E168 
 .W68 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 DDDD34 c ]E7bA 
 

 
 .^» • • • » *G v3 *o . » * J\ 
 
 ;• .♦♦*% 
 
 ,<a> 6 .m,^ _ n * ... ^ 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 ^** 
 
 
 °o 
 
 *P^ .-<0W*'< * 
 
 *P^ 
 
 A> a " 
 
 A? •!*•* > V * 
 
 
 vV 
 
 
 
 
 ^6" 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
V 
 
HOLIDAY RAMBLES 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS READ WILKINSON 
 
 "Keep not standing, fixed and rooted, 
 Briskly venture, — briskly roam ; 
 Head and hand, where'er thou foot it, 
 
 And stout heart are still at home. 
 In each land the sun does visit, 
 We are gay, whate'er betide ; 
 To give space for wandering is it 
 That the world was made so wide ? " 
 
 Goethe. 
 
 MANCHESTER: 
 
 JAMES F. WILKINSON', GUTTENBERG WORKS, PENDLETON. 
 
t 
 
 
 
 
 2j 
 

 MY FRIENDS AT HOME AND IN MANY LANDS 
 
 I DEDICATE THESE PAGES 
 
 WHICH RECALL SO MUCH OF SUNLIGHT 
 
 AND AFFECTION 
 
 THAT HAVE MADE LIFE WORTH LIVING. 
 
 i? 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is in response to the wishes of many friends that I have ventured to 
 reprint these ephemera. 
 
 Since my return from the United States I have had many applications for 
 copies of the two descriptive letters which I wrote on the voyage out. Their 
 appearance in the Manchester City News constrained me to continue a record 
 of my movements, and led me, without premeditation, to write the letters 
 from America. 
 
 During the process of revision I have been pleasantly reminded of other 
 journeyingsin foreign parts, as well as of pedestrian excursions over mountain 
 and moorland, in the days that are no more. And I have thought that it 
 would not be an unsuitable occasion to insert one or two more of my earlier 
 sketches, out of a rather numerous selection, as companion pictures, and to 
 give variety. 
 
 I have not gone back beyond twenty years, although so long ago as 1844 
 I found myself writing accounts of travel in Scotland, and since then Ireland 
 has on several occasions attracted me to her mountains and to her magnificent 
 lonely rock-bound Western coast. In the few weeks of annual rest from the 
 labour and care of business, I have had much enjoyment in tramping over 
 the mountains of the Lake Country and of the Principality. But my chief 
 delight has been to ramble through the length and breadth of Old England ; 
 so rich in quaint market towns, in villages and churches, in crosses, in Gothic 
 Cathedrals, in ancient monasteries and Norman castles ; in short, in innumer- 
 able memorials of a thousand years of history ; attracted by the everlasting 
 beauty of her cultivated fertile valleys and green pastures, rich in flocks and 
 herds, or glowing with golden grain ; by her hills and dales, her rivers and 
 lakes, by her white cliffs, and by the all-encircling sea that laps her shores. 
 
 It is not, therefore, for lack of material for descriptions of our grand old 
 country that I have not inserted in this volume an English tour, but rather 
 because I thought my impressions of other lands might have more freshness 
 for, and be more attractive to, many friends, who may not have become so 
 accustomed to the pleasures of the home circuit, so to speak, as myself. 
 The letters from Norway originally appeared in the Manchester Examiner 
 and Times, and the description of the Passion Play in the Springfield 
 Republican, Springfield, Mass., U.S. 
 
 I am exceedingly indebted to my friend Mr. George Crozier, to whom 
 I here tender my hearty thanks, for the illustrations which he has drawn 
 to accompany the letters from Norway, visited by him in 1873. 
 
 To my brother I owe many thanks for the care he has bestowed in bringing 
 out the volume. 
 
 T. R. WILKINSON. 
 
 The Polygon, Ardwick, Manchester, 
 jQth March, 1SS1. 
 
^2 
 
 i^mfs 
 
 A MONTH IN AMERICA 
 
 I. LIVERPOOL TO QUEENSTOWN. 
 
 T 1-45 p.m. on Saturday, the 1 ith of September, 1880, the steam- 
 ship Scythia moved from her anchorage, on her voyage across 
 the Atlantic. One of her passengers at least had looked forward to such 
 a voyage for certainly more than twenty years, and (as the unexpected 
 always happens) he had found himself, with only forty-eight hours' 
 notice, on the way to realising a long-cherished idea. At the same 
 moment that our good ship moved, another vast steamship, the Baltic, 
 steamed out of the Mersey on the same voyage. 
 
 What magnificent works these ocean steamers are ! There is no single 
 achievement which so specially characterises the progress of modern 
 times as the ocean steamer. It has bound together with enduring ties 
 the continents of Europe and America, and made the mighty waste 
 of waters truly the highway of the nations. We have on board some 
 two hundred and seventy first-class passengers, besides the captain, 
 officers, and crew. There is a large cargo, no doubt, in the hold. 
 Besides this, each man will have two or three packages, each 
 woman three or four at least. Let us say a thousand boxes or 
 packages. 
 
 We sit down to breakfast at 8-30. We have luncheon ; we dine at 
 six. There is a congregating at night about nine for further refresh- 
 ment of some sort. Fish, flesh, fowl, vegetables, fruits, drinks — we 
 shall consume a small Smithfield or Covent Garden Market on the 
 voyage. Then there are the vast furnaces deep down in the ship, with 
 the incessant consumption of coal, and the ponderous but exquisitely- 
 
A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 constructed machinery for pushing us over the three thousand miles of 
 ocean. This is surely something we may reasonably consider as a 
 conquest over difficulties, and an evidence at all events of material 
 advancement. But with this, I think, has come advancement in other 
 directions. The world of man has been brought nearer together ; 
 distinctions have been softened ; the Christian idea of the strong help- 
 ing the weak, the spirit of human sympathy, which received such 
 an impetus in consequence of the Puritan emigration to the Western 
 continent, has been carried round the earth, and steam and electricity 
 are helping greatly to bring about 
 
 " The parliament of peoples, 
 The federation of the world." 
 
 Well, we parted from our friends truly with an undercurrent of sad- 
 ness, but with pleasant mirth upon our lips. With a hearty cheer the 
 tender slipped behind, and we were actually making for the Western 
 World. 
 
 Along the Mersey, on whose banks, fringed with rich foliage, is the 
 familiar shore or sand of New Brighton, quite gay with a crowd of 
 holiday-makers ; then we pass the old Formby light-ship ; now we 
 are running at full speed along the Welsh coast (quite near our neigh- 
 bour ship still), the mountains looking their best this glorious, sunny, 
 breezy afternoon. And what a range for grand solid mass and sweep- 
 ing outline is the Snowdon group. There is Carnedd Lewellyn and 
 Carnedd Dafydd, up whose ancient summits our children were climbing 
 the other day, and there the long and yellow sands of Penmaenmawr 
 and Llanfairfechan and Aber, and the sweetly quiet old Beaumaris, 
 with new Llandudno, queen of the Welsh sea resorts. There, too, is 
 Puffin Island, whilst nearer stand out the sullen rocks of Anglesey. It 
 is a day of uncommon beauty. The sky towards the west is pure clear 
 blue, with a vast over-arching curtain of light clouds above. The 
 mountain sides and the green valleys shine in the sunlight. Over all 
 blows the delicious south-west wind. 
 
 Day at last dies away, and with the dusk come out the everlasting 
 stars and a pale moon. As darkness overspreads us the ship's track 
 is visible by the white foam and flashes of phosphorescence seen in 
 our wake, which are very beautiful to look upon. And then from the 
 
LIVERPOOL TO QUEENSTOWN. 
 
 heavenly constellations our eyes descend, and those careful watch-lights, 
 like friendly stars, flash frequently in sight. How much of forethought 
 there is on every jutting headland and on many dangerous reefs round 
 these sea-dashed islands ! Every night a thousand lights flash around 
 our coast to warn from danger, and to guide the path of the departing 
 or returning mariner. How little we know or think, who live our lives 
 in great cities, what a world of experience has been crystallised into 
 life-saving appliances like the South Stack and Eddystone lighthouses ! 
 It was with such thoughts as these that I went down into my com- 
 fortable cabin to rest and refreshing sleep. The south-west wind 
 brought on its wings rain clouds that cooled the night air, and in the 
 morning (Sunday), when I awoke about seven, we were running 
 through unusually heavy rain. 
 
 At eight the clouds had broken, the sky dappled blue and white, 
 a fresh breeze was blowing, and we sailed into the magnificent 
 harbour of Oueenstown, where the mightiest navy in the world might 
 safely ride at anchor. The long line of sweeping hills, many crowned 
 with dense wood, and all dotted with white-looking houses, make a 
 beautiful picture — Oueenstown crowning the picture like Constan- 
 tinople in the centre of the Golden Horn. 
 
 The air is laden with sweet odours from the land. The bay is 
 peopled with many ships and small craft at anchor or gliding across 
 its almost unruffled surface. Seagulls in thousands float and fly and 
 flutter around. Small boats laden with fresh vegetables and fruits 
 come near. The sun shines, and every man, woman, and child on 
 board the ship is delighted and happy. The passengers' letters 
 arrive — they are from New York — what a rush of those who are going 
 home ! Many anxieties are hushed and some brought to light by 
 this arrival. I see in some eyes tears of gratitude, and in others 
 sadness at news of sudden care and trouble. 
 
 ^ 
 
A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 II. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 BOUT three o'clock in the afternoon, our tender came along- 
 side, bringing the English mail and more passengers, as well as 
 those who had gone ashore for the morning. What a mass of correspon- 
 dence there is in those bags — quite a deckfull of huge bags of letters ! 
 These are the threads, which carried by the steam shuttle of an ocean 
 steamer, are perpetually weaving between the two English-speaking 
 countries, bonds that can never be broken. The last packages at length 
 are brought on board, the great anchor is lifted up, and we move out of 
 the harbour towards the Atlantic, our tender going in company a short 
 way, and then we are alone. The last light, Fastnet, fades in the dim dis- 
 tance as the moon rises and the stars appear in a clear, cold, grey sky : 
 the wind is freshening, and the white rolling waves are gathering force, 
 as if for a trial of strength with our floating home. As we had passed 
 away from the shelving coast of Old Ireland, green and fresh with the 
 spray of the unresting Atlantic wave, shoals of porpoises disported 
 themselves alongside, and actually crossed the path of the ship. Later 
 in the evening we were all delighted by the sight of a true lunar rainbow 
 which spanned the heavens. With night came rough winds and the 
 discomfort of the sea. The next morning there were many sickly faces 
 and not a large gathering at breakfast ; for the sea was sullen and the 
 sky without sun. As the day advanced, it might be truly said of the 
 merriest man of the previous night, " he had a subdued air." Such is 
 the effect of a troubled sea. 
 
 Monday we ran 258 miles ; Sunday 252. But there was little inci- 
 dent to record. All nature was somewhat leaden in colour. Tuesday 
 morning was brighter and brought evidence of improvement on all 
 sides. Sunshine, less rush and whirl of water alongside, more dispo- 
 sition to talk and be cheerful : glass rising. But no festive board for 
 more than a select and seasoned few ; the rest of our company may 
 
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 be found in quiet nooks and corners huddled under wraps on chairs 
 and such like, hugging their private griefs, each in his or her own 
 peculiar way. And so the second day out of Oueenstown passed. 
 
 Wednesday brought us lighter air, smooth seas, brilliant sky, exuberant 
 spirits. What a wonderful change ! The grand ship herself seemed 
 nerved with a new force and pushed forward with added majesty and 
 grace. Little festivities go forward on board. Games unseen before 
 are played on deck. Cards and a variety of games appear. Singing, 
 tale-telling, good humour, merry laughter of girls, and all that speaks 
 of joyous feeling pervades the numerous company. Places yesterday 
 vacant at table are now occupied at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and 
 a murmur of congratulations makes musical the saloon. And so the 
 day goes on ; the sunshine fades, the stars and moon sail into the quiet 
 heavens, and in the stillness of the sea and air, the only sound is the 
 throbbing of that great iron heart, the pulsations of which push us on 
 our watery way. 
 
 Thursday morning dawns grey and misty ; a thin film hangs over 
 the vast expanse of ocean, and our fog-horn is sounded each minute. 
 Now those who bid high for the high figures last night at the auction 
 of distances run by the ship during the twenty-fours, ending at twelve 
 noon to-day, are somewhat disheartened, and those who held by the 
 lower figures are equally elated. I must explain. On certain evenings 
 a number of figures, say 305 to 335 (that is thirty numbers), are offered 
 by auction — that figure, say 331 or 317, which represents the actual 
 run of the ship, taking the result of the auction. The thing is very 
 amusing to witness ; but as the man said who had never seen loo 
 played before, " It's very like gambling." Our run was announced to 
 have been 336 miles. 
 
 Friday morning opened brilliantly ; a soft south-west wind brought 
 a delicious coolness, needed to mitigate the sun's heat. A cloudless 
 sky overarched the vast expanse of deep blue sea. On either bow of 
 the vessel, at some distance, three ships in full sail glided along, whilst 
 far away the masts of a large receding vessel barred the horizon. My 
 sea-going friends told me that this was an unusual sight in mid-ocean, 
 and I had been surprised that we had seen so few vessels since leaving 
 Queenstown. 
 
A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 We are a varied company. Almost all the nationalities of Europe 
 are represented ; many ladies, some beautiful and accomplished and 
 young, who favour us with music and sing ; others, like too many in 
 the world, prosaic and prudish to an extent not pleasant. Of men 
 there are only two or three who may be called disagreeable, whilst 
 there are some who possess and practise all the Christian virtues ; 
 and on board ship there is great scope for such experience. My friend 
 of sea experiences again tells me that he has never, during his many 
 voyages, been in so delightful a ship's company, so that I feel I am 
 enjoying a sail of more than ordinary attractiveness. At all events 
 I can say truly that the last four days have been among the happiest 
 days of my life. With congenial human society, under sunny skies 
 upon the untroubled ocean, — 
 
 " What more felicity can fall to creature, 
 Than to enjoy delight with liberty ? : ' 
 And the deep undercurrent of feeling, the diapason to all this melo- 
 dious life, which runs homeward to those we hold most dear, is never 
 absent, as well as the lighter and hopeful thoughts of what pleasant 
 meetings of welcome are in store for us in the West. 
 
 In crossing the Atlantic in this grand ship, so abundantly provided 
 with all the conveniences and comforts — nay, even luxuries of life, one 
 cannot help looking back to the early days of our great seamen, the 
 days of Frobisher, Drake, and Raleigh, and wondering at their doings 
 in their insignificant boats. Truly they were men of heroic hearts, who 
 went forth hungering for adventure and discovery, wrestling with diffi- 
 culties and dangers such as are not easily realized by the modern mind. 
 Out of the strong will and endeavour of those earlier days have grown 
 the marvels of our own times. The epic of steel and steam has, how- 
 ever, yet to be written. 
 
 We are in the Gulf Stream, and the air is deliciously balmy ; like 
 moths, we are all brought on deck by the glitter of the sunlight, and 
 there is a general feeling throughout the company that they would like 
 it to be always afternoon. We are quite a company of Lotos eaters, 
 and feel like work no more. With evening came rain, driving us to 
 the saloon and smoke-room for our amusements, and succeeding the 
 rain came winds to help us on our way as well as to send many to 
 
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 bed. Saturday brought more rain and a heavy atmosphere, which caused 
 us all to look " sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought," and a general 
 dulness supervened. Under these circumstances most people go down 
 to write letters home, which may account for a variety of things. 
 
 The evening of Saturday, 18th September, when we had been a week 
 at sea, was beautiful. The sun went down behind a bank of cloud in 
 yellow radiance, leaving a cold, clear sky, into which presently sailed 
 the full-orbed moon, golden in colour, and large, the harvest moon of 
 England, followed shortly by Jupiter, brilliant amongst the starry 
 host. We sat on deck watching the wonders of the night until the 
 moon had reached high in the heavens, and only the midnight hour 
 and the now chilly air sent us to bed. Sunday opened fittingly after 
 a superb night ; the sky a silver grey, such as is never seen in England ; 
 the sea deep blue, the horizon sharply defined ; a delicious breeze 
 sweeping over all ; all our little colony full of cheerfulness and happy 
 faces at breakfast, and afterwards walking on the spacious deck, which 
 is one of the chief advantages a Cunard boat has over those of the 
 other lines. At 10.30 we went down to the saloon, where a Church of 
 England service was held — the captain reading prayers, an American 
 clergyman preaching, a few ladies and gentlemen acting as choir, with 
 a piano accompaniment. It is a beautiful and touching sight to 
 witness out here in the North Atlantic Ocean a household, for we may 
 call ourselves one, gathering together and lifting up their hearts and 
 voices to the Infinite Father, and pouring forth, each in its own way, 
 some feeling of gratitude for the many enjoyments of sight and sound 
 which had followed us daily. The captain, like the father of the 
 family, was our mouthpiece, and prayed from the heart ; manliness 
 and simplicity are in him richly combined. The soul-penetrating 
 hymn, " Nearer, my God, to Thee," lifted all of us into a region at one 
 with the sea, and sunlight, and the illimitable vault of heaven. As the 
 day advanced, so grew the wonderful beauty of the sea and sky. 
 The immense vault of blue seemed lifted immeasurably higher, and 
 the circling sea took colour more intense. As evening came and 
 the sun disappeared beyond the sea, rich orange hues overspread the 
 western sky, and, as on the previous night, the golden moon sailed 
 grandly into sight, followed by many stars. 
 
8 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 These descriptions, no doubt, are very much alike day by day, but, 
 remember, our only companions are the sea and sky, and some of us are 
 seeing these majestic wonders almost for the first time. Let not those 
 who live in cities imagine they know the boundless wealth of beauty 
 and grandeur which the heavens disclose unless they have been across 
 the great deep. I never before so fully realised as during this voyage 
 the meaning of Wordsworth, when he says : — 
 
 "And I have felt 
 A presence that disturbs me with the joy 
 Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 
 Of something far more deeply interfused, 
 Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 
 And the round ocean, and the living air, 
 And the blue sky, and in the mind of man : 
 A motion and a spirit that impels 
 All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 
 And rolls through all things." 
 
 Grand as have been the days and nights through which we have 
 passed, a fresh and great delight was experienced this morning, when, 
 at six o'clock, I went on deck and saw the sun rise out of the sea, 
 filling the sky with splendour beyond speech or pen. Crimson and 
 gold and blue in the east, pale delicate colours with a fading moon in 
 the west. All that the poets have sung of the Golden Gates of day 
 was revealed in this transcendent transfiguring sunrise. The happy 
 hours flew past ; ships with their white wings spread moved along the 
 horizon ; butterflies came fluttering about the ship, a bird alighted on 
 the mast, but seeing a white-sailed vessel at no great distance flew 
 there. There is a busy movement of passengers suddenly. What is 
 happening ? The man on the look-out cries out, and the word 
 " Pilot " is in every mouth. Presently we see a small four-oared boat 
 like a speck ahead; it has put off from a lugger standing off a mile 
 or so. Now we approach the boat, the boatmen ply their oars 
 vigorously, the great engines are stopped, a rope is thrown and a rope- 
 ladder let down the ship's side. The pilot seizes the thrown rope and 
 swings himself dextrously and with skill on to the ladder and in a 
 trice is on board. The boat is cast off, the huge engines turn, we are 
 again on our way, but a new feeling pervades the vessel. We have, 
 
ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. 
 
 although four hundred miles and more away from land, grasped hands 
 with the American Continent. As evening comes on we run into fog 
 and rain. But indoors we are having "high jinks," for the young 
 people have got up an entertainment, and music, singing, and recita- 
 tions, in which our good captain joins, are carried on until a late hour. 
 
 III. ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. 
 
 OTHING could be more delightful than the fresh morning, the 
 last of our voyage, on which we approached Sandy Hook. For 
 several hours everybody was on the look-out upon deck with happy 
 faces ; towards evening, as we looked upon the wood-crowned heights of 
 New Jersey, a deep crimson overspread the sky, and the sun went down 
 in unwonted splendour. Slowly we steamed by the great forts, which 
 guard the entrance at the " narrows," to the inner bay of New York, 
 now fringed with many lights. The bay of New York is large and 
 beautiful, capable of harbouring the fleets of the world. Shortly after 
 six o'clock we dropped anchor, not being allowed to pass the 
 quarantine ground after sundown, as the Americans say. It was a 
 lovely scene — the glow of the setting sun had not faded before the 
 moon rose over Brooklyn, the numerous ships hung out their lights, 
 and the encircling shore sparkled like an illumination. 
 
 It is difficult to describe our feelings at a time of excitement such 
 as is experienced upon reaching port after a voyage — people are all 
 happy, and are not afraid to show it. My American friends, especially 
 the ladies, were eager to know of course how I liked their country — at 
 first sight — before I had set foot upon it, and I could answer readily 
 and with truth, that the first near look at the continent made me 
 realise vividly that I was entering a New World. 
 
 It was late that night before the company could settle down to rest, 
 and it certainly seemed hard that after crossing the Atlantic and touch- 
 ing the shore as it were, we must be kept from landing until to-morrow. 
 Such, however, is Custom House fate. It was a moving sight next 
 
10 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 morning as we neared the dock side, to see the crowd of friends look- 
 ing out for those who had been across the sea, and the respective 
 recognitions as face caught sight of face from ship to shore. Generally 
 we see more rejoicing however than sadness, for here parents meet 
 children, brothers their sisters, husbands their wives ; " there is dear 
 grandmother," says one little fellow ; "here is father," says another. 
 
 At last we say farewell to the good ship Scythia, to her excellent 
 captain, and to the friends who have been our companions during the 
 voyage ; and set foot upon the continent of America. 
 
 We are in New York, the greatest port of the United States, and one 
 of the capitals of the world — comparatively a place of yesterday, and 
 yet how vast a growth ! No place I have seen reminds me of Paris 
 so much as New York. It is a mixture of English, Dutch, and French 
 seaports, the French element predominating. Land having become 
 valuable, the buildings stretch towards heaven. We went to the top 
 of one of these high towers— the Equitable Life Offices in Broadway — 
 whence there is a bird's-eye view of New York, New Jersey, Brooklyn, 
 the Hudson and East rivers, the wooded country inland, and the bay, 
 with Staten Island and the Atlantic beyond. It is a wonderfully 
 beautiful sight. 
 
 I am not going to undertake a description of New York, but I must 
 mention a few points which to me were striking. For instance, nothing 
 in my experience can be worse than the paving of the streets of this 
 o-reat city. It is simply execrable, and renders quick movement in a 
 carriage impossible. But to some extent there is compensation in the 
 net work of trams which are everywhere. There is also the elevated 
 railway, which runs above the sidewalks ; and there are the stages, 
 as they call the shabby London omnibuses. The names over shop 
 doors are curious and new ; few old English names, many German, 
 some Dutch, and numerous Jewish. 
 
 The Post-office is an admirable institution, and I could not help feel- 
 ino- strongly how slow we are at home to take new ways, and how 
 readily an American adopts the best method. For instance, in the 
 sorting of letters and in the matter of private boxes for firms at the 
 Post-office. Here each firm or individual has a small box, the inside 
 of which he can see. In case there are letters for him he unlocks the 
 
ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. 11 
 
 box and takes them. There are many thousands of these boxes. With 
 us in " practical" Manchester we have our boxes into which are sorted 
 the letters of our firms, but a staff of clerks has to be kept to hand out 
 the letters, taking up time and space unnecessarily. 
 
 Central Park is a grand lung to New York, containing 1,500 acres, 
 laid out on the English landscape style, and is a pleasure ground for 
 rich and poor, who resort to it in thousands. Dotted over the city are 
 many squares, called parks, and on the side walks of numerous streets 
 are planted trees. 
 
 Theatres abound. We went to the opera-house, and saw our 
 country woman Ada Cavendish in a play called The Soul of an Actress, 
 which made one wonder that a woman with genius should spend her 
 strength on such poor stuff. The audience was large and such as 
 would certainly not be seen in any theatre in England, probably not 
 in any theatre in Europe. There were no " gods," but the whole 
 house was occupied by respectably-dressed, well-mannered people. 
 We were played out as one is after service at church by the orchestra, 
 a novel and pleasing feature. I afterwards looked in for an hour at a 
 music saloon — large, well filled, elegantly decorated, lighted with the 
 electric light, first-class music well given, and perfectly respectable. 
 Afterwards we had an oyster supper at a crowded place in Broadway ; 
 the same good conduct and respectable people everywhere. Such 
 places in our own country would all have in them a leaven of loud 
 vulgarity and snobbishness to say the least. Here at all events demo- 
 cracy vindicates itself. There is, I admit, at least visible, less of what 
 we should call high culture, but, on the other hand, there is a vastly 
 greater number of instructed and happy people. Such were my feel- 
 ings on this night, and subsequent similar experiences have confirmed 
 my early impressions. In the streets, in the horse-cars, in the railways, 
 at the theatres, at church, in all places where people meet together, 
 there is a more serious air than is found in similar gatherings at home. 
 I have just returned from a visit to Coney Island, Manhattan Beach ; 
 a new seaside watering place, about an hour distant by ferry and rail 
 from New York. It is a series of stupendous hotels upon the seashore, 
 beginning at one end with a select sort of Fifth Avenue style of place 
 and graded down to most popular requirements. You may walk several 
 
12 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 miles along the beach, and a very large portion of the sea terrace is 
 laid down in grassy turf, richly ornamented with beds of flowers. To 
 Manchester people, Belle Vue will give some idea of what preparations 
 are necessary for feeding a large crowd, but Belle Vue never had two 
 hundred thousand visitors in one day as was the case here, 4th July, 
 1S80. Forty thousand people could not get back, and had to remain 
 out encamped as well as they could for the whole summer night. All 
 manner of amusements are provided, and there are extraordinary 
 facilities for feeding these summer crowds. But the grand charm of 
 the place, beyond the fine music morning and afternoon, is the long 
 line of shore, upon which the rollers of the Atlantic beat and break. 
 
 IV. NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 LEFT New York one afternoon at five o'clock for Providence, 
 Rhode Island, in a steamer which I believe surpasses all of its 
 kind. There are only two others on American waters comparable to the 
 Massachusetts; one being her sister boat, the other one of the Hudson 
 river boats to Albany. Her engines are of 2,800-horse power. There is 
 accommodation on board for 500 people ; to-night we are taking over 
 300. Each stateroom, as it is called, is conveniently furnished, pro- 
 vided with a comfortable bed or beds, and is lighted with gas. The 
 dining-room and saloons are spacious, richly decorated and appointed, 
 and lighted with the electric light. It is the most luxurious travelling 
 in the world. I dined at the captain's table ; the bill of fare was 
 choice but not elaborate, there were only fourteen kinds of vegetable, 
 and the wine the best I drank in the States. These boats are much 
 used. I was introduced to one gentleman who had been going 
 between Providence and New York weekly for years, and he had not 
 once slept in New York, but after finishing his business in the after- 
 noon dined and slept on board the boat, awaking fresh for his work in 
 good time the next morning. 
 
 It was a lovely evening as we glided from our moorings in the 
 
NEW ENGLAND. 13 
 
 Hudson River and threaded our way amidst the multitude of craft of 
 every kind which crowd the waters of New York, and as we made our 
 way along the East river and under the stupendous suspension bridge 
 in construction which is to connect Brooklyn and New York, the setting 
 sun lighted up the former city with unwonted splendour and threw 
 New York into shadow and clear outline against the sky. No view of 
 New York is more picturesque than this from East river by evening 
 light. The ridge along the centre of the city upon which Broadway 
 runs is crowned with lofty structures — spires, towers, warehouses, 
 churches, and massive shapes in broken line — while the lower tiers of 
 buildings in deeper shadow decline to the water's edge and mingle 
 with the multitude of masts which stand out boldly in the foreground. 
 It is a subject worthy of a great artist. By-and-by we are steaming 
 past Blackwell's Island, upon which are situated the penal and cor- 
 rectional institutions of New York, as well as those for lunatics and 
 paupers. For these are all needed, alas, even in the New World. 
 Before dusk we are feeling our way carefully through Hell Gate, a 
 narrow and dangerous shoal, the passage to the sound, where the 
 United States Government have expended large sums, and are still at 
 work, in blasting the hidden rocks to clear a passage and make the 
 way safer. As evening falls the lights to mark our way appear, and by 
 seven o'clock or so we are in the open waters of Long Island Sound. 
 As on many nights past, when I retired to rest the full-orbed moon 
 had sailed high into the dark blue heavens, encircled by a multitude 
 of stars. The gentle motion of our boat rocked me, as in a cradle, to 
 a refreshing sleep, from which I was awakened only by the stopping 
 of our engine, as we touched the quay side of Providence, Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 . When I opened my cabin window, a rich orange glow in the eastern 
 sky preluded the rising sun, forming a wonderful background to the 
 picturesque outline of the city, built along a ridge and sloping to the 
 bay. My friend living some twelve or fifteen miles away, we went, at 
 6-45, to the railway station (depot they call it), where we got a comfort- 
 able breakfast. This is a feature not known to us. Early rising is 
 common all over the States, as far as I went. The older portion of 
 Providence is east of the bay, and here is the old State House, con- 
 
14 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 taining a good library and many portraits of governors of the State ; 
 also the original charter, granted in the seventeenth century. There 
 are many fine residences on this side, a church with a beautiful tall 
 tower and spire of wood, and what was in older days the main street. 
 Now, however, the leading street is on the western side, on which the 
 city has grown and is growing. Westminster is a most picturesque 
 street, reminding me of the High Street in Oxford. On the west side 
 also stands the City Hall, a handsome building near the railway 
 station, and the Butler Exchange, a modern fine example of enterprise 
 and taste in commercial building. After our drive round the town, 
 accompanied by my American friend, I took train to the Athens of 
 America. 
 
 Boston, to Englishmen, is probably the most interesting American 
 city. Partly, no doubt, because of its associations historically and for 
 its own beauty, but mainly because of the intellectual culture of its 
 citizens, which has placed it in the van of civilization in the United 
 States. One of the most beautiful general views of Boston is from the 
 north-west side, on the way to Cambridge. The town clusters together 
 upon three hills, but seen from a distance there appear to be terraces 
 of building rising from the water to the crown of what seems one ridge, 
 which is broken by church spires, by chimneys, by towers, by the shaft 
 on Bunker Hill, and nearer the centre by the great gilt dome of the 
 State House, which stands out like a vast gold crown. From South 
 Boston, the reverse of this view is seen, with a finer foreground of 
 water and shipping. Unlike other cities of the States, the streets run 
 irregularly, as in English towns, except the long lines which stretch 
 out into the suburbs. Much of the old town in the business quarters 
 was burnt down in 1874, and has been rebuilt in a style unsurpassed by 
 any city in the world. We have some elegant warehouses in Man- 
 chester, and there are not a few in various cities in the provinces 
 which are admirable, as well as in London ; but I have no hesitation 
 in saying that the magnificent white and variegated marble and granite 
 palaces erected in Boston for business and State purposes are grander 
 than any we have in Great Britain, and rival those of the most illus- 
 trious cities of Italy. 
 
