties, and at the north end of the bay is Brada Head, a promontory of 500 feet perpendicular height, on which is a tower, and the view thence is splendid. Port Erin's in- dustry is the Brada copper mines. Peel is situated nearly half way up the west side of the island. It is the main point of the herring fishery of the Isle of Man, and has a fleet of about 200 boats, manned by about 2,001) fishermen. In ref- erence to the herring, a rare book about the Isle of Man, published nearly a century ago by one John Feltham, says that "herrings are killed with very small degree of violence When taken out of the water this tish gives a small squeak and instantly expires, and, thougb immediately thrown back, it never recovers. Hence the proverb : 'As dead as a her- ring'." Peel has a quay and a jetty 1,200 feet long, with a lighthouse at the end. In the market place is a nice old church, in which is a handsome stained -glass window. But Peel Castle is the lion of the place. It occupies a big slaty rock, called St. Patrick's Isle, at the mouth of the harbor. The rock is about seven acres in area at the water base, and four or lire acres at the top. On it are the ruins of what was once a tine cathedral, and a fortress with a round tower in its centre, older, some say, than the time of the Phoeni- cians. This vast pile has dungeons worth a shuddering in- spection, and of course is haunted by the spectres of the cruelly tortured dead of various ages. The old well of the castle, after being choked up for the last two centuries, has BY LAND AM) SKA. been cleared out, and it is a matter of ceremony with visit- ors to drink a goblet of water from the source at which the ancients quenched their thirst. Runic associations, pure and simple, abound on this venerable rock, and we have the word of the weird historian, Waldron, (1744) that, among tin- epitaphs and inscriptions upon the worn stones of the cathe- dral, "you may easily perceive fragments of Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabian. Scotch and Irish characters, some of whose dates, yet visible, declare they were written before the coming of Christ, the various languages testifying by what diversity of nations this little spot of earth has been possessed.'' How- ever this may be, it is plain that these aud many other relics of man's handiwork in the Isle of Man are pre-historic, and the succession of different nationalities upon tie land evidently effectually destroyed reliable tradition such as would almost certainly have been available had the succession been of a more hereditary nature. It is plain that one must use judg- ment in forming a belief about antiquities like these. The void caused by the lack of authentic tradition was comforta- bly rilled, centuries ago, with fairy tales and superstitious, since reduced to writing and published at different dates, by different writers. Xear the walls of Peel Castle is a green mound, ninety feet in length and rive in width. It is called "The Giant's Grave." One smiles at the thought of what a long, thin chap he must have been. He had three legs, "with which he used to spring and hop. from mountain top to mountain top," aud one of his playful habits was to fling tons of rock about like pebbles It is not recorded that Mark Twain ever saw this grave and heard this legend, but he would have enjoyed it and scores of other Manx legends. had he encountered them when "abroad. " Peel is well worth seeing, even if the visitor's ambition is satisfied by admiring its valuable educational endowments in the matter 58 BY LAND AND SEA. of good schools, or in searching for gray carnelian, agate and jasper along its beach, and casting an inquisitive passing glance at the groups of caves in the old red sandstone cliffs. A few mites farther np the west side of the island is Kirk Michael, a village with a good beach not far off. There are Runic monuments at this place which puzzle all antiquarians. Bishop (Thomas) Wilson lies buried here. He was Bish- op of the Isle of Man fifty-eight years, was born just after the restoration of the Stuarts and died, aged ninety-three years, 128 years ago, when George II. was king. The epis- copal residence. Bishop's Court, is near Kirk Michael, and there are numerous fine mansions in the vicinity. We will now pass on to the extreme northern limit of the island, the Point of Ayre, where a stone lighthouse rises 1(50 feet above the sea level, its well known revolving light warn- ing the mariner of the dangerous coast where the tides run- ning along each side of the island meet. Turning down the east side of the land, one travels some ten miles or so to Ramsey, the "northern port," into whose lovely hay extends a pier. 131 yards long by 15 feet wide. Ramsey has a prom- enade (of the concrete stone, which resembles a sort of dull gray granite) 730 yards long and 12 feet wide, with a sea wall shoulder high. The harbor is the mouth of the Sulby river and steamers ply between it and British ports, as well as it having a good local shipping trade. The town has a Court house, a market place and the usual list of churches and chapels. Its population is about 4.500. The sea fish- ing is as good here sis anywhere round the island and the yield of salmon, mackerel, whiting, cod, conger-eels and other big fish is plenteous. Ramsey also takes pride in a handsome tower on the top of a lofty hill near the town. Laxey, located on its bay half way down the east side of the island, is famous for its lead mines and the largest water BY LAXD AND SEA. 59 wheel in the world. The wheel is 72 feet in diameter, 226 feet in circumference, 6 feet in thickness and contains 188 buckets and 48 spokes. The balance at the wheel shaft weighs 10 tons and the top balance 7 tons. The wheel is of 200 horse-power and will pump water from a depth of 400 yards at the rate of 250 gallons per minute. It was made by a Mr. Casement, a native of the Isle of Man. A gallery above it is reached by a stairway of 95 steps, winding round a circular white pillar, through which the water (brought in pipes from reservoirs in the mountains) ascends. Laxey has a quay, a "medicinal" well, an old "Roman bridge, and the reputed grave of the old Scandinavian, King Orry, is half a mile from it. Trudging down the road, through the pleas- ant little village of Onchan, one gets back to Douglas from one's circuit. The many attractions of the interior of the island again necessitate a selection. Glen Darragh has an old stone cir- cle and St. Patrick's chair: five upright slabs of blue slate, with uncipherable inscriptions. By the old ruin of St. Trin- ian's church is a "round meadow" of goblin memory. The land round is the "Curraghglass, " a gray bog of peat beds, in which have been found remains of old Irish oak. Down the side of an adjacent mountain, persons accused of witch- craft used to be rolled in barrels pierced with spikes. If it killed them, they were innocent. If it didn't, they were guilty and the people finished them off forth with. TheTyn- wald Hill (mentioned in the last letter) is the curious an- cient mound from which the laws of this home-rule island are promulgated in the Manx and English languages. Fox- dale is a leadmining place, near Granite Mount. The Ham- ilton Waterfall is a happy relief to a wild region of granite. Ballasalla is a village amid romantic scenery. Near it is the ruin of Rushen Abbey, an old Cistercian monastery. Span- f,!l BY LAXD AXD SKA. ning the Santon-burn. at Ballalonney. is what is known as "the Fairies' bridge." It is picturesque, as is also the Crossag. or •Monks' bridge." higher up the bum. Kirk Malew is an interesting little old church. Mount Strange is the old place of public execution. The College of King William, an ini] Ttant institution near here, his eight - 'h 1 ir an i exhibiti ms t i Oxford. Cambridge \nd Dub- lin. The Rhenass Waterfall is at Glen Helen, where the stream is crossed by i little iron suspension bridge. The banks of the stream are covered by wild rlowers md ferns. The small hamlet of Birregirrow is where John Wesley pre t 'he i. m 1 ni ■-■ little pla -e of worship mirk- the spot. Glen Wyllin. a thickly planted valley with enticin-! rural i ithways. has two sparkling waterfalls: Si oo^t Vane md Ballaskyr. Near Ballaugh is al >g. from which have 1 n dug large trunks of bog uak, black and bird as eb >ny, sever- al stone axes and the skeleton of a gigantic Irish elk. A Runic i -- is t : seen in the dd churchyard. In the en- trance to Suiby Glen the river Sulby is beloved of riytish- ers :- a sinful ir mass i ek e die 1 "the Hill i >f the Sh im - ro 'k " This glen is en dosed by lofty mountain ridges with pr trading masses of granite. - une slate quarries occupying its left side and trees clustering on its bank- all alongtbe sides of the river's torrent. At Lezayre. there is an ivy. gi wn 'hurch. beautifully situated among walnut and other trees. There i- a pretty waterfall in Ballnre Glen, fringed with wild flowers an 1 overhanging trees. Jurby village af - fords an ther sample of Runic relics. Kirk Bride and St. Maughold do likewise, and at Kirk Andreas are some quaint funereal urns. The river Renna flows beneath abundant sh i le thn ugh B ill igl iss I den. with i sprightly waterfall on its way. and there is a st ne ircle dose at hand. One of the prettiest rustic bridges in the island is the one BY LAND AND SEA. H\ over the Dhoon river at Dhoon Falls and the well wood- ed plantation at the head of this glen finishes off a pretty picture. Another delightful way of