 The marble structures of Boston are simply wonderful. I was taken 
 
NEW ENGLAND. 15 
 
 on to the towers of one of these lofty buildings, the Mutual Insurance 
 Offices I think, and saw the city like a map at our feet, the Charles 
 river, the Common, and the Park, the distant hills, the harbour and 
 bay, and the glistening far-off sea. My Boston friends may well be 
 proud of their city. Boston Common is a grand open of about fifty 
 acres in this bustling centre. And I think it never lcoked finer than 
 when I saw those majestic elms and oaks, which are the glory of the 
 place, transfigured by radiant autumnal colour. In the streets, too, 
 are glorious old trees. From the window of the hotel, as I dined or 
 made notes on the passing stream of human life, I looked upon 
 a grand old tree in the space before one of the public offices. It 
 may possibly interest some of my friends to learn what an American 
 hotel is like. When you arrive, you walk up to the counter of the 
 office in the hall and enter your name and address. You have 
 a room allotted to you, your baggage is taken up by a lift, you 
 are taken up by another. Lifts are almost in universal use. You 
 are charged so many dollars a day, say from two and a half dollars 
 to five dollars, according to the style of room. This includes all 
 your eating. There is very little drinking in any hotel I was in during 
 my visit. I was never asked by a waiter, during my stay, what I would 
 take to drink, nor shown a wine list unless I asked for one. This is 
 common sense. Can any traveller for a month in England say this ? 
 
 Breakfast is generally served from seven to nine ; railway breakfasts 
 earlier. Lunch, one to three ; dinner, five to seven ; supper, nine to 
 eleven o'clock. As a waiter said to me in New York, " You may begin 
 to eat here, sir, at five o'clock in a morning, and go on until midnight !" 
 In the hall there is usually a cigar and tobacco stall, a newspaper boy, 
 ticket offices for theatres and railways, and a reading and writing room. 
 In the larger hotels the dining-rooms are upstairs. In the basement 
 you find barbers, shoeblacks, and various conveniences. You pay ten 
 cents each morning for having your shoes " shined." There are no 
 tips. Englishmen, however, do tip ; ancient habits are hard to over- 
 come. There is so much to be said on the subject of hotel feeding in 
 the States that I will leave it for fuller treatment in a subsequent letter. 
 
 The number of people who are housed in these hotels is very large, 
 varying in the first-class houses from 200 or 300 to 800 or 1,000. In the 
 
16 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 season at Saratoga 1,500 and 1,800 can be put up at each of the largest 
 houses. The principal hotel at Richmond, Virginia, can take in 800. 
 I suppose the Parker House, at which I stayed at Boston, could accom- 
 modate several hundred people ; it is usually full, and is said to be a 
 prosperous concern. 
 
 No building in Boston excites more interest in admirers of America 
 than Faneuil Hall, " the cradle of liberty," which stands in the centre 
 of the business quarter of the city, a plain, solid, almost square block. 
 Here the citizens met in the early days of the struggle for independence, 
 and here, in later and equally stirring times, the cause of the slave has 
 been eloquently pleaded. It was for a speech in Faneuil Hall against 
 kidnapping, that Theodore Parker was tried at Boston in 1855. And 
 twenty years before, the walls of Faneuil Hall had echoed to a famous 
 orator of Boston on behalf of slavery and slaveholders, the Hon. Peleg 
 Sprague, who proclaimed a new gospel, " Slaves, obey your masters ! " 
 At that very time the State of Georgia was offering 5,000 dollars for 
 the head of William Lloyd Garrison ! It seems incredible that so great 
 a change can have been worked out in so short a time as twenty-five 
 years. Thank God ! the bondsman has been made free, and the reign 
 of cruelty is at an end. With John Bright, " I believe there was no 
 mode short of a miracle more stupendous than any recorded in Holy 
 Writ that could in our time have brought about the abolition of slavery 
 in America, but the suicide which the South committed and the war 
 which it began." 
 
 V. NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 NE of the most delightful incidents of my too brief stay in New 
 England was a visit to Longfellow, who lives on the way to Mount 
 Auburn, a short distance beyond Cambridge. It was a lovely morning ; 
 the magnificent forest trees around Harvard University and along the 
 road were rich in many-coloured foliage, the glory of New England 
 during the Indian summer. The poet's house stands in its own grounds, 
 
NEW ENGLAND. 17 
 
 a little way from the road, and is embosomed in trees, with a pleasant 
 lawn-like greenery before it. As he has written : — 
 " Somewhat back from the village street, 
 
 Stands the old-fashioned country seat ; 
 
 Across its antique portico 
 
 Tall poplar trees their shadows throw." 
 
 It was the head-quarters of General Washington during the siege of 
 
 Boston. A view of distant hills is seen from the grounds, looking 
 
 south. At the garden gate we were met by Mr. Longfellow, who led 
 
 us back to the house and into his library. I noticed a fine portrait of 
 
 Emerson when young, as well as one of the Poet himself of similar 
 
 date ; also a statuette of Goethe. The room was just what one might 
 
 have pictured — not large, but cosy and well filled with books, with a 
 
 comfortable, plain writing table, and the arm-chair made from the 
 
 wood of the village blacksmith's chestnut tree, presented to Longfellow 
 
 on his seventy-second birthday, 27th February, 1879, by the children 
 
 of Cambridge. There, too, was the old clock on the stairs, of which he 
 
 has sung : — 
 
 " Half-way up the stairs it stands, 
 
 And points and beckons with its hands, 
 
 From its case of massive oak. 
 
 And from its station in the hall, 
 
 The ancient timepiece says to all, 
 
 For ever — never ! Never — for ever ! " 
 
 One of our party, an American, read aloud the poem " Jugurtha," from 
 
 the volume Ultima T/ucle, then just published in Boston, copies of 
 
 which were on the table. 
 
 I told the poet how much I felt myself indebted to him for many, 
 
 many happy hours ; how his writings had often comforted me in 
 
 sorrow and amidst the worry and distraction of daily work ; and that 
 
 in my home, as I believed in tens of thousands of homes in the Old 
 
 Country, was realized his wish when he wrote — 
 
 ' ' Therefore I hope, as no unwelcome guest 
 
 At your warm fireside, when the lamps are lighted, 
 
 To have my place reserved among the rest, 
 
 Nor stand as one unsought and uninvited." 
 
 I had long looked forward to a visit to Concord and to Cambridge, 
 
 2 
 
18 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 and I felt when the Poet took my hand to bid me farewell, that my 
 voyage across the Atlantic had not been in vain — 
 
 " For they shall be accounted Poet-Kings 
 Who simply tell us most heart-easing things ! " 
 
 I left Boston with deep regret. There were so many friends unseen, 
 so much of interest, of instruction, and of pleasure .had to be post- 
 poned until my next visit. Here, as I found afterwards everywhere, 
 my American friends were all kindness and hospitality — with a love 
 for the Old Country like our own. 
 
 I spent my first Sunday in the States at a charming quiet seaside 
 place called Warren-neck, to which I was driven about a dozen miles 
 from a considerable group of manufacturing villages, in the Pawtucket 
 Valley. At Harrisville, where my friend lives, I had opportunity for 
 observing how much more comfortably placed are those engaged in the 
 cotton manufacture than those so occupied at home, especially in our 
 large towns. There each man has a detached dwelling, with a small 
 plot of ground. Many of the houses are the property of the occupiers. 
 The hours of labour are longer than with us, but the workers are by no 
 means less intelligent, and are strong and healthy, for they live in a 
 purer air and in a more tranquil moral atmosphere. The schoolhouse 
 has not been planted for generations in New England in vain. 
 
 Warren-neck is a strip of rocky coast stretching from the mainland 
 into an arm of Long Island Sound, and in the season is a place of 
 daily resort for many thousands from Providence, and other towns, 
 who have a shore dinner of clam chowder, for the cooking of which 
 great preparations are made. It is a kind of mixture like mussels 
 and cockles stewed with vegetables, and is capital eating. The use 
 of the telephone is much more general on the other side than with us. 
 At dinner we drank the health of a young lady friend who lived some 
 twenty miles away, and whilst our hostess remained at the instrument 
 a minute or two an answer came thanking us for our remembrance 
 of her. So, on my arrival in Providence, a day or two before, I had 
 been welcomed by my friend's wife, who was at breakfast, fourteen 
 miles away. 
 
 On Monday the steamer from Providence to Newport touched at 
 Warren-neck, taking us on board. An hour's sail landed us at the 
 
NEW ENGLAND. 19 
 
 most celebrated seaside resort in the States. Newport is without 
 doubt a charming place. The walk along the rocks overlooking 
 the sea, with fine villa residences near, and a grand greensward, 
 such as we have in England, reaching a few miles, makes a most 
 loveable spot, where one could readily forget much of this world's 
 worries and cares, but for the excessive display which disports itself. 
 The same enterprise which has worked wonders in steamboats and 
 railways across the continent has made the barren rocky side of 
 Newport one of the most delightful walks in the world. But to be 
 a Newporter properly one must have, I should say, not less than 
 ;£ 10,000 a year. The town of Newport is old. There is a newspaper 
 here, which was established by Benjamin Franklin. The main street, 
 and much of the rocky character of the place, reminded me of 
 Ilfracombe, North Devon. 
 
 In the evening we returned to Warren-neck, and then drove across 
 country to my friend's house at Harrisville, about twelve miles inland. 
 On various parts of the drive we passed coloured squatters' little 
 places, as well as large farms, well cultivated. Passed numerous 
 orchards, too, where the trees were literally crushed down beneath 
 the weight of ripened fruit. It is a great apple year. A lady friend 
 told me that apples had been selling at the orchards at three cents 
 a bushel. Two generations ago the Red Indian was here, but the 
 white man has pushed him back westward, and is fast civilising him 
 with spirits and other things off the face of the earth. 
 
 I took the cars (as they call a train) one morning at Providence, 
 and set off on my own account. Hitherto I had been taken in hand 
 by my excellent friend Governor Howard, of Providence, R.I., whom 
 I was to rejoin in a day or two. A couple of hours brought me to 
 Worcester, a genuine Puritan old city, peopled by some of the old 
 Plymouth Rock stock. Never have I seen more magnificent trees 
 than those on each side of the principal street. They reminded 
 me of the trees at Oxford on the Broad Walk. The place was all 
 alive, like market-day in one qf our Midland Counties market towns, 
 and had a solid, substantial, respectable air. But the foliage which 
 pervades the city gives it a character of its own, and is more 
 suggestive of Germany and France than our own country. The 
 
20 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 people are, however, more English-looking than any I have seen. 
 The streets are wide, with fine shops and warehouses. Here, as 
 elsewhere, is a soldiers' monument, and recalls the memory of those 
 whose deeds their fellow-citizens would not willingly let die. 
 
 After the manner of Americans who " do " England in about three 
 days, I was obliged to push on, reaching the fine railway depot just 
 in time for one of the fast Boston to Albany and New York trains. 
 Fruit is plentiful at the railway station, and I lay in a stock of 
 apples, pears, grapes, and peaches for fifty cents. This is a populous 
 district, and the cars are well filled with intelligent, well-dressed, 
 comfortable, but apparently serious people. Six or seven long 
 American cars, through which you can walk, make our train, the seats 
 arranged for two run down each side the car, with a central aisle. 
 Nearly all are filled. We run through undulating, well-wooded 
 country, glowing with warm colour. The most brilliant crimsons 
 and scarlets and every conceivable shade of yellow and brown and 
 green are painted on the thick woods, and with a foreground of dark 
 soil or verdant meadow, make a picture no man has dared to paint 
 and none have ventured fully to describe. This is the land of colour 
 at this autumn season. I saw a lady with the bough of a tree as large 
 as she could carry — every leaf bright yellow, but tinted round the 
 edges brilliant carmine. It was a mass of beauty, and drew attention 
 even in that locality. I begged a few leaves as a memento : they are 
 still beautiful, although, like pearly shells we gather on the shore, they 
 suffer from absence of sunlight. 
 
 " Springfield !" calls the conductor. They call out after leaving each 
 station what the next will be, so as to give travellers time to prepare 
 for leaving. Another busy, thriving city, with main street, by name 
 and in reality, running north and south. Here is the United States 
 arsenal and gun factory, where large quantities of warlike material can 
 be produced. Before the slaveholders' revolt, and during the last 
 months of the Buchanan administration, immense loads of arms and 
 ammunition were moved away from Springfield to Southern cities, to 
 the astonishment and consternation of its peaceful, Union-loving 
 citizens. There are also large watch manufactories here. Trees give 
 picturesqueness to the streets as well as shade from the hot sun of 
 
NEW ENGLAND. 21 
 
 summer. Within the distance of an hour's drive I had a view from 
 high land overlooking the Connecticut valley, and a more magnificent 
 prospect I had not seen in the country. Far away as the eye could 
 trace flowed the river in each direction, north and south, and when the 
 faint shimmer of the water was no more seen, the distant forest- clad 
 mountains seemed to rest against the soft grey sky of evening. 
 
 It was to a visit to Springfield that I had for many years looked 
 forward, for here had lived my friend Samuel Bowles, well known all 
 over the States, and loved wherever known. In the great battle of life 
 he had fought hard and nobly in support of those principles of justice 
 and freedom, without which the United States would have become 
 like a rope of sand. The strain laid upon that refined and highly-strung 
 organization was too severe, and he passed away, alas ! too soon. I 
 had felt that America could not be quite the same to me without my 
 friend. And it was with a heart tremulous with emotion that I entered 
 the place which knew him no more. There I found those my friend had 
 left behind, and around whom, for his sake, my affections had long grown ; 
 with whom, after many greetings and much unconcealed sadness, I spent 
 some happy hours, the memory of which will never pass away. 
 
 The time here was, alas ! too short, and as night approached 
 I was once more on the convenient iron way, which has so quickly 
 brought all the world nearer together, and after four hours reached 
 delightful New Haven, called for the best of reasons, the Elm City. 
 Even Worcester, which I left this morning, so rich in trees, cannot vie 
 with the magnificent avenues of ancient elms which encircle the college 
 buildings of Yale, and lift their spreading arms across the city green. 
 Then, outside this charming city, which looks upon the sea, are 
 far stretching woods inland, through which we drive, and beyond 
 these rise grand bluffs, called East and West Rocks, which made my 
 heart leap as I saw them first from the railway carriage, reminding 
 me of the banks of our own Wye in Monmouthshire. Ah ! I shall 
 always treasure the memory of my drive under the elms of New Haven 
 and through her brilliant woods, and under the shadow of her rough 
 bold rocks. It was a happy termination to my brief visit to New 
 England, the home of merry, loving, tender, affectionate, and culti- 
 vated men and women, whom I am proud to call my friends. 
 
22 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 VI. PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 MONG the many novel and interesting sights in New York few 
 took my fancy more'than the grand ferries, which ply con- 
 tinually between Brooklyn and New York, and between New York and 
 Jersey City. Over the Hudson river in this last-named ferry I started 
 one fine morning on the way to Washington. The ferry is an immense 
 floating pier, upon which passengers, carriages and horses, carts, drays, 
 and in some cases complete trains of railway carriages, are taken 
 bodily across the broad rivers. New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and 
 Newark, being all within the distance of a few miles, there is always 
 sufficient movement of population and its requirements on the rivers 
 which girdle New York, to find constant work for these unique, 
 leviathan craft. 
 
 The Pennsylvania railroad service is one of the finest in the United 
 States, and after leaving Jersey City we were carried along at a pace 
 of forty miles an hour for considerable time, over country almost as flat 
 as Lincolnshire. As we approach Philadelphia, the aspect of the country 
 is more varied, and becomes picturesque. The Quaker City is built on 
 the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers, a few miles above their confluence, 
 and about one hundred miles from the sea. The shipping on these 
 rivers, anchored at the city wharves, especially on the Delaware, tell 
 their own story of the commercial importance of Philadelphia. It is 
 the chief outlet for the products of the state of Pennsylvania, rich in 
 coal and iron. Marble too is here in abundance, one of the noted 
 features of the city being the profusion of white marble used in build- 
 ing. Every house in the principal streets has a flight of marble steps. 
 The beautiful mansion of Mr. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger (like 
 that of A. T. Stewart in New York), is built of pure white marble. 
 The Girard College, perhaps the finest building in the country, is a 
 magnificent Greek Temple in white marble. 
 
 Philadelphia had a great attraction for me, but whether it was the 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 23 
 
 genial hospitality of the people or the air of comfort, indeed refine- 
 ment, pervading the place that most charmed, I am not able to deter- 
 mine. The streets are somewhat narrower than in New York, but 
 they are handsome, well-paved, and peopled with ' a well-dressed, 
 unhasting crowd. It is also pleasant to find the streets named other- 
 wise than numerically in an American city — 
 
 "Arch and market, chestnut, vine, 
 Walnut, Girard, spruce, and pine." 
 Some such couplet was given me to indicate the leading streets. 
 Along the main thoroughfares run horse tram-cars, and excellent 
 carriages are on hire at call. The hotels here are most desirable 
 resting-places. 
 
 The centre of interest in Philadelphia was Independence Hall, a 
 plain, brick building, with a picturesque tower surmounted by a belfry, 
 in which formerly was hung the great city bell, having on it this 
 inscription, " Liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants 
 thereof." The Declaration of Independence was issued here on the 
 4th July, 1776, and here, too, during the early years of its institution, 
 the United States Congress assembled. Various relics of those past 
 days are shown. The quiet quadrangle upon which this building 
 looks is made beautiful by spreading trees and shady walks. 
 
 Besides the various squares, which act as breathing spaces, Phila- 
 delphia possesses the most magnificent public park probably in the 
 world. Stretching along both banks of the Schuylkill river — in itself 
 a source of delight to the eye, — the Fairmount Park embraces in its 
 area of four thousand acres almost every variety of natural beauty, 
 and contributes pleasure to thousands of people daily all the year 
 round. Another sylvan opening is the park-like enclosure which 
 surrounds that grand institution, Girard College, the extent and - 
 magnificence of which may perhaps be suggested by the statement 
 that the structure alone cost more than the sum left by Girard for the 
 purpose, viz., two millions of dollars. The foundation stone was laid 
 in July, 1833, and the main building was completed and transferred to 
 the directors 13th November, 1847. The institution is sustained 
 principally from the rental of real estate left by the founder, Stephen 
 Girard. Two hundred orphans were admitted the first year, the 
 
24 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 second year another hundred were taken in, and at the present time 
 about six hundred " poor white male orphans " find a home, and are 
 "maintained and educated" there. " No uniform or distinctive dress 
 is permitted to be worn." The boys may at stated times visit and be 
 visited by their friends. When the time arrives many are indentured 
 by the College to learn some trade or occupation. Professors, male 
 and female teachers, doctors, a dentist, and a steward have charge of 
 their respective departments, as well as a matron, prefects, and 
 governesses for the household, the whole government of the College 
 being vested in the president, who is the chief executive officer of 
 the institution, and is responsible for its proper administration. 
 Strangers, with a permit, are admitted any day between nine a.m. 
 and sunset. The special feature in Girard's will is contained in 
 the following clause : " I enjoin and require that no ecclesiastic, 
 missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever, shall ever hold or 
 exercise any station or duty whatever in the said College ; nor shall 
 any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor, 
 within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said College. 
 In making this restriction, I do not mean to cast any reflection upon 
 any sect or person whatsoever ; but as there is such a multitude of 
 sects, and such a diversity of opinion amongst them, I desire to keep 
 the tender minds of the orphans, who are to derive advantage from 
 this bequest, free from the excitement which clashing doctrines and 
 sectarian controversy are so apt to produce ; my desire is, that all the 
 instructors and teachers in the College shall take pains to instil into 
 the minds of the scholars the purest principles of morality, so that on 
 their entrance into active life they may, from inclination and habit, 
 evince benevolence towards their fellow-creatures, and a love of truth, 
 sobriety, and industry, adopting at the same time such religious tenets 
 as their matured reason may enable ttiem to prefer." 
 
 Stephen Girard was a native of Bordeaux, where he was born in 
 1750. He was a seafaring man, and afterwards a merchant and 
 banker, and was entirely what is called "self-made." He died in 
 1831 at Philadelphia, of which place he had been a citizen about fifty 
 years. He left at his death property valued at about seven and a 
 half millions of dollars, the bulk of which he devised for public and 
 
WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND. 25 
 
 benevolent purposes. I have dwelt upon Stephen Girard and the 
 college he founded at considerable length, because of the impression 
 made upon me by the man and his work, which is so prominently 
 before the world in his adopted city. He was evidently a man of 
 uncommon energy — that he had read history with care is clear from 
 the peculiar conditions of his great bequest— and he had strong 
 convictions and lofty purposes, along with a force of will capable of 
 carrying them into effect, notwithstanding the prejudices by which he 
 was surrounded. How many poor children in Manchester would the 
 Hulme bequest have educated, had it been administered under such 
 conditions as those of Girard's ? 
 
 In July 1793, and in 1797 and '98 yellow fever visited Philadelphia 
 and swept thousands into the grave. On the first visitation, in three 
 months more than four thousand people perished out of a population 
 of under 25,000. In this time of terror and confusion Girard volun- 
 teered his services to superintend the fever hospital, and by his 
 self-devotion worked wonders in staying the pestilence and in devising 
 preventive measures. The Apostle James tells us that " pure religion 
 and undented before God and the Father is this — to visit the fatherless 
 and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
 world." 
 
 VII. WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND. 
 
 EAVING Philadelphia as evening approached, I saw little in the 
 country we were carried through to excite attention, except at 
 Havre de Grace, where the wide, tumultuous, rock-bound Susquehanna 
 river falls into Chesapeake Bay, along which, with frequent glimpses 
 seaward, we travel towards Baltimore. 
 
 Baltimore is a large busy city, with considerable manufactures, and 
 a magnificent harbour, peopled with a crowd of shipping. Coal in 
 vast quantities is sent down to this port for shipment. The absence 
 of trees in the streets is striking, and the general appearance of this 
 city is plainer than those I have recently visited. We went to the 
 
26 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 theatre— Ford's Grand Opera House — and saw a musical absurdity, 
 which pleased the audience. There was some special local gathering, 
 and the large hotel at which we stayed was full, which gave me an 
 opportunity of judging from large numbers indoors, as well as from my 
 observations in the theatre and in the streets, and the impression I 
 received was that the people were what I may describe as a "louder" 
 toned type than any I had before seen in the States. There was also 
 a somewhat excited state of public feeling, consequent on preparations 
 for the celebration of the 150th year of the foundation of the city. The 
 " sesquicentennial" was to occupy about ten days, when holiday 
 demonstrations of every conceivable kind would be made. It was 
 here that I made acquaintance with mosquito curtains, and had 
 shutters to my bedroom windows to keep out the sunlight, I suppose, 
 and I began to have a feeling that I was getting South. I could not 
 forget that here, in the first days of the rebellion, a Massachusetts 
 regiment, in passing through, was fired upon and mobbed. 
 
 There was not a cloud in the sky as we passed out of the suburbs of 
 Baltimore into the open country. The train was well filled, and I soon 
 found myself engaged in conversation with a well-known ex-Con- 
 federate General. He frankly accepted the results of the Civil War to 
 have been the destruction of slavery and the consolidation of the 
 Union, and that secession had brought nothing but misfortune and 
 ruin to all engaged. He spoke as one who believed that the people in 
 the South were so convinced, and I asked him whether there were any 
 Southern cities in which a statue to Abraham Lincoln had been 
 erected, as I had scarcely been in any city since my arrival in which 
 there was not one. "Yes," he said, " in New Orleans, I believe." " I 
 hope," said I, " the time will come when many others will follow the 
 example of the Crescent City." I was thus engaged when my friend 
 drew me to the window of the carriage and I saw, afar off, but beauti- 
 fully distinct in the morning light, the white marble dome of the 
 Capitol at Washington. It was a moment of supreme pleasure, such 
 as the Catholic pilgrim may feel as he first comes in sight of St. Peter's 
 at Rome, or the Alpine climber who sees Mont Blanc from Geneva. 
 
 The entrance into Washington by the Baltimore and Ohio railway 
 is disappointing. Small, mean houses and other buildings surround 
 

 WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND. 27 
 
 you, and on one side almost invade the precincts of the Capitol, which 
 rises grandly above all other objects. I have never seen magnificence 
 and meanness so inappropriately near. No doubt, as time goes on, all 
 this will be changed, and the land now owned by individuals will be 
 purchased by the State, or private enterprise will exert itself, so that 
 fitting adjuncts may entirely surround this grandest legislative palace. 
 The scale on which the city has been laid out will require fifty years 
 for its harmonious development, and it takes a day or so for your eye 
 to become reconciled to the anomalies. But standing on the marble 
 terrace in front of the Capitol, which stands on the highest ground in 
 the city, you look on all sides upon broad avenues and " magnificent 
 distances." Right in front, about a mile distant, is the Treasury, like 
 a Greek temple. Beyond it are the other public offices, a vast pile of 
 marble ; and beyond these again crowds of forest trees, painted with 
 autumn tints, half hide the White House, the official residence of the 
 President of the United States. On the bank of the Potomac is 
 the immense Washington monument, that promises, like Cologne 
 Cathedral, to take ages to complete. 
 
 There are about six hundred women clerks employed in the Treasury, 
 chiefly in the bank-note (greenback) department. In the United 
 States no bank or banker is allowed to issue notes without depositing 
 Government bonds as security for the amount of issue, plus ten per 
 cent, margin ; and all these bonds are kept at the Treasury. Here 
 new notes are issued and a large stock of gold is kept. The revenue 
 flows in here, and amounted when we were in Washington to a million 
 dollars daily, or at the rate of seventy-six million pounds sterling a 
 year. 
 
 It was a very agreeable experience upon walking into the Rigg's 
 House at Washington to meet my old friends of the railway world, 
 from Manchester. These gentlemen had been all over the Continent 
 learning what they could from our American cousins for the benefit 
 of English railway interests generally, and no doubt the Manchester, 
 Sheffield, and Lincolnshire particularly. 
 
 I am not going to try even to describe the city of Washington, it has 
 been often done, and better done than is possible by my vagrant pen. 
 We went to the theatre, of course, took the usual drives, called upon 
 
28 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 the British Ambassador to pay our respects, and were glad to find 
 that the representative of Great Britain at Washington was housed in 
 a style befitting old England. It may be proper here to state that in 
 my frequent conversations with Americans upon the question of 
 Ireland I never found one man or woman who had the slightest 
 sympathy with Parnell and the anti-rent agitation in Ireland. The 
 American people have too much common sense to be taken in by 
 bravado and tall-talk. They, too, have their own Irish question, 
 which is not a trifling difficulty in the great cities. In fact, it is quite 
 a large enough element to make the successful and permanent working 
 of democratic institutions still a problem of somewhat doubtful 
 solution. 
 
 One of the most enjoyable excursions taken from Washington is a 
 visit to Mount Vernon, where Washington lived and died. The road 
 along the Potomac is more than interesting — it would be beautiful 
 without a single historical association. There, close behind you, as 
 the steamer glides from her moorings, is the famous long bridge which 
 connects Virginia and Columbia, and across which the panic-stricken 
 hosts fled in confusion after the stampede at Bull's Run. Beyond, the 
 still more famous wood-crowned Arlington Heights, the residence of 
 the Confederate General Lee, whose genius gave a living impulse to 
 the heterogeneous crowd, and lifted it to the rank of a great army. 
 We are a mixed company on board the steamer, black and white and 
 half-breed, all going to the tomb of Washington. Mount Vernon is 
 situated on a lovely reach of the Potomac, about a dozen miles from 
 the city of Washington. In the grounds are several small towers, or 
 they may be called forts, built as outposts to be used in case of attack 
 from Indians in the old days. The farm buildings are extensive, and 
 there is a quaint piece of well-trimmed Dutch garden. Although the 
 mansion is not a large one, according to present fashions, it is roomy 
 and comfortable, and from the tower is seen a magnificent view of the 
 park which clusters round, of the wide and winding Potomac, Fort 
 Washington on the opposite bank, and of the white dome of the 
 distant Capitol glistening in the sunlight. In almost every room is 
 furniture which was there when Washington was alive. Portraits, 
 pictures, furniture, the bedroom in which he passed away, and in which 
 
WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND. 29 
 
 is framed a copy of a newspaper of the time, containing an announce- 
 ment of the great man's death side by side with an advertisement of a 
 runaway slave girl ; — everything in the house is preserved with the 
 utmost care. The property was bought some years ago with funds 
 raised by a ladies' committee, and the various rooms and their con- 
 tents, as I understood, named after the various States subscribing. 
 
 A most outrageous offence against good taste has, however, been 
 perpetrated by those who have dared to remove the remains of 
 Washington from the place in which he was laid, and which was most 
 likely the spot of ground of his own choice, overlooking his favourite 
 Potomac river. The old tomb is still there, left open and unprotected 
 from the desecrating touch and soil of vulgar feet. And the dust of 
 Washington, whose very name is a fragrance in all lands, has been 
 placed with others of his kindred in a rude common brick hut, beside 
 the carriage drive, near to the entrance of the grounds. The Americans 
 have little sentiment and no imagination, or their reverence for the 
 past would have prevented this desecration of the last resting-place of 
 their most illustrious dead. An American friend, who visited Mount 
 Vernon for the first time along with our party, and who shared my 
 indignation, vowed that he would move his own State to obtain 
 permission and to provide funds necessary for rescuing the ancient 
 tomb from ruin. 
 
 We returned in the afternoon to Washington, which grows upon us 
 every day. Time is requisite to take, in these far-stretching, spacious 
 avenues, and the colossal buildings of the State. In the evening we 
 took the cars southward, and as the night wore on the coloured people, 
 who were numerous in the carriage we sat in, began singing, in a 
 plaintive, somewhat monotonous tone, but sweet and soothing. Only 
 one line stuck to my memory, but that was many times repeated, and 
 was very penetrating. " Shall we meet across the river ?" was this 
 melancholy refrain, and this indicates, so to speak, the moral tone of 
 the music. With night we entered the city, and, what is not uncommon 
 there, although unknown with us, the rails are carried along the streets 
 at level crossings ; and so, gliding slowly through gas-lighted streets, 
 we found ourselves in the city of Richmond, Virginia. The Exchange 
 and Ballard House, Richmond, is a typical hotel, accommodating 
 
30 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 about eight hundred guests ; there were several hundreds on our 
 arrival. Richmond is situated on high and undulating ground over- 
 looking the river James, which flows on the south side. It is a much 
 finer site than that Washington is built upon, and probably there is no 
 more beautiful situation for a city in the States. The State House, as 
 usual, is a prominent object, a plain, solid, large building surrounded 
 by a park, in which many squirrels disport themselves around the 
 fountains quite tame, so as to feed from the hand. From the tower of 
 the State House one has a bird's-eye view of the city, with a wide- 
 spread expanse of country, hilly and wooded ; beyond, to the left, five 
 miles or so away, is the point at which M'Clellan got hold of and stuck 
 to Lee for six days, each army fighting and holding on to the other until 
 exhausted, after making a fight of many miles along a line stretching 
 east. Just below us as we stand on the roof is the church in which 
 Jeff. Davis one Sunday morning received Lee's message from Peters- 
 burg to retire from Richmond. Not far to the left is the Libby prison, 
 where the Confederates packed their unhappy prisoners, and where 
 the horrors of neglect and cruelty were rampant, starvation and death 
 being here constant companions. Near the State House is the 
 monument to General " Stonewall " Jackson, erected by subscriptions 
 of English gentlemen ! Here, too, Jeff. Davis was tried for high 
 treason, and when, at the close of the trial, the Judge announced that 
 Davis was to enter into recognisances to appear when called upon for 
 judgment in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, a man in the 
 strangers' gallery stood up and called out, " Put me down for ten 
 thousand dollars !" It was Horace Greely. His magnanimity completely 
 overpowered the ex-President. We also visited the inner lines of 
 defence and various points of view of the city. Commercially there 
 must be stagnation here. One fact impressed me strongly — except in 
 the main lines of thoroughfares where the tramcars run, I did not see 
 one street that was not grass grown. 
 
 The population here is about equally divided in numbers between 
 white and coloured. On the Sunday morning I went, accompanied by 
 one of my Manchester friends, to the Sunday-school and church of the 
 First African Church, Richmond. There were, I suppose, about one 
 hundred and fifty children in the school and some adults ; and at the 
 
HARPER'S FERRY : GETTYSBURG. 31 
 
 Church, I should say, about four or five hundred were present. A 
 young coloured man conducted the service. The people were intelli- 
 gent and responsive, one could see by their faces, to the earnest exhor- 
 tation which the preacher made. His text was, " Ye believe in God, 
 believe also in me ; " and in simple language, clear and forcible, he 
 urged his hearers to cast their burden upon the Lord and believe in 
 Him : to do their duty manfully, to speak the truth, and to live with 
 the fear of God before their eyes. Then he said, in all your trials and 
 daily difficulties, you may without doubt cast your burden upon Him, 
 and He will help you ; with much more to the same faithful purpose. 
 The music — there was a choir — was simple and devotional, although 
 somewhat drawling. There was an utter absence of noise and rant, 
 and, as I told my friend the Rev. Brooke Herford afterwards in 
 Chicago, from beginning to end the service was as orderly and devo- 
 tional as in any cathedral in England. 
 
 VIII. HARPER'S FERRY : GETTYSBURG. 
 
 ARLY one fine morning I reluctantly said "Good-bye" to my 
 friends at Washington, to which city I had returned from 
 Richmond. Taking my seat in a train at the Baltimore and Ohio 
 depot, I travelled through cultivated country and then along the bank 
 of the Potomac river, which grew in picturesque beauty as we neared 
 the object of my pilgrimage, Harper's Ferry. 
 
 Harper's Ferry is a small, poor town, situated at the confluence of 
 the Shenandoah river with the Potomac. Approached on the side 
 nearest Washington, a steep, cone-shaped hill appears to divide the 
 stream ; the town being built along the Potomac and Shenandoah 
 valleys, and it also straggles up and over this dividing hilly ridge, which 
 is called Bolivar Heights. The railroad crosses the Potomac here over 
 an iron bridge of considerable size. On the north side of the river rise 
 craggy hills, called Maryland Heights, and on the Virginia or south 
 
32 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 side of the noisy, shallow Shenandoah river tower the wood-crowned 
 heights of Loudon. These lofty hills on each side of the rivers give a 
 somewhat gorge-like character to the place as seen in the valley, whilst 
 the view from the heights, looking south and east, is wide, far-reaching, 
 and beautiful. 
 
 It was here, in 1859, that John Brown and his score of devoted fol- 
 lowers made their daring memorable raid. For many years John Brown 
 was the most active agent of the so-called underground railway, of 
 which he was the originator, and he aided many slaves to gain their 
 freedom on British soil. His seizure of the Government arsenal 
 at Harper's Ferry was a bold effort to rouse the slaves to strike for 
 freedom, and may be considered the first skirmish of the great struggle 
 then impending, which ended only when universal liberty was secured. 
 It was a curious coincidence that the officer sent to give an account of 
 the anti-slavery hero, and who took him prisoner in the engine house, 
 now called John Brown's Fort, should have become the leading spirit 
 of the army of the Confederacy, General Robert E. Lee. The life of 
 John Brown and his execution in the State of Virginia called forth 
 much comment by many eminent Americans. None knew him more 
 intimately, nor aided him in his work with more cheerful liberality, than 
 Theodore Parker, who in his last illness wrote from Rome : " No 
 American has died this century whose chance of earthly immortality 
 is worth half so much as John Brown's. The ex-governors of Massa- 
 chusetts are half forgotten before they are wholly dead ; rhetoricians 
 and sophists are remembered while they are talking ; but a man who 
 crowns a noble life with such a glorious act as John Brown's at Harper's 
 Ferry is not forgotten in haste. The red martyr must be a precious 
 man. The effect is not over, nor ever will be. Brown's little spark 
 was not put out till it had kindled a fire which will burn down much 
 more than far-sighted men look for. The Northern sky is full of light- 
 ning long treasured up ; Brown was one bright clear flash into the 
 Southern ground. The thunder rattles all over the Union now ; there 
 will be other strokes by-and-by." 
 
 "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, 
 But his soul is marching on ! " 
 
 At Harper's Ferry, perhaps more than in any other place, is visible 
 
HARPER'S FERRY : GETTYSBURG. 33 
 
 the ravages that terrible slaveholders' war made. In each valley were 
 extensive national rifle manufactories, now in ruins. On the hill along 
 which were dotted many houses, churches, and other buildings, are the 
 shells of these structures, battered by cannon balls, and pitted all round 
 the windows with rifle bullets. Here in 1862, the* Confederates under 
 Stonewall Jackson, having taken possession of Maryland and Loudon 
 Heights, captured General Miles and nearly 12,000 Federals, with 
 72> guns, and numerous small-arms and large supplies of every kind. 
 Two hundred and fifteen houses were destroyed, and the town simply 
 beggared. I left this desolation in the midst of beautiful scenery in a 
 melancholy mood, taking rail back again, alongside the Potomac a few 
 miles, as far as Frederick city, Maryland. 
 
 Frederick was a pleasant surprise ; it is a charming little town ; the 
 usual grand old trees adorn the main streets of the place, and an air of 
 cheerfulness and solid respectability pervades the people. More than 
 once had the war rolled through these quiet streets. Whittier has re- 
 lated an incident, which I will venture to quote, condensed : — 
 
 " Up from the meadows rich with corn, 
 Clear in the cool September morn, 
 The clustered spires of Frederick stand, 
 Green walled by the hills of Maryland. 
 Round about them orchards sweep. 
 
 Over the mountains, winding down, 
 
 Came horse and foot through Frederick town. 
 
 Forty flags with their silver stars, 
 
 Forty flags with their crimson bars, 
 
 Flapped in the morning wind ; the sun 
 
 Of noon looked down, and saw not one. 
 
 Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, 
 
 Bowed with her fourscore years and ten : 
 
 Bravest of all in Frederick town, 
 
 She took up the flag the men hauled down ; 
 
 In her attic window the staff she set, 
 
 To show that one heart was loyal yet. 
 
 Up the street came the rebel tread, 
 
 Stonewall Jackson riding ahead. 
 
 Under his slouched hat left and right 
 
 lie glanced ; the old flag met his sight. 
 
34 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 'Halt !' — the dust-brown ranks stood fast. 
 'Fire !' — out blazed the rifle blast : 
 It shivered the window, frame and sash ; 
 It rent the banner with seam and gash. 
 Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff 
 Dame' Barbara snatched the silken scarf; 
 She leaned far out on the window-sill, 
 And shook it forth with a royal will : 
 ' Shoot, if you must, this old grey head, 
 But spare your country's flag,' she said. 
 A shade of sadness, a blush of shame. 
 Over the face of the leader came ; 
 The nobler nature within him stirred 
 To life at that woman's deed and word : 
 ' Who touches a hair of yon grey head 
 Dies like a dog ! March on !' he said. 
 All day long through Frederick Street 
 Sounded the tread of marching feet ; 
 All day long that free flag tost 
 Over the heads of the rebel host. 
 
 Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er, 
 
 And the rebel rides on his raids no more. 
 
 Honour to her ! and let a tear 
 
 Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier." 
 
 The house has been pulled down in which Dame Barbara lived, but 
 the incident is remembered by some of the people to whom I spoke. 
 Towards evening I again took the cars, and in rain and darkness reached 
 Emmitsburg, an out-of-the-way small manufacturing town, within a 
 couple of miles of the northern boundary of the State of Maryland. 
 A lumbering old vehicle, which served as omnibus, met us at the 
 railway station and brought us to a primitive hostelry. The coloured 
 man who acted as conductor was also butler, waiter, in short factotum. 
 We, that is a fellow-passenger and myself, along with the household, 
 all supped together at a long table in a kind of general guests' room. 
 The supper, which, in response to my fellow-traveller's inquiries, our 
 coloured friend of the omnibus had dilated on in glowing terms, was 
 very meagre, and I went despondingly to bed. It brought to my 
 mind an old rambling roadside inn I had stopped at some thirty years 
 
HARPER'S FERRY : GETTYSBURG. 35 
 
 before in an unfrequented part of Northamptonshire, where the people 
 looked with suspicion and distrust upon all strangers. The next 
 morning I took my place in the ordinary stage, a rude four-wheeled 
 cart, drawn by a pair of horses, and was fortunate in having as my 
 only fellow-passenger a pretty lass of about twenty, " the Maryland 
 rose" as I playfully called her before we parted. The driver, who 
 was also proprietor of the stage, was an intelligent man, full of 
 anecdote, not slow to impart his knowledge of the country, and with a 
 geniality in his grey eye which often brightened as the talk between 
 my fair companion and himself warmed into smart repartee. There 
 is a large convent at Emmitsburg, and many Roman Catholics. Our 
 journey was soon over — only about twelve miles, along a broad 
 country road, over which seventeen years ago divisions of the Federal 
 army had inarched to oppose the Confederates, at that time making 
 their great raid into Pennsylvania under Lee. 
 
 The small town of Gettysburg nestles in the shadow of a ridge of 
 hills of irregular contour and broken outline, and is the centre of a 
 well-cultivated and rich agricultural district. But for the famous 
 battle fought there the town would probably have remained for ever 
 an obscure country place. Now it is visited by thousands of people 
 and from all nations. You take a buggy and pair of horses in order 
 to see over the battlefield, and I had the good fortune to have as 
 driver and guide a man who was in Gettysburg during the fight, and 
 who was over the ground frequently directly after the battles. The 
 position of the Federals after they were driven through the town on 
 the first day was one of great strength. The extreme right was at 
 Culps Hill, a lump of ground, well wooded, like Alderley, though less 
 steep. Next come Cemetery Hill and ridge, where there was much 
 heavy fighting, then the centre, which occupied a lower level, yet still 
 high ground, and well protected by strong stone breastworks, hastily 
 thrown up ; whilst beyond, forming the extreme left of the position, 
 are two hills, named respectively " Little Round Top " and " Round 
 Top " proper. 
 
 Draper has well compared the shape of the lines of the Union army 
 to a fishhook, the barb being on their right at Culps Hill ; or it may 
 be likened to a horsewhip, bent inwards at the lash end. The 
 
30 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 Federal army presented a front of more than three miles long. The 
 Confederates, posted along Seminary ridge and well sheltered by 
 thick woods, occupied a more extended line. The head-quarters of 
 Lee were at the Seminary, a large building, giving a name to the 
 ground, and occupying a position which commands a view of the 
 whole field of battle. The Emmitsburg road, along which I drove 
 into Gettysburg, runs along the valley between the positions held by 
 the two armies. Mead's head-quarters, a wretched little farm, were 
 behind the centre of his line. 
 
 During the long days of the 2nd and 3rd July, 1863, these armies 
 of 80,000 men each from the positions described poured death upon 
 one another, making a mighty war cloud that veiled the summer sun. 
 My guide told me that of the inhabitants who remained in the town, 
 after the first day's fighting, when the Confederates occupied the 
 place and requisitioned every morsel of food they could lay hands on, 
 many were huddled together in the cellars, where they heard with 
 terror the constant booming of cannon, the yells of the rebels, the 
 cheers of the Federals, the rattle of musketry, and the crashing of 
 shot and shells, which made a pandemonium of one of the fairest 
 places upon earth. For, standing where the Federal batteries on 
 Cemetery Hill were placed, the eye ranges over a vast expanse of 
 undulating pastoral country, with blue mountains in the background — 
 here and there windmill, tower, or village nestling amidst green and 
 gold, at our feet the busy little town, and behind us the thickly- 
 wooded crags. 
 
 At Gettysburg the tide of war which for the second time had surged 
 into the North was rolled back, never more to return. The losses on 
 both sides were truly fearful. Out of 160,000 men engaged 8,000 were 
 killed on the field, 36,000 wounded, many of which number afterwards 
 died in hospital, and 1 5,000 were missing ; a total of 23,000 Federals 
 and 36,000 Confederates. 
 
 Here, on Cemetery Hill, the nation has placed a soldiers' memorial, 
 and round about are the graves of three thousand six hundred of her 
 bravest sons. There, are twelve hundred who belonged to New York 
 State ; here, eight hundred from Pennsylvania— each State has its 
 separate mound of sorrow. Still more sad, here, too, are the bodies of 
 
COLUMBIA, HARRISBURG, BUFFALO, & NIAGARA. 37 
 
 eight hundred, unknown. Never have I experienced more sorrowful 
 a time than that I passed at these soldiers' graves at Gettysburg. 
 Here, too, upon the occasion of the dedication of this place to its 
 solemn uses, in the presence of a sympathizing crowd of American 
 citizens from all parts of the Union, were uttered those memorable 
 words of Abraham Lincoln, which are now placed upon the marble 
 monument, and which will be remembered to the latest days : " It is 
 for us, the living, rather to dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work 
 which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced ; to 
 consecrate ourselves to the great task remaining, and to gather from 
 the graves of these honoured dead increased devotion to that cause 
 for which they gave their lives. Here let us resolve that they shall 
 not have died in vain ; that this nation shall, under God, have a new 
 birth of freedom ; and that government of the people, by the people, 
 and for the people shall not perish forever from the earth." 
 
 IX. COLUMBIA, HARRISBURG, BUFFALO, 
 AND NIAGARA. 
 
 LEFT Gettysburg in a very sober frame of mind, taking the 
 train for Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, by way of 
 Columbia. The country generally through which we travelled was well 
 cultivated, with a considerable population, evidently in a comfortable 
 condition. Everybody seems to be prosperous. At Columbia the railway 
 crosses the Susquehanna river by an iron bridge more than a mile in 
 length. It is a busy, thriving place ; the streets at right angles, as usual ; 
 there is a fine opera-house and numerous hotels. I had only half an 
 hour in the place, and was recommended by the railway clerk to get 
 a cup of tea at the restaurant close by, kept by one John Warren, 
 a coloured man. It was excellent tea, nicely put before me, for 
 five cents ! 
 
 The railway from Columbia runs alongside the Susquehanna, the 
 
38 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 most picturesque river I had yet seen, wide and shallow, tumbling 
 over its rocky bed and splashing its way to the far-off sea. Lofty 
 wood-clad hills are on each side, now coloured with many hues and 
 burnished with the glory of the setting sun. The cars are well filled, 
 and at every station considerable numbers come in and go out. 
 It is clearly a well-used, paying route. It seemed to me very like the 
 Yorkshire or East Lancashire of America. 
 
 At Harrisburg, where I arrived in time for a late dinner, there 
 was a grand demonstration in progress by. the Republican party, 
 and I had another opportunity of seeing a torchlight procession, 
 of which our cousins appear to be very fond. Some of the uniforms 
 of these torch-bearers are quite grotesque. But what struck me most 
 was the seriousness, I might say earnestness, with which the whole 
 procession business is carried on. The State House and grounds here 
 are imposing, and, as in most of the older towns, the trees are a 
 pleasing feature. There is here, too, a magnificent soldiers' monument — 
 a simple colossal obelisk, placed in the centre of a square where four 
 streets meet, the most impressive monument I had seen. 
 
 I was stirring early the next morning, and caught the train at 4-30 
 to Williamsport and Watkins Glen. One of the towns we passed 
 about daylight, Milton, had been burnt down during the summer, and 
 it was curious to see the sweep a fire makes in a town built mainly 
 of wood. The streets are mapped out by the few charred outlines 
 left near the ground, with now and then the outer shell of a large 
 brick building standing alone. 
 
 We continue to run alongside the beautiful Susquehanna, through 
 Williamsport, where excellent fare awaits the hungry traveller, 
 and comfortable time for his refreshment is also allowed him. The 
 railways are clearly made for the convenience of travellers here, and 
 not merely to give the minimum of comfort. It is quite true that the 
 long distances to be got over in the States force the railway people 
 to consider the requirements and conveniences of passengers more 
 than with us in England ; there are various matters not absolutely 
 necessary on our shorter journeys, but which, if provided, would save 
 worlds of discomfort. Look at any large station — what a rush there 
 is in certain directions after a run of an hour or two ! I do not mean 
 
WATKINS GLEN AND BUFFALO. 3U 
 
 to say that in American railway cars there are no discomforts, for I 
 have travelled sixteen or eighteen hours at a spell in a smoking 
 carriage, and the occasional sweepings-out were not agreeable to 
 witness. But even the vile habit of spitting is, I am informed, much 
 less general than in earlier days. 
 
 At Elmira I was joined by some American friends, at whose 
 suggestion I visited Watkins Glen, in a picturesque part of the 
 country, through which the Northern Central Railway runs on the 
 way to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Watkins Glen is of the character 
 of the gorge of Pfeffers, at Ragatz, in Switzerland. You enter at the 
 lowest end between two high rocks, which have probably been cut 
 through by the action of water wearing incessantly for ages past. A 
 stream of considerable volume and power now rushes through the 
 glen, which is some miles long, making some pretty cascades and 
 waterfalls ; it abounds in deliciously-cool pools, moss-grown and 
 lichen-stained rocks, and fantastic paths. Across the chasm, near the 
 head of the glen, is thrown a railway bridge, light and elegant in 
 structure, and sufficiently in the air to try the nerves of the timid as 
 the train rolls across. At the time of my visit the trees were a special 
 feature, bright with October hues. From the hotel balcony at Watkins 
 one has a grand view of the extended valley into which the waters 
 of the various glens fall, and at the lower end of the valley is 
 Lake Seneca, upon which steamers ply to Geneva, a town at the head 
 of the lake. 
 
 By the warm fireside of the excellent hotel at Corning, for the 
 weather had gone suddenly very cold, we dined and waited for our 
 train, which in the evening carried us along to Buffalo. I was out in 
 the streets in the early morning, and came suddenly upon a view of 
 Lake Erie, dotted with the white sails of ships. Buffalo, built upon 
 the extreme easterly end of Lake Erie during the present century, 
 contains a large population, with fine, wide, business streets, and 
 tree-lined avenues in the suburbs, stretching away towards the 
 country ; altogether an important place, quite realizing both in extent, 
 activity, and picturesqueness the title it holds of Queen City of the 
 Lakes. Fruit from the Far West in plenty is on sale on the sidewalks 
 opposite the fruiterers' stores, and in the great thoroughfares are 
 
40 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 streams of busy people intent upon the almighty dollar. But upon 
 this bright morning my eye continually wanders beyond the fringe of 
 shipping, which hugs the town, so to speak, to the far-stretching 
 expanse of water, Lake Erie. We walk in this direction, past the fort 
 and military station, towards that narrowing neck of water which 
 becomes Niagara River. By-and-by we take the train through flat 
 country ; but the novelty of seeing immense peach orchards as we 
 move along, combined with a strong undercurrent of expectancy, 
 make that short railway ride of twenty miles or so anything but dull. 
 At length our train is gliding over a light iron suspension bridge, 
 which, at a height of more than, two hundred feet, spans the Niagara 
 River. Down below, between the clean-cut rocks on either side, the 
 water rushes and foams. Before we have crossed the stream the eye 
 for a moment rests upon the mighty cataract, with the pictures of 
 which it has long been familiar, and we feel that we have just seen 
 Niagara Falls. 
 
 We stay on the Canadian side, at the Clifton House, to which we drive 
 along the river bank ; and on the verandah, outside our rooms, we sit 
 and watch and wonder at the scene. The sun is shining brilliantly, and 
 there is only a slight motion in the air ; yet a delicate film of gossamer 
 spray is wafted towards us, and looking through it, across the river 
 chasm, we see in front of the sounding cataract, painted in bright 
 colours, a rainbow, quivering, as it seems, under the sun's bright rays. I 
 walked along the Canadian side, towards the horse-shoe fall ; there 
 seems to be an irresistible power of attraction in the deep bass-toned 
 thunder, steadily beating time. Here one realizes Goethe's expression, 
 " unhasting yet unresting." The air is filled with sound, not loud — 
 subdued, melodious, almost articulate in its wonderful fascination. It 
 takes time, after being set down here, to apprehend the relations of 
 your surroundings ; to find out, in fact, where you are. You are told 
 that the river here is about 5,000 feet wide, measuring from the 
 American fall and round the horse-shoe fall to the Canadian shore. 
 Also that the falls are only one hundred and sixty feet or so. Then 
 you are beset by an eager crowd of people who are desirous of 
 showing you this, that, and the other thing, for which you have only to 
 pay a dollar or two. Every conceivable pretext is used for vulgarizing 
 
NIAGARA. 41 
 
 the place and taking money out of your pocket unnecessarily. This is 
 beyond all others the place at which travellers require this warning. 
 After some hours you free yourself, and are more at liberty to sit down 
 quietly and stare. This may sound strange, but I repeat here you must 
 look for a long time upon the wonders before you in order that you 
 may help yourself to see truly. Few who watch that ceaseless rush 
 at Niagara realize that through this narrow channel the waters of four 
 inland seas, draining a surface equal to the continent of Europe, pour 
 their overflow into Ontario and along the majestic St. Lawrence to the 
 sea. From the remote regions of Lake Superior, the picturesque 
 Huron, the ocean-like Michigan, and the busy Erie, comes unceasingly 
 this resistless torrent which has during uncounted ages cut the rock 
 channel of Niagara river for more than twenty miles. Look how 
 majestically the mass of water moves over the rocky ledge ; in times 
 of autumnal drought, as when I saw the fall, that gliding mass is 
 sixteen feet of solid water as it goes over for the plunge ; in rainy 
 seasons it is more than twenty feet thick. And what magnificent 
 colour ! As the mass of water slides down to the abyss, a broad 
 band of wonderful green is disclosed, beautiful in its translucence as 
 the rainbows which play perpetually near. I am giving these details 
 so that those at home may be helped to create a picture of this 
 wonderful cataract. My first impression was the grandeur of the 
 sound ; next, what I may call the rhythmical roll of the vast watery 
 mass, which holds you, as I said before, fascinated. But look how, 
 out of the deep hurly-burly down below, where the gigantic blows fall 
 unceasingly, arises the steaming spray. You have seen this cloud, 
 low hanging near the ground, from afar, and knew that there was 
 Niagara ; but watch, now you are near, the mighty wreath, how it 
 rises higher and higher, the most wonderful fountain on the earth, until, 
 right at the zenith, you see the last supreme vibration, which shakes off 
 even in its birth a sunlit cloud, that floats away whilst you are gazing. 
 Always changing, but ever with upward whirl, this column of spray is 
 continually weaving clouds that ascend and sail away. We cross to 
 Goat Island, that place of delicious reverie, and watch the waters as 
 they are drawn towards the abyss. In the narrow rocky passages, 
 through which the water plunges and foams, it is not difficult to 
 
42 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 estimate the enormous forces at work. Within the distance of a mile 
 from the Falls nothing can withstand the mighty downward pulling of 
 this wide swiftly-flowing river. 
 
 It is difficult, in analyzing one's feelings, to say whether the fast- 
 flowing stream, before the plunge, broken on its way by Goat Island 
 and various rocks, or the mighty cataract itself is the more impressive. 
 We stand upon the verge of the great Fall — ingenuity has devised safe 
 methods — and gaze upon the roaring waters woven into a thousand 
 forms in their curved descent. Then we watch the boiling flood below, 
 and the eye follows the affrighted stream as it rushes along beneath 
 the light bridge suspended high in air from shore to shore, and the 
 stronger but still slight-looking bridge over which run the railway cars. 
 Then we slowly retrace our steps and come to the American Fall, and 
 after long looking prepare to follow a stalwart guide under the Falls to 
 the Cave of the Winds. No experience can better convey the sense of 
 power than this short walk of some yards under the American Fall at 
 Niagara. 
 
 As you approach the Fall from the dressing-house, where you are 
 enveloped in flannels and oilskins, and scramble over and along the 
 rocks and prepared wooden way, you are met with blinding showers 
 of spray, through which you push along. After pausing for a minute 
 or two to breathe and look around, you are under the arch made by 
 the mass of falling water, in a gale of wind ; the rain is now heavier, 
 the wind in a fury, and you stand back a few inches in a cleft of the 
 rock, your trusted guide close by ; then you go on once more into a 
 storm of redoubled — ay, quadrupled — force ; the rain comes upon 
 you as if it meant to kill you by sheer force of pelting, hard hits upon 
 your face and head and body tell you that you are in a perfect 
 hurricane of wind and rain and eccentric storm — overpowering, 
 unique, sublime. There you feel the power of Niagara, and yet you 
 have only touched the hem of its garment, for as you stand on the 
 narrow ledge of rock, battered by this terrific hurricane, right before 
 you, and through which you see the sunlight, is the vast wall of water, 
 ever falling, ceaseless as Time. 
 
 I do not know anything that has so much impressed me with a sense 
 of the sublime as Niagara Falls. In crossing the Atlantic, as I have 
 
CLEVELAND AND CHICAGO. 43 
 
 already related, a new world was revealed, and, if I may venture to say 
 so, an increased power of spiritual vision obtained. Here, too, the 
 same faculties of imaginative sympathy were stirred, and I felt that the 
 voice of Niagara was at one with the earth's rotation and the 
 movements of the stars. 
 
 X. CLEVELAND AND CHICAGO. 
 
 HEN I started from the Clifton House rainbows were playing 
 on the face of Niagara, and around the base of that wonderful 
 column of spray which rises out of the boiling gulf below the Falls. I 
 was sorry to have to leave this wonderful cataract, and those American 
 friends who had been my companions there. The train rapidly 
 carried me to Buffalo, and then along the south shore of Lake Erie, 
 through unexciting farming country, by orchards of ten thousand 
 peach trees, by pretty villages, and now and then into a busy 
 town. 
 
 It was night when I reached my destination, still on the shore of 
 Lake Erie, at Cleveland, Ohio, where I found a most excellent hostelry, 
 the Kennard House, with unexceptionable fare. The Forest city, as 
 Cleveland is called, is considered by many Americans to be the most 
 beautiful city in the Union, and it has many advantages, being on the 
 shore of a great lake and surrounded by finely wooded country. 
 Cleveland is built on both banks of the Cuyahoga river, and is a very 
 busy place, its manufactories making such a valley of smoke as we see 
 at Stockport or Sheffield. Once out of the river valley, however, the 
 city is clean, with wide streets and squares, and far-stretching, well- 
 wooded avenues, on each side of which are detached houses with 
 abundant lawns and greenery, not fenced, but for the most part quite 
 open to the street. 
 
 I had an opportunity of sitting awhile in court with an eminent 
 Judge on the last day for the registration of voters, and the crowd 
 was not of a character generally to raise one's estimate of democracy. 
 Many were clearly recent importations from Europe, and not a few 
 
44 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 were Irish. I happened in my rambles about the town to come upon 
 the Democratic electors' head-quarters for Cleveland, and the score or 
 so of hangers on there were certainly as rough-looking a lot of fellows 
 as the most rampant Jingoism could desire. During my stay in Cleve- 
 land there was a great Republican demonstration ; in the procession 
 were at least two thousand five hundred men on horseback, many 
 thousands on foot, bands of music at short intervals, and flags and 
 banners in profusion. Euclid Avenue and Superior Street are the two 
 chief arteries through which fashion and business circulate. 
 
 I left Cleveland in the evening, taking the sleeping cars to Chicago, 
 which city I reached in time for breakfast at the Grand Pacific, one 
 of the busiest and most complete hotels in the States. Chicago, 
 situated at the south-west corner of the shore of Lake Michigan, on 
 the river Chicago, is a wonderful growth. Fifty years ago the place 
 consisted of a few huts and a dozen families, besides the garrison of 
 the United States Fort there. About the time that Manchester 
 obtained its Charter of Incorporation, Chicago had been incorporated 
 a year, and had a population under five thousand. It has a population 
 now of about six hundred thousand. General Grant told a friend of 
 mine in New York that when he was a boy his father lived west and 
 kept a pony for him, that he (the General) had often ridden over the 
 site of Chicago, and that he had no doubt the land then could have 
 been bought for the value of his pony — fifteen dollars, Sir ! The 
 Chicago of to-day has been built since the year 1 871, when the great 
 fire consumed several square miles of property. 
 
 The city is laid out rectangularly, the streets running east and west, 
 the avenues north and south. These avenues are miles long — the 
 first friend upon whom I called lived at 2,802, Prairie Avenue, and 
 another at 3,741, Vincennes. Tramcars run everywhere. The Post 
 Office and the Court House are magnificent buildings. I could not 
 help thinking of Manchester, with her wretched dingy hole of a Post 
 Office, and the twenty years' delay and loss of time and money by the 
 Government in preparing plans for a new building. 
 
 I was fortunate in being in Chicago on a Sunday in lovely October 
 weather, so that I saw the people in holiday dress. Nothing in the 
 towns I visited pleased me more than the Parks of Chicago. Their 
 
CLEVELAND AND CHICAGO. 45 
 
 existence shows markedly the forethought and consideration for the 
 welfare of the people which has been exercised by those who have the 
 conduct of affairs. The Lincoln Park, of great extent along the shore 
 of Lake Michigan, contains also a zoological garden, and affords an 
 agreeable and refreshing change to tens of thousands of the people, 
 to whom it belongs. There are no entrance gates or railed enclosure ; 
 the park is always freely open to all. South Park is distant about six 
 miles from the centre of the city, and is a grand expanse of woodland 
 country, laid out in carriage drives and walks. Although so far away, 
 avenues stretch to it from the city, and no doubt in a very few years 
 the city will have grown much nearer to the park. Besides these two 
 parks, which are on the east, looking over the great inland sea, 
 there are on the west the Douglas Park, the Central Park, and the 
 Humboldt Park, laid out on a great scale, and connected by broad 
 boulevards. The times will come, most likely during the lives of the 
 present younger generation, when the city of Chicago will be the 
 foremost city of the American continent, for there the east and west 
 join hands, and through Chicago is poured a stream of timber, corn, 
 beef, mutton, pork, and the fruits of the earth, such as the world has 
 never before seen. Numerous corn elevators stand up against the 
 clear sky, like vast, stranded Noah's arks. These elevators are very 
 large warehouses, fitted up with exquisite machinery for the manipula- 
 tion of grain, loading and unloading with despatch vast quantities. 
 The storage capacity of the Chicago elevators is said to be twenty 
 millions of bushels of grain. 
 
 One of the chief sights and wonders of this city of yesterday is the 
 Union stock yards, where the droves of live stock are sorted and sold. 
 You take a tramcar which runs in an hour to the centre of the cattle 
 pens, and near which are built huge warehouses, in which the killing 
 of oxen and swine, and preserving the meat, is carried on. I went to 
 the largest of these pig-killing places, where they told me that in the 
 busy season they can kill 13,000 pigs daily. It is a horrible sight — the 
 squeaking of the brutes rings in my ears now — and I should recom- 
 mend everybody not to see it. The swine are driven from the pens 
 along the platform, which runs into the main building. Here about a 
 dozen at a time reach the last pen, in which a man is stationed, who 
 
40 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 seizes a pig and hooks to one of its hind legs a chain. It is instantly- 
 pulled up, suspended over a huge vat', and is pushed forward along a 
 beam about a yard, when a man with a sharp knife pierces the throat, 
 and it is all over directly. This goes on incessantly like clock-work. 
 The pigs slide along and are next scalded and scraped. The interior 
 is taken out. The feet and head are cut off, the hams and hands and 
 the flitches separated, and the various parts are then passed to the 
 salting cellar and refrigerator, where they are in due time sent forth 
 for consumption. The cattle pens occupy, I judge, several hundred 
 acres of land. 
 
 Next to these the vast stores of timber you see piled on this 
 side of the city astonished me. It is said that the largest timber 
 trade in the world is done at Chicago. The lumber yards are on 
 the south branch of Chicago river about two miles from the cattle 
 yards. The Chicago river not more than a mile near its outlet into 
 the lake makes a harbour for shipping of the largest size — running 
 almost straight through the centre of the city — then it forks north 
 and south, the southern branch giving water way to the lumber and 
 stock yards. 
 