seeing the Isle of Man is to voyage round it in a steamboat, the course steered making a circuit of ninety miles. Thus one can best obtain an i lea of the rugged outline of the coast. Th- route is as given in the land circuit: Past Douglas Head. Port Soderic and Derbyhaven. This latter i- a fishing village. Its cliffs are of gr^at height and there are caves and i hes in them. Pa-t the dangerous reef off the point of the peninsula of Langness. across Castletown Pay and past its further promontory, a black pile of basalt known as "the Stack of Scarlet :"' past Spanish Head, where innumerable sea birds flock out from the enormous perpendiculai cliff and the vast charms into which this mass of blue Silurian stone is rent: past the Sugar Loaf rock and the fine gi tt adjacent, round the Calf of Man and two great rocks called Barrough and Stack, and so on. round all the points, hea Is. and bays, not omitting a notice of the head-land of Glen lleay, three miles from Peel and nearly three from the Niarbyl Point, whose cliffs. l.oUO feet high, contain caves. — Glen Meay itself being renowned for its lively waterfall and rare fern-. So, from the steamer's deck, the whole island is gradually outlined, one meal is taken on board during the trip, and Douglas harbor is again reached in due course. After putting these things into this condensed form, it is a grateful obligation to acknowledge the valuable aid received in so doing from Messrs. Ward A: Lock's "Isle of Man,' a handsome- and able new work of 144 pages. C-2 HY LA XI) AXD SKA. X. "A BE-YEW-TIFUL PLACE." — MICH MUSIC WHEN THE HANDS PLAY AND PROCESSIONS MARCH— GUYING THE DUDE — A PANORAMA OF PLEASURE- SEEKERS — SOME CHARACTERS. Douglas, Isle of Man, Aug. •2~>. It is not even - one who comes to Douglas who is able to enjoy its delights and those numerous attractions in other parts of the island as well. Most people have not time for all, but it is remarkable the amount of sight-seeing which some can crowd into a visit of a very few days. The cham- pion tourist of all. however, was here last week. It will. perhaps, surprise the reader to learn that he was not a young man. with a temperament full of life and energy. On the contrary, he was elderly, indolent, obese, and looked , is if he was aware that a liver was part of his internal outfit. lie landed at the Victoria pier, went to one of the numerous boarding houses close at hand and stayed there two days. never stirring from it, except, immediately on his arrival, to go and buy one of the many guide-books to the island. With this little volume in hand and spectacles on nose, he put in his time on a chair on the porch. Following the text with one fat forefinger, he took in the whole territory, its history and charms. It was at about 4 p. M. on the first day that he was overheard to murmur, with a dee]) sigh of pleasure: "It's a bewtiful place!" At 11 a. m. on the second day. there es caped him. in low tones: "It's a be-e-wtiful place!" And again, as he closed the book at ■"> i\ m : "It's a be-vew-tiful BY LAND AND SEA. 63 place! I shall have a lot to tell 'era when I get back!" The roaring hum of the densely crowded promenade had not dis- turbed him. Italian minstrel girls had displayed their rustic richness of complexion and gay -colored dresses before him, and thumped their jingling tambourines under his very nose; barrel organs, piano organs, string musicians with and without vocalists, solo cornet performers and whole brass bands had let themselves off before him. Even a wretched old couple of impostors, who have been here the whole sea- son, wandering regular beats arm-in-arm along the streets, uttering quavering and discordant yells: even this old pair of humbugs, before the sound of whose approach crowds would break as if a wave had struck them, did not cause him to turn one single step aside from his glorious flying trip. He had come to see the island and was too busy to attend to anything else. There have been, during the last few weeks, several demonstrations of a festival nature in Douglas. The chief of these have been by the Temperance Societies and the Orders of Odd Fellows and Foresters. A lodge or two of English organizations come over in steamers on these occa- sions and unite with the Manx organizations, making a grand display and marching miles along the sinuous roads which terrace and approach the steep sloping site of the town. A special feature with each body is the accompani- ment of a junior organization, the youths of which are as gaily attired as their elders. And, on each occasion, there have been three or four powerful brass bands sandwiched in the procession. A good brass band is a very nice thing in its way, but, when four are in full blast at the same moment, variously giving the breeze the full benefit of "Rule Britan- nia,"' "The Death of Nelson,'' "The Eoast Beef of Old Eng- land" and "The Anchor's Weighed," the effectis mostawaken- fi4 B V LAND AND SKA . ing. There is not only too much meat in the musical sandwich, but it is too much of the same sort, unsuitably blended: boiled, fried, roast and dried, all in the same mouthful. There have also been here, at times during the season, samples of the Dude. Douglas is a ''popular" watering place, its majority of visitors being of the broad dialectic classes of the manufacturing districts. The minority visi- tors are mostly those quiet, unobtrusive people whose pro- nunciation of English is of English purity, always aspirating the letter "h" softly, but distinctly in its proper place. The honest dialectics, or. to put it more cogently, the dialectics honestly, ignore that letter and, generally speaking, do not even use it out of place. The truly offensive, because dis- honest, pronunciation, is such as the Dude exemplifies. The mincing enunciation of his little flutterings of conceit — thought starved and stunted in conception — the affectation of ultra-purity conveyed by his narrow accentuation (despite the drawling breadth that will creep in here and there t and the slang of his school combine to make him a small mon- ster of vulgarity. Then look at him! A hat far back on his head, a collar like a broad shirt-cuff bandaged around his neck, clothes tight and scanty, as if made for him when he was smaller: agonizing boots, cuffs and necktie, a cane which he never can carry without making some one swear through tortures inflicted by its point or handle, an eye glass screwed in between where men usually have a cheek bone and brow, his chin protruded, his elbows bowed out, an ap- pearance of one of his legs not being used to walking out with the other. and a general air of undoubted superiority. That's what you see when you look, and, when you see it, you re- gard a being who, had he brains enough, would be a "prig." of the "hi'diah culchah" species, and who, had he no inci- BY LAXD AND SKA. 65 dental means of support as such, would probably never be known to exist. Fortunately he is few. The way the mis- chievous spirits among the broad dialectic young men guy him, to his very face, is delicious, and should be conceded as an argument for his continuance. They feel no scorn for him as a degradation of good mannerism. Like the child at the Belle Vue Gardens, who bawled: "Eh, moother cooni an' see this 'ere moonkey. vri'eaut a tail!" they regard him as provided for their especial delectation, and doubtless love him. They will strut before him, exactly imitating his gait and gestures, admiring friends assisting in the performance and miking loud expressions of grief at being no longer good enough to keep company with, whereon the mimics will, with relenting condescension, drop them a few crumbs of comfort with a good deal of "Don't-sha-kueow" and "Old chappie" interlarded with explanations that they are now upon the top-most branch of the world's tree and cannot reasonably be expected to be grubbing around its roots at the same time. Then one of the caricatured Dudes (they always seem to walk in couples) will say to his leash com- panion: "Vulgah fellahs, those." the other will look unutter- able disgust, and the mimics will subside, winking at each other with a gravity indescribably comic and suggesting that the spirit of Sam Weller was not wholly a fiction, whatever his personality might be. What a sight it is to stand and see these fluctuating thousands and thousands of holiday makers. Here a worn- looking, preoccupied man. unable as yet to enjoy his leisure; next a girl whose eyes and figure fairly dance with delight, as some youth is handing her to a boat on one side of the promenade or a carriage on the other; jovial-looking people who seem as yet not to have picked up friends, persons of all ages doing the grand in their Sunday clothes and keeping ttfi BY LAND AXD SEA. up, for sake of the effect upon the world, the illusion that their dress and gracious manners. are those they are always accustomed to display to each other on a week-day at home. They are happy/ It is their way of enjoyment, this of mak- ing their holiday an idle parade of playing at an existence forbidden to their hard lines of toil the rest of the year round, and it must he a hitter cynic who would deride them. And so the throng passes, some to re-pass and others to go on elsewhere: all sorts of physical presentments and tem- peraments, really alike in nothing, except in the having nothing to do but pass the time as best they like and can. Of course such a mass of humanity as congregates on this promenade must have its nuisances. These are two