 The people of Chicago are justly proud of their waterworks. The 
 chief supply is from Lake Michigan ; they have also a number of 
 Artesian wells. The engines at the waterworks have a pumping 
 power of over seventy millions of gallons a day. 
 
 It is a delightful experience to sit in a buggy, behind a pair of good 
 horses and to drive along the avenues or boulevards of this great city, 
 looking out upon the green waters of Lake Michigan, that stretches 
 like ocean, beyond the distant horizon. The air is fresh, the 
 sky clear, the trees brown, and yellow, and red, the vast lake lively 
 with white-sailed ships ; a far off thin line of smoke tells of a distant 
 steamer ; here about us are the busy crowds of people, joyous under 
 the influence of this brilliant sunlight. 
 
 I spent the evening of this day at the house of my friend, 
 Brooke Herford, where I met Tom Hughes, just back from his 
 newly-founded colony, Rugby, in Tennessee. Years before he had 
 suggested and originated a free library in Chicago, and only yesterday 
 had been feted, and been shown how his small beginning had 
 
CANADA AND THE LAKES. 47 
 
 developed into a magnificent collection of over sixty thousand 
 volumes, which are doing their work well. 
 
 In the morning hours I had a last walk about the city. The 
 numerous bridges over the Chicago river, the many vessels of varied 
 descriptions which' crowd the stream, the busy, wide streets of the 
 trading quarter of the city, State Street and Madison Street especially; 
 Wabath, and Michigan, and Prairie Avenues, with their thousands of 
 beautiful residences, each with its plot of garden ground, and all 
 along graced with the foliage of forest trees ; these deepened my 
 impressions, and made a picture to which delighted memory 
 clings. 
 
 Never did I feel more reluctant to turn back on a journey than at 
 Chicago, for this was the most westerly point of my too hurried 
 travels, and I remembered how Longfellow had kindly said to my 
 friend from Rhode Island, "Be sure that you do not let him go back 
 to England without seeing a prairie ! " And now I had to turn my 
 face eastward without this experience. Another friend, too, who had 
 long lived out in the region round Lake Superior, said to me that in 
 the early summer time when the grasses and flowers were in their 
 prime, it would be impossible to describe the extraordinary wealth 
 of delicate odours which filled the air on the prairies of the far west. 
 
 XL CANADA AND THE LAKES. 
 
 N the afternoon of an October day, full of the beauty of colour 
 on land and sea and sky, I drove for the last time along the 
 streets of Chicago to the railway depot. Baskets of delicious fruit from 
 California were strewn around ; I bought peaches, pears, apples, and 
 grapes enough for a pleasant refreshment for four of us, all for 
 seventy-five cents, basket included ! At length we are moving off, 
 for some miles in sight of Lake Michigan, and as evening came on 
 through undulating country. We were on board a sleeping car, and 
 
48 
 
 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 had as part of our train a palace dining saloon. At supper time I 
 refreshed, at a cost of seventy-five cents. Here is the bill of fare : — 
 
 MICHIGAN CENTRAL DINING CAR. 
 
 Snpper Bill of Fare. 
 
 Oolong Tea. Coffee. Iced Tea. 
 
 BREAD. 
 
 French Loaf. Boston Brown Bread. Hot Biscuit. 
 
 Dry Dipped and Buttered Toast. 
 
 BROILED. 
 
 Tenderloin Steak, plain. 
 
 ,, with mushroom or tomato sauce. 
 
 Sugar Cured Ham. Sirloin Steak. 
 
 Mutton Chops, plain and with tomato sauce. 
 Lake Michigan White Fish. 
 
 GAME. 
 
 Broiled Pigeon. 
 
 OYSTERS. 
 
 Raw. Stewed. 
 
 Boston Baked Beans. 
 
 EGGS. 
 
 Boiled. Scrambled. Fried. 
 
 Omelet, plain or with jelly. 
 
 COLD DISHES. 
 
 Tongue. Ham. Beef. Sardines. 
 
 VEGETABLES. 
 
 Fried Potatoes, stewed, boiled, and sweet. 
 
 RELISHES. 
 
 Chow Chow. Olives. Currant Jelly. 
 
 Mixed Pickles. Sweet Pickles. 
 
 Beet Root. Celery. French Mustard. 
 
 DESSERT. 
 
 Assorted Cake. Brevoort Ice Cream. 
 
 Fruits in Season. 
 Champagne, Clarets, Sauternes, Ales, Porters, etc., 
 can be had on board at the usual prices. 
 
 We had a merry time of it over the supper and for an hour or two 
 before bed-time, which is usually very early on board a train, most 
 people beginning to wish for sleep by nine o'clock or so. The next 
 morning we were at Hamilton by about six o'clock, where we had to 
 leave our luxurious train, which goes on to New York. There was 
 sufficient light as we neared Hamilton to see that the character of the 
 country had changed considerably since we saw the sun go down 
 the previous night. Rocky, broken country, with long patches of 
 cultivation, old-fashioned farmsteads, and now and then large villages, 
 
CANADA AND THE LAKES. 49 
 
 came into view, and there was an indefinable something which made 
 us think of home. Probably it was the simple fact, which showed 
 itself in many ways, that we were in an older settled country than 
 that we had so recently left. There was not time at Hamilton 
 to see the town, but its surroundings are pleasant. Soon we were 
 in the train again, moving on a single line through farming lands 
 often fringed at no great distance with clumps of pine forest. Shortly 
 we came in sight of Lake Ontario, and quickly ran into the station at 
 Toronto. Here my stay was short, my chief object being to call 
 upon various friends, among whom was one of whom I feel that his 
 leaving us was a public loss to England — I mean Goldwin Smith, who 
 is settled happily in Toronto, in a charming house with delightful 
 surroundings ; and although he must be doing good work in Canada, 
 he can be ill spared by the old country. We spent a pleasant hour 
 or two together, and after a run through the town, the suburbs, and 
 the picturesque park which surrounds the University, and a look in at 
 the courts, I made my way to the steamer Spartan on Lake Ontario. 
 Toronto has a most attractive appearance from the water ; rising 
 gradually from the shore and intermingled with much foliage, are 
 many church spires and towers of various kinds, which, combined with 
 the masts of shipping about the wharves and the waters of the Lake, 
 make a bright picture. The sail on Lake Ontario is very like going to 
 sea, as the Lake is something like two hundred miles long and fifty 
 miles across. The steamer is well appointed, the table well supplied 
 with excellent plain food, and the captain a most genial host. It is 
 morning before we reach Kingston, a dull town, straggling along the 
 Lake bank, where we take on passengers. Shortly after leaving here 
 we are steaming down the river St. Lawrence and threading our way 
 through the Thousand Islands, many of them covered with trees, now 
 in rich autumn colours ; by-and-by we are shooting the rapids of 
 Long Sault, nine miles in length, down which we rush at high speed, 
 although carried only by the strength of the current. The descent 
 lasts long enough to become exhilarating, and to many people exciting. 
 The St. Lawrence is a magnificent wide-sweeping river, grand by its 
 breadth of water, but the banks do not impress one, never rising 
 beyond quiet beauty, and often tame. 
 
 4 
 
50 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 We have another night of innocent festivity on board the steamer, 
 and about seven in the morning we touch the quay at Montreal, and 
 make for the Windsor Hotel, one of the largest and at the same time 
 most comfortable houses in America. After breakfast we drive to 
 " the Mountain," an eminence behind the city, covered thickly with 
 forest, but through which excellent carriage roads have been made to 
 the best points of view of the magnificent scene ; Montreal at our 
 feet, mapped out quite distinctly, the wide St. Lawrence stretching 
 right and left far as the eye can reach, and crossing the river is the 
 Victoria Tubular Bridge, a mile and three-quarters long, one of the 
 engineering wonders of the world. 
 
 Montreal is a fine city, full of commercial activity and with abundant 
 attractions to lovers of the picturesque. For myself the river and the 
 shipping are sights sufficient ; but besides these I spent a good part 
 of the day in what we call in Lancashire " mooning " about the 
 crowded streets of interesting shops or stores. Here, as in all other 
 places I had been, were warm-hearted friends ready to make my visit 
 a happy one ; and here, too, I met, as elsewhere, faces and names 
 from the old country, to whom tidings from our common home were a 
 delight. It is a happy circumstance, that all over that Northern 
 Continent of America are people who not only speak the English 
 language, but who have actually in the days gone by gone forth from 
 every county in great Britain and Ireland to make a new home for 
 themselves and their children. These are the links which bind us, 
 and, along with deep intuitions, draw our imaginations continually to 
 the West. 
 
 Towards evening I went on board the steamer for Quebec, and with 
 hearty greetings from friends and a good round drink, according to 
 the customs of the place, we parted for a time from Montreal. The 
 sail along the St. Lawrence in October by night is less interesting 
 than it would be under the light of a summer sun or a harvest moon, 
 and as we were not favoured with either, we were driven in upon 
 ourselves and the resources of the steamer for the evening. I spent 
 an hour or two and some dollars in looking over and buying various 
 odds and ends of pretty and ingenious Indian work, and in photo- 
 graphs of several places previously visited. Morning brought us to 
 
CANADA AND THE LAKES. 51 
 
 Quebec, on a hill or cape rising out of the rivers St. Lawrence and 
 St. Charles, most interesting historically, with more of an old-world 
 aspect than all the cities I had visited on the other side the Atlantic. 
 Curious old streets, clambering along hill-sides ; quaint gabled houses 
 nodding to each other across narrow passages ; tumbledown low- 
 roofed places ; churches, convents, squares with modern shops ; steep 
 stair-like alleys, like Clovelly in Devonshire ; the great citadel towering 
 over all, and in its shadow the fine sweeping Durham Terrace 
 overlooking the river, the lower town, and the lofty ridge on the other 
 side, dotted with a line of forts and villages and a town, ample 
 materials out of which an artist in words might build up a wonderful 
 and glowing picture. In the upper town is a monument to Wolfe and 
 Montcalm — a plain obelisk set upon a solid base, with a simple 
 inscription to the memory of the two men. Churches abound, both of 
 the older faith and Protestants of all denominations. Hospitals, 
 Convents, Music Hall, Courthouse, City Hall, and University are all 
 interesting. But more than all are we attracted to the monument on 
 the plains of Abraham, where Wolfe nobly fought and conquering fell. 
 During the day we had an enjoyable drive of some dozen miles 
 through old French and Indian villages, to the falls of Montmorenci. 
 It is a lofty waterfall of great beauty. On our return in the evening 
 we took once more to the river, and in the twilight, which soon 
 deepened into night, steamed along the wide, swift-flowing 
 St. Lawrence, now dotted with many lights, in the direction of 
 Montreal. 
 
 We had the disagreeable experience of a dense fog in the river 
 St. Lawrence on this return voyage to Montreal, than which nothing 
 is more uncomfortable. You can neither go on properly nor stand 
 still, and there is constant danger. After much wearisome delay we 
 made our port, a few hours late. In the afternoon, after seeing the 
 fine cemetery of Mount Royal, on the slope of Montreal Mountain, and 
 very beautiful, I took the train running by Lake Champlain, a grand 
 expanse of water, with most attractive rocky shore : in the summer 
 time a favourite resort. I saw it under the light of a young autumnal 
 moon, riding on the platform of the last carriage of our train, the 
 coloured conductor explaining various points of interest as we rattled 
 
52 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 through the rocky country along the Derbyshire-like curves. Afterwards 
 I availed myself of the comfort of a sleeping car, and awoke in time to 
 catch glimpses of the Hudson River ere we rushed into the Central 
 Railway Terminus in New York City. 
 
 I have hitherto said little of the three lakes I had passed, and which 
 form so important a feature of the country. Without doubt Lake 
 Michigan is the grandest of those I saw, although, with the excep- 
 tion of Chicago, Erie has more important cities along its shores. But 
 Michigan, Erie, and Ontario are all vast inland seas, over which the 
 north winds beat, as they do in the Atlantic, driving many a good ship 
 to her destruction. Only the week after I left the shores of Michigan a 
 fine steamer left port one evening and was seen no more. Fragments 
 of her timbers and a few bodies cast upon the beach told the sad story 
 of her end. And yet always the men who have moved west have 
 been attracted to these picturesque shores, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, 
 Sandusky, Toledo, and Detroit, round Lake Erie ; Hamilton, Toronto, 
 Kingston, Oswego, and Rochester, near Ontario ; Grand Haven, 
 Milwaukee, and Chicago, on Lake Michigan — all these and many 
 smaller towns show how the convenience of a water-way, as well as 
 the attraction of beauty, have drawn population round these inland 
 seas. Even the lonely and grand Lake Superior is drawing men to 
 its shores ; and in the Dominion, still farther north, from the Red 
 River Settlement and the district of Manitoba, beyond the remote 
 Winnipeg, tidings reach us of a wave of enterprising emigration 
 flowing to that ancient home of the untamed bison and the Red 
 Indian. Wood and water, fuel and drink, are the prime necessaries of 
 man, and these are here in abundance. 
 
THE HUDSON RIVER, THE VOYAGE HOME. 53 
 
 XII. THE HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK, 
 THE VOYAGE HOME. 
 
 T was a clear bright morning, near the end of October, a sharp 
 wind blowing from the north, when I took a tramcar in Twenty- 
 third Street for the quays upon the Hudson River. Here is seen one of 
 the features of this enterprising and well-placed city. For a mile or two 
 along the river bank are wharves built out into the river, from which 
 steamers start to all parts of the world ; no matter what size, from the 
 smallest river ferry-boat to the Arizona, the largest ship afloat after the 
 Great Eastern, there is abundant room, with deep water to ride in, 
 and a safe mooring ground. Here the Cunard, the Inman, the 
 White Star, the National, the North German, and other lines of 
 Atlantic steamers are all loading or unloading ; as well as many of the 
 great river and coasting vessels, of which I have already given some 
 account. To-day I am taking the opportunity of the last day trip of 
 the season to be made by one of the magnificent New York and 
 Albany river boats, the Albany, capable of carrying three thousand 
 people, fitted up like a palace, and going at the rate of from fifteen 
 to twenty miles an hour. There are many hundred passengers 
 on board, attracted by the brilliant morning and the last run of the 
 year. 
 
 When we steam away from the quay and are breasting the stream, 
 New York is on our right, and we have the reverse picture of that I 
 described in my voyage along the East river; every spire and tower 
 and block of building is outlined sharply against the sky, the river is 
 busy with quick-darting small steam tugs, with sailing ships, with 
 many river boats, and with the leviathan ferries ; there is a fine 
 " snap " in the air, as a lively American girl said to me, which gives an 
 air of cheerfulness to the animated scene, probably the reflection of 
 our own minds. We soon leave Jersey city behind us, but for ten 
 
54 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 miles up the river extend the city and suburbs of New York ; then we 
 pass Fort Lee on high land on the western side. On both banks of 
 the river are numerous villa residences, those on the Jersey side 
 especially commanding views of New York and the ever-changing 
 stream. By-and-by, we pass on our right the Harlem river, which, 
 running from the Hudson into the East river, completes the belt of 
 water, and makes Manhattan Island, upon which New York is built. 
 On our left are the Palisades of the Hudson, a huge, clean-cut wall of 
 rock, stretching over fifteen miles, and rising occasionally more than 
 five hundred feet above the grand river, not mud-coloured, but of a 
 green tint, flowing quickly through a deep channel almost a mile in 
 breadth. The Tappan Zee and Haverstraw Bay reaches, through 
 which we shall sail, are nearly three miles in width. As we leave the 
 Palisades, upon which at one point is noticeable an immense hotel, 
 the Palisades Mountain House, showing how attractive a resort it is 
 in the hot summer days, we enter the Tappan Reach, passing by the 
 State prison at Sing-Sing, and enter a region of lofty hills, wood- 
 crowned and picturesque. Each turn of the stream reveals new 
 beauties, which culminate as we approach West Point. There I 
 landed, in the most delightful part of the Highlands of the Hudson. 
 West Point, the military school of the United States, is a charming 
 place, and the views from the hotel verandah, looking north up the 
 reach of river running to Newburgh, right before you on the far off 
 hill side, are wonderfully beautiful. Rock and wood and water are 
 here rarely combined, and my impression, vivid as on the day I sailed 
 there, is that the Hudson river surpasses any river I have seen for 
 beauty and grandeur. 
 
 I have steamed along this grand river fifty miles, only a third of 
 the distance the Albany will run, and as I stand near the hotel at 
 West Point she steams away in mid-stream, looking at this distance 
 quite a small vessel, so grand are the hills which encircle the sweeping 
 reaches of this majestic river. Standing at old Fort Putnam, just 
 above West Point, the eye wanders over a wide range of hills, 
 covered for the most part with thick wood, brilliant now with colour, 
 varying from 1,400 to nearly 2,000 feet high, around the lower slopes of 
 which the Hudson finds its course. In the days when Hampden and 
 
THE HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK. 55 
 
 Cromwell were fighting for liberty in the old country, from which the 
 Mayflower sailed to Plymouth rock, over these ranges of high land 
 roamed tribes of red Indians, whose only memorials are to be found 
 in the names they have left behind. 
 
 I had a delightful couple of hours of quiet rambling about West 
 Point before crossing by steam ferry to the train, which took me back 
 rapidly, running along the east bank of the Hudson to New York. 
 
 The two best places to dine in New York are Delmonico's and the 
 Brunswick Hotel, both in Fifth Avenue. Here you can have every- 
 thing that the most epicurean palate may desire. On my last evening 
 in New York, we went to the Madison Square theatre, which is 
 peculiarly constructed. The orchestra is above the proscenium, the 
 effect of the music being exceedingly pleasing. There are two stages, 
 so that intervals are very short between acts, set scenes being arranged 
 on one stage, whilst acting is going on on the other. We saw the 
 popular play of Hazel Kirke, which was having a long run. The 
 American theatres are all well arranged, and there are few of the 
 inequalities in outward appearance we see at home. There is no dress 
 circle, one of the essential differences of an American indoor crowd and 
 one elsewhere is that the people are all well-dressed and clothed with 
 self-respect, which gives even a serious aspect to an audience. There 
 is little applause in any theatre I was in and no enthusiasm. Between 
 the acts iced water is handed round. 
 
 A visit to New York would be incomplete without some notice of 
 the slums and places of amusement of the masses of the people. 
 And I had arranged, with a young fellow-townsman, that before 
 leaving should there be an opportunity, I would make an arrangement 
 with the detective police to be shown those amusements and vices 
 which are to be found in all modern cities. I had on a previous 
 evening spent a pleasant hour at one of the largest music saloons, 
 Koster and Bial's Garden, Twenty-third Street, Sixth Avenue, where it 
 was refreshing to see the crowd of orderly, well-conducted people of 
 both sexes, enjoying the performance of excellent music by a numerous 
 band of musicians. There is no doubt a large consumption of lager 
 beer at this and like places. The large hall, hung with paintings, 
 fitted up with hundreds of chairs and small tables and lighted with 
 
56 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 the electric light, is an attraction in itself. There is a large German 
 element in the crowd whichnightly spends its time and takes supper 
 here. 
 
 The Bowery, New York, has always had a notoriety as a rough 
 unsafe region at night for unguarded wayfarers ; many murders and 
 other crimes have been done there ; and one of the first places to 
 which our intelligent conductor led us, was a dark passage leading to 
 a blind court of three or four large houses, each occupied by many 
 families, all of the lowest class, mostly criminal. The place is called 
 Donovan's Court, from the fact of a murder of unusual horror, by a 
 man of that name, having been perpetrated there. Daylight has been 
 let into many of these dark places during the past few years by city 
 improvements, and by the efforts of self-denying, religious men and 
 women especially. 
 
 We next went into what from the street appeared to be an ordinary 
 common beerhouse, but really a sparring crib kept by one Owen 
 Geoghan. Here was an assemblage of men and women of the lowest 
 type I have seen. Drinking and noise in these places go together. 
 Near the inner end of the room was a platform, about three feet from 
 the floor, roped round, and on this presently appeared, two men 
 stripped for an encounter. It was not fighting, as they were gloved, 
 but they hit each other very hard, and were well tired after a few 
 rounds. All this time drinking and noise continue. There are 
 various such places hereabouts. 
 
 Next we went for half an hour to Kramer's Atlantic Gardens, 
 so-called — a large German music hall, which at this hour, about mid- 
 night, is filled with many hundreds of men, women, and young people. 
 To the table next to that at which we sat came two families and had 
 supper, chiefly German sausage in quantity and lager beer. This is a 
 respectable place of amusement. Our guide told me that he came 
 here occasionally, bringing his wife and any of her friends ; and it is 
 quite unique, for the band of musicians consists of women performers, 
 chiefly on stringed instruments. The ladies' orchestra was a novelty 
 to us ; they played excellently various pieces from Gounod, Mozart, 
 Auber, and Strauss. On Sunday sometimes as many as two thousand 
 five hundred people go there, the average being sixteen hundred. 
 
NEW YORK. 57 
 
 About forty barrels of lager beer are consumed on one of these 
 occasions. But a Teuton will sit all night long with a mug of lager 
 before him listening to the music and smoking the inevitable pipe. 
 
 Our next turn took us to the saddest sight I saw, the lowest places 
 in Water Street into which seamen and others are enticed by women 
 who have gradually sunk down to this lowest hell in human life. We 
 went into two places, the " Caledonian Hall " and " The Man at the 
 Wheel," both low drinking houses and dancing shops opening on 
 to the street. Here truly might be written up the most tragic 
 words of Dante, " Abandon hope, all ye that enter ! " To my 
 surprise I found that one of these places was kept by a Salford 
 woman, who, on learning we were from her neighbourhood, wished us 
 in true Lancashire fashion to have something to drink. 
 
 Our next visit was to a Chinese opium smoking place, in a cellar, 
 where Chinamen and others who wish inhale the deadly intoxicant. 
 Our stay here was not long, and none but Chinamen were there, but 
 I saw enough to feel the truth of Dickens's descriptions in Edwin 
 Drood, and was glad when we left the den. Then we came to a street 
 in which most doors were open, and where, out of each house, 
 through crimson curtains, came light and laughter ; of which Solomon 
 said long ago, " The end of that mirth is heaviness, for he 
 knoweth not that the dead are there ; and that her guests are 
 in the depths of hell." It would be hard to describe what we wit- 
 nessed in the houses we visited here — but I will say that we saw both 
 white and coloured humanity under circumstances which show how 
 unaltered is human nature for several thousands of years. Alas ! it 
 was a night of sorrowful memories ; what tragic histories had I not 
 read in the faces of some of those who had passed before us, and I 
 felt how impotent and imperfect in some directions is our much- 
 vaunted civilization. It is the saddest side of our modern life, only to 
 be changed by ages of suffering and woe. 
 
 The night was wearing fast, so driving through the almost deserted 
 streets, we moved towards the river, and shortly reached the Cunard 
 wharf, where I said good-bye to my young townsman and tried to find 
 an hour's sleep. I was stirring early, for various friends had come to 
 say farewell ; punctually to the hour of starting, six o'clock a.m., 
 
58 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 preparations were astir for casting off, and in fifteen minutes we felt 
 the vibrations of our propelling machinery and were soon moving down 
 the Hudson. It is a melancholy scene in the early morning in October, 
 cold and wet ; and after the start we were all very quiet for a time. 
 By-and-by, as the great sun rushed up over the sea, making the sky 
 aflame with light, we became more cheerful, and as we looked around 
 and saw the scenes we had looked upon as we neared America a 
 month ago, some among us brightened up and laid ourselves out for 
 a pleasant time. 
 
 We had on board the Bothnia about one hundred and seventy cabin 
 passengers and about forty forward. It takes a day or two to settle 
 down in your quarters and to find out who are to be your companions 
 during the voyage. We had not, however, been at sea forty-eight 
 hours before it looked like troubled water, and a goodly number of 
 our friends preferred to remain on deck when the bell rung at meal 
 times. Then we got into roughish weather, and the racks were put 
 on the tables, the attendance thereat becoming " small by degrees and 
 beautifully less." Fortunately, I escaped all feeling of uneasiness, and 
 was able thoroughly to enjoy the changing scene. How unlike our 
 outward voyage. One comfort there was, however, we had no fog ; 
 but heavy rain now and then and a rolling, tossing sea, that gave the 
 troubled voyager little rest. After we had been out a week or so it 
 became a matter of calculation whether we should be in port by Satur- 
 day night. We had hoped at the start to reach England on Saturday 
 morning, then as the run on the day showed under two hundred miles, 
 hope gave way to despondency, and Sunday night or Monday morning 
 was the time looked for. 
 
 It was a magnificent sight to watch from the deck the rolling of the 
 mighty Atlantic waves, first as they came on steadily in front, the 
 vessel rising on the waves ; then as we passed over and descended 
 into the deep valley between each roller, to see the mighty wall of 
 water rise up like a mountain behind us and slide away. Hour after 
 hour have I watched and wondered at these gigantic waves as they 
 rolled along ; now and then, as if by some freak, instead of rising as 
 it neared the wave our good ship would put its prow right into the 
 water ; then came a mighty rushing whirl and a scampering out of the 
 
THE VOYAGE HOME. 59 
 
 way by passengers ; two or three feet of solid water rushing along is 
 not to be trifled with. Then we should get a blow sideways from some 
 eccentric wave, and the ship would shudder, as it were, and seemed to 
 be struck motionless for a moment, ere she plunged forward once 
 more, riding upon the waves. And so we went on for days and nights, 
 when it was dark, for the moon had died away after the first night or 
 two. The stars were at times very bright. I saw several of the moons 
 of Jupiter through my ordinary opera glass. At length the weather 
 moderated, not that we had experienced any heavy winds, for we were 
 told that the winds we had experienced did not account for the heavy 
 sea — the wind was, fortunately for us, elsewhere. 
 
 It is impossible to give a complete idea of the wonderful effect a 
 change of weather from cold and stormy to sunshine and a smoother 
 sea has upon a couple of hundred people on board an Atlantic steamer. 
 Yesterday and as I have said for seven or eight days past, invalids 
 have been below or reclining on deck in chairs under heavy wrappers, 
 having their slight needs brought up to them and undergoing a 
 perpetual process of coddling. Now and then a shower of rain would 
 come and flutter the crowd of sufferers, and then patience would give 
 way under the small trial. Occasionally a sail was seen at some 
 distance, and a slight sensation of tidings from afar would stir the ship. 
 Then we should watch for her signals and our return message, and 
 again the wide waste of waters would present no object upon which 
 the eye could rest. Several times upon our voyage large shoals of 
 porpoises would leap along with the ship, and now and then a solitary 
 bird fluttered as if exhausted and rested awhile upon the rigging of 
 our mainmast. The jollier, stronger section of the passengers would 
 between meals, which seemed to come often, amuse themselves by 
 whist, poker, euchre, and other games at cards, or playing at sea quoits 
 or sea skittles, or getting up auctions or pools, or singing in the smoke- 
 room, or gathering in a knot would discuss some vexed question in 
 politics or ecclesiastical affairs. To-day the pure air and wonderful 
 sky of cloudless blue has diffused not only an invigorating influence 
 over the passengers externally, but there seems to be a purer moral 
 atmosphere. Books are more in request, letter-writing is resumed, 
 conversations more aesthetical than polemical are the order of the day. 
 
60 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 During the voyage we have made the acquaintance of various officers 
 of the ship, and the chief engineer, Mr. Brown, a capital fiddler, suggests 
 that, with so much musical talent on board, we might get up a concert. 
 Consider it done, Mr. Brown, was our reply, and accordingly steps were 
 taken, and — having obtained the captain's consent — the entertainment 
 organised. A collection had been made on the previous Sunday, after 
 a sermon by the Bishop of Edinburgh, when the sum of £\g was col- 
 lected. To-night, Friday, we intend to make another effort to supple- 
 ment this sum in aid of the Seaman's Orphan Hospital at Liverpool. 
 We request four of the most charming girls on the ship to take charge of 
 the collecting, and we have our concert, a Mr. Pirn in the chair. We 
 have a prologue written for the occasion by an enthusiastic passenger, 
 and an excellent speech from the chair, and a feeling of peace and good- 
 will pervades the assembly. The concert is a success, and the collection 
 amounts to ^i 1 5. Then the more robust, if not the more musical of the 
 party, adjourn to the smoking-room and hold a second or more secular 
 concert until a late hour, and the skies look down smilingly. 
 
 The effort to be of use has not been in vain, and the numerous 
 family with the cheerful Captain as our head, in this floating home, is 
 animated with kindlier feeling and with widened human sympathy as 
 we get towards the end of our voyage. 
 
 We are nearing land ; a little bird flutters on to the ship, and is 
 easily taken by the hand of a sailor, who tenderly cares for it. 
 Shortly before three a.m. it is very dark, a light flashes in the sky, low 
 hanging near the horizon. As we move forward it seems to rise and 
 to come nearer ; and by-and-by we resolve the star into, and are 
 passing, the Fastnet Light. Out there, not far beyond, just visible, is 
 a low, black line of rocky coast. It is Ireland ! I go down to bed, 
 much pleased with what I have just seen. No other passenger astir. 
 Towards seven o'clock we are nearing Queenstown, and everybody is 
 on deck. Shortly we put in towards the harbour, but only stand off a 
 short time whilst the letter-bags are put on the tender and one or two 
 passengers leave us. Then, as we stand out to sea again, we see the 
 steamship Gallia, from Liverpool yesterday, nearing us, and we put 
 off a boat to take their pilot on board our ship. For a few moments 
 we are near each other, and give a grand uplifted shout of welcome. 
 
EPILOGUE. 61 
 
 Presently the pilot comes on board, our engines move, and we are 
 making up Channel ; the snow-topped mountains of Ireland telling us 
 the reason of the cold wind which has been blowing for some hours. 
 And so until night we steam towards the Mersey, at the mouth of 
 which river we hang about until next morning, when we sail up 
 between her brown low shores, everything looking as if it had been 
 ink-washed, everybody full of excitement as we near Liverpool. 
 Ah ! there is our tender coming ! That with the red funnel. Now we 
 look through our glasses for the faces we know so well. Yes, there 
 they are, coming to meet us, God bless them ! They are here ! It is 
 a time of quiet emotion this returning home, to one's kindred, to Old 
 England, after the perils of the deep. And it is still true, as of old, 
 that " they who go down to the sea in ships see great wonders." 
 
 We are on shore ; on English ground once more ; after the usual 
 Custom-house botheration and cordial farewells to our companions on 
 the sea, we soon reach our train, and by afternoon on Monday, the 
 first of November, are in the old house at home. 
 
 XIII. EPILOGUE. 
 
 HAD purposed stopping at the end of letter twelve, but there 
 is so much more to be told about what I saw in America, 
 that it may be well to give a baker's dozen of letters, and bring 
 together some generalizations which may interest those who have 
 followed my steps week by week. One prominent fact must occur to 
 all who have traced my wanderings on the map — the great extent of 
 country over which I travelled in four weeks. America is so large 
 that facilities for comfortable travelling are necessarily studied and 
 arranged in a much more complete manner than on this side the water. 
 As I have related, not only sleeping cars but dining cars are attached 
 to the long-distance trains, and where they are not abundant time and 
 provision is made at some convenient station for refreshment. The 
 
A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 advantages, too, of the long-carriage system, which affords the means 
 of walking from end to end of the train, are found out in these long 
 journeys. There is also usually " on board " a large collection of books 
 and periodicals for sale. In all the trains I entered, and they were many, 
 iced water was placed in every carriage or brought round by a boy at 
 intervals. And in almost every carriage was a ladies' or gentlemen's 
 lavatory. On the river steamers and the boats which run along the 
 Sound the same careful provision for the comforts of passengers is 
 shown. 
 