in especial: the baby carriage propeller and the walking-stick whirler. All others are dwarfed by these. It is entirely im- possible for an unprejudiced person not to admire the way in which the nurse -maid engineers a perambulator through the crowd, twice as fast as the crowd itself is moving. Her progress is not aided by skilful steering or polite entreaty for permission to pass. One half the crowd, goiugin one direc- tion, keeps to the right of the smooth, granite-like, concrete walk (nine paces wide'. The other half, going in the oppo- site direction, keeps tothe left, tin- elbows of the two streams brushing against each other along the imaginary centre-line. Thf nurse-maid, with consummate judgment, pushes her per- ambulator along the centre-line, keeping her face turned over her shoulder all the tune, as she gazes at the ribbons and trimmings on passing bonnets and forms her opinion upon feminine dress and masculine accompaniments in gen- eral. Thus she goes as she pleases, for the people ahead of her perambulator, going the same way. see and rightly in- terpret the alarm depicted on the countenances of those who are about to meet the approaching vehicle- of terror. A per- BY LAND AND SKA. ambulator, pushed by a nurse-timid who is staring all over creation, is coming! Out of the way! And out of the way it is. The wheels of the perambulator rub against the skirts of the lines of sauntering femininity, and the autocratic baby pews drowsily from its carriage, with an air of indolent tol- eration. A story is told of one of these perambulators once taking a long-legged man unawares by coming full force against the back of his knees. He sat down, as if shot, and the details are horrible. But perhaps it is only a story. And, even if it were true, are nurse-maids so low in the scale of locomotive machinery that they must not be allowed to fur- nish one little item in statistics of casualties? The cane-whirler is usually a callow youth of seventeen or more green, green Springs. He puts his legs too far through his trousers, and does not know where to put his feet. He seems aware that he cannot overcome this latter infirmity and makes no attempt. His hands come naturally in the same category, but art has relieved them of the position of incum- brances. In his left hand he holds a cigar, the ash of which he critically inspects after a series of whiffs, as if he hoped to find it turning into a real Havana, or a good meerschaum pipe. In his right hand is a walking stick, always with a rectangular handle. As he sprawls along, he is observed to give the stick a few occasional slow whirls, the handle in his hand being the axis and the point of the stick describing the periphery of the revolution. Presently, his hand gets well into its work, he pulls with some excitement at his cigar, slackens his pace, and finally comes to a pause in order to be able to curl up one leg. as he whirls the stick round with a swishing sound and the velocity of a spoke in a fast driven wheel. The expression on his face is pure bliss. "Ah, this is coining to th' Isle o' Man, this is!" And nobody seems to think that he or the nurse girl ought to be sat down upon, 08 BY LAND AXD SEA. the feeling being simply one of well satisfied congratulation at personal escape from a threatened injury of an unavoida- ble nature. As may be supposed, an immense patronage is bestowed upon the boats, tramcars, railway and excursion carriages. Time was when all the carriages for hire were jaunting cars, back-to-back vehicles, the passengers sitting sideways, fac- ing each side of the road. These have been superseded by the use of sociables, which carry a great many more people per carriage. The passengers also sit laterally in sociables, but face to-face and with their backs to the sides of the roads. A few jaunting cars remain in the possession of prisons of means living outside of town. One of these came in. a day or two since, and a number of visitors of the gaping order regarded it with curiosity. It was. however, quite a matter of excitement to one. He was a Lancashire lad. about sixty years old. and had with him his decent-looking silver- haired lass. "Sithee!" (See thee, or see thou.) "Sithee, Jane!" he exclaimed. "Sithee! Yon's one o' th' owd jaunt- ing cars! Aw loike 'em a deal better nor these 'ere new so nt, wheel' yo' sit wi' all yo're toes boouched together i' th' bottom an' sta-arin' each oother eaut o' fa-ace!" A frequent way of loading passengers for an excursion to Peel. Castletown, Laxey, Ramsey, or elsewhere, is for the sociable driver to "tout" all passers-by: "Now for Ramsey! One more gen- tleman wanted to make up the party for Ramsey," etc. The new comer steps up behind and is greeted by the youths of the party with the all-hail shout: "Hi! Kelly!" He treads on someone's foot ami. upon thus provoking an estimate of his own weight, explains: "It's in the fam'ly." Then he jabs an elbow into the mouth of another, who. with polite de- clination, says: "Nay. I'm not 'avin' any. not betwixt break- fast an' dinner anv'ow." At last, he wedges into a seat. and. BY LAND AND SEA. 69 as the driver whips up, the "lads" behind him burst iuto a popular song, the chorus of which is: "Oh, wot a day we're 'avin', I say! Oh, wot a day we're 'avin'! Oh, wot a day we're 'avin', I say! Oh, wot a day we're 'avin'!" If the visitor's taste is for a more refined grade of fellow visitors than here indicated, he should go to Douglas any time from the middle of June to the end of July. August is decidedly "popular." Many from a vastly different social community than the August crowd would, however, prefer that month as affording them quite a new act and new dia logue in the drama played upon the world's stage by its men and women, the companies of which differ so much in es- sentials and merit that some are uncouth in the rendering which others give with ease and finish. Fortunately, un- couthness has its attractive distinctions. It is never insip- id, and a humor broad and deep, with a pathos — the genuine touch of human nature — inimitably simple comes readily from it to an attentive audience with a grain of sympathy in its heart. 70 BY LAND AXJ) SKA. XI. FAREWELL TO THE ISLE OF MAN* AND RETURN TO ENG- LAND'S SHORES— SOME ACCOUNT OF LYTHAM. A QUAINT OLD SEASIDE RESORT. Lytham. England. Sept 7. The last noteworthy incident at Douglas, Isle of Man. was the inauguration of a new life-boat called the "Ann and Mary, of Manchester," (Eng.l built by the national life-boat organization, which is supported by voluntary contributions. The boat started out from Douglas for its station at Port Erin, sixteen miles distant by road, loaded on a large exten- sion wagon, whose wheels were of that vast thickness of fel- loes sometimes read of but infrequently met with in these days. The wagon was drawn by eight heavy cart-horses. which were none too many for the work, for there was not only the boat to draw, bnt also its crew of a dozen men. On leaving for Port Erin, the "Ann and Mary" was paraded along the road skirting the promenade, the hardy -looking crew, dressed in blue and wearing red skull-caps with tas- sels, sat with oars poised, and a brass band marched behind, playing some tune of very serious sound, supposed to be (at a rough guess and in default of better information i sugges- gestive of dirty weather out at sea. Then came farewell to the lovely island and its never end- ing surprises in the way of varied scenery, to see which one has hut to keep moving a little in order to l>e charmed with fresh views. The advantage which such a spot has over a BY LAXD AX I) SKA. 71 larger islaud, or a continent, is that its entirety can, compar- atively speaking, be taken in at a glance, without the neces- sity of having to travel long distances, over territory more or less barren of interest, to ' r r et from place to place. Indeed it is fair to say that there is no part of the Isle of Man which does not remind its visitor that the island is a condensation of beauty, much in little, a landscape in model, with different sea-views unexpectedly appearing in any and every direction. For a summer change, to persons long resident far inland, such variety is delightful. Only those who see it every day of their lives can be insensible to its attractions, and that on the same principle that would cause the complexity of beautiful colors and symmetrical forms in a kaleidoscope to pall upon the eye if never absent from its gaze. That illus- tration is, however, imperfect, for there are many people to whom the beauties of nature and other beauties become more endeared by their very permanence. The return trip to the west coast of England was not made to Liverpool, but to Barrow, a port due east of the Isle of Han and having an important ''pull" over Liverpool in that the steamships and the railway meet at the pier and the passenger's baggage is handed direct from the boat to the train. At Liverpool there is a wide difference. The land- ing is made on a floating pier, from which baggage has to be conveyed on tin- backs of porters up long and steep inclined planes to a hack, or other carriage. Then there is a lively rattle over the stone-paved streets to a railway station and another handling of the baggage there. As to the relative convenience of Barrow and Liverpool as railway points, that depends on where you want to go. Barrow is but a few- miles south of tin; lake district and is also very handy to the extreme north of England and Scotland. For points between the two ports, Barrow is about as convenient as Liverpool. 72 BY LAND AND SEA. To persons liable to sea-sickness it is more so, the trip from Douglas to Barrow being at least an hour shorter than that to Liverpool. On the other hand, those who love sea voy- aging prefer the longer passage, and the approach to Liver- pool has, as may be understood from its reputation as a great port, an interest lacking in the comparatively juvenile port of Barrow. Travelling down the much indented and sand-shored coast from Barrow, Morecambe and ancient Lancaster are passed. Then comes Fleetwood, whence steamers run to Douglas and Belfast, Ireland; then Black- pool, and then, opposite each other on the banks of the broad estuary of the river Kibble, Lytham and Southport. Looking a little south of west, straight across the Irish sea from this point to Dublin, or say Kingstown, the line of sight would intersect the north of the Isle of Anglesea (Wales), half way between the Kibble's mouth and Ireland. From Southport, the coast trends outward until, taking a turn, it enters the estuary of the Mersey and shoots round behind the long, bottle-necked harbor of Liverpool. Blackpool, Lytham and Southport have all made their names as well esteemed places of seaside resort, but, as this letter is dated from Lytham, it may be as well to single it out from the trio, the most retired of which it is. Some facts and neces- sary figures are cordially credited to Mr. F. J. Harte, of this place. Lytham is understood to have been first mentioned in the time of the Normans, it being alluded to in the Domesday Book as "Lidun." In the time of Richard I, it was written hs "Lythum." For the last two centuries it has been a health resort for a select class of visitors, persons of aris- tocratic tastes, and has never laid itself out to draw the masses. Perhaps it has always recognized that this was the line it was best iitted for, and, in a country where BY LAND AND SEA. 73 prejudices of a class description prevail so strongly as they do in England, it assumes the form of a necessity that there must be separate playgrounds wherein various sec- tions of the community can feel sure of herding with kin- dred society only. The day has been, but is now past, when radical sarcasm growled at such a state of affairs. Its last hour sounded when some one of forcible wit quietly inquir- ed: "What are you going to do about it?" — or w r ords to that effect. When a stranger is told that the main attractions of an old established seaside place in England are salt-water, sand, a promenade, a lawn, a pier, and lastly (usually men- tioned first) an unlimited supply of "healthy, pure, invig- orating air," in which "have been displayed the fashions of succeeding centuries," he knows that he has, at any rate, fouiid a spot where quiet people abound, it being so de- cidedly unsuited to those who like to take their sea-breezes with the spice of exciting accessories. Such is Lytham. much loved by its own large circle of friends, folks with plenty of children, valetudinarians and elderly persons to whom lively pursuits of pleasure are distasteful. It is of the "far from the madding crowd" order, and, if the night is not long enough for sleep within the precincts of its 5,309 acres, the visitor can spin out his slumber, undisturbed, during the day. It has grown old so slowly as to still seem youth- ful. Decades with it have been as single years elsewhere and its grey hairs have not increased in number, perceptibly, within the memory of man. To be sure, it has grown in size and in improvements of a modestly solid nature, too, but the growth has been that of a mature person who may be heard spoken of as "still quite young." None of your weedy shooting up, such as causes the arms and legs of garments to testify shortness, but a decorous increase in bulk which increases the general thickness and width, and fills out easy- 74 BY LA XL) A XI) SEA. fitting clothing to an appearance of well-fed Kleekness. Its vans for bathing purposes are noticeably spoken of as "cm m- fortable four- wheel machines." But they are. in the age of Lytham. comparatively innovations. According to Dr. Hut- ton, not so many years ago. bathing here was a very simple affair. "Each day. at the height of the tide, a bell rang as a signal for every male person to retire from the beach and its vicinity. The coast being clear, one fair form after another stole gently down to the water's edge, enveloped in a cloak or attended by a maid to assist her in unrobing on the open beach. From the edge of the waves, the lady passed along a rising plank projecting into the sea. from which she boldly plunged into the water. Then, resuming her dress, she re- tired to her lodgings. The bell rang a second time and the gentlemen took their turn." The coy. not to say timid ap- proach of the fair nymph to the purifying and bracing ele- ment; her bold plunge, while the maid holds her shoes and stockings aloof from the gritty sand in admiring attention: her subsequent immediate nttirement and retirement, follow- ed by the striking of the hollow metallic implement summon- ing the coarser sex to slop about in the ungraceful manner <>f men. combine to form a series of mental pictures com- pared with which the fascinations of a magic lantern have. literally, no hold upon either sentiment or imagination. Nowadays, if the tide does not happen to suit its time to the affairs of men. even the "comfortable, four-wheeled ma- chines" are no temptation to an immersion deprived by them of its polite "after-you-ma'am " features, and both sexes may be seen going to the public swimming baths, the one whereof for gentlemen is 50x20 feet in area, that for la- dies being, possibly in deference to the smaller size or nu- merical needs of their ] edal extremities, only 30x15 feet. The baths and the public assembly room form a fine pile BY LAND AND SEA. 75 of buildings, situated opposite the entrance to their equally modern brother, the pier, the latter of which is a structure of iron, 900 feet long, which juts to the water from the cen- tral part of the long promenade by the shore. The lawn. which is what may be termed a "block" in width, extends' the whole length of the promenade, and that is that of the town, or rather "village,"' merging into a region of docks at its upper end and into a long stretch of sandhills at its lower, or western, termination. It is a territory of justifiable pride to Lytham and has, dotted aloiiL; the promenade side of its length, at its central and eastern points, an "old windmill, with black sails and painted crown," a life-boat house and a custom house whose architecture is that of a square tower. Lytham is one of the principal life-boat stations on the Lan- cashire coast, and. as Mr. Harte truly says: "Many a gallant deed has been done and many a life saved by its means. A noble work is done by these boats and their crews. " The marine terror of the locality is an immense sand bank, call- ed the Horse Batik: "Looking out seaward at low tide, the Horse Bank is seen stretching its dreary length" down the estuary of the Ribble, and "as rich as the Horse Bank" has passed into a proverb from the treasure said to have been lost in it in ships in former times, before the channel was improved and buoyed. As regards these sand hills, Mr. Ilarte's testimony cannot be improved upon: "It is very pleasant rambling among these dells and star hills. The air in summer is scented with wild flowers, and the birds fill the air with sweet music. Lovers of botany can enjoy to the full the many beautiful specimens of vegetation which grow here in such profusion." Beyond, two miles west of the promenade, is a light-house, from whose tower is thrown an intermittent light, half a minute dark and three minutes and a half light, shining a distance of a dozen miles out at sea. 7^; BY LAXD AXD SEA Lytham is the oaly port l1 ng this se ti a :" ■ iast and ships and steamers often run into it in rough weather. In the w iv of ship-building, it : ;ri:~ int small, but good, fishing ves- sels, md. if course, his i small deet of pleasure b 'it- for the visiting !an lsman to settle his stomach withal and other- wise enjoy himself. Steamers ply during the season t :> - it rt. Blackpool. Fleetwood. Barrow, and one or two of the Welsh and Manx ports it times, inrl there ire num t- ous nice sr •- to be reached from Lyth.am ou foot, or in brief j nrneys I y carriage >r railway, in the course i f me ir two of whi h one may staa 1 U| m venerated sites. : : with authentic tales f bloody struggles of ancient Britons. Saxons. Northmen, and ill that sort of persons who could u t irgue and had never hear! of arbitration. Of one drive, from Lythani to Poulton. . iistance of seven miles. the visitor is promised, is :he reward of his journey, the sight : P<: tit m "seven sle -r v streets with i chui :h in the centre " In in >ther. f ur miles fr m Lytham. a view of the disputed "Portus" of Ptolemy. In another, of six miles, the identical plv~ where Paulinu* i- supposed to reached in Sax n times. And so >n .11 round, in- land, through quiet country hr.es and risti ■ solitudes of old fashioned sav i md especial relish to th -e - ':. »e habits and turn >f min i tit them to ippre date sn -h still - ■ \ -~ Those who kn >w Lyth lm well might expe t - 'me t ■ • innt herein of her places : .v .r~hip. railway facilities h t-ls md i Iging h 'tises. h -; ital. m irket h >use, : ul '.: : - jnare, car- dens, m 1 sn h ither things is bell t ■ ■ nstitute the - >li li- ty of t t :.