 In one of my letters I said that a special chapter might be given 
 upon dining in America. I do not think this is necessary, but I may 
 say that a stranger at first finds a difficulty in getting enough to eat, 
 until he is familiar with the bills of fare and the way dishes are prepared. 
 I was frequently asked by an American friend during the first few days 
 after landing, as a joke, whether I was wanting my dinner. To which 
 I seriously answered yes, several times a day. As in many other 
 matters in the cities, the American cuisine is after French models. 
 A mutton chop such as we know it at home is never seen ; soles are 
 unknown. As was said in the Saturday Review the other day, however, 
 " there is much in American cookery that English housekeepers would 
 do well to borrow." The variety of dishes is astonishing. I have 
 before me a bill of fare of the day, Thursday, 23rd September last, at 
 one of the large sea-side hotels. There are oysters, lobsters, clams, 
 soft-shell crabs, and little necks, all served in a variety of ways. Six 
 soups to select from follow. Then come twelve kinds of fish, followed 
 by entrees, by roast and boiled flesh and fowl, and by game. Twenty- 
 five items swell the list of vegetables, in which our cousins excel. 
 Potatoes, cooked in half a dozen ways, tomatoes, green corn, onions, 
 rice, beans, mushrooms, macaroni, and succotash, besides a string of 
 salads, relishes, and preserved fruits, with twenty-six kinds of pastry 
 and ice creams ! 
 
 But these are trifles. The great fact, — which was ever present to my 
 mind, and which was brought home to me in a thousand ways, from 
 the morning I stepped upon the quay by the Hudson River and was 
 accosted by a Custom-house officer, to the day I embarked in the 
 Bothnia on my return home, — was the American people. There, 
 
EPILOGUE. 63 
 
 separated from us only by the ocean, are fifty millions of people, 
 speaking our language, working hard late and early, prospering and 
 happy, self-governed and strong. Unconsoled by the presence of 
 a State Church, and yet possessing more places of worship per head 
 of population than elsewhere ; unprotected by a great costly standing 
 army or navy, and yet secure ; and even destitute of an aristocracy 
 with hereditary privileges and power, yet unconscious of their poverty. 
 
 To travel in the United States is to witness the full meaning of the 
 civilisation of the nineteenth century, untrammelled by prejudice or 
 precedent. Do not let this be misconstrued as speaking in a strain 
 derogatory of my own countiy. It is not so intended, for I am 
 sufficiently antiquated, and unequal to the task of divesting myself of 
 what may be called prejudice, to still believe that the best outcome of 
 civilisation is yet to be found among English gentlefolk, where culture 
 has gone hand in hand with breed. And I have an instinctive 
 repugnance to nickel and veneer of all kinds. 
 
 Lord Beaconsfield in his most tawdry, recently published work, 
 " Endymion," has gone out of his way to use a double-shotted sneer, 
 when he makes one of his characters suggest the supposition that society 
 in America is very like society in Manchester. And yet these American 
 people, like the working and middle classes of England, have done 
 great things, notwithstanding much opposition from the patrician 
 class. It is not wise to sneer either at Manchester or America. 
 Manchester has done the State some service, and they know it. 
 The existence of the United States is an influence continuously 
 operating on the Old World, which as time rolls on will gather force 
 and become irresistible in changing much of the political and social 
 structures that now look lasting. To my mind one of the sublimest 
 episodes in the history of nations was seen after the suppression 
 of the Southern Slaveholders' Revolt against the United States, 
 when a vast and excited army, flushed with victory, was rapidly 
 disbanded, and its soldiers returned to their peaceful avocations 
 as citizens. Nor was the example of the United States Government 
 less striking for its magnanimity when they forgave and set free 
 the leading rebels, who had caused the expenditure of an unparalleled 
 amount of blood and treasure. To their honour also be it remembered 
 
64 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 that they were willing to submit important claims to arbitration with 
 respect to the pirate ship A/abama,bm\t and launched in one of our 
 chief ports, and which thence sailed forth on the high seas to burn 
 and destroy the property of a friendly nation. These were two 
 examples which will not be without effect in future history. 
 
 There is one matter of policy pursued by the United States which 
 is distasteful to Englishmen especially, and that is their high protective 
 tariff. And on this question I had frequent opportunities for discussion. 
 We need not wonder, however, at the slow progress the doctrine of 
 free exchange makes in the States, when we remember that even 
 aided by a famine in Ireland how difficult a fight we had to establish 
 the principle in our own country. Moreover our fight here was for the 
 prime want of life, bread. There, food is produced in abundance, 
 not only for themselves, but for all the world. And it is a protection 
 of manufactures, not of bread-stuffs. But I have no doubt whatever 
 that the common sense of America will settle this question, for light 
 penetrates, and the principle of free exchange of commodities is as 
 true and beneficent in its action as all other laws of the universe. And 
 as only fifteen millions of people are directly interested, or believe that 
 they are, in opposing this law, whilst the remaining thirty-five millions 
 are sufferers to a large extent by the opposition, it is clearly a matter 
 of light and knowledge, which Time will bring. 
 
 The extraordinary extent of inland navigation in the United States 
 is without doubt one of the most commanding features of the country, 
 which had, to a large extent, before the discovery of railway making, 
 guided the spread of population and determined the sites of many 
 cities. I think that few among us realise the fact, that there are four 
 rivers on the continent of North America, any one of which is larger 
 than all the rivers of the United Kingdom put together. There are 
 more than sixty thousand miles of river, and over one hundred and 
 fifty thousand square miles of lake, on the northern continent of 
 America. The Lakes alone occupy an area equal to the whole extent 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, with the Channel Islands and another 
 Ireland added. These rough and ready comparisons will help us to 
 estimate the attribute of vastness, which so characterises America. For 
 two thousand miles almost, from the Atlantic seaboard inland, the 
 
EPILOGUE. 65 
 
 land, rarely rising to mountain heights, is drained by the great arterial 
 rivers, Missouri and Mississippi, with their many tributaries ; some of 
 these, take the Arkansas, the Tennessee, and the Ohio, being mighty 
 streams that thread their way thousands of miles through rock and 
 forest and mountain land. And yet at the beginning of this century, 
 and even later, the population of the United States hung about the 
 Atlantic sea-board, and may be said roughly not to have penetrated 
 more than two or three hundred miles inland, except at New Orleans 
 and along the banks of the great rivers, and stretching like a fringe 
 around the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 It was the discovery of gold in California that, acting like a load- 
 stone upon the adventurous spirits both of the Old World and the 
 New, drew the stream of population westward ; and, although the 
 excitement incidental to all auriferous discoveries has subsided, other 
 not less valuable finds have attracted men thither from far and near. 
 For on their way west, and especially on the vast western plains, 
 virgin soil was found, prolific and inviting, with a climate so exhilarating 
 and dry that wheat of the finest quality is grown, cut down, and 
 threshed on the field, no housing necessary, in quantities sufficient to 
 freight the navies of the world. Nature there, too, is prodigal of 
 delicious fruits ; and in the sublime solitudes of those far western 
 valleys and along the slopes of the snow-crowned Sierras, it was 
 reserved for our generation to discover forest trees, stupendous beyond 
 the imagination of civilized man. These ideas of vastness and 
 grandeur operate on the minds of men, and are an unseen influence 
 ever at work. The people of the United States are the most instructed 
 people in the world, and among the most law-abiding. The school- 
 house of New England was not planted in vain, and I hope it will be 
 jealously guarded from priestly interference to all future time. There 
 was sown the little seed which germinated and grew into the tree of 
 liberty, and the defence of which has lifted the United States to a 
 foremost place in the nations of the earth. 
 
 They are a nation of workers. Time will bring leisure when Art 
 will grow upon American soil. There is even now no English poet 
 who is more read and whose combination of mind and feeling has a 
 deeper hold on the affections of the multitude than Longfellow ; and 
 
 5 
 
66 A MONTH IN AMERICA. 
 
 for his cheery, delightful companionship who can compare with Oliver 
 Wendel Holmes ? 
 
 The American character has some blemishes which Time may 
 change. Like the newly-made rich in the old world, there is too 
 frequently a self-assertive tone which is not pleasant, and a want of 
 deference which is painful to witness. But these are perhaps the 
 exuberance of strength, and as time goes on an increased leisure may 
 bring greater tranquillity of life and a repose of mind fruitful of good 
 results. 
 
 Already I see the beginning of the new age ; — that activity in intel- 
 lectual work which continually applies itself to practical affairs, and 
 which has given us the sewing machine, the steam plough, the 
 improved printing press, and a perfect host of inventions for econo- 
 mising human labour, will never pass away, but may in other 
 generations work out its subtle life in creative art. 
 
 "Let knowledge grow from more to more, 
 But more of reverence in us dwell ; 
 That mind and soul, according well, 
 May make one music as before, 
 But vaster." 
 
 I have in my short visit to the States seen a few of their chief cities, 
 and, along with several places historically interesting, looked upon the 
 grandest object there, Niagara. But I feel how little I have seen, and how 
 much there is, especially for Englishmen, both to be seen in the 
 United States, and to be studied in the development of the people and 
 their institutions. It is the great country of the future, and I urge 
 most strenuously all those who happen to read these lines to lose no 
 chances of making themselves acquainted with the condition of men 
 over the water, and better than all to go and see for themselves. With 
 true insight our Laureate has sung : — 
 
 " For I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs 
 And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns." 
 
 In my travels in the States I was often reminded, without knowing 
 why, of what had clung to my imagination, from the days when as an 
 obscure worker in sympathy with the cause of justice and freedom, I 
 read the words of our great countryman, in December, 1862, who, 
 
EPILOGUE. 
 
 67 
 
 speaking at Birmingham of what was in his mind's eye, said : — " It 
 may be but a vision, but I will cherish it. I see one vast confederation 
 stretching from the frozen North in unbroken line to the glowing 
 South, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic westward to the 
 calmer waters of the Pacific main ; — and I see one people, and one 
 language, and one law, and one faith, and over all that wide continent, 
 the home of freedom, and a refuge for the oppressed of every race and 
 of every clime." 
 

THE 
 
 PASSION PLAY 
 
 OBER-AMMERGAU, BAVARIA 
 
 i-]th SEPTEMBER, 1S71 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 
 
 N visiting Ammergau we did not go, as most travellers do, from 
 Munich, but took a carriage at Innsbruck and drove leisurely, 
 during two fine days, through most magnificent mountain scenery. 
 The first couple of hours of our journey is along the valley of the Inn, 
 on each side of which rise lofty mountains, rugged and barren along 
 their highest ridges, but clothed with pines on the lower slopes. In 
 the valley are broad, green meadows, through which the cold, rapid, 
 and clear river flows. We ascend the mountains and reach a high 
 plateau, on which is the village of Seefeld (higher than Snowdon), and 
 on all sides tower the giants of the Bavarian Alps. A few hours' drive 
 brings us through Mitten wald to Partenkirchen, gloriously placed in 
 the centre of a ring of mountain peaks. And with this grand panorama 
 to look back upon, we reach the charming Ammerthal ; passing 
 through the picturesque village of Ettal, we come in sight of a huge 
 cross raised upon a high mountain cliff, which overhangs and points 
 out Ammergau. 
 
 The village lies along a flat valley, straggling probably a distance 
 of half a mile. The houses are well built, clean, and commodious. It 
 is not an ordinary village. As we come near, we pass pedestrians of 
 both sexes, and overtake vehicles with visitors, like ourselves, going to 
 the Passion Play. We drive to the house of Madame Veit, to whom 
 we had written for rooms and tickets, and are quickly billeted upon a 
 tidy housewife in one of the many pleasant and clean cottages. There 
 is a bit of garden, in which we may sit under the fruit trees and take 
 tea. We look into the town ; it is crowded with people eager to get 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 
 
 something to eat and drink. All is bustle and noise there. In the 
 crowd of men sitting round the numerous tables is one evidently the 
 centre of a little circle. He has long hair and is enjoying his beer — it 
 is Judas Iscariot. We live at the house of Jacobus the younger. I 
 have asked many groups of children whether they act in the Passion 
 Play ; the answer is always that they do. All the children of the 
 village take part in the performance. There are many priests here. 
 No doubt they feel interested in keeping up the enthusiasm created by 
 these representations. 
 
 There can be no doubt as to the religious character of this perform- 
 ance in the minds of the people. At the early hour of three in the 
 morning the church bells began to toll out their invitations to come to 
 mass. I looked out and saw various groups of peasants making their 
 way there. At half-past five our little party went to the church — it 
 was crowded, almost entirely with peasants, both men and women. 
 There were very few visitors present. At the five altars priests were 
 officiating, and in various parts of the service the congregation 
 responded, men and women alternately, most heartily. There was 
 much devotion. The music was very moving — the soprano and bass 
 voices unusually fine. I have seldom witnessed a more impressive 
 scene than this early mass in this remote village in Bavaria. And this 
 special musical service was in preparation for the solemn representation 
 of the Passion of the Lord and Saviour, whom these people worship, 
 and the image of whose crucified body is placed before their eyes 
 almost at every turn and winding of their highways and villages. 
 
 The early morning September mist had scarcely passed out of the 
 valley and revealed the mountain sides, as the people crowded into the 
 theatre, open for the most part to the sky. It is a singular sensation 
 to sit in this theatre, so unlike all others of this age — and whilst 
 waiting for the beginning of the drama, to look out upon the blue sky, 
 the green meadows, the distant villages, and the pine covered hills, 
 which form a sort of amphitheatre around us. On each side is a row 
 of poplar trees ; between them and the drop scene are the two 
 openings which fairly represent streets in Jerusalem, and, again, are 
 two balconies, representing the houses of Pilate and Annas. In and 
 before these balconies certain important scenes are enacted. 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 73 
 
 Precisely at eight o'clock a gun is fired, the vast audience settle 
 themselves down and are rapidly hushed to silence, the music 
 gradually rises like a delicate odour, and the chorus enters. The 
 chorus is composed of nineteen persons, — twelve women and seven 
 men. These arrange themselves in a semicircle upon the stage and 
 announce and describe the various scenes and tableaux, the leader of 
 the chorus, John Dimmer, taking his place in the centre. He gives 
 what may be called the recitative. They are picturesquely dressed in 
 flowing robes, and they group themselves most artistically. The 
 entrance of the chorus is most impressive by their dignified and 
 graceful movements. The curtain rises, and the first tableau is before 
 us. It is a representation of Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise by 
 the Archangel with a flaming sword. The grouping is very picturesque, 
 and it is wonderful that the pose can be maintained so long. This 
 first tableau remained before us about three minutes. During this 
 period the choir sing their explanation of the picture and its relation 
 to the scene which is to follow. The second tableau represents the 
 Adoration of the Cross. These two pictures symbolise the idea of the 
 the play, — the fall and hope of man, — and precede the first scene of 
 the drama, which is Christ's entry into Jerusalem. This is very beau- 
 tifully worked out ; many children, women, and men, with palm 
 branches in their hands, precede and accompany Christ, who is seated 
 upon an ass. These spread their garments before him. The whole 
 play very faithfully adheres to the Scripture narrative both in action 
 and text. Nothing can be more impressive than the calm, dignified 
 manner of the Christ, as he, after dismounting, comes slowly before his 
 followers toward the front of the stage, where the chief discourse is held. 
 Although Mair and Lechner, — the Christ and the Judas of the play, — 
 are wonderful actors, it is only right to say that all the acting by the 
 men is fine. The Caiaphas is quite equal to the two named. The 
 most trifling part is not left in careless hands. The women only play- 
 weakly, but their beauty, and the tenderness of their tones of voice, are 
 some compensation for their inefficient acting. The face of the Virgin 
 is a poem, and her voice is full of heart-breaking tenderness, but she 
 and the other Marys are almost dull and frigid, when one would look 
 for the intense anguish they are suffering to manifest itself in outward 
 
74 THE PASSION PLAY. 
 
 demonstration. At the vacant tomb of the risen Lord they are 
 impassive — only at the sight of her son bearing the heavy cross does 
 Mary put her feelings in her speech. And at this point in the play, 
 there was a widely-spread response in the breasts of the audience. 
 It may be the simple and wondrous story with which we are all so 
 familiar from our earliest childhood, or the rare spectacle of a village 
 population, for generations devoting themselves in their leisure to the 
 study of dramatic art, impelled by a deep religious motive ; but without 
 analyzing why, — there is certainly something extraordinary in the fact 
 of three thousand people, and of these a large proportion of impatient 
 English and Americans, sitting attentively with only one pause, to 
 witness a performance which lasts from eight to nine hours. 
 
 During the movements of the crowd in the entry into Jerusalem, 
 and in a manner which one does not notice until it is done, the scene 
 is changed to the outer courts of the temple, with the money changers 
 in full swing, and those who sell doves. Mair's acting here is fine ; his 
 rebukes sting the Pharisees ; he overthrows the tables, and, taking 
 cords, drives out with stripes the dealers from the courts of the Temple. 
 Here the crowd supports him, but an adverse faction is created of the 
 dealers and the Pharisees, which the chief priests observe and foment. 
 Christ takes leave of his followers and with his disciples retires to 
 Bethany. 
 
 The next scene in the drama is that of the Jewish Sanhedrim, in 
 which Annas and Caiaphas figure prominently. The members of the 
 high council hold an excited meeting on the recent doings of Christ, 
 and the strongest feelings of exasperation are expressed against him. 
 It is thought that one of the followers of Christ is susceptible to a 
 bribe. A loudly expressed desire for retaliation upon Christ by the 
 Pharisees and dealers follows — they are commissioned to find him 
 out — and the meeting closes with dire resolutions and invoking the 
 fathers of Israel. 
 
 The third scene, or act as it called, is Christ at Bethany. It is 
 divided into three parts ; the walk with his disciples to the house of 
 Simon, their talk by the way about his departure, then the meal taken 
 together in the house where Martha waits upon the Lord and his 
 disciples, and where Mary Magdalene comes and casts herself before 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 75 
 
 the Master. She anoints his head and feet with costly ointment. The 
 grouping here was picturesque, but the acting of the Magdalene very 
 formal. The parting of Christ (which follows,) and his mother was 
 very beautifully rendered — it was a quiet, simple, tender leave-taking, 
 full of deep, unspoken grief on the part of Mary, as she embraces her 
 steadfast son, upon whom to look is to feel strong. He gently leaves 
 his mother with her women and Lazarus, and the disciples follow him. 
 This was a brief and beautiful scene ; and there was a decided sadness 
 upon the audience during its representation. 
 
 The fourth scene gives the journey to Jerusalem ; here the tempta- 
 tion of Judas occurs. He lingers behind the rest of the disciples, and 
 whilst soliloquising about the value of the lost valuable ointment is 
 overtaken by one and then others of the dealers, who offer him money 
 to betray the Master into their hands. After much agitation he 
 succumbs to their repeated pressure, and promises to accept their 
 reward. 
 
 The fifth act is one of the most impressive scenes in the whole play, 
 and yet it is the least assisted by external theatrical aids. It is the 
 scene of the last supper — Christ and the twelve apostles are seated 
 around the table, grouped as in Leonardo da Vinci's picture — he speaks 
 to them in the words we read in the Gospels. The Scripture narrative 
 is acted and spoken. The Lord washes the disciples' feet — it is very 
 impressive in its simplicity. Then after the washing of feet he breaks 
 bread and gives the disciples, each one, to eat — followed by his taking 
 round the cup and saying, " This is my blood, drink ye all of it. Do 
 this in remembrance of me." Then comes the question of who is the 
 one to betray the Lord. Jesus places a sop in the mouth of Judas, who 
 starts as possessed of a devil, and as Christ utters the words, " What 
 thou doest do quickly," he rushes out as with an irresistible impulse. 
 Afterwards comes the talk with Peter, and the words " Thou, Peter, 
 wilt deny me." The Christ of this scene is a masterpiece of delicate 
 acting. It is subdued and tranquil, yet with a sense of godlike calm 
 power that nothing can disturb. 
 
 The sixth scene shows us once more the Jewish Sanhedrim. The 
 meeting of the council is very excited, and all except two of its 
 members are loud and vehement in desiring revenge against Jesus. 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 
 
 Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus speak in his favour, and are 
 declared by Caiaphas to be unworthy to sit in the assembly. They 
 retort, and there is much discussion, high and strong. The scene is 
 splendidly acted. Judas is brought in, and, after some bargaining, the 
 money he is to have is counted out to him. With the feeling of a 
 miser, he grasps each coin, and the details of his arrangement are 
 discussed and settled. The assembly is excited with wrathful satis- 
 faction at the prospect of seizing the person of Christ. Nicodemus 
 and Joseph leave the hall — they will not be party to the contract with 
 Judas. The scene ends excitedly with cries of " Death to him — let 
 him die." 
 
 At this stage of the drama there is a pause of about an hour. And 
 here I ought to say that before each of the scenes proper to the play 
 there are two or more tableaux, the subjects taken from the Scriptures, 
 and having some reference, real or symbolical, to that which is to 
 follow. These tableaux are accompanied by songs and choruses, 
 explanatory, which are sung either by one voice or the whole chorus, 
 or in alternate strophes by either half of the singing chorus. The music 
 is always pleasing ; sometimes it is deeply impressive, penetrating the 
 depths of one's emotional nature. It is in these tableaux the children 
 mostly take their little parts, and are well seen in the living picture of 
 the fall of manna in the wilderness ; also in the two tableaux of the 
 brazen serpent lifted up by Moses. In these beautiful representations 
 there are two or three hundred persons — men, women, and children, 
 some very young. 
 
 The second division of the play is introduced with the tableau of 
 Adam condemned to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. This 
 is a very effective picture. Adam and Eve, in sheepskins, and seven 
 children are grouped in various attitudes of work and play. They are 
 living statues. The seventh act of the drama is the garden of 
 Gethsemane, and the events and words of the Scripture narrative are 
 faithfully adhered to in the representation. It is painfully realistic ; 
 the interest is intense when, during the agony of Christ, as he prays 
 for the third time, an angel appears, ministering to him. Then come 
 the soldiers, the crowd, and the betrayer — the incident of Peter smiting 
 the servant of the high priest and Christ healing the wound — the 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 77 
 
 falling down of the soldiers upon Christ's saying, " I am he ;" then his 
 being led away, ill-used by the soldiers and the crowd. We next see 
 Christ led before Annas, the high priest — who awaits his arrival with 
 impatience upon the balcony of his house overlooking one of the 
 streets of Jerusalem. The priests have now gained the crowd of 
 people to their views ; after a painful scene of questioning by Annas, 
 he sends Jesus to Caiaphas. The crowd press around him, jeering ; 
 the soldiers insult him and push him before them. Jesus is led before 
 Caiaphas and his subordinates, and the false witnesses are brought 
 forth. It is decided to send him to the hall of judgment. Then 
 follows the scene in the porch, where Jesus is rudely and violently 
 treated by the soldiers. Also, the scene where Peter denies Christ. 
 This is most dramatically worked out ; it is painted with the minutest 
 fidelity to the text of the gospel, and every actor in the play seems to 
 feel the reality of his part. 
 
 The tenth scene represents the Sanhedrim once more, which 
 declares that Christ must die. Judas, after wandering about rest- 
 lessly, comes and wishes to undo what he has done. After much 
 altercation and violent recrimination, he throws down the money 
 which he had received and rushes away. Then we see him alone, 
 suffering from intense remorse at the ruin he has made ; his agony 
 becomes fearful, and in his despair he hangs himself. The tableau 
 which precedes the despair of Judas is one of great power. It is Cain 
 a wanderer and a vagabond upon the face of the earth. 
 
 The eleventh act represents Christ brought before Pilate. This and 
 the two subsequent appearances of Christ before Pilate are perhaps 
 the most powerful scenes in the play. The last scene before Pilate's 
 house is exceedingly exciting and lifelike, and during its movement 
 there are shown some of the most artistically arranged groups of men 
 and women I have ever beheld on any stage. 
 
 The twelfth act shows us Christ before Herod, to whom Pilate has 
 referred the case, as being in his special jurisdiction. In the thirteenth 
 act Pilate has given up Jesus to be scourged, and in this scene all the 
 brutal mockery of the soldiery was delineated. The fourteenth act 
 shows the triumph of the priestly element, which, working upon the 
 populace, had brought an overwhelming clamour to Pilate for the death 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 
 
 of Jesus, and after a long and wonderfully sustained scene, in which 
 Jesus maintains a sublime indifference to taunts and insults, and in 
 which Pilate does much to try to save Christ from the ferocious Jews, 
 he at length breaks the stick and hands him over to be crucified. 
 Two thieves are also brought out, and are taken away with the Christ. 
 The triumph of the priests is complete, the crowd is wild with savage 
 delight. 
 
 The fifteenth act is appropriately introduced by three tableaux : 
 First, Isaac carrying wood to the altar upon which he is to be laid ; 
 second, Moses raising the brazen serpent ; third, the children of Israel 
 looking up to the brazen serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness. 
 These are all living pictures, and they are accompanied by soul- 
 subduing music — the refrain, — 
 
 " Betet an und habet dank, 
 
 Der den kelch der leiden trank, 
 
 Geht nun in den Kreuzestod 
 
 Und versohnt die welt mit Gott !"* 
 
 following twice after each musical exposition. Then the chorus with- 
 draws, and we see Mary the virgin mother, Magdalene, and other 
 women, with John, approaching down one of the streets of Jerusalem. 
 They pause sadly, as they with us, hear loud shouts proceeding 
 from an excited multitude who are coming through the streets at the 
 other side of the great stage. These harsh shouts are from the crowd 
 which moves along with Christ, who is now seen bearing the massive 
 cross, under which he walks with difficulty. He is guarded by Roman 
 soldiers and attended by four executioners. At length he sinks beneath 
 the heavy load, and Simon of Cyrene, who happens to be walking near, 
 is seized by the Roman guard and made to carry the cross in place of 
 Christ. Meanwhile the sorrowing mother weeps and her women raise 
 their lamentations as the mournful procession draws nearer. Then 
 comes Veronica. All the women are weeping. But Jesus pauses and 
 speaks to them, saying in a tender voice. "Weep not for me, 
 
 * " Worship and give thanks ! 
 
 Who the cup of suffering drank, 
 Goes now on the cross to die 
 And atones the world with God !" 
 
THE PASSION PLAY. 79 
 
 O daughters of Jerusalem, but for yourselves and for your children ;" 
 and then the slow, sad march goes on. This is the most moving scene 
 in the play — the impassioned, loving tones of Mary as she speaks out 
 of her deep anguish to her suffering son, penetrate every heart. Very 
 shortly follows the culminating incident of this absorbing drama. The 
 scene opens and we see three crosses, not yet lifted up, but with the 
 two thieves already fastened, and Jesus being nailed upon the cross. 
 Presently they are raised, placed in the ground, and made secure. 
 
 The inscription, " This is Jesus, the King of the Jews," is placed by 
 order of Pilate over the head of Christ. The crowd and soldiers jeer 
 and scoff. The thieves each speak to Christ, — one derisively and the 
 other with penitence, — and Jesus replies. After a while Jesus faintly 
 speaks ; one of the soldiers then gives him vinegar on a sponge. He 
 sinks his head, and cries, " Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani," — his head 
 now falls forward — he is dying — the thunder peals — there is darkness ; 
 the bystanders, the soldiers, the executioners, even the high priests, 
 are troubled. The executioners ascend the ladders to break the two 
 thieves, and one shudders to see them die beneath the heavy strokes. 
 The body of Christ does not undergo this ignominy. But the captain 
 of the guard thrusts a spear into his side, and one starts as the blood 
 rushes from the wound. Soon Joseph of Arimathea comes to claim 
 the body armed with an order from Pilate. Then follows the taking 
 down from the cross — the body is tenderly released from the 
 cross, and carefully lowered by the friends and followers of the 
 dead Lord. At the foot of the cross are the three Marys, and other 
 women, with John, the discTple whom Jesus loved. The body is 
 placed upon a linen sheet, the head of4he dead Christ resting upon his 
 mother's knees. It is a very mournful sight. Then the body is 
 enveloped in white linen and carried by Joseph and Nicodemus to the 
 sepulchre, against the entrance to which is placed a great stone. 
 
 When the curtain rises for the seventeenth scene the grave is 
 guarded by four Roman soldiers, who speak to each other about the 
 late crucifixion. Suddenly there is thunder and an earthquake, which 
 throws down the stone from the door of th^tomb, and Christ, radiant 
 and majestic, walks forth. This would be a fitting end to the play ; 
 the interest to this point is unceasing and unbroken ; but what follows 
 
80 THE PASSION PLAY. 
 
 is the women and disciples at the tomb — then the Pharisees, who wish 
 to bribe the soldiery. Then Christ appears to Mary Magdelene in the 
 garden. 
 
 The eighteenth and last act is a tableau representing the ascension 
 of the glorified Christ, the chorus singing joyously as he ascends. 
 And as the long shadows of the poplar trees stretch across the place, 
 and the sun sinks below the western hills, the curtain falls and the 
 Ammergau Passion Play is over. Whether we look at the large 
 number of persons engaged in the play, the great care bestowed upon 
 every detail, the high character of the delineation, the vast audience 
 gathered from all countries, the remote and picturesque situation in a 
 quiet Bavarian mountain village, the character of the actors, the 
 motives which impel them to their work, the marvellous finish and 
 effect of their effort — it is without doubt one of the most extraordinary 
 exhibitions of our times, and one which makes a profound impression 
 upon those who see it, quite apart from their creed or their want 
 of one. 
 
 The play is over, and the crowds of people who have sat so long 
 with intense attention to this mournful drama, are rapidly disappear- 
 ing. By seven o'clock the village is nearly deserted, and by nine the 
 lights are almost out. Throughout the three days we have been here 
 we have seen nothing like the faintest approach to disorder, notwith- 
 standing the great crowd and the profusion of good beer, except in the 
 case of two fat priests, who, late one night, passed us on our way home, 
 reeling- drunk. 
 
/ 
 
 THREE WEEKS 
 
 NORWAY 
 
 A SERIES OF LETTERS 
 
 Written in JUNE, 1S60. 
 
LIST OF OUTLINES. 
 
 Bergen to face page S4 
 
 Naerodai IQI 
 
 Naerodai I02 
 
 Stalheim Foss IQ 3 
 
 Near Gudvangen io 3 
 
 Styve on Naero Fjord 104 
 
 Naero Fjord io 5 
 
 Naero Fjord I0 5 
 
 Near Husum no 
 
 Near Husum ni 
 
 Near Bokgund in 
 
 Borgund Church II2 
 
: 
 
 Irp^cfr 
 
 STALHEIM FOSS. 
 
 ^a-'X-ttherh-OUT. 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 AILED from Hull, in the Anna, on the morning of Saturday, 
 2nd June, i860, dropping down the turbid Humber to the sea 
 about five o'clock. Bright, clear morning, but very cold ; and as we 
 put off the pilot at the Spurn, the wind freshened, the sun became less 
 bright, and a grey haze overspread the sky, sending me down to a 
 breakfast I was not destined to consume, for the inevitable sea serpent 
 had already got me in his tortuous folds, and the green sickness of a 
 landsman overspread my vision as I took a place at that otherwise 
 
 cheerful board. 
 
 On Sunday night, as I walked on to the deck of the vessel, the 
 moon, large and beautiful, sailed as it were out of the sea into the 
 silent night ; turning from her full-orbed gaze, I looked upon the out- 
 lines of a dark low line of rocks, with higher elevations in a second 
 line beyond, snow-capped ; over these dark masses of cloud lay 
 sullenly in long deep lines, in striking contrast with the broad band 
 of orange-tinted sky that marked the lingering light of the setting sun. 
 It was my first sight of Garnle" Norge (Old Norway). The water was 
 now calm, only the ripple of the ship's advance disturbed the silence, 
 but the air was extremely cold, and again I sought my snug berth. 
 As I lie awake, there is a cessation in the throbbings of that 
 great heart whose pulsations had so regularly propelled us ; and, in 
 expectancy, I hear a few Norsk words. We are taking on board a 
 Norwegian pilot, who has put off from the coast, though distant some 
 miles. The first is always taken, and if one comes out he must be 
 taken. At 2-45 the sun rose over the huge dark rocks, and about 
 
81 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 seven o'clock we near the narrow entrance of the fjord leading to our 
 port, and we all meet on deck once more with pleasant faces. There 
 are only five passengers from Hull, and one is a Norwegian. 
 