- in general. It is n t ne ess^ry. ':. iwever. t 1 j.. i -■ th in refer : ■ their a ?kn ) ide Ige 1 ex ■ellen •- m 1 ":.-::- satisfactoriness t ill concerned. There is ' 11 man- sion, Lytham Hall, rebuilt ' •■ - i century igo. but it is private property md need not be referred to. here, farther BY LAND AND SEA. than to say that the living branch of the ancient family of Clifton, owners of the old estate of which it is the home- stead, is evidently held in unfeigned esteem by all classes of us neighbors, and has done much for Lytham itself. A word about the shopkeepers of Lytham. particularly those of old-time lineage in its mercantile rank, may not be amiss to speak. They arc remarkably civil, without a trace of servility. If they had made a study of how to secure respect to themselves by their behavior to those with whom their business brings them in contact, they could not better gain th-ir end. But there is probably a great deal more of traditional manner than of calculation in their ways. To representative- of that vast section of the world of trade over whose tongue run- glib saws, such as: "Time is money," " Business is business." and even "Civility costs nothing." -o hiudi a degree of deferential courtesy over a pound of butter or meat, or a few pence worth of some other ::• 'essary, has a naturally good-humoring effe -t. exalting in self-esteem. Pondering over this ind other merits, which. as before intimated, have made .:. i do sustain so large a circle of friends for this quaint and quiet seaside spot, the visitor can betake him--'.:' r i - >me c unf tal seat r. the beach, hard by th- _'.■ iming « iter and the go! len - m i. watching the children turning up the yell >w gr ::^< and mass- ing them in fancied citadels and im its vith tiny -piles, or searching for fresh -hell- or pretty pebbles dong the last tide-line, and perhaps a thought may dit across his mind that men and women who love Lytham learned to do so as children, as their forefathers had done. If this solution satisfies him. then he is at liberty to bring the full force of his intellect upon anything or nothing else, being in a situ- ation conducive to eithei extreme. Or, hi< mmd being readily diverted by some "busy bee" scudding its line to 7s BY LAND AND SEA. the sand hills, he may full to murmuring to himself Dr. Watts': " How skilfully she builds her cell ! How neat she spreads her wax ! And labors hard to store it well With the sweet food she makes!" — losing himself in speculation as to whether the good Doctor made "makes" rhyme by pronouncing it " max." BY LAND AND SEA. 79 XII. HOMEWARD BOtND — THE FIEST VOYAGE OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO — THE VESSEL ADMIRABLY TESTED — AN IDEA OF THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE INMAN LINE. Off Sandy Hook. Sept. 2'J. The trial trip of the new Ionian Line steamer City of Chicago, on board which these lines are written, took place on the 12th inst., a large number of ladies and gentlemen being on board, having joined the ship at Greenock (Scot- lamb on the invitation of the builders. "When off Skelmor- lie, the measured mile was- run. the mean speed attained under easy circumstances being fifteen knots. At lunch- eon, after the trip, Mr. Charles Council, the builder, pre- sided. Mr. Ernest Inman occupying the vice-chair. Mr. Birley, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Inman Steamship Company, whose name was coupled with the toast '"Success to the Chicago,'' said (as reported by the Liv- erpool Mercury), that the Chicago was not built, originally, for them, but they were compelled to have another ship at as early a date as possible, and they were lucky in finding one so fine and suitable. Many alterations had been made to suit the requirements of trade, and these had been most ably carried out by the builder and engineers. The new- ship would compare favorably with other lines, and, although her speed would not rank with the vessels styled "Grey- hounds of the Atlantic," yet she would compare fairly well and prove an excellent carrier, and he hoped also a profit- Ml BY LAXJ) A XI) SEA. able ship to the owners and a credit to her builders. The other toasts given were: " Success to the Inman Company," '" The Builders and Engineers." and '" Captari Leiteh. the Commander." who stated that he had now crossed the At- lantic over 5oii times. The Chicago is iW feet in length of keel. 4"> feet in beam. nearly :>4 feet in depth of hold, and is of 5. "201 tons burden. She is berthed for lot) saloon passengers, loo intermediate and 500 steerage, with lower deck capacity for increasing the steerage accommodation to 1.000 with comfort. The idea which impresses itself on the passenger is that she is a lai'ge- bodied. powerful vessel, constructed to bear herself stoutly in the heaviest wind and water She is. in fact, exception- ally strong and possesses a number of extras beyond the re- tirements to class 100 A 1 at Lloyds; is divided into eight water-tight compartments, has four complete decks and car- ries canvas on four masts, the fore and main masts being square rigged, the mizzen and jigger carrying trysails. In proportion to the number of passengers carried, the Chicago has the rinest promenade decks on the Atlantic: the bridge deck for saloon passengers and the -par deck for interme- diate and steerage promenade. On the bridge deck are the smoking room, chart room and pilot house, in which lat- ter is the steam steering apparatus. The spar deck con- tains the music loom, deck state rooms, officers' quarters, barber-shop, etc. The grand saloon, corridors of state rooms, both first cabin and intermediate, and intermediate saloon. are on the mam deck, on which are also, forward and aft. the steerage cabins. A grand feature in the steerage accom- modation- i- that they are in three separate parts <>f the deck. divided by iron bulk heads: one large compartment for families, one for single women and one for single men. It may properly be stated, here, that a more well behaved, re- BY LAXD AXD SEA. Kl speetahle ami prosperous looking bunch of steerage passen- gers than came out on the first trip of the Chicago it would lie difficult to imagine. In the matter of machinery, the ship's propeller is driven by compound engines, with three cylinders: one high pres- sure, of) inches: the two others being low pressure. HO inches each. Their nominal horsepower is 900, their effective power being -1,5(1(1. The engines work without need of a governor and their smoothness and silence are so remarka- ble that the action of the machinery is imperceptible a short distance forward of them, even when heavy seas bare the screw and endeavor to produce those eccentric, whirring gyrations of it so well known to all ocean steamship travel- lers. As for location, the engine room is aft of the grand saloon, and the sleeping cabins, bath rooms and lavatories are situated all the way from forward to aft of both. Every part of the ship, down to the very stoke hole, is brilliantly illuminated with the Swan incandescent electric light, war- ranted to burn 2.00(1 hours. The power for the production of the light is furnished by two engines, one of which runs the entire outfit of 2G0 lamps, the other being used to keep going sixty lamps in corridors, lavatories, etc.. which burn after the state room lights have been turned off at night. As for fuel, the Chicago burns lid tons of coal per day. that is to say that, with 1.0(10 tons more carrying capacity than the Berlin, she burns ten tons more coal, while her speed in similar circumstances is estimated to be the same as that of the Berlin. The cost of the Chicago has been S7o0,000, which includes all that sumptuous decorative finish in which every new ocean passenger steamer endeavors to show- something more handsome and elegant than its predeces- sors are aide to display. In this respect, the music room of the Chicago is a lovely example of ornamental work, the i;y LA XI) AXD SKA. whole intricacy of which leads up, from panel to panel, to an exquisite picture in the middle of each panel. Six of the pictures are portraits, respectively representing Wash- ington, Franklin. Shakespeare. Watt. Hogarth and Scott, the others being designs of cherubic musicians, playing up- on the wind, string and sounding metal instruments of an- cient times, amid surroundings of birds. Mowers and fruit of fascinating beauty. It may readily lie understood that tlie Dresden grand piano of the music room has to look its handsomest and utter its sweetest notes to be in keeping with these things. To allude to other points of excellence in the internal economy of the Chicago would he but a repetition of the description given of the Berlin, except to note that the state rooms of the Chicago are a foot larger abeam than those of the Berlin aid have improved accom- modations for the stowage of baggage. The passengers on the maiden voyage of the City of Chi- cago were all on board on Tuesday evening. illSthi. having been taken by tender from the Prince's Pier. Liverpool, to the ship, which lay at anchor in the middle of the river, op- posite the pier. Among the ship's company were to be found many of the Berlin's officials. Commodore Leitch be- ing accompanied by his first and third officers and surgeon, and Purser Kavanagh having his former clerical aid. J'here were also on hoard Chairman Birlev and Marine Superin- tendent Alexander, who accompanied the ship to (Queens- town, and Mr. Clibborn, the head of the passenger and com- missary departments, who came to give a final look round in the way of business and extending parting courtesies to the passengers. A beautiful day had closed in with dense fog when the pilot took the Chicago slowly and cautiously out of the ii\er Mersey. The tide running out. it was midnight when the ship crossed the bar and carefully sounded her BY LAND A XI) SEA. 83- way down the channel, tu the lugubrious music of the fog horn. Some pauses likewise had to be made to renew some packing in the machinery. The weather also was so dirty that when the ship arrived off Roche's Point after next mid- night it was thought best to await daylight before proceed- ing up Queenstown harbor. Between (! a. m and 12 m. on Thursday the cylinders of the engine were examined and re- packed, and. at \±:HK the Chicago received the mails and left for New York. The afternoon and evening were fine and the run to Fastnet Rock afforded a beautiful view of the picturesque coast of the county Cork, dotted, on its highest points, by the quaint old round towers of Ireland. Prom Fastnet. the course turned away and soon the land had faded into a mere indistinct outline. The prettiest day for a week to come had ended, and strong westerly winds pro- ceeded to make things interesting thenceforth. The breeze increased to a gale on Sunday, and a heavy gale followed on Tuesday night. This was the sort of weather to test the Chicago, and her response to it gratified all onboard of ripe experience in voyaging. Capt. Leitch and Mr. Kavanagh had each crossed the Atlantic over -"inn times, and a number of the passengers had made all the way from five or ten up to forty trips each. The verdict of these was in praise of the easy motion of the vessel, and the buoy- ancy with which she rode over tin- heaviest seas: quite a change from the boats which lie down in the water and are so wet in had weather for lack of elasticity in rising fairly with the seas they encounter. A farther tribute to the com- fortable movement of the Chicago was the remarkably small amount of seasickness among her passengers. Indeed, among the men, the worst case emerged from his seclusion in a couple days and felt good enough to make his way to the bulletin board at the top of the companion's interior and M BY LAXJ) AM) SKA write thereon: "Lost, a first-class appetite, of no use to any- one but the owner. " Then followed an adjuration to tin finder to hand the article over at once, as it was wanted im- mediately. The voyage was further rendered cheerful b\ the daily occurrence of sighting ships. One of these, ;i freight steamer from Philadelphia, which met the Chi- cago during the gale of Sunday, was an exciting spec- tacle, the wind being dead aft of her and causing her to kick up her heels and plunge, like a typical war-horse. as she drove furiously before it. Thursday, the 27th. was made especially memorable by the sight of a whale, which spouted in the most orthodox fashion, a short distance off the port bow. At ."> o'clock on Friday morning. :J50 miles from New York, a pilot was taken on hoard. Later in the day. Mr. Kavanagh was waited on by a committee of three intermediate passengers, one of whom, with a neat little speech, presented the following unanimously signed paper: "We, the intermediate passengers, before leaving, desire to express our satisfaction with our steward's department and with the behavior of this good ship on her maiden voyage, and we wish her and her i r -w a long and honorable career." This was succeeded by two similarly complimentary docu- ments from the steerage, one of which was in Swedish and wis signed by the sixty Scandinavian passengers, the other representing the whole of the English-speaking majority. These papers seemed in excellent taste as a cordial endorse- ment of the new ship which had proved herself so stanch and were practically the last incidents of note previous to her arrival off Sandv Hook on Saturday. THE C REG AN CURSE. THE CREGAN CURSE. Tt was eventide. Ballakillin's face was wet, as sturdily as ever, toward the east, disdaining to look over its powerful shoulders to see that the sun was setting behind it. Leave Ballakillin alone for that! It to said that she once, a long, long time ago — indeed, it would appear, by traditionary dates almost as soon as the world began — allowed her high- est mountain, Moddy-dhu, to glance back at retiring Phcebus, in doing which that unfortunate mountain's head and neck became permanently twisted into the position in which they now stand, gazing always westward. Ballakillin was, and is. the name of a beautiful island, away east, among the British Isles. There were several towns and villages on the island, but it was after the name of Ballakillin that the principal of these was named, in honor of the island itself. So the one was usually called "the Island," and the other, almost invariably, "Ballakillin " The ''town." after all. was but a scattered and irregular series of houses ami huts. A noble ruined castle and a lighthouse, which severally jutted forth into the sea, with bold promi- nence, on the tops of rocky promontories of appalling terror M THE ('REG AX CVRSE. to the storm-struck mariner, and enclosed Ballakillin Bay. formed the most striking marks in a landscape which told in early dawn, daylight, dusk —aye. and on the darkest night- - with resounding waves, where the Head of Ballakillin and the Murchan Point were. At ebb and How of tide, both these points were especially shunned by the wary: but, at low- water, pleasure-boats and fishing craft would venture around either, and men would discourse fearlessly as they pointed to the awful cavernous clefts and treacherous needle- rocks of the one adjoining Bay. or the towering fiat -faced sea- board of the other — neither accessible as landing-places to anything but birds. As was said before, it was eventide. There had been a sharp storm on the previous night, and now there was a heavy ground-swell on the sea. The Liverpool and Glasgow steam packet had at noon labored gallantly into the danger- ous harbor of Ballakillin. with the "Eliza Jane" of Fleetwood — said "Eliza Jane" being without either sails or masts, save a stump of mainmast, obliquely across which was lashed a spar from whose short arm depended a t'nion Jack, upside down, as a signal of distress. The "Eliza Jane" was in sad plight, having ''caught it in the Channel." Nevertheless young George Clucas had gone out in his and his father's fishing-boat to ply his means of livelihood. His father, old Orry Clucas, had endeavored to dissuade him from goingout alone, that day. "Alone, dad!" exclaimed George, cheerily. "Why. you know the boy is sick, and besides, he's not much use. any- how. And the boat's yours and mine: so that I'll have your share along with me if I can't have you andyour rheuma- tism/' added he. laying his hands with firm grip on his fath- er's shoulders, and looking into the old eyes with merry ser- iousness. "And what's more, von know. I'm twentv-one to- THE CREGAN CURSE. 87 day; aid. I'll tell you, dad, it's not to keep the pot boiling, only, that I want to work in all weathers, but — I want to work. " The father knew for whom his son was fretting, and was afraid too that it was the old tale that happens — in its agony, God grant — but once in a lifetime. "George," said he, as he looked fondly at his son's curly fair hair and clustering auburn beard, and meeting his blue eyes. "George, look away over in the nor'east! We've not really felt the storm yet!" "See, dad. see! The tide's turned, and I must go!" was all the response. So George leaped into the boat, cast loose, and in a minute, with lugsail and foresail filled, was quietly passing down the harbor bar between "the two points." Arrived there, instead of taking his usual short tacks, his father saw, with practiced eye, that the boy had seen the coming squall, for the boat headed due south and soon passed from view. "The lad's not after much fish, to-day, Tin thinking," said the old man sadly. "It's the Cregan Curse he has up- on him — that one of each blood shall love and break their hearts once in every fifty years. He has it on him, and he's fighting with it. Our only boy!" The word "our" seemed to remind him of his wife, Mar- garet, and he turned toward the cottage on the rock with the sea-weed garden deep below, where they lived; and, as his rheumatic limbs ascended to his threshold, he sighed deep- ly. It was then but just past noon — though I said when I began, "it was eventide"; and he reached his home, and sat down upon the doorstep, and looked anxiously and eagerly at the clouds and the general aspect of the weather, and sat there, so doing, until it was eventide. As he looked for the boy's boat with a telescope, which hung within easy reach in SS TTTK GREGAN CURSE. the cottage, and saw George appear and reappear, until be was scarcely recognizable in the offing, a heavy sigh of pleasure would now and then escape from his half-parted lips: each deft tack that the small lugger made among the "sea dogs" was noticed admiringly by old Orry. The returning boat was just o ff the "Head." when Mar- garet came to the door. "Orry, where's George?" said she. "Oh, he's out, Maggie! Out all right!" replied he, gently. The old lady was near-sighted, and slightly deaf, and so only heard the word "out," for Orry's voice was a little tremulous. "Is he anchored on the bar?" "No. He's after mackerel to-day." "Orry. your tone sounds to me like a g^od catch. Is he going to do well, to-day? Did you prepare the boat well for him when he left? For," said she. in a somewhat apprehen- sive tone, 'it seems to me the wind is rising, and." as she looked up at the clock, "the flow is on. and I would like to see the boy home. I would like to see the hoy home. He can't surely be gone to leeward, to Mylchriest's bay! Well!" ex- claimed the old lady, arranging the reflector behind a bright particolored light which she placed in the window, 'it' he is, I am sorry for the boy to-night. There's our lighthouse.'' Then Orry came in out id' the growing darkness; and prodigiously slapped his wife Margaret on the back - , thereby causing her a violent tit of coughing. "Maggie," said he. "do you put some supper on the table, while I go down tow n to get some tobacco." "Tobacco! Why you've got plenty! the box is half full!" ex- claimed his wife, but he appeared mU to have heard her. for he was gone, and was proceeding to the business portion of the town with more celerity than his rheumatic limbs had promised. Arrived there, he did purchase some smoking THE CREGAN CURSE. 