 It is a sail of about twenty-six English miles from the entrance of the 
 rocks, and inside the water is smooth as a lake, with rocks, dark and 
 barren, rising most picturesquely on each side. As we steam up this 
 lake, here and there are sweet patches of rich green ; a small house, 
 with boat moored to an adjacent rock ; perhaps a few cottages and a 
 small church ; occasionally on some high projection a cow or two crop 
 what little provender they can from the almost, to us, bare-looking 
 rock upon which they stand ; villa-like residences appear in sheltered 
 nooks, and most attractive they are, suggesting the refinements of life 
 and cheerful family circles on the winter nights. 
 
 The rocks are gneiss mainly, old as the foundations of the planet, 
 grim and gaunt. Grander views open before us as we advance inland ; 
 still the same succession of green patches and pretty villas ; frequently 
 fishing boats, light and buoyant, pass us rapidly. We make a rather 
 sharp turn, and, with somewhat of surprise, come upon Bergen. We 
 are at the head of the fjord ; Bergen is at the base of that huge, almost 
 bare rock, that rises from the sea a thousand feet. An English yacht 
 lies at anchor in the bay ; and close in shore are numerous fishing 
 smacks, their high prows rising considerably, like those of the vikings 
 of old, above the half-open deck of the vessels. The same style of 
 boat in which, a thousand years ago, the Northmen shoaled upon our 
 coasts, and swarmed over our rich and accessible flats. The town 
 stretches round the head of this water, which runs up between like the 
 thin end of a pear ; the red-tiled roofs straggling in tiers or terraces 
 up the hill side from the water's extreme edge. 
 
 The sky is clear, and of a soft blue ; it is a lovely June morning. 
 After a very trifling formality, we are passed through the custom- 
 house ; no passports asked for. We loiter up the hill, gazing at the 
 strange costumes and the pretty faces, for already we have seen 
 several Scandinavian beauties, and we stop at the house of Madame 
 Sontum, where Brown, Jones, Robinson, and Smith, the four English 
 passengers just arrived, soon form a group of equal attraction for an 
 admiring and good humoured crowd. 
 
It - 1 M< * 
 
 ilk --& 
 -Iff -fWk 
 
 m m 
 
 mWM 
 I m\wm 
 
 4 mm mwh 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 85 
 
 The peculiar beauty of Bergen, its quaint wooden houses, every 
 window ornamented with flowers, is very manifest as we walk to make 
 our respects to the British vice-consul. In this latitude, that, I think, 
 of Petersburg and the Shetland Islands, we find in profusion, in the 
 windows, roses, fuchsias, and lilies in the better class of houses, and I 
 do not remember any house without its flowers. 
 
 The streets are clean, and a crowd of life is moving about the town. 
 The ordinary English costume is the respectable inhabitant, engaged 
 in mercantile affairs, but that is the exception ; there are many strange 
 and very curious dresses that stand out by the brightness of their 
 colours from this varied crowd. The female peasants from Hardanger 
 have dark-blue, close-fitting bodices and kirtles, with a white and red 
 richly-embroidered breastwork, close-fitting blue and red caps, and 
 braided hair ; whilst here and there may be seen peasants from the 
 more distant interior, with a profusion of gold and silver ornaments 
 upon their bosoms. It is a great fair, and sunny June, and we see 
 Bergen under a favourable aspect as regards light, colour, and gaiety. 
 In the shops we notice many articles of protection from rain— oil-*skin 
 coats, hats, boots, &c, and immense wooden shoes : it is the wettest 
 town in Norway. 
 
 There is a considerable crowd, but nothing remotely approaching to 
 excitement ; the lives of these people flow more tranquilly than those 
 of our good folks at home. There are soldiers, though, even here, for 
 even this craggy coast of Norway, facing the rude Atlantic, has 
 attractions for one of " the Great Powers," who has no claims there. 
 We watched their drill ; the artillery, a very fair, soldierly-looking set 
 of men, who could fight like the ancient sea-kings upon occasion. 
 
 As we pass by the burial-grounds, I notice over the grass-grown 
 graves are placed wooden crosses, carved and gilt ; some of them 
 twined with wreaths of everlastings, and many of the tombs covered 
 with flowers. 
 
 On the German side of the town is the Bourse, where to-day many 
 merchants do congregate, and along the quay a slight attempt at bustle 
 prevails. A deep and unmistakeable odour of cod liver oil and much 
 fish, saturates the air in this neighbourhood. 
 
 We visit a small picture gallery and are shown a series of drawings, 
 
86 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 exhibiting various stages of leprosy, which extends frightfully through- 
 out Norway, chiefly on the western coast, and more north than south. 
 There are here two large hospitals for those afflicted with this terrible 
 evil. 
 
 We return to Madame Sontum's to dine. Fish is served ; again 
 fish, fish curiously disguised, and again fish. It is overdoing a good 
 thing. You take, as a relief, some pudding. Vain delusion ; it is 
 again fish, in another of his multitudinous transmutations. Beer, 
 moderately good, and fair claret, with a cup of coffee and petit verre, 
 d la Franqaise. 
 
 In the early evening we had a delightful drive round the suburbs of 
 Bergen, through the kindness of a Norwegian friend, to whom I had 
 letters of introduction, and whose fine spirit of hospitality and good- 
 will can never be forgotten. We returned through pleasant long 
 avenues of lime and birch, down by the water side, where the burghers 
 spend their summer evenings, and the young couples while away their 
 sweetest hours. We return home a little before ten o'clock, quite 
 daylight, a rich warm glow filling the western sky. At eleven o'clock, 
 still light enough in the streets to read with perfect ease a letter I am 
 about to post. 
 
 The good citizens are abed ; the streets are deserted and quiet ; we 
 walk along with our friend towards his home at the other end of the 
 town. As we near the ancient gateway we hear a loud, unearthly 
 noise — or as of some maudlin drunkard, who roareth in the mad 
 dream of his cups as he hiccoughs reeling home. There is no one 
 near. The sound comes, as it were, out of the air, and is most 
 marvellous. "The night is clear, the wind is still — it is half-past 
 eleven,'' in deep tones, is moaned through a huge speaking trumpet 
 by the watchman from the Kirke Tower, and we feel that we have 
 gone back centuries. Nothing was more quaintly impressive than 
 this finish to our day in Bergen, though its first aspect had appealed 
 to us somewhat ludicrously. 
 
 The people of Bergen are practical followers of Franklin, in the 
 matter of " early to bed and early to rise ; " as we passed through the 
 town the shops were gradually opening, although barely six o'clock. 
 In the early morning, the scenes, the same we had driven over last 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 87 
 
 evening, wore a new aspect, and we felt that we were having more 
 than usual good fortune in the weather. 
 
 The road to Garnaes begins with fine sweeping undulations, each 
 eminence commanding views of Bergen, the bay, and distant fjord. 
 The last of these views, of the lofty mountains, the calm shining fjord, 
 the little fleet of fishing boats in the harbour, the long line of town, 
 straggling up the hill, and thinly veiled in morning mist, the dome 
 Kirche in the centre, with the sweetly luxuriant foreground, lying in 
 shadow of the mountain, made a picture never to be forgotten. 
 
 Buckling the burdens upon our backs in earnest, we passed away 
 from Bergen. As we walked along we were strongly reminded of 
 Borrowdale, in Cumberland ; crags and richly-wooded hills, with a 
 small tranquil lake sleeping in their midst, about a Norsk, or seven 
 English miles, from Bergen. Then come a series of rocks and 
 country, suggesting Bettws-y-Coed, in North Wales, but more of it, 
 and continuous. Then a long stretch of wild uncultivated rugged 
 moorland, a clear mountain stream rushing down the valley, and wild 
 mountain sides sloping gently from either side. We had now walked 
 about eight or nine miles ; it was very hot, and the knapsacks were so 
 far disagreeable companions. We had noticed several small carts on 
 the road containing produce, and as another was approaching we took 
 the opportunity for our first essay in Norsk. " Have you any milk?" 
 Puzzled look of peasant in reply. " Milk?" A gleam of intelligence. 
 " Ya ! " " Can we have some ? " The difficulty now was how to 
 measure or get at it. " What for that tub ? " said I, pointing to a small 
 keg that stood prominently inviting in the cart. " Seven skillings," 
 said the man. " Let me have it, here are eight ; " and, knocking off 
 the top, we drank long and deep at our purchase, largely refreshed by 
 the rich unctious liquid, and pleased, of course, at the success of our 
 early endeavour to make ourselves understood by words. The 
 heartiness with which the farmer shook hands when he gave us " tak," 
 or thanks, as is the custom, evidenced that he considered eight 
 skillings as an excellent equivalent for the two quarts of milk. 
 
 A further walk of seven or eight miles over varied country brought 
 us to Garnaes, on the south-western shore of the Oster Fjord, a noble 
 expanse of water, stretching right and left many miles. Hence we 
 
88 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 took boat for Dalevaagen (about midway up the fjord), a distance of 
 17 or 1 8 miles. The scenery along this fjord is grand ; the hills are 
 not more than 1,000 feet, but they are thickly wooded to the water's 
 edge, and, when not clothed with forest, of broken and picturesque 
 outline. In one reach of this great lake is a beautiful waterfall, falling 
 at a great elevation in one huge mass, then quickly spreading, fan-like, 
 over the scattered rocks below. Our enjoyment heightened with every 
 turn of the boat, and the magnificent pass into which the fjord 
 narrows at Dalevaagen seemed to culminate the excitement. We 
 walked through the solitary pass, darkened into gloom, almost, by the 
 grandeur of its rocks and woods, passing a small village on the way 
 where noisy revelry was rampant. One or two of the most hideous 
 human faces grinned disagreeably upon us, drunk and madly gesticu- 
 lating, as we went by. 
 
 From Dalevaagen to Dalseidet is about four miles and a half. At 
 Dalseidet, we both exclaimed, was the finest single view we had seen 
 during the day, a mighty expanse of calm water, with thickly wooded 
 mountains, dipping almost perpendicularly to the lake. It is another 
 arm of the Oster Fjord, over which we took boat to the next station. 
 
 In this hour's pull across the fjord from Dalseidet to Bolstadoren, 
 the magical effect of the soft twilight and the perfect calm upon the 
 water was marvellous. We rode in silence, and I found, in talking 
 over our feelings afterwards, that my companion had experienced the 
 same strange sensation of being, as it were, spell-bound with the 
 witchery of the scene. Had the immense rock, towards whi^h we 
 were advancing without any prospect of an outlet, opened like a 
 scene, I should not, I think, have been more surprised. The peculiar 
 taciturnity and sad expression of face of the old boatman who sat 
 nearest to us, added to the interest. It was altogether an ineffaceable 
 scene, and I felt that we need no longer wonder that superstitious 
 belief in elves and fairies held its ground. In one form or another 
 may the heart's deep feeling out of which they grow, for ever live, 
 weaving its fine fancies and high imaginings into robes of light. 
 
 Arrived at Balstadoren about ten o'clock, after a long day. Quite 
 daylight. Excellent station ; good comfortable supper, ham and eggs, 
 best thing we have had since leaving England in the commissariat 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY, 
 
 department ; the management of which, upon the division of labour 
 principle, is in the hands of my companion, a rare genius in the 
 higher regions of gastronomic art. 
 
 The walk from Bolstadoren station — prettily placed between the 
 hills — to the Evanger Vand is along a bank of the river connecting 
 the two fjords. This river, swollen with the melting snows, rushed 
 along the valley with great force. There is considerable cultivation 
 here, and the road is as through a park grounds. The Evanger Vand 
 is a beautiful lake, about four English miles long, surrounded by 
 lofty hills, with farms dotted along their sides at frequent intervals. 
 Here and there, as we pass near the shore, is a shelving rock, rich 
 with a carpet of sweet violets that waft their perfume through the 
 sunny air ; now comes a patch of luxuriant grass and clover, whilst 
 higher the abundant pine rises many-terraced, and the snow still in 
 heavy patches crowns the scene. 
 
 Evanger is pleasantly situated at a corner of the lake ; a few houses 
 sufficiently scattered to form a group round the neat little white and 
 red church, with a background of wooded hills, make the first sight of 
 this village eminently picturesque. At Evanger we had a short delay, 
 caused by the sudden illness of my friend. The people were very 
 kind, and, after we were able to make ourselves understood, took much 
 pains to assist us. Hired a carriole to next station, and were informed 
 by the landlord at Evanger that in our way we should find a man who 
 could speak English, whom the skyds-karl (car driver) should find for 
 us, with a view to obtaining information about the next station. The 
 country is very beautiful, more cultivated, with much wood, and loftier 
 hills ; the streams, still swollen with snow and rain, most musical. So 
 far as the flora indicates, we might be in England. In the meadows, 
 the marsh marigold and lady-smock of old Chaucer are profusely 
 scattered. Violets, buttercups, and daisies abound. Among trees — 
 pine, birch, and ash predominate. Butterflies, blue, yellow, and white, 
 just as at ho,me, flutter in the sunny air. It is perfect spring ; nature 
 is still robed in her freshest green ; and the birds are singing their 
 liveliest songs. We hear the cuckoo and the corn-crake loud and long ; 
 and flitting about constantly on heavier wing, common as our thrush, 
 is the magpie. 
 
90 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 As we enter the village of , the skyds-karl announces that 
 
 T H is to be found here, and, pulling up, he asks a villager 
 
 to find him. There is evidently some festivity in the village ; we hear 
 shouts, and one or two women in holiday dress peep out of doors. 
 Whilst we wait, a tall and grave-looking old man, with much serious- 
 ness, almost amounting to solemnity, comes to speak with us ; and he 
 carries in his hands a large wooden bowl. It is filled to the brim with 
 ale. " Skole, skole," he says, and drinks, handing the bowl to me. 
 " Skole, skole," I reply, and drink deeply. I was in excellent con- 
 dition to enjoy the proffered hospitality. By this time a small crowd 
 
 had gathered round us, and each one had been asked where T 
 
 H was, for that two Englishmans were here. We became rather 
 
 anxious to go, after waiting some time, as we had no very urgent 
 reason for taxing the missing gentleman's time, but it was clear that 
 upon this occasion Englishmen were in too high repute to be allowed 
 to go away quietly. 
 
 I was beckoned to follow one of the elders of the men, of whom 
 some dozen had now assembled round our carriole, and I went along 
 with him into one of the houses in the village ; leading me to the foot 
 of the stairs, like a grand chamberlain, he politely bowed me to 
 ascend, and upon entering the upper room I found what was the cause 
 of all the feast and merry-making. A bride and bridegroom sat to 
 receive their friends ; and, as an Englishman (of whom Mr. Williams 
 has truly said the Norwegians have the highest respect, and consider 
 them all lords or M.P.'s), I was thus solemnly asked to walk upstairs 
 and drink the health of the happy couple. The room was decorated 
 with the family chests, arranged on all sides, and the clothes of the 
 bride and bridegroom spread around. No doubt there were many 
 presents among the articles I saw. The bride was very prettily 
 dressed, and certainly reminded me of our best ballet dancers, with 
 longer petticoats and no crinoline. The ornaments upon the breast 
 were numerous and sparkling, of gold and silver. The Norwegian 
 women are very fond of trinkets, that is certain. The costume was a 
 short petticoat, blue ; red boddice, with white sleeves ; with orna- 
 mented breastplate or stomacher of beadwork, on a dark ground ; the 
 long hair carefully braided. The bridegroom was dressed ordinarily, 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 91 
 
 black vest and trousers, and in his shirt sleeves. I was again re- 
 minded of " Sonnambula " and the theatre ; it was truly picturesque. 
 
 I was asked to sit down, and with considerable formality three 
 glasses of beer were poured out, and rising, the bride, bridegroom, and 
 myself, each took a glass, and, knocking them together, I wished them 
 severally " skole." Then they drank my health. By this time one of 
 the fathers-in-law came in, and I had to repeat the ceremony with 
 him. After I had " skoled " about half-a-dozen times, a mother-in-law 
 appeared with food — bread, cheese, and flesh — and a new knife of the 
 bridegroom was offered to me, and I was requested to sit down at the 
 table and eat. Of course, I complied with this hospitable request ; 
 and again, but this time with greater ceremony, out of a large silver 
 cup, evidently a family relique, I was asked to " skole." This cup 
 passed round ; it contained a very disagreeable compound ; I should 
 think a sort of sacramental marriage wine of mixed bitters and sweets, 
 that is only taken once in a lifetime. 
 
 Happily, I had with me a few small articles which I conceived 
 would be useful to the wife and a trifling memento for the husband, 
 which I ventured to offer ; they were received with much gratification. 
 We were once more " skoled," and now the bride and bridegroom 
 offered to go out to the company assembled in the adjoining barn, 
 prepared for the occasion, where fiddling and dancing were rife. The 
 smiling couple were received with loud shouts ; they wished me to 
 join them in the dance. Possessing little skill in the sphere of the 
 light fantastic toe, I had some doubts as to whether I should not bring 
 disgrace on my nationality in this matter (for the Norwegians love 
 dancing, and are critical), but as I was led to a buxom damsel near 
 the bride, there was no escape, and the next moment found me in the 
 sweet giddiness of a rapturous waltz. Good heavens ! What an 
 excitement ! Round and round, in thrilling proximity. At length the 
 fiddling ceases, and we offer our fair and blooming partners the great 
 skole bowl, at which they drink. By this time T. H. had been found ; 
 and after receiving the information from him we desired, I asked him 
 to translate a few phrases of thanks for myself and friend for the great 
 favour they had so kindly given us. And as a final skole, in which I 
 was joined by the whole strength of the company, I gave them 
 
92 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 " Gamle" Norge." This was received with rapturous acclamation. In 
 return, Mr. T. H. sang " God save the Queen," and we were dismissed 
 with three times three, and one cheer more. 
 
 There was much in this village festival to please and admire in its 
 unmistakeable gaiety and simplicity, and but for the unfortunate 
 drinking that is always present, it would seem to be quite arcadian. 
 In the country districts such as this, the wedding gatherings and 
 festivities continue several days, sometimes a week, and considerable 
 drunkenness, with other incidental evils, result. 
 
 About an English mile or so from the village we passed a very fine 
 waterfall, and in a short time came in sight of the Voss Vand, a large 
 lake ; the small town of Vossevangen at its head. Many villages are 
 scattered along the hills on either side, and large pine forests stretch 
 around and upwards, losing themselves in masses of snow. 
 
 The peasantry here are a fine, hardy race ; the dress of the women 
 very picturesque. The invariable rule here is to salute as one passes 
 with a cheerful " God dagen " or " God aften." It became evident that 
 the wedding ale had somewhat inspirited our skyds-karl, as the carriole 
 rushed wildly over the undulating road. Without springs, though 
 with long slender shafts, it is, at first, by no means an agreeable 
 sensation to feel yourself going helter skelter down hill, with the 
 knowledge that if your pony should stumble, you and the carriole will 
 likely enough roll over a bank some hundreds of feet above the noisy 
 stream you hear rushing along the dale. 
 
 By-and-by we reach Vossevangen, where we find a very comfortable 
 station and obliging hostess. The church had been a very pleasant 
 centre to our picture for several miles, and upon near approach showed 
 most picturesquely against the dark pine-covered mountains beyond. 
 It is said to have been built in the thirteenth century ; very simple, of 
 wood, with tower and graceful spire, and bell most musical. The 
 houses cluster round the church, here as elsewhere, as if in those early 
 days of its erection they had sought its protection, as well from the 
 outward storms of nature as for the spiritual overshadowing of which 
 it is significant. 
 
 There are no inns in Norway, except at the capital and in the largest 
 towns ; but at distances of from seven to ten miles English on all the 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 93 
 
 great roads, there are houses, appointed by government and under 
 periodical inspection, for the reception of travellers, and bound to 
 furnish the means of locomotion either at call or upon a couple of 
 hours' delay, according as the station, as it is called, is rated " fast " 
 or "ordinary." On all the great post roads the traveller by carriole 
 will meet with little delay ; in fact, the Storthing has decreed, we were 
 informed, that on and after the ist of July all stations shall be "fast." 
 This will be a great advantage to all future travellers. 
 
 At the Vossevangen Station, or B. Jersins' hotel, as a recent sign 
 denotes, I made my way into the kitchen and initiated the gude wife 
 or " huusmoderen " in the mysteries of making a strong cup of tea, 
 after the English fashion ; and I should strongly recommend all 
 English travellers to take this commodity with them, and infuse it for 
 themselves, unless they wish to experiment upon their stomachs. 
 Having so far succeeded in the good graces of the hostess, the rest of 
 our stay here was very cosy and most agreeable. We had excellent 
 beef, well cooked ; wholesome potatoes, and, for the first time, good 
 coffee. We were fortunate also in obtaining very fair Madeira here, 
 at the very moderate cost of three marks four skillings, or 2s. 8d. a 
 bottle. A Norwegian dollar is worth about 4s. 2d. English. Five 
 marks, or 120 skillings, make a dollar. 
 
 In the evening, my companion, who was unwell, retired ; and I 
 endeavoured to acquire a little knowledge of Norsk, under the kind 
 tuition of a most agreeable and beautiful madame. It is surprising 
 how rapidly one progresses in expression under the refining and 
 exciting influences of bright eyes and a sweetly musical voice. I shall 
 ever hold in most grateful memory the twilight hours upon the quaint 
 verandah at Voss, with its charming broken English and monosyllabic 
 Norsk. 
 
 Leaving our knapsacks at this temporary home, we started, on 
 Thursday morning, on a detour from the main road of about fifty miles, 
 for the Voring Voss, the " lion " of the South of Norway. 
 
 The road winds over undulating ground, and through sombre pine 
 forests, for several hours. Ascending to higher elevations, we had 
 extensive views of the far-stretching, rich, green valleys, with their 
 swollen rushing rivers of clear water, musical with the roar of many 
 
94 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 mountain falls. It is yet too early in the year for the cattle to ascend 
 the mountains ; and the melodious tinkle of the kine bell floats 
 through the fragrant air. About six miles from Graven, the road, 
 ascending almost until now comes abruptly upon the head of a mag- 
 nificent valley. The stream, of considerable volume, alongside of- 
 which we had a short way walked, leaping down 200 feet or more, 
 then spreading out over broken crags in boiling surge, plunges under 
 a bridge a little way down the vale. The road rapidly descends by 
 zig-zags, then winds in sweet curves along the stream ; rich knolls, 
 with their solitary farms, are scattered along the dale in picturesque 
 distance ; and on each side tower mighty rocks, thinly spread with 
 pines, and washed with falls from the snow-covered mountain heights 
 beyond. Over the whole glorious scene streams bright sunlight and 
 huge cloud. 
 
 As we walk we are overtaken by a returning wedding party, with 
 the elders of whom we have what small converse our Norsk allows. 
 Two carts carry the older women and children of the party, for the 
 entire families had met at the nuptial gathering ; the younger women 
 plodding barefooted, occasionally taking a short turn in the carts by 
 way of rest. Cheerful, contented, tranquil people, most anxious to 
 give information and to reciprocate goodwill. Undisturbed by the 
 political agitations which sweep over the great continent, they repose 
 serenely in their happy valley, almost unconscious whether a Bourbon 
 or a Bonaparte rides the imperial horse. 
 
 We walk down this luxuriant valley ; for a while we sit by the clear 
 rushing stream, listening to its music and the chorus of multitudinous 
 falls and woods. It is a scene of surpassing beauty, and we feel its 
 wondrous power in the emotions that surge over our hardened souls, 
 like the river gushing over the rocks. 
 
 At Over-Vassenden we take boat across the lake to Graven, where, 
 by an accident, we make the acquaintance of Captain , a Nor- 
 wegian, who, in the finest spirit of hospitality, entertained us ; stirring 
 our nationality by speaking to us in English. We held quite a small 
 revel here. Our native tongue, combined with real home-brewed malt 
 liquor, were luxuries we had not hoped for, and their realisation raised 
 us to jubilant heights of enjoyment. Our kind host led the way, and 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 95 
 
 pointed us to the path over the fjeld — an exhilarating walk of about 
 ten miles. The snow lay in thick patches across our path, at the 
 highest elevation about four feet deep, delightfully cooling taken as an 
 ice. As we descended from the wild moorland of the fjeld, upon 
 Ulvik, the opening view was magnificent : lofty mountains in the near 
 distance, with well-cultivated and thickly-wooded land in gentle 
 slopes, descending like a fringe to the edge of a calm vast expanse 
 of water, the head of a branch of the great Hardanger Fjord. The 
 white church of Ulvik stands on a small promontory in the fore- 
 ground, and many newly-painted white and red houses dot the green 
 hills around. It is evening as we reach the shore, and the rich colour- 
 ing of the sunlight falls on the hills. We call a boat, and shortly are 
 gliding along the edge of the fjord. In a short time we have glimpses 
 up the Ose Fjord, darkened by the shadow of the lofty mountains that 
 divide it from the waters of Ulvik, and grander in its gloom. By-and- 
 by we reach the Hardanger Fjord, wider considerably, than those we 
 have seen, the mountains on each side and around rising to loftier 
 heights. In the distance are deep lines of unbroken snow. Sunset, 
 and its lingering glories, have gone ; the sky is grey ; with the over- 
 spreading cloud comes a wind that swells the water, so as to give 
 straining work to our boatmen ; but away they go, never flinching, and 
 we make the south side, where there is the shelter of high rocks. 
 Near midnight we came in sight of our haven, and by twelve o'clock 
 are in the station at Vik. Not without a little noise, for the good 
 people have quietly retired to bed ; and during the first comfortable 
 hour's sleep it is difficult to persuade anybody of the occasion for early 
 rising. 
 
 At length we are admitted, and the whole half-dressed family, dog 
 included, are tumultously scuffling on our behalf and the boatmen's 
 whom we have asked to sup. We obtain coffee — indifferent, bread — 
 stale ; and, after a brief rest, set off with a guide- to the Foss. An 
 hour's pull over the lake to Saebo is the first stage, then a long walk 
 on the bank of the river that comes rushing wildly down, tearing and 
 roaring over huge broken rocks. Talking is useless, except in the 
 quieter reaches, so we stride along in single file, silently. It is quite 
 daylight, in fact there is never darkness here at this season. We stay 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 a short time watching the troubled stream and the varying hues of the 
 morning sky. Then comes a long draught of rich milk at a small 
 farm, with numerous cows, and quite a population of goats. Twice 
 we cross the swollen, whirling stream by small wooden bridges, still 
 we march on, always ascending, over a rude path made of large stones. 
 
 The valley is very grand : broken, irregular masses of rock, piled 
 confusedly at intervals, over which we mount or wind slowly round ; 
 lofty crags, often perpendicular, two and three thousand feet above our 
 heads, their broken and jagged outlines clearly defined against the 
 clear blue heavens. Impetuous cataracts rush over these heights and 
 leap from ledge to ledge, or trail their vast lengths of beautiful spray. 
 
 A few scattered birches dot the rocks, and here and there on a level 
 patch of green is a solitary farm. 
 
 After walking four or five miles up this valley, we leave the river to 
 our left, and commence a gradual ascent up the face of the terminal 
 rock of this deep gorge, which, at a short distance, seems to be a sheer 
 impossibility. Slowly, slowly, however, we mount the narrow stair 
 (the path is carefully made of loose stones in short zigzags), and after 
 great labour the fjeld is attained. Then comes a walk over soft, snow- 
 patched ground for a couple of miles ; then another farmhouse, with 
 its creamy milk, served to us by a very wrinkled old woman. Now 
 we see the distant peaks of the Hailing Jokulen, covered with unbroken 
 snows, glistening in the early morning sun. 
 
 At a little distance over rolling moorland of the fjeld, to our left, a 
 light mist hangs in the air between us and a towering wall of rock ; 
 it is the spray of the Voring Foss. Through thick undergrowth and 
 a small wood of stunted birches we approach the river, that dashes on 
 here as wildly and furiously as below the fall ; and following its course 
 about ten minutes, the roar of the mighty waterfall gradually opens its 
 ceaseless thunders upon us. 
 
 We see the Foss now in great force ; the melting snows and recent 
 rains have largely increased the river's volume ; and, with a sublime 
 unity of tremendous power and beauty, the waters sweep unbroken 
 over the rocks, spreading themselves in their descent into a thick 
 network of myriad-formed spray of purest white, and lashing into 
 terrible action the affrighted pool beneath. The effect of the Voring 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 97 
 
 Foss is overwhelming. Gazing at the fearful height from which we 
 see it, lying upon a ledge of rock sloping towards the chasm, it is 
 awful to watch the boiling cauldron below, and to hear the vibrating 
 thunder of that tremendous, sullen, and steady cannonade. These 
 give us the crushing sense of power, while the simple outlines of the 
 fall as a single column, woven into multitudinous beauties in its 
 descent, — this, and the radiant iris hanging on the spray, are a source 
 of perpetual beauty. 
 
 The height of this fall is variously estimated at from 800 to 1,000 
 feet ; it is considered to be the grandest fall in Norway, and by some 
 travellers said to be the finest in Europe. 
 
 We returned by the same path up which we had ascended, and in 
 our descent from the fjeld had magnificent views of the truly Alpine 
 valley down which the river flows from the Foss. The view from 
 the head of this valley is sufficient reward to the traveller for the 
 very considerable labour and fatigue, were there no waterfall as a 
 consummation. 
 
 We arrived at Vik about one o'clock. A visit to the Voring Foss 
 may therefore be made without discomfort in twelve hours from Vik. 
 Here we were again driven to wretched coffee and a few eggs, with 
 unpalatable bread ; and at half-past one we took boat for Eide, on 
 another branch of the Hardanger Fjord. 
 
 After fatigue, it is a most agreeable method of obtaining rest, to lie 
 down, as is the custom here, upon the branches of birch strewn at 
 the bottom of the boat. There is usually no seat provided for the 
 passenger, and thus reposing we glided along the waters of the fjord. 
 
 The Hardanger has been called by one of the most cultivated of 
 Norwegians, "The Paradise of Norway;" and the fjord certainly 
 realised our highest imaginations of lake and mountain scenery. The 
 main artery of the fjord is several miles in width, and the mountains 
 at its head are of gigantic proportions, whilst, as they slope down to 
 the water's edge, thick wood and frequent patches of cultivation give 
 the finer features of a lake picture. At certain points, such as the 
 opening vista of the Sor Fjord, where the mountain ranges of the 
 Folgefonden, white with the snows of a thousand years, are clearly 
 visible, the view is sublime. 
 
 7 
 
08 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 As the afternoon advanced, the clouds, hitherto sailing grandly over 
 the mountains, revealing depths of clear dark blue between, now hung 
 heavily upon their summits ; and here and there we saw heavy 
 showers trailing along the mountain sides and across the fjord. By- 
 and-by the sky changes into a thin grey veil, darkening rapidly into 
 thick cloud, and rain descends. The water, hitherto calm, swells 
 uneasily ; and very speedily, as if agitated at the sudden change from 
 light to darkness, rolls in huge broken waves. We are surrounded 
 by thick mist ; only the near shore of the fjord, which the boatmen 
 hug so closely that their oars sometimes strike the rocks, is visible. 
 The rain is now a deluge, and as it were for life the boatmen grimly 
 work to keep our little skiff across the waves. Still the wind and rain 
 increase, and the darkness deepens into thick night. The waves dash 
 round us with an eager whirl, and our small craft strains and labours 
 under the unusual pressure. It is a storm in the Hardanger ; and to 
 me a fearful scene. I confess that as I sat silently and anxiously 
 watching the faces of the men, and the increasing violence of the 
 water, which seemed to be lashing itself into the rage of desolation, I 
 thought of many dear faces at home, and the possibilities of a long 
 night for all of us. With a wish to work, if of any use, I asked whether 
 there was any danger in the storm for us ; but the boatman said " No ; " 
 we should make our destination that night ; and I lay back in the 
 foliage to await our deliverance. 
 