89 tobacco. Then, turning his steps in another direction, hut toward Ballakillin Bay. a walk of about a quarter of a mile brought him to the house of Richard Cregan, a well-to-do fisherman, and owner of two boats, a lugger and a smack, which he and his sons worked between them. The forefathers of the ('Incases and the Cregans had been born and lived and married and begot children in Ballakil- lin for a traditionally long period: but neither family had at- tained any special degree of afrluenct — unless the wealth of indomitable pride possessed by the Cregans may in some sort In- considered as such. The Clncases were unswerving in their ideas of right, but the insolence of passion never appeared in their feudal dislike of the Cregans. Long, long ago, a Cregan and a Clucas had sought the same girl to wife, ami the one who had won her was slain by the other: who, some time afterward, married this girl, and, when both were old. and he on his death-bed, confessed to his wife that the lover of her youth did not accidentally fall from the bluffs of Ballakillin Head down on the needle -rocks of Myl- chriest's Bay. while getting eggs from the seabirds' nesls, as had been supposed, but was pushed down by him, treach- erously: whereupon his aged listener had cursed him. with such a fearful and prophetic curse, that, while she yet spake, he had "fled from her, in terrible fear and haste, into the presence of his Maker." Whatever might be the intrinsic value or weight of this prophetic curse which ttris aged fe- male ancestor of the Cregans had uttered, one thing is cer- tain; the two families had never intermarried — though, per- haps from their propinquity, more than one couple of the younger members of the families had been discovered to have come to love one another, and (on the Cregan side) been well cursed for their folly and weakness, and at once forbidden to think anv more of each other. !)0 THE CREGAN CURSE. Old Orry rapped at the door with the head of his stick, and presently the door was opened by a tall, haughty -looking young woman, who was remarkable for an abundance of massive tresses of dark brown hair, and large slumbrous •■yes which were a shade darker. Seeing three men seated on the opposite side of the room, engaged in mending a net. with a civil but cold greeting to Ellen Cregan, Orry pushed past her. and at once began to state his errand. Strangely and quaint enough his words must have sounded in the ears of his listeners, as he leaned on his stick and confronted them. "By this time George will be on the rocks in Mylchriest's Bay." he said. With a hasty oath, the youngest Cregan sprang to his feet, and the other two looked up suddenly, with some excitement visible on their countenances; but Ellen stood perfectly still, and nothing but the glow which was fast lighting np her eyes betrayed that she had heard the words of their un- wonted visitor. "Tell us all about it!" said the young man fiercely, and the other two echoed his words. Then Orry told them how George had been out in all the squalls that afternoon: how he had watched him all the while with his telescope, whenever he was in sight; that he had last seen him as he was trying to make Ballakillin Bay, off the "Head": that finding he could not make the Bay. (4-eorge was going about again on the starboard tack, to stand off, when a squall had struck him and wrapped his lug- sail round the mast, and the sea had struck him on the beam just as he disappeared round the "Head" into Mylchriest's Bay, where, the old man added, as if with some faint hope, he would be sheltered from the wind. The Cregans, who by this time were preparing swiftly to go and render what assistance they could, had, one and all. THE C REG AN CURSE. 91 but one question to ask: "What hart possessed George to go out iu the lugger alone, and especially when he nmst have seen the threatening weather?" But old Orrv only shook his head sadly, until, as they set forth on their mission, he clutched John (the youngest) by the arm. and with a back- ward glance at Ellen, who stood in the doorway looking after them, he whispered in the young man's ear, "It is the Curse that's on him!" John Cregan Hashed a sudden piercing glance at the old man. but Orrv did not notice it; he was too much occupied in picking his way. as he hobbled painfully along in the track of Richard Cregan, and William, the elder son. "Is that why George didn't take the boy?" asked John. "No. The boy is sick at home, and unable to work." The two elder Cregans strode on ahead, and. notwith- standing a considerable amount of rope which they carried between them, in addition to a stout iron spike — which rope and spike were used in "bird's nesting"— were fast leaving their companions behind, when, just as they neared Clucas' cottage, they paused and waited for John and Orrv to catch up with them, and Richard Cregan abruptly asked the latter if Margaret knew of George's danger. "No!" exclaimed the old man. "That's what I wanted to speak about, only I forgot it in thinking of the boy. Twen- ty-one to-day! No. She thinks he's stood out in the Chan- nel till the wind drops, or at least is all right somewhere. She thinks I'm gone into the town for some tobacco, and was getting supper ready when I came out." "Just as well!" said the elder Cregan. And then he add- ed, in a softer tone of voice, "You must go in and stay with her. Clucas; you are too lame to go along with us." "I'm afraid I am." replied the old man. "I'll do as you say; only tell me what you are going to do." r)0 THE CREGAX Cl'IlSE. "Of course he's on the rocks, dead or alive. " said Richard, in his harsh, peremptory accents. Orry winced at the word "dead." ''And being there, he must he got off. if we can rind him." Orry winced again "Xow there's two good points, one in his favor, and one m ours as well: The tide couldn't have been on the flow over an hour when you miss. ed him round the Head. It wouldn't have covered the flat rocks, thouc/lt the wind was blowing off the water. And— it wasn't quite dark. Then, the other point is Unit." He pointed to the horizon, where, far away over the harbor bar, far away over many miles of angry water, the moon's disk was seen, rising (dear and bright — its light seeming to shed itself in a glimmering pathway over the foam -topped waves and set forth, in bold relief, on the right hand the frowning Head of Ballakillin. and on the left the sharp Point of Mur- chan, on whose summit the stunted fir trees were nodding and jostling one another in the dying northeast breeze. Orry saw what Cregan meant, without further words. "(lo in and get us George's birding line and spike, Orry. We've no time to lose!" said Will Cregan. Orry went to a small outhouse where George kept alibis fishing tackle, tools, and such things, ami returned with a rope and spike similar to that of the Oregans. "God speed you, boys!" he said, as he stood for a few moments watching them go at a kind of sling-trot down the slope of the hollow which intervened between him ami the foot of Ballakillin Head. "God speed you!" Two hie tears started from his eyes and ran down his weather-beaten face, so he tinned anil hobbled into the cottage, where his wife sat waiting his return. "Maggie," exclaimed he. ostentatiously dropping the paper of tobacco on the table: "you don't know half the news! Who do von think is going to be married: 1 " Then he men- THE CREGAX CURSE. 