 In an hour or more the clouds broke asunder, light descended, the 
 rain gradually ceased to fall, the wind softened down to a light breeze, 
 a small sail was hoisted, and the boatmen, tired with their long labour, 
 took out a quid and rested on their oars as we sped before the wind. 
 The water, as rapidly as it had heaped itself, became calm and 
 tranquil, and soon after ten o'clock we quietly and somewhat abruptly 
 ran into Eide, at the head of the fjord. 
 
 Here we found excellent quarters, conducted by our boatmen, who 
 seemed as thankful as ourselves to be once more upon the land, and 
 in sight of food and rest. The station-master at Eide was a Dutch- 
 man ; he understood not a word of English, and we very little 
 Norsk, yet we never had a more hospitable reception. An excellent 
 supper was quickly ready ; all that tired travellers hoped for was to be 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 99 
 
 had, and with much thankfulness and not a little fatigue, after "about 
 forty hours' almost incessant movement, we crept to our snug beds. 
 
 The station at Eide was a refreshing contrast to the empty cup- 
 board to which we had been treated at Vik. We obtained excellent 
 wine, and very superior cookery. Reindeer at breakfast, with con- 
 sumable ham ; and eggs, dressed with a fresh salad in most palatable 
 style, attractively served by our " neat-handed Phyllis " of a hostess, 
 crowned with the most piquant of little caps. 
 
 The weather brightening, we set off in good time, a short walk to 
 Gravens Vand, the lake over which we were rowed yesterday on our 
 way to the fjeld above Ulvik, and in about an hour we were at 
 Over-Vassenden. Here I had been asked by the spokesman of a 
 numerous crowd, very deferentially, whether I was a lord, to which I 
 replied (with, I am afraid, a twinkle in my eye as I looked upon my 
 friend waiting for me in the boat) in the language of an illustrious 
 . poet, " Lord of myself, this heritage of woe ;" an answer which, as it 
 appeared to indicate a long title, gave great satisfaction. 
 
 Throughout the long fifteen miles from Vassenden to Voss, the 
 rain, which had begun whilst we were on the lake, continued without 
 intermission. Not a thin drizzle, but unmistakably heavy wet, that 
 penetrated and saturated the entire fabric in a very short time. We 
 thus saw the same beautiful scenes through which we had walked so 
 short a time ago, under a new aspect ; and though less agreeable to 
 us to plod along, plish, plash, through mire and wet, yet grandly 
 impressive as another characteristic phase of Norwegian sceneiy. 
 
 In dripping plight we reached our old quarters at Voss, where we 
 again had recourse to tea, the true elixir for pedestrians. By the 
 kindness of our hostess I was accommodated with a large dressing 
 gown, whose ample folds enabled me to move about the house sans 
 calotte with perfect freedom and ease ; and to attend upon my 
 comrade in the same elegant condition, minus dressing gown. The 
 cookeiy and refreshment here were good, and charges moderate ; 
 which, combined with good humour and hospitable dispositions, made 
 the inn a sort of second home. We left with regret that our stay must 
 necessarily be so short. 
 
 It was Sunday morning, the bell had tolled, and sailing across the 
 
 L.ofC. 
 
100 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 calm lake came boats from several distant points carrying peasants 
 to mass. We walked into the ancient church, and the choir-master 
 thrilled our hearts with a few bars of divine melody, awakening blessed 
 memories ; and realising to me the noble words of our Lancashire 
 
 poet — " Sabbath, thou art the Ararat of life, 
 
 Smiling above the deluge of my cares." 
 
 The church is rather large, compared with many we had passed ; 
 it would hold several hundred people ; there are pews, a gallery 
 supported by curious twisted pillars, an altar, very primitive altar rails, 
 curiously painted open roof, and a sweet toned organ made by the 
 organist, quite a musical genius. The building is chiefly of wood, well 
 pitched, and it seemed incredible to us that such a building should 
 have withstood the winters of six hundred years. 
 
 The maidens, in their Sunday costume, the Bible folded within a 
 clean napkin in hand, walk placidly in couples or groups into the church. 
 They are very fair to look upon, with braided hair, long blue woollen 
 skirts, and bodice of much ornament across the breast, with red 
 and white sleeves. In and near the church we saw probably a hundred 
 girls in this pretty guise. The men hung about the doors until near 
 the time of mass. The maidens are distinguished by their dress from 
 women, whose hair, we were told, is cut at marriage, and who wear no 
 ornaments except on great occasions. This was a charming picture, 
 and, hanging it about our hearts, we slowly and with frequent backward 
 gaze left Voss. We were accompanied on our way a few miles by a 
 gentleman resident, through whose kindness we had seen the church, 
 and who, like most Norwegians we met, seemed anxious that we 
 should see and know all to which they could help us. 
 
 From Voss the post road to Christiania winds along the mountain 
 sides, commanding fine views of the rich valleys and lakes. Near us 
 the mountains stretch upwards to an enormous height, and over the 
 hills, across the valley, rise peak beyond peak, until the pine fringed 
 height is lost in snow. The scenery increases in beauty as we ascend 
 the vale ; but though occasionally dipping, and sometimes shut in on all 
 sides, the road is really for many miles up one great vale. About nine 
 or ten miles from Voss, the river, wide and deep, forces itself through a 
 very narrow cleft in the rock with a tremendous plunge, reminding one 
 

THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 101 
 
 of the Strid, near Bolton Abbey, but of far vaster volume and of more 
 fearful power. A few miles more and we are at the head of the valley, 
 which we now see mapped out far below : a glorious sight, — wood, 
 lake, foss, river, and hill mingled in harmonious combination. 
 
 Diverging from the highway, we seek the grassy bank of the moun- 
 tain stream, and, after the fashion prescribed by Mattieu Williams, 
 whose book on Norway everybody should read, commence our laundry 
 work, followed by a stretch in the cooling stream, — the clear, cold 
 water plashing over us as we recline in its shallow bed. Followed by 
 a Turkish towel this is most refreshing. It gives vigour to the system, 
 and supplements those sanitary requirements in regard to cleanliness 
 of which there is so much need in Norway. 
 
 The road is now over high barren moorland ; we have lost our views 
 of the valley and are in a basin of the mountains ; so, for several miles, 
 gradually we are descending, and by-and-by we reach the head of a 
 very deep and narrow valley, into which two large rivers leap. It is 
 the head of the famed Naerodalen, and the plunging rivers form the 
 two fine falls of the Sevelfos and the Stalemfos. 
 
 The descent into the Naerodalen is down a series of zigzags cut out 
 of the rock, constructed with great skill, and rendered safe even for 
 driving. From this road the two falls are seen by turns, one on either 
 hand ; the river and road in graceful curves winding through the valley 
 far below. The characteristics of Naerodalen are, its extreme narrow- 
 ness, the great height of the mountains which enclose the defile, the 
 great length to which it extends, and the variety of outline of its 
 numerous rocks. They are variously estimated, and range from two to 
 five thousand feet in height. 
 
 Near Naerodalen we had an unctuous draught of yellow milk, fresh 
 from the cow, from two singular old women on the hill side, reminding 
 us of the witches in Macbeth, by their strange garments and wrinkled 
 skins. Milk, ad libitum, for eight shillings, and such milk ! We 
 had previously sheltered during a passing shower at a farm on the road, 
 thus obtaining a glimpse into the domestic arrangements of Nor- 
 wegian farm life. The dog is a constant and noisy inmate ; he does 
 not, however, show his teeth, he is " full of sound and fury." We there 
 had beer and a sort of wine, Norwegian champagne, very pleasant to 
 
102 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 the taste, but highly charged with bowel-derangement ; rye-bread and 
 butter ; with the incessant flad-brod, only taken when we could have 
 nothing else. As we sat, a prettily dressed girl, whom we had passed 
 on the road, entered, with psalm book and napkin in hand ; who, after 
 walking straight to the table, sat and commenced eating out of a huge 
 bowl (the common stock, which a man had left as we went in) the 
 peculiar porridge of the country ; eating it with a large wooden spoon, 
 quite placidly, and as a matter of course. The spoon is an institution ; 
 each person has one, and when they have finished the meal it is care- 
 fully licked, and placed in a small niche, awaiting further use. 
 
 The mand (husband) and knone (wife) were very nice people ; they 
 had about them several children, and one of the grandmothers, who 
 lay abed watching us with the rest of the group, as we sat at meat. 
 The gudeman read a little Norsk to us, which I could not follow, from 
 a book on domestic cookery, containing the recipe for the wine. He 
 also showed me a large Norsk Bible, from which we had further 
 reading. It is the common custom to have beds in every room ; there 
 were two where we sat, in the kitchen, and I observed elsewhere that 
 at least children are put to bed perfectly nude. 
 
 The fire-place is just an open hearth, with the usual iron suspender 
 for pans, or a huge cauldron, as required. Birch is burnt for fire-wood ; 
 each house has its stack prepared. Payment here was left with us 
 entirely, and a mark caused much expression of feeling. Shaking of 
 the hand always accompanies anything given, with the expression 
 " Mange tak " (many thanks). The appearance of two Englishmen 
 everywhere almost creates a little sensation : it is to be hoped that 
 this pleasant feeling will be perpetuated by further intercourse. We 
 had another debauch upon milk, by-the-way, in the morning (after 
 our bathe), in the presence of a considerable village crowd ; and upon 
 asking what we had to pay, were told, after a consultation behind the 
 door of the house, one skilling (less than a halfpenny) ! I think this 
 outdoes anything I have known. 
 
 Our walk through the Naerodalen was the crowning enjoyment of a 
 long day's walk, full of beauty and interest ; and it served to quicken 
 our relaxing steps, and to relight the almost sated eye. The walk 
 along the dale is nearly level, rich grass and patches of cultivation 
 
f 1' /., 
 
 Stalheim Foss. 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 103 
 
 skirting the road. The river, flowing down the centre, fed by many 
 cascades, and several important streams, besides the two waterfalls at 
 the head of the vale, swells to a considerable volume ere it plunges 
 into the fjord, about eight miles below. The mountains — rugged, wild, 
 pine-covered, snow-capped, barren, or streaked with many-coloured 
 lichens and dark moss— tower on either hand, in every conceivable 
 variety of outline, and always lofty, requiring the head to be thrown 
 back to catch their summits. Here and there, immense heaps of rock 
 that have been detached from the mountain side almost block the 
 path, and huge boulders, like stranded ships, are frequent. Seen as 
 we saw the Naerodalen, with a setting sun, and in twilight, it became 
 sombre and gloomy near the end ; but a grander or more impressive 
 embodiment of the overwhelming majesty of nature I have never 
 beheld. 
 
 As we approach Gudvangen, many goats were near the lower shelves 
 of rock, and in the green meadows, sweet, clean, small cows browsed 
 on the delicious herbage. 
 
 The station of Gudvangen, to which we had looked forward as to a 
 Goshen out of our wilderness of fatigue, proved a sad disappointment ; 
 for though Murray and Mr. Williams speak of it as " good," we found 
 the food poor and badly cooked ; the house ill-ventilated, the station- 
 master a boor, and the charges high. Bad fare and high charges 
 often go together. 
 
 The Naero Fjord is a prolongation of Narrow Valley, or vice versa. 
 The same character of towering rocks, striking sheer downwards 
 thousands of feet, perpendicularly almost, to the waters of the fjord. 
 Along this we took boat ; it was an exciting sail, each slight turn 
 giving us a fresh combination of form, by grouping the mighty masses 
 into new pictures. Many waterfalls throw themselves headlong down 
 from these heights, and besides the Keel Foss, at Gudvangen, of which 
 much is said in Murray and others, we noticed with more admiration 
 the Haaberg Foss and the Sagel Foss as very grand. Possibly these 
 are less fine in the middle of summer, when the snows have passed 
 away, and the weather is dry. A couple of hours, or a little more, 
 brought us into the great Sogne Fjord, of which the Naero Fjord is 
 but a very short arm. 
 
104 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 The sail along the Sogne Fjord is wonderfully beautiful, the vast 
 expanse of calm water, the loftier mountains and distant snow peaks, 
 came in continual variety, as we moved slowly by the shores. 
 
 At Groningen we paused about a quarter of an hour, and, by the 
 hospitality of a gentleman residing on the rocks, had an excellent 
 luncheon. 
 
 The fjord here expands, forming a magnificent lake ; much wood on 
 the hills near us, but too rocky for further cultivation. The distant 
 mountain, though snow-covered, seems to be very beautiful at its base, 
 clothed with verdure and sunshine. The rocks here are very friable 
 with constant cleavage, sometimes breaking away in fragments of 
 immense size. Still grander mountain views, as we approach the 
 entrance of the fjord to Lierdalsoren, the water less broad, and 
 evidently running up into the land. At six o'clock we made the quaint 
 little town of Lierdalsoren, after a pull of about ten hours, with very 
 little rest. The charge for this long ride, for three boatmen and boat, in- 
 cluding drikke-penge (drink money), was three dollars and three marks. 
 As we approached Lierdalsoren, it seemed like a collection of toy 
 houses, cut out of cardboard and painted in bright colours. The 
 houses, all of wood, are small, and the mountain at the foot of which 
 the town is built so lofty, that the whole town, seen from a distance, 
 appears like a few large pegs or stumps at the margin of the fjord ; 
 and when one gets ashore, it is all so miniature that one may easily 
 fancy it a theatrical stage, and the foregoing sail over the fjord a 
 pleasant dream. Here this illusion was heightened and momentarily 
 confirmed after we had sat down in the station by the sound of a 
 distant drum, like the rat, tat, tat, in " Eiglia del Reggimento." We 
 rub our eyes ; yes, here it comes ; two drums and a regiment of 
 soldiers ; the whole thing seems to have been " got up." They march 
 past, " halt, right about face," a short harangue, and they are dis- 
 missed, dispersing rapidly behind the scenes. The old-fashioned 
 muskets and bayonets, the cumbrous bearskin knapsacks, heavily 
 strapped and hanging loosely about the back ; their helmets, the large 
 coats on small men and the small coats on large men, with trousers 
 ditto ; and the general supernumerary appearance of the entire 
 force, half militia, half line, certainly justified our first laughable view. 
 
> 
 c/a 
 
MM- m 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 105 
 
 The station at Lierdalsoren is the best we have seen in Norway ; 
 pleasant commodious rooms, scrupulously clean, with longer beds ; 
 for the Norwegian beds are so short that you always awake with your 
 knees forming the apex of a pyramid ; and if the people are not 
 generally smaller than ourselves, they must coil themselves in their 
 sleep. The best Rhine wine is here two marks twelve skillings a 
 bottle ; and excellent malt liquor at a fraction under fivepence for a 
 full pint bottle, quite equal to Bass or Allsopp. It is quite time that 
 the malt duty should go. 
 
 After tea, at which we had superb salmon, fresh from his native 
 element, and potatoes, which are almost invariably served morning, 
 noon, and night, we sauntered about the town, looking into one or two 
 shops. The " apothek " here has evidently a large business ; his shop 
 is the largest in the place, well stocked with the usual array of bottles, 
 and, as it is the post office, affords a pleasant opportunity for acquiring 
 a little Norsk, and gratifying our legitimate curiosity at the same time. 
 Over the door of the baker's shop, both here and at Bergen, I noticed 
 a curious sign, like a piece of twisted cable, thus £9. 
 
 At several places we met with bread made into this shape but it is 
 hard and dry. A few tin pans, a general provision establishment, a 
 kind of " store " for things in general, with a small warehouse on the 
 little wooden quay, formed the business section of Lierdal ; whilst the 
 station, a few large houses, the telegraph office, and a military esta- 
 blishment constitute the semi-suburban element. It is all in miniature, 
 and, placed on a fiat, surrounded by mountains not far apart, looks 
 really most insignificant. There were, however, nearly two hundred 
 soldiers here, including militia, and recruiting appeared to be going 
 on briskly. There were about half-a-dozen of the officers staying at 
 the station, who politely asked us to join their table at dinner the next 
 day, and though all conversation was by means of a combination of 
 English, Norsk, and French, I do not remember for many a day to 
 have passed so cheerful an hour. We drank to Gamle Norge, and our 
 Norwegian friends toasted " Old England " with genuine hurrahs, 
 such as I had thought before could only have been heard at home. 
 They are a fine hearty people, and so far as we have experienced, love 
 the English. 
 
106 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 On the shore of the fjord, near the little quay, were many boats, 
 undergoing the usual annual overhauling for the summer season. The 
 boatmen of the Sogne and Hardanger Fjords are a hardy race. Six, 
 eight, and ten hours of almost uninterrupted rowing we had several 
 times (in the Hardanger, with a heavy sea), as I have related. A quid 
 of tobacco whilst at work ; and during the short intervals for eating, 
 flad-brod, raw bacon, and sour milk in large quantities, are their 
 nourishment and stimulants on the water ; and our experience would 
 justify the conclusion that they are sober, honest, and cheerful. The 
 Hardanger boatmen all wear a knife ; in the Sogne Fjord I did not 
 observe any. 
 
 From Lierdalsoren we took boat to Ronnei, at the head of the 
 Gaupne Fjord, a remote ramification of the great Sogne Fjord. It is a 
 distance of about 28 miles. This was pulled over in about six hours, 
 including the short stoppage for dinner. Our boatmen were hearty 
 fellows, rowing with the regularity of a machine, with lively chat, and 
 the occasional humming of a Norwegian air. The youngest of these 
 men was 29 years old, a strapping man of six feet ; the others beyond 
 middle age — one 54, the eldest 61, but he strong and vigorous, and 
 apparently with a score of years' good work in his sinewy arms. 
 
 It is a magnificent sail across this part of the Sogne Fjord. The 
 distant mountains are of great height — four, five, and six thousand 
 feet, topped with unbroken snow, while those contiguous to the lake 
 are often covered with thick pine forests. 
 
 As we sail along a reach of the fjord we catch grand views of the 
 sombre Aardals Fjord and the far-distant peaks of the Horungerne 
 range of mountains, the loftiest in Norway. Turning into the Lyster 
 Fjord, we shortly pass Solvorn, beautifully situated on a curve of the 
 mountain. Its bright green patches of corn field and meadow, the 
 red tiled, whitewashed station, and a thin line of road traced up the 
 centre of the ascending valley, contrast agreeably with the near rugged 
 mountain sides and broad background of snow. At each turn here- 
 abouts the latest seems the best, and grander scenes to expand. We 
 are nearing the loftiest ranges, and the fjords narrow as they pass into 
 the valleys. Soon we turn into the Gaupne Fjord, and passing 
 Marifjoren, most picturesquely straggling up a gentle acclivity, come 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 107 
 
 upon Ronnei, as the setting sun lights up the mountain heights on the 
 opposite shore with golden fire. 
 
 It is a calm, clear summer night. The orange tints linger on the 
 mountain tops, and every hill and rock is sharply defined against the 
 light blue heaven. A solitary star shines faintly in the western sky, 
 the birds still gently sing ; the air is very still ; the rich golden glow 
 is no more, but soft twilight rests upon the scene, and we feel that the 
 spirit of beauty has passed over the earth. It is nearly eleven o'clock, 
 as I write, in the Ronnei station, looking out of our little room upon 
 this calm picture, yet sufficiently light, and pleasantly warm. 
 
 Shortly after this, the Skyds-skaffer entered to say that our horses 
 were ready, and we started on our excursion up the Justedalen. The 
 road, alongside the clear river which flows down the valley, is, after 
 the first mile or two, very irregular and broken. As we advance up 
 the vale, giant rocks on either hand cast down their vast shadows 
 upon the twilight, and for a short time we experience the gloom of 
 night. In the stillness of the woods, as we move quietly along, the 
 horses feeling their way over the rough stones, the rushing river is the 
 only voice, and he sings an exciting song. From the far off snows 
 and fields of ice he hurries wildly to the warm and sheltered fjord. 
 
 The path shortly crosses a hill that almost blocks up the valley, 
 covered with thick wood ; yet as we come upon little openings in the 
 forest, we see the immense rocks above us, and occasionally the path 
 is traced upon the edge of the hill, overhanging the roaring river, and 
 we look down upon frightful depths. It is extremely grand. Now we 
 descend into a long flat, in which are two or three farms, with much 
 cattle and numerous goats. The river is very noisy here. From one 
 of these green luscious patches we see, as we look up towards the 
 western sky, a thin line of red fire resting on the snow, — Earth's 
 crimson blush, awakened by the Morn. In the east thin lines of bright 
 red vapour float high in the heavens. A flush of deeper yellow comes 
 throbbing up behind the hill, and with radiant pulsation, 
 
 " Day, like a mighty river, rushes in." 
 Still our small cavalcade moves on, now deep in the dale in the shadow 
 of vast rocks, wildly fantastical ; now climbing a steep path through 
 darkened woods, thick with luxuriant growth of loftiest pines. We 
 
108 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 arc moving amidst the indescribable sublimities of nature, and, in the 
 presence of this manifestation of God, gaze with eager yet reverential 
 eye. The hours advance, and, as the morning sun rises to flood his 
 light across the vale, vapour and thick cloud strive for the mastery. 
 It is almost cold, and we begin to fear the clouds. We have now 
 reached the Praestegaard and church of the Justedal, about twenty-one 
 miles from Ronnei. It is nearly six o'clock. The good rector of this 
 remote parish is veiy kind, and we are soon in the enjoyment of his 
 hospitality. Coffee is set before us. Upon coming into the house for 
 repose we discover that we are very cold, and feel that the loss of rest 
 and the long ride are matters of hard dry fact, not to be shirked. At 
 the pressing suit of the good man, I turn in for a couple of hours' sleep. 
 Wisely recommended. Punctually to the time, we are called by our 
 host ; but, alas ! to what a change of scene. No sun, no sky, no 
 distant snow-clad mountains ; only the dimly looming masses of 
 mountain and rock that form the outer walls of this great valley. 
 Thick clouds lie heavily over head, and along the hills drag white 
 vapours, drifting lower and lower ; the rain is falling furiously, and our 
 horses are shivering at the door. 
 
 One great object of our visit to the Justedal was to see the Nygaard 
 glacier, one of the largest in Norway, about nine or ten miles higher 
 up the valley. After much anxious deliberation and advice from the 
 Rector, whose decided opinion was that to go on would yield nothing 
 but fatigue, we determined upon a return. We visited the church 
 or " temple,'' as the good priest called it, a most primitive little place, 
 the pews and other woodwork painted most fantastically red and 
 black. On the tiny altar were two or three half-burned thick tallow 
 candles, and some half-dozen common wine bottles. Everything was 
 of the very rudest description, eloquent of its isolated situation. Yet 
 even to this remote and unfrequented spot, the great tidings of the 
 noble Garibaldi's work had been carried ; and the manly grip with 
 which the good pastor shook our hands, and literally danced with 
 delight about the room when we told him that Palermo was in the 
 patriot's possession, was deeply affecting. It was an experience I shall 
 never forget, and shall always look back upon with feelings of deeper 
 gratitude to God and love to man. 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 109 
 
 We reached Ronnei in the afternoon, somewhat dispirited,very wet and 
 fagged, but impressed with the marvellous grandeur of the Justedalen. 
 At Ronnei station, the Interlachcn of our ramble, we received the 
 most considerate attention, and cannot speak too warmly of the quiet, 
 unobtrusive manner of the people. The material comforts of a foot- 
 bath, daintily wrought slippers, nicely cooked game and aromatic 
 coffee, with the higher hearteasing enjoyments of cheerful voices 
 and kind tranquil faces, gave our imaginations full license for the 
 belief that this evening was an hour's Norwegian dream. The next 
 morning early we resumed our boat ; the same men who had brought 
 us having bargained with us to have the return fare ; and after another 
 delicious six hours' ride, reached our late pleasant quarters at 
 Lierdalsoren. 
 
 During the afternoon, we shouldered our knapsacks once more, and 
 trudged on from Lierdal, pausing a few minutes to watch the evolutions 
 of the military on parade. We walked along the valley of the Lierdals 
 Elv, which appears to have been in remote ages a continuation of the 
 fjord, and is even now, for a considerable distance, very little elevated 
 above the level of the water. Accumulations of earth, in terrace-like 
 mounds, also indicate a past era of deeper water. As we penetrate 
 the valley, the road ascends, and even after the wondrous Justedalen, 
 is yet grand and exciting. We had a very pleasant walk to Lysne, 
 about eight or nine miles from Lierdalsoren ; and here we made 
 acquaintance with the genuine roadside Norwegian station. It was a 
 small farm, a short way off the road, with nothing to mark its special 
 character ; and we should have passed by, but a lad, with the return 
 mail cart (four-wheeled and small), whose acquaintance we made on 
 the road, took us there. 
 
 The apartment for travellers was small, well lighted (all the houses 
 in Norway have plenty of light, with few curtains), and, quite an 
 exceptional occurrence, we found the windows open. In the room 
 were the bed, several wooden-seated chairs, a cupboard, painted in a 
 curious grotesque style, red and white ; a looking-glass, and stove. 
 The walls, ceiling, and floor, of bare deal boards. We found excellent 
 beer, and a loaf of sweet rye bread. On these we supped, deciding to 
 remain for the night. The weather looked threatening, a rising wind, 
 
110 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 with much cloud surging wildly round the mountain heights. Opposite 
 to the window at which I sat was a fine foss— a single stream, dashing 
 over a ledge of rock, with a clear fall of probably 200 feet or more — 
 the Hoa Foss, not noticed in the guide books, but sufficiently beautiful 
 to make the fortunes of half a dozen innkeepers if in Cumberland, 
 North Wales, or Devon. 
 
 I do not remember any book of travel in Norway that omits to 
 mention, either prominently or otherwise, the perpetual annoyance 
 from fleas and a more disagreeable creature ; and I had hoped from 
 our experience to have been able, in a limited circle, to have corrected 
 what began to appear to be a national prejudice and delusion. But 
 my comrade, upon casually turning down the sheets at an early 
 hour, called my attention to the fact that the Philistines would soon 
 be upon us if we went to bed ; so we began to consider how to sleep 
 without " going to bed." Luckily, the table had two huge laps, and 
 placing our knapsacks as pillows, we rolled ourselves in our plaids, 
 and without undressing, stretched at full length upon the table, were 
 soon asleep. 
 
 We awoke at an early hour, and after very limited lavations, 
 doubled up our bed, and took a quiet hour or two at these hastily 
 written notes. It was a wet morning ; we had still a piece of the 
 previous night's loaf; with this and a cup of tea we made our 
 breakfast. 
 
 Upon asking for a further supply of bread (butter was evidently a 
 myth), we found there was nothing in the house but one old loaf, like 
 a brick, which the woman, with a doubtful smile, produced. It was 
 clearly time to be moving, though still very wet and darkly threatening. 
 We paid our modest bill of a mark and a half (is. 4d.), and trudged on. 
 
 The rain continued, somewhat interfering with our enjoyment of 
 the fine scenery of this valley, which is highly attractive— of a like 
 character, as to broad outline, to the Justedal, although not so grand. 
 At Husum, the rain increasing, we obtained horses and the carts of 
 the country— small wooden things, without springs, that shake your 
 interior viscera in excruciating style. With these we pushed along, 
 ascending rapidly towards Haeg by zig-zags, skilfully constructed on 
 the mountain face. 
 
Near Husum. 
 
Near BORGUND. 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. HI 
 
 On this stage we passed the most singular old church of Borgund, 
 with its quaint and separate bell tower. It stands a little distance 
 from the road, in the flat meadows of the valley, and is one of the 
 most interesting buildings in Norway, entirely of wood, and certainly 
 not less than six or seven hundred years old. Its appearance is a 
 combination of the Chinese pagoda, with the Eastern mosque, and 
 our "early English" cathedrals. Sir Charles Anderson, in his in- 
 teresting journal, has written an able description, and gives an outline 
 sketch of considerable merit. 
 
 The rain was so heavy, with a violent and increasing wind, that our 
 stay here was very brief. As we jogged on, the river was foaming 
 down the valley, and the mountain streams, tearing down from their 
 lofty sources, literally filled the air with the noise of many waters. At 
 Haeg we changed horses, just peeping into the station, a much better 
 house than the one at Husum, from which we had been conducted by a 
 most brigand looking personage. 
 
 The next stage, Haeg to Maristuen, was a scene of wild grandeur ; 
 the roaring river, now swollen and lashed into the fury of a mountain 
 torrent, came with terrible force and reality past us as we drove 
 excitedly along. As we ascended the approaches to the Fille Fjeld the 
 waters were still more furious, the rain falling in a stream. Here and 
 there the torrents from the hills had crossed the road, and the river 
 was fast rising to within a few inches from the top of its rock-bound 
 limits. The moors and mountains were covered with driving mist and 
 a thick heavy canopy of clouds. As we neared Maristuen the road 
 was cut up with a mountain torrent, and we waded up to the horse's 
 knees ; and a little beyond this point, and down an incline in the road, 
 the water had rushed from the hills, and was tearing up the post road, 
 making it into a water-course. As our horses strained over the 
 upheaved stones, and the dashing water rushed by up to our axles, it 
 was navigating rather than driving, and I began to realise the fearful 
 effects of a storm on the bleak heights to which we were going. At 
 last, wet and weary, we arrived at Maristuen, where we found the house 
 topsy-turvy from the flood. The inmates from the surrounding dwellings 
 had come for shelter here, bringing with them their bedding, and even 
 here the rain was in several places pouring through the roof. There 
 
112 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 were some twenty souls assembled in this house, the only shelter from 
 the unabating storm. Here in the warm, stove-heated, common room 
 we sat and took tea, contributing much to the amusement of the 
 various members of the motley group, who were curious to watch how 
 Englishmen did the simplest things ; and chattering as far as we were 
 able, aided by looks and gesture, we felt most thoroughly, " One touch 
 of nature makes the whole world kin." During the long night " the 
 rain descended and the floods came and beat against that house." 
 Fortunately for all of us, it was founded upon a rock, and a little 
 sheltered by neighbouring undulations that broke the rude shock of 
 the wind, and turned the water currents aside. In the early morning 
 we saw that the force of the storm had been spent, by the decreased 
 volume of water rushing along the almost river-road. We therefore 
 ordered horses, carriole, and cart, and in the rain once more pushed 
 on (encased now in oilskins and waterproofs, lent to us by the good 
 people here), towards Nystuen, on the Fille Fjeld. 
 
 The scenery was extremely wild, with long stretches of moorland ; 
 now a wide uncultivated valley, with a few sasters far apart ; now the road 
 rises on to the hill side, dotted with stunted and gnarled birch trees, 
 scarcely yet in leaf. The reindeer moss lies here in thick clumps, and 
 many-coloured lichens paint the rocks. As we have dashed forward, 
 the rain has gradually ceased to fall, and a gleam of sunshine lights 
 up the vast plateau of the Fille Fjeld, the great patches of snow on 
 every side glistening in the bright and glancing light. It is still 
 blowing hard, and the rain dashes occasionally in our faces as we 
 drive along the undulating wilds. By-and-by we are met by two men, 
 who speak to the driver of the cart in advance, with serious faces, 
 looking toward the mountain side before us. There is evidently 
 something of very grave import. The driver says that we cannot 
 proceed, — that water floods the road. But we persist, and at length 
 move on again, one of the men coming with us. Now the road is 
 covered with water, but the stones on each side, and the poles of the 
 telegraph, which is carried overland from Christiana to Bergen, 
 sufficiently indicate its whereabouts ; so, venturing almost up to the 
 horses' girths, we pass safely over. If that is all, what a fuss, we think, 
 and away we drive another mile or so. Then the driver gets off and 
 
v^vw;; Ki£ , 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 ■ ^ i 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 113 
 
 resolutely ties up his reins, and says he shall go on no more. The 
 mountain side has come down with the force of the flood, and, crossing 
 the road, has ploughed it up, carrying earth and rocks and trees before 
 it ; and for thirty or forty yards what was the road is a heap of rocks 
 and mud water-courses. Still, we wish to go forward, and, a strong 
 man taking our knapsacks on his back, we scramble carefully over the 
 broken rocks and debris^ following the steps of our guide, who, with 
 long staff, cautiously feels his way. 
 