93 tioned the names of a young couple of the "town," who were contemplating matrimony. "What a long time you've been! Why. I knew that a week ago. Where i.H George? Where cun he he?" "Oh. George?" sail Orry, in a slow, matter-of-fact man- ner, which seemed to imply that any apprehensions as to his son's safety were far from his mind. "Yes, George!" replied she a little sharply. "Why. of course he's out in the Channel. He'd have to wait until the moon rose before he'd try to come in. with such a sea on. When I saw him last, just before dark, he couldn't make tin; buoys for the wind, so he steered clear of the Head, and went out to sea tilt the moon ro.se. George is too good a seaman to risk his boat." Margaret took her husband at his word, and. having risen from her seat to trim the lamp in the window, so that her boy might see the bright signal-light when he came up the little bay, she sat down to supper with her husband, whereat Orry ate hugely, and talked incesssantly — afterward trolling a lively stave of a sea-ditty, in which the singer was set forth as having a wife in all the principal ports frequented by the merchant navy, and rejoicing in his polygamy. He then lighted his pipe and puffed forth volumes of smoke with much apparent satisfaction; and Margaret, after washing and putting away the supper things, laid down contentedly on a sort of pallet near the fireplace, and, while "waiting for George," slept. Scarcely were the four men out of Ellen Cretan's siyht when the girl Hung the door shut with a sudden burst of passion and paced the room like a caged tigress for several minutes, with her hands tightlv clenched, one in the other. THE CRKGAX CFRSE. Then she threw herself prone on the floor, and lay there moaning, with her faee buried in her hands. Surely the devil was in George Clueas that eventide, when he was so eareless in going about on that starboard hick — so heedless in endeavoring, single-handed, to make the narrow passage between the buoys in that heavy sea and those dan- gerous, frequent gusts of wind. Orry had been wrong: there had only been a hitch in getting the lugsail 'round. Still it was almost a miracle that the boat was not swamped: she was driven upon her side, and all George could do was to steer her (dear of the "Head." and head for the middle of Mylehriest's Bay while she still answered her helm, which she would not do long, as the towering promontory of the "Head" now shut off the wind, and both sails were fluttering and flapping, empty, as if trying to shake out their reefs, while the boat drifted toward the fatal rocks on the heaving, angry, sulky tide. As the little lugger sped into the Bay. and slowly "righted" herself, half full of water, and her oc- cupant, having made the helm fast, was stepping forward to clew up the lugsail, looking upward he saw the light appear in the lighthouse, in the darkening twilight, and the thought struck him that his mishap had been seen, and that assist auce might yet come to him in some shape. So thinking, he altered his ludm. and with half frantic energy baled out the water. Then taking an oar in his hands, he headed the boat as well as he could for a certain part of the shore. "I'll see if I can make the Cregan rock. I can climb up out of reach of high water there." said he. More by good luck than seaman-hiii. he was able to steer his boat toward the spot he wished to reach, and before many minutes had passed he was among the breakers on the Mat rocks, just below the THE C REG AN CURSE. needles, and, as the little lugger heeled over and filled when she struck, he had drawn a deep breath, clenched his teeth firmly, and. jumping clear of the boat, was fighting in the water, which, lifting him like a fragile toy, hurled him. bruis- ed and bleeding, close to the foot of the needles; and then retreated, roaring, to gain strength for a fresh effort. Scarce- ly knowing what he did or how he did it. he gained his feet. and dashing forward over the slippery, sea-weed-covered rocks, he was conscious that he had gained the largest and most prominent of the needle-rocks— the only one which had ever afforded a means of access to the bluffs from Myl- chriest*s Bay. without the aid of a birding-line. He knew that it was the fatal Cregan rock on which the Clucas of old Lad met his death at the hands of a Cregan. He knew that he was clinging to a splinter at the base of the rock, with the energy and grip of desperation. He was conscious that one of his arms was quite useless, and that, feeling himself growing faint and sick, he made a great effort and managed to scramble a part of the way up the precipitous path, but not to high-water mark by some distance. He felt his limbs refuse to support him. and. instinctively reaching a jagged "needle " he cluug to it with his sound arm. and. resting against it. sank down h ilf fainting. Then a sort of dreami- ness came over him. He felt no desire to move, but, heed- less of the heavy wash of the swiftly rising tide and the sul- lenly tierce breakers which threw up clouds of foamy spray just below him. he inertly watched the silvery pathway of the ravs of the gradually rising moon. By the time the glit- terino disk was well above the horizon, he began to fancy that he could distinguish, above the echoing roar of the breakers, the high pitched voices of sailors calling to one another: and he found him>elf wondering who they could be, and what they were doing there that night, and no boat in % THE CREGAX CURSE. sight. An unusually ambitious wave just then outstripped its fellows, and drenched him with spray. A piece of rock, about as large as he could have clasped his arms around. came hounding down the pathway from above, and narrowly missed striking his head: and he was pondering how it had been set going, when, with swift, cat-like, cautious step, the figure of a man appeared at his side, and instantly sent forth an eldrich screech, which was faintly answered from above. Raising his eyes, the moonlight showed him the form and features of John Cregan. Helpless as George was. the task of getting him to the summit of the rocky bluffs was a slow and tedious operation; but the three Cregans accomplished it. and when, shortly af- terward, the big waves, driven by the tide and the heavy swell, broke over the Cregan rock, it was to find that their prey had escaped from their grasp. Leaving the tackle, which had done such good service, be - hind them for awhile, they took their rescued waif home by slow degrees; and one of them went to fetch the surgeon, while the other two returned to the bluffs for the lines and spikes. Solemnly, and most silently. Richard Cregan and his elder son delivered their charge into the quivering arms of his father, and. having briefly answered Orrv's few hasty questions, laying stress on the fact that it was owing to John having insisted on their going first to the place they did that George had beeu saved, they returned to the bluffs, as was said above, and brought home the lines and spikes. Margaret's trouble when they had got George tolled in the next room was painful to witness. She had been quiet enough until then. An intense, reproachful gaze she fixed on her husband's tell-tale, guilty face, when she accused him ami found that he had deceived her— had lied to her THE ('REGAN CURSE. 97 about George. ''If I had known, I might have been saying my prayers for him; and you did know, and you never pray- ed at all! No! you enjoyed your supper more than ever, and sang, and smoked, and laughed." "I was praying all the time, Maggie." said the old man humbly. But, somewhat after the manner of her of old, Margaret "refused to be comforted. " "And you saw me put the signal-light in the window, and knew he wasn't to see it, ami said he was out in the Channel and safe!" she continu- ed: and Orry bore all she said, and felt more guilty than ever, in that his love for her had led him to deceive his wife. The surgeon found George badly bruised, and with his right arm broken above the elbow. Fever set in and for days he was delirious, and Richard Cregan more than once stood by his bed-side, with John, and heard the never-ended words of the Curse repeated over and over again by the lips of the unconscious sufferer, mingled and coupled with his daughter's name; and this set liim to thinking, and he and John talked it over, when they were out in their lugger, fish- ing. And one day, when George was convalescent. Richard Cregan came, and called Orry on one side, and, to his amazement, began to talk about the Curse. It seemed to him and John, he said, that a Cregan had saved the life of a Clucas; and that he and John thought that this put an end to the power of the Curse. "John " he said, "held that the Curse bad never hurt any one but the dying murderer; that it was bad feeling between the families that had broken what hearts had been broken. I can see it at home.'' con- tinued Richard's harsh voice, warming; "my Ellen is fretting herself sick since George was hurt, d'he old tale is coming true with her and George! Rut John says truest, it is our fault for keeping up bad blood, and laying the blame on the THE (REG AS CURSE. wieked words of a passionate old woman, mad with nige. And John, and me.— and Will." he added in a lower tone, for Will had but very reluctantly given his eonsent. "say that we would like you to tell George that, if he want- Ellen and sin- is willing to take him, we have nothing against it: and if you want any help about your new boat — " And this was the last of the Cregan Curs VERSES. f.) JHEIK SAILOR LAD. Aw'm wearyin' o' my watch, Aw'm wearyin' o' my watch: '1'lr livelong neight aw soigh, My sleep aw conno" cotch! Fur aw'm thinkin' on eaur lad, Eaur lad, lass, thoine an' moine: An' tliat is why, at neight, Aw loie awake an' poine. 'Eaw well aw moind 'is words, To thee, lass, aye an' me : "Think o' me. dad air moother, Woile aw"ru away at sea!" Weer is eaur Willy's face? Weer is eaur lad's pale cheek? Oh! aw'm "ait ateard to think. Aw'm 'alf ateard to speak! My cheeks wur red that mornin" They're w'oite. aw know, toneight: Fur eaur on'v lad is lost, An' aw'm lost wi'eaut 'is seight. Hut we are not sure "e's lost, No, no! not sure 'e's dreawned! '£ may coom to us yet, \Yi" fa-ace all bronzed an' breawned ! Still my 'eart is varry chill An' aw loie awake an' watch. Fur 'e may coom in th" neight, — Is th' dooer on th' latch? This book is DUE on the last date stamped below M 2>»-6,'52(A1855)470 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 000 154 400 6 * . s ' r>^