 A short distance, and the same havoc is before us again, and yet 
 again, before we arrive at the station, which is not more than a mile 
 from where we left our carrioles. At length we reach the Nystuen 
 station, a comfortable place ; the hale old man who carries our " traps,'' 
 and who has piloted us across the wrecks, is the station master. 
 
 He relates to us how terrible a night he has had ; no sleep, but 
 saddest anticipations. On each side his house, at a short distance, 
 one of these fearful descents from the mountains had rushed down, 
 threatening to sweep houses and every living thing into the lake just 
 below the road. " Ah ! it was frightsome," said he ; " at seven last 
 night that came down, and at three this morning that other great 
 torrent," pointing to the one we had last crossed. 
 
 How thankful I am that we have escaped these dangers ; may we 
 be preserved from any that are in the future ! 
 
 By the old man's counsel we have remained here all day, hoping 
 that the road will be less soft to-morrow after the sun and wind of this 
 morning. It has been very promising all day ; but now, at seven 
 o'clock, the wind is again south-west, and the rain is heavy. As I 
 write and look out of the window I can count the track of five of those 
 sweeping destructive mountain torrents over whose desolations we 
 shall have to scramble ; and our old friend tells us there will be many 
 more as we go down, as they would have the storm still heavier on 
 the other side. 
 
 The scene here, apart from the recent events, is one of the sheerest 
 
 desolation. Snow is all around us in very thick patches ; the sky is 
 
 leaden dull ! no vegetation clothes the mountains — they are almost 
 
 barren rocks ; and here, in the bosom of these solitudes, is a wide lake, 
 
 almost covered with massive ice. 
 
 8 
 
114 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 Within doors, however, the picture is more cheerful. My friend sits 
 writing, at the same table, opposite to me ; we have our maps and 
 books about us, and have had some hours of quiet indoor pleasures. 
 On one side the room are two nice beds, clean and tidy ; a washing 
 table, &c, in the corner ; several homely chairs, and a small square 
 table, at which we dined, and to which we shall shortly adjourn for tea. 
 At my elbow, on the wall, is a portrait of our hostess, a nice motherly 
 woman ; and over her is an engraving of Her Most Gracious Majesty 
 Victoria, by the grace of God, Queen. There is also, against the wall, 
 a rather handsome mirror, for these remote regions, and at my back a 
 fantastically painted three-cornered cupboard. We are each in our 
 shirt sleeves, and without shoes. I have not undergone the " domestic 
 surgery " of a shave for several days, and I discarded braces for a 
 strap round the waist a fortnight ago. Neckties and collars are nearly 
 obsolete. At the other end of the room is a large stove, in which we 
 have lighted a good fire, and arranged round it on chairs are our coats 
 and plaids. On lines of thick twine, artistically constructed, we have 
 suspended our shirts, stockings, and pocket handkerchiefs ; whilst, in 
 the centre, from the ceiling, like a joint of meat, or a clock pendulum, 
 hangs my felt hat, that at an early hour this morning was reduced to 
 the consistency of a soft oatmeal cake. In a row, like an advanced 
 guard to this army of rags, are placed our boots and shoes, well 
 greased or oiled for the expected rain of to-morrow. As I write this 
 picture, another feature is added to the room ; the maiden enters, and 
 is now busily employed in arranging the beds and bedding for the night. 
 She is dressed more like an English girl than is usual here, and not 
 nearly so picturesque a subject as her mother, who is going about in a 
 pair of bright scarlet stockings and short petticoats, with braided hair 
 and blue bodice. 
 
 After a few hours' uneasy sleep I rose, about three o'clock, to the 
 gloomy prospect of heavy rain, which continued incessantly until 
 about six o'clock. 
 
 The good old skaffer found us a strong man to assist in carrying 
 our knapsacks, and about seven o'clock we started the descent, our old 
 friend giving us his heartiest good wishes, and gazing long after us. By 
 taking a boat along the edge of the lake, across the surface of which 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. Ho 
 
 the ice had been drifted by the wind during the night to the other end, 
 we escaped the crossing of two or three of the " screyas nearest to 
 Nystuen. The clouds slowly lifted, and occasional breaks showed 
 some slight promise of fair weather. As we slowly descended from 
 the fjeld, the rocks uplifted their dark and jagged peaks, and the scene 
 that unfolded before us was one of wild, desolate grandeur. The 
 snow, at a short walk from Nystuen, spread across the road, and we 
 frequently came upon patches, six or eight feet thick, winding along 
 the hollows like small glaciers. As we descended into the deep valley, 
 whose river is one channel for the waters from the immense area of 
 these vast fjelds, the extent of the storm was slowly disclosed. The 
 road was quite impassable. We had given up considering the number 
 of mere obstructions from fallen rocks and earth, for the water had 
 overflowed its usual bounds, covering the road deeply, and we were 
 obliged to ascend the mountain side, and scramble through the woods. 
 This was repeated several times. Still lower down in the valley, on 
 the opposite side to that on which we walked, were several villages, 
 and from the heights above them the rain had poured in such a deluge 
 as to bring away masses .of the mountain side, ploughing into it deep 
 furrows, and spreading desolation and terror in its way. The river 
 had become a vast yellow lake, with a tumultuously heaving current 
 through its centre, trees and broken wood, the remains of the bridge 
 across the valley, floating upon its surface. 
 
 Huge banks of mud and stones surrounded the dwellings, where 
 patches of corn and bright green meadows had smiled in the sunshine 
 but a day or two ago. Here and there the ruins of a little cluster of 
 houses thrust themselves out of the debris. Over the valley, with 
 looks of complete helplessness, wandered men and women, some in 
 search of their scattered herds, and others gazing with hopeless 
 looks upon the desolate scene. As we passed the little farms alongside 
 our road, the man would stop to say a word or two to the women who 
 came forward to the gate, and the rough faces trembled with emotion 
 as they looked into each other's tearful eyes. It was most melancholy. 
 Sadly and silently we walked, and in sight of that dreadful calamity 
 and human suffering, I wondered how the sun could shine. 
 
 Still lower down the vale, and on the shores of a lake, great patches of 
 
IK) THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 the mountain side, with acres of pine forest, had slid down and been 
 washed away in the tremendous storm. The telegraph poles, hitherto, 
 as it were by a marvel, uninjured, were at this point carried away, and 
 the wire, for a long distance, twirled like horsehair. At Ouamme, 
 three or four miles from the scene of the greatest havoc, the stone 
 bridge had been carried away ; and on the opposite shores of the Lille 
 Mjosen Vand, besides the destruction of many houses, cattle, and 
 much property, several persons were overwhelmed by the mountain 
 streams, and drowned. 
 
 From Ouamme, we slowly scrambled, with a man to carry our small 
 baggage, until near Thume, through scenes of beauty and grandeur 
 that, under less painful conditions and feelings, would have been most 
 enjoyable. 
 
 At a small farm in the woods, under the shadow of immense rocks, 
 loftier than Snowdon, and almost precipitous at their summits, we 
 obtained refreshment of rich milk, with flad-brod, for three persons, 
 surrounded by the cheerful faces of a large and wondering family, as 
 we sat upon a ledge of moss-carpeted rock. At our departure, I asked 
 the man what we must pay him, and, after a little delay, took from my 
 pocket a handful of coin, and requested him to help himself, purposely 
 placing the larger pieces nearest to him. He took a four skilling 
 piece (2d. value), and walked with us a quarter of a mile to point out 
 the way. When I first entered the cottage he had the big old Bible 
 before him on the table ; it was Sunday. 
 
 Near Thume we met with a boatman, who took us over the lake to 
 Oyloe. As we sailed over the water, gusts of hot air blew in our faces, 
 dark clouds quickly gathered, and a heavy thunderstorm broke over 
 the hills ; the lightning glancing on the mountain peaks, with the 
 bellowing thunder, adding to our melancholy sympathy for the poor 
 villagers we had left behind us, and contributing not a little to our own 
 personal anxiety. 
 
 At Oyloe we found, as the handbook faithfully records, "a wretched 
 house ; " but, weary and sad, we were glad to find ourselves under any 
 shelter. The hopelessness of getting home in our limited time here 
 seemed to get the better of us, and our spirits were depressed with the 
 dismal prospect. A lake behind us, the road frequently flooded and 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 117 
 
 occasionally submerged, and another bridge broken down within sight 
 on the only road before us. Our only way out of this dilemma, we 
 were informed, was over the pine-covered hills on the other side of the 
 water. The station master promised to find for us in the morning a 
 boat, and two men to undertake our knapsacks and guide us. And 
 with such hard fare as the place afforded, we went to bed, but scarcely 
 to sleep. For, in addition to our anxieties, the fleas, &c, here re-visited 
 us ; and let philosophers teach transcendentalism as they please, the 
 senses are absolute. 
 
 I made intimate acquaintance here with the whole house ; it was 
 dirty and slovenly everywhere. The mistress, a woman about forty, had 
 been good-looking, but faded, and given, I am afraid, to stimulating 
 drinks, which was the secret of all the disorder and discomfort. The 
 man seemed decent and respectable — I was sorry for him. They had 
 six children ; the eldest, a lad of seventeen, sharp, intelligent, and 
 good-looking. Not a single clean piece of crockery in the house, not 
 a pan but required washing, not a crumb of wholesome bread to set 
 before us. There were two loaves, thick with rich green mould, which 
 the woman assured us were good inside, and proceeded to pare. I 
 saw her wipe the teacups on the lap of a shirt hanging to dry before 
 the fire, and wipe a knife upon the corner of her dirty dress. Two 
 small pigs nestled in the kitchen nook, and a naked little urchin coiled 
 himself upon a chair before the fire. The water for our tea was boiled 
 in a small cauldron which imparted a flavour unknown to the same 
 package of tea, either at Voss or elsewhere. The eggs, of course, were 
 clean ; but the spoons ! We here, for the first time, used our own — 
 (we had taken with us knife, fork, and spoon). How so ill-conducted 
 a place is allowed to remain a station, and practise its extortions upon 
 travellers — for the price of all this was more than at the best stations 
 in Norway — is a matter of astonishment. 
 
 On Monday morning, about six o'clock, accompanied by the master 
 and his son, we left the station at Oyloe, with thankfulness. We 
 crossed the lake and walked several miles through forest, over broken, 
 wet, and undulating ground, until we reached the highroad at a point 
 only two miles from where we had set out. The bright sunny morning, 
 the rich odours of the woods, and the spring of hope welling up within 
 
118 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 at the prospect of deliverance made this walk delicious ; and as we 
 stepped upon the post road once more, with the assurance that the 
 waters were passed, a thrill of gratitude passed over me, and I silently 
 wept. 
 
 Passing a small Niagara fall on our way, we came to Ste, where we 
 obtained food, and shelter for a short time. Two students from 
 Christiania, young athletes, called here (even they had been driven 
 to carts by the weather), and we took their return car, a delightful drive 
 up and down hill to Rein, the next station. 
 
 From Rein we pushed on towards Strands, but ere we had made 
 half the distance were informed that the roads were again impassable, 
 the clouds had again gathered thickly, and in a very short time we 
 were driving through a heavy thunderstorm, the lightning playing 
 vividly in quick succession, with thunder heavily reverberating. Awhile 
 we sought the shelter of a log hut (common near the roads), the poor 
 horse trembling with terror as each successive peal of thunder rattled 
 overhead. Again the gleam of promise, so often unfulfilled, and we 
 were jogging on our way. Another stoppage, another pause, another 
 boat ; when, by way of combining his own advantage with the lift he 
 meant to favour us with in his own good time, the solitary boatman, 
 at the bawling demand of a piratical fellow ashore, pulled out into the 
 middle of the lake to fish and string together several timbers, which 
 were slowly drifting away. After carefully securing them with a cord, 
 he coolly towed them after us to the shore, and then, first landing his 
 pirate friend, he took us on our way. 
 
 The station at Strands, where we landed, is on the edge of a lake, 
 or inland fjord. It is an excellent, well-conducted house, ruled by 
 quite a motherly woman, who cared for our wants, and took delight 
 in ministering to them ; with sufficiently unsophisticated nature to 
 charge a just sum, to which her husband, a sharply qualified busi- 
 ness man, added, with singular felicity, a large percentage. By this 
 energetic skaffcr and the aid of a Norwegian gentleman (staying in the 
 house), who could read English, our further progress was expedited ; 
 and we again took boat to a point upon the lake, at which horse and 
 car would meet us to carry us to Frydenlund, our destination for the 
 night. 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. H"-> 
 
 This was a fine drive along the mountain side, commanding 
 extensive views of the long valley, the Strands Fjord, and its 
 numerous islands, like another St. Lawrence, with the lofty, distant 
 fjelds. At Frydenlund we had to rouse the house, but found very 
 comfortable quarters. 
 
 The next morning our friend, the rain, was as lively as ever, the 
 air cooler, and the road soft and splashy. Tired with the sixteen or 
 seventeen hours' incessant work of the previous day, we did not get 
 fairly under weigh until near ten o'clock. 
 
 The road still ascending, we had, in the intervals from rain and 
 storm, magnificent views of the valley, lit up by occasional sun gleams ; 
 the fjord still at our feet, embosomed in thickly-wooded hills. In fairer 
 weather, with clearer skies and dry skins, this must be as beautiful to 
 look upon as any scene in Norway ; and seen, as it is sometimes, from 
 an elevation over which we had to climb— like an episode in our long 
 day's poem — as high and toilsome to attain as Snowdon, it must be at 
 sunset or sunrise sublime. 
 
 With us it was, in another respect, like what the ascent of Snowdon 
 or Ben Nevis too frequently results in — a sojourn in the clouds. 
 True, we sometimes caught these ever-wonderful and beautiful effects 
 of light displayed by the moving mists uplifting momentarily, like a 
 curtain, but these magical peeps into a heaven below us were "few 
 and far between." 
 
 A couple of miles or so over the pass, as we descended into the 
 next valley, the fringe of cloud was lifted, and we were shown a lovely 
 picture, fresh from the Divine Artist's touch. Bathed in sunlight lay 
 a richly-wooded valley, deep and broad, dotted with human dwellings, 
 a spire-crowned church in the midst. Up the finely-sweeping braes 
 grew thick pine forests, dark with massive foliage, and lofty as the 
 clouds. A thin line of white, curved by the Mightiest Hand, waved 
 through the vale, its liquid music mingling with the sighing woods, 
 and reaching even the heights from which we looked. Into this 
 loveliness we descended, and from thence looked back upon the steeps 
 from whence we came, still fringed with trailing mists and dripping 
 cloud. At Bruyflat we change horses, and rush on along the now 
 almost level road to Tomlevold, a large station, quite a hostelry, with 
 
120 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 numerous outbuildings and large belfry. Again we are on the road, 
 pass the exercise platz, where Norwegian irregulars are being drilled in 
 the goose step — a step taken, alas, too prematurely by so sad a number 
 of our fellow-creatures. On to Skoyen, another good comfortable 
 station. We feel that we are approaching the confines of civilisation. 
 We have actually just passed a dress coat on the road. What a guy 
 he looked ! We are beginning to feel excited, as if we were almost at 
 home, and our labours over ; for we have felt the last day or two that 
 we are working hard, almost like sailing against wind and tide, to make 
 a port. 
 
 At Skoyen, during the change of horses, we obtained what we 
 thought excellent, and what I hope the reader will not consider at this 
 time stale, beer ; and during the day we had comforted the inner man 
 at Bruyflat, with the flutte milk of Norway (an invaluable discovery I 
 owed to my friend,), of which we largely skimmed the cream. It is 
 the milk set aside for cheese, and is brought in large pails, with a top 
 cream half an inch thick, and a layer of custard-like milk beneath ; 
 this is eaten with sugar, and is as palatable as it is highly nutritive. 
 
 From Skoyen we took horses again and trotted on towards Lien. 
 This and the last three are all fast stations. A mile or more out of 
 Skoyen, an extensive prospect opened before us. The noble Rands 
 Fjord, calmly beautiful, reposing in the sheltered bosom of swelling 
 hills. As we climbed the hills, this view of the Rands Fjord and the 
 far-stretching valley of the Strands Fjorden beyond, with the snowy 
 peaks of loftiest fjelds far away in the distance, the setting sun and the 
 gathering masses of broken cloud filling the western heavens, showed 
 us the characteristic beauties of eastern Norwegian scenes in sharp 
 contrast to the grander and more vast masses of rock and water of 
 the western coast. As a picture of quiet, placid, tranquil beauty, I 
 think this prospect of the Rands Fjord by sunset was perhaps the 
 finest we had looked upon, during what seemed to us to be our long 
 travels here. To those who have leisure, and can afford the time, it 
 must be a great delight to begin at Christiania, and thus by almost 
 imperceptible degrees grow from the quiet undulations amidst which 
 we have now arrived into those mighty gigantic forms and groupings 
 which culminate in the Alpine sublimities nf the Fille Fjeld and the 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 121 
 
 Justedal. Yet with us it was exceedingly beautiful to feel ourselves 
 descending into regions where the amenities of life were to be enjoyed, 
 and to the prospect of once more coming to sit by the side of and look 
 on the faces of our friends at home. 
 
 At Lien, we changed horses for Mustaed, and drove for an hour 
 or more along a newly-constructed level road, through thick fir 
 plantations. 
 
 The station at Mustaed is of a very superior style to most that we 
 have seen. It is nearer the capital, and a place of resort in summer 
 for the Christiania people. Here we concluded to have a day's rest 
 before entering Christiania, so as to be able to enjoy with freshness of 
 body and mind the sight of so interesting a section of our plan. The 
 interiors here are painted with delicate tints, with great care and in 
 excellent taste. The rooms are large, well ventilated ; flooded with 
 light, as I have before observed is the case generally in Norway. It 
 is a large farm, and in the great yard, an acre at least in extent, are 
 two huge wells, with the ancient method of raising water by a long 
 lever fixed over a tall pole. 
 
 Many carrioles stop here to change horses. We have had two 
 Germans dining with us, who had set out for Drontheim and gone 
 a stage on their journey, but having been driven back by the floods, 
 turned into this, the route to the Fille Fjeld, without knowing that 
 the same obstacles would meet them. The post, which should have 
 passed us at Nystuen, has gone by, two days or more behind its time ; 
 the north post is many days behind, and the Swedish mail has not 
 been heard of for more than a week. A French count and his son 
 also call, in the same predicament as our German acquaintances ; the 
 count, quite a character, grandly commanding in a loud voice all near 
 him, and expressing his determination to travel night and day to catch 
 the steamer from Lierdalsoren on the night of the morrow. Even a 
 French count, however, cannot roll back the storm, and the clouds 
 still beat up from the south, and the rain falls furiously. Again and 
 again travellers come and go, and we hear their news, with gloomy 
 rumours of no steamers, and railways broken down. 
 
 Thursday morning at the smallest hours finds us awake and restless ; 
 the rain falling steadily, the wind south-west. It is a gloomy prospect. 
 
12-2 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 At five we breakfast, and in an hour are each driving a quick cream- 
 coloured pony in the direction of Gjovik, on the Mjosen Vand. The 
 road is still through the fir plantation through which we had driven the 
 night before last, level and uninteresting. The rain has ceased now, 
 and a broad band of promise overspreads the western sky. Occa- 
 sionally we have glimpses of the Mjosen Lake ; now we dip into a 
 sweet dell for a few minutes ; then the road runs flat again, and we 
 drive into Gjovik about eight o'clock. 
 
 It is half submerged by the floods ; quite a populous place ; at least 
 a hundred or more houses and shops ; evidently a new and thriving 
 little town. We walk up the hill, after leaving our carrioles, and obtain 
 new views of the extensive lake, — a soft, cultivated scene, — a vast 
 Windermere. From Lillehammer, at its head, to Eidsvold, at the 
 foot, the Mjosen Vand is nearly eighty miles long down its centre. 
 The steamers that ply up and down, skirting its shores, and calling at 
 some half-dozen small towns and stations on their way, make a voyage 
 each way daily of 120 miles. 
 
 At Hamer, on the eastern shore, about midway down the lake, the 
 effects of the great storm and floods were very marked. We had 
 previously passed the church at Naes, surrounded with water to a 
 depth of several feet ; but here half the town was uninhabitable, 
 except in the upper storeys of the houses. The entire length of the 
 town was submerged to the height of the middle of the shop windows, 
 and boats moved about from street to street and house to house, to 
 carry the inmates away. In many places the people could only just 
 escape wetting on the first floor. 
 
 The water was still rising ; since yesterday it had gained six inches ; 
 the day before twelve inches. On the Sunday gone by, the water had 
 begun to rise an inch and a half per hour, and continued at that rate for 
 forty-eight hours or more. The people were fast becoming terror 
 stricken. There had been no such flood since the year 1789, the captain 
 of the steamer informed us ; the lake was now higher by 38 feet than 
 its ordinary level, with every probability, in case of warmer weather, 
 which would bring down rapidly the yet unmelted snows, of a further 
 rise. "There were, therefore," the captain said, "no travellers what- 
 soever, except foreigners like yourself, who will or must go on, whatever 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 123 
 
 is in the way." This great increase in the elevation of the surface of 
 the water would doubtless affect the aspect of the country, which, to 
 us, appeared tame. The land on the shores of the Mjosen is well 
 cultivated, and is considered of the best in Norway. There are 
 several very large farms hereabouts, and one or two extensive 
 breweries. 
 
 Eidsvold is prettily situated at the foot of the lake ; indeed it is a 
 few miles up the river, in ordinary times a narrow stream running out 
 of the lake, but now all is one undistinguishable broad expanse of 
 water. The hotel, many houses, the railway stations, and the bridges 
 are all under water. We are taken by the steamboat as near as 
 practicable to the mouth of the railway tunnel, and thence conveyed 
 in small boats up the tunnel, half filled with water. Then we walk 
 along trucks over which planks are placed for footing, and by-and-by 
 emerge from this unsatisfactory position upon dry land, and walk 
 along the rails to the train, about half a mile distant. It is a single 
 line of rails ; in other respects we might be at home. The engine is a 
 Stephenson, and the carriages have an English maker's name. The 
 officials are clothed on English models, and our tickets manufactured 
 ditto. In the matter of speed only do we perceive a falling off, and in 
 this we are much behind even English parliamentary trains. There 
 is no hurry, no banging of doors, and wild screeching of the eager 
 engine ; all is done calmly and methodically. In fact, I do not 
 remember in all the country to have seen a Norwegian in a hurry. It 
 is an inconceivable condition. 
 
 The greater proportion of the road runs through dense pine forests, 
 the noblest we have seen. The loftiest pines, and so thickly growing 
 as to shut out the bright sunlight streaming from the west, and 
 reddening the distant eastern hills with its rich glow. 
 
 In one part the rails were twelve or fifteen inches under water, for 
 about a quarter of a mile ; and the country for many miles was one 
 vast lake. We saw several rafts and numerous boats, crowded with 
 people and their goods. Once or twice we saw them escaping to the 
 rafts through the roofs of the water-surrounded houses. It was a 
 distressing sight, and filled us with melancholy. 
 
 We left Eidsvold at half-past five ; and at about half-past nine we 
 
124 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 arc gently descending an incline from which we look down upon the 
 capital of Norway, beautifully placed at the head of the great Chris- 
 tiania Fjord. It is still bright with the glow of the setting sun as we 
 stroll along the modern streets of this once quaint city. The great 
 fires of recent years have cleared away most of the old timber 
 houses, and there are now long lines of fine shops and warehouses, 
 as in an English town. We seek the Victoria Hotel, an excellent 
 hostelry, and after an enjoyable supper, quickly ready, wander out 
 once more. 
 
 A Norwegian acquaintance we had made on board the Mjosen 
 steamer takes us towards the palace, finely situated on the high 
 ground, with approaching slopes that form pleasant walks for the 
 citizens. Then we visit the Klinkenberg, the Cremorne of Christiania ; 
 and in an atmosphere of tobacco smoke, reeking with the odours of 
 schnapps and beer, listen to a few songs, amorous and otherwise, from 
 a company of German vocalists, the fair members of which appear to 
 have great attractions to young Christiania, who laughingly chats to 
 the particular fair one whose turn it is to take round the tray 
 for the shillings each person is expected to contribute after each 
 song. 
 
 We adjourn from this place, passing on our way the Theatre, the 
 Bank of Norway, and several other public buildings, to the Free- 
 masons' Hall, a similar institution to the one we have left, minus the 
 gardens of innocence so nicely described by Mr. Williams as 
 surrounding the Klinkenberg. 
 
 At the Freemasons' Hall, in addition to the smoke, schnapps, and 
 love ditties of three Norwegian, German, and Swedish syrens, accom- 
 panied and conducted by a monster basso profundo, there was also 
 the educational assistance of a large billiard table. 
 
 My own unsophisticated impression of these "innocent recreations" 
 was, that " fast " young men are the same in Christiania as in other 
 places ; and that " women and wine " are pretty much the same now 
 as they were in the days of Alcibiades or the patriarchs. 
 
 The next day we had only a few hours, and these were quickly gone 
 in a ramble through the shops, picking up two or three trifles to bring 
 away : in running down to the pleasant baths, and plunging into the 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 125 
 
 open and refreshing fjord ; in sauntering round the quays, where many 
 ships are moored, and in watching the stream of life flow slowly past 
 the window of our hotel. 
 
 The influence of general intercourse with the world has taken away 
 from Christiania the distinguished outward characteristics of Nor- 
 wegian manners and customs, and contrasts very markedly with 
 Bergen and the western districts. There we had often remarked upon 
 the almost Tartar type of face ; and frequently observed how Eastern- 
 like were the women's dresses and the shape of buildings. The almost 
 sacred feelings of hospitality to strangers, too, had something Eastern 
 in their manifestation ; reminding us, in fact, in many ways of that 
 great wave of human life which ages ago had swept over Europe from 
 the distant East, the cradle of our race, and which in its ebb and flow 
 had carried to the North those Gothic hordes, of which the Scandi- 
 navian family is probably the least altered modern type. 
 
 At Christiania I should recommend the Victoria as the best hotel ; 
 we met with every attention, although our appearance was deci- 
 dedly " seedy ; " the charges moderate, excellent fare, and pleasant 
 company. 
 
 In the afternoon, about five, the Scandinavian slowly steamed out 
 of the harbour, amidst much waving of handkerchiefs and " Farvels." 
 The domestic and social ties are very close in Norway. I do not 
 remember ever to have seen so quietly-demonstrative a crowd as that 
 which waved us its adieux from Christiania. As we steamed down the 
 fjord, the view of the receding city was most pleasing. Placed in the 
 centre of a semicircle formed by pine-covered mountains ; its buildings 
 descending to the water's edge, crowded with the shipping of various 
 nations : the streets rising terrace-like, with the great palace of the 
 king prominent over all ; with fine spires interspersed, and the great 
 dome of the Cathedral Church giHed with the rays of the setting sun, 
 in bright contrast to the deeper orange and purple tints of the distant 
 mountains — it was a lovely picture to carry away with one's last look 
 of the land where we had enjoyed so much that was beautiful. And 
 when all this had passed out of sight, and the dark forms of the hills 
 and mountains outlined themselves against the clear western sky, and 
 the clouds hurried away and rolled themselves massively in the East, 
 
126 THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 and the evening deepened into night, and the air became clearer, the 
 distant rocky coast more strongly marked, the rich tints of sunset more 
 glowing, and the crescent moon of that longest day in June looked 
 faintly through the golden halo of the skies — we realized the full 
 depth of beauty of that picture to which we had so long looked forward, 
 of midnight on the Christiania Fjord. 
 
 We touched at Christiansand on our homeward passage. It is a 
 very clean, quiet little fishing town, with more costume visible than in 
 Christiania, and the houses are mostly of wood. 
 
 Again we move out, and steam across the wild North Sea ; the wind 
 is in our teeth, and by-and-by we are struggling against a gale. We 
 have roughish work from Saturday night to Monday morning, when 
 we sight the low shores of York and Lincoln, and by four o'clock in 
 the afternoon cast anchor in the H umber, opposite to the massive tower 
 of Trinity Church, Hull. 
 
 We have been away twenty-four days. Our expenses, when we 
 reach Manchester, will have been ^21 each ; more than £11 each of 
 which has been consumed in going to and from Norway. £20 was 
 more than sufficient for both of us during our sojourn there for every- 
 thing. I should say that £2$ would be ample funds for a month, and 
 would be sufficient to cover the preparatory expenses of a knapsack, 
 map, roadbook, vocabulary, light silk waterproof cape, — in short, 
 everything necessary for the expedition. 
 
 My outfit consisted of a suit of shepherd's plaid, lined throughout 
 with flannel ; two figured flannel shirts, three pairs of woollen socks, a 
 change of shoes, brushes, razor, note book, map, dictionary, solid sketch 
 book, writing materials, and a thick Scotch plaid. 
 
 It is a great saving of time, and very desirable before leaving 
 home, to write out as complete a plan as possible of the route to be 
 taken, in which each day's work is allotted, with an occasional day 
 for rest. 
 
 It has now been demonstrated that, even for men engaged in close 
 attention to business, which in Manchester, where gold is God, and 
 
 -o 
 
THREE WEEKS IN NORWAY. 
 
 127 
 
 where work is consequently carried on at a higher pressure than 
 elsewhere, a visit to grand old Norway is quite practicable, and, with 
 a little preparation, easy ; and I am disposed to think at a less average 
 expense than to any other country, or, with the same continuous 
 movement, in any part of our own attractive land. 
 
 Should the appearance of these very imperfect sketches, written 
 entirely during our excursion, become the means of inducing others to 
 go and do something of the kind, and so in a certain remote way help 
 to bind together, by increased intercourse, two nations so intimately 
 connected by descent, it will be one more lasting source of satisfaction 
 to the writer and his comrade, connected with their Three Weeks' 
 Ramble in Norway. 
 
 «%„£ 
 
 James F. Wilkinson, Printer, The Guttenberg Works, Ellor Street, Pendleton 
 and at 34, Oxford Street, Manchester. 
 

 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
♦ ' 
 
 C 310 88 
 
 
 J 
 
 
c°\'^: 
 
 >* .tAV^.. *«. *♦ .V 
 
 > '-Sk-' /\ vW* ♦**% '-SK ; 4?\ W 
 
 
 
 * Sj^tjfc. %/ Sifo. \/ :^ : %<? :\ 
 
 A «-°.^^:> ,//^;^\ ^^^*°o 
 
 
 ► /^fe\ V>* *V\Va\ ^ ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1°. *^^ 
 
 
 h % ^ •£ 
 
 
 
 % 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 o. 
 
 
 
 «? ^ oVJIaf* aV ♦. »®liB* <■? ^ oVJrak* aV «$v 
 
 
 HECKMAN 
 
 BINDERY INC 
 
 ■v ^H\k * av y> 
 
 J? \5. *o.t* A ^ 
 
 aO ^ *»,-.« 
 
 JC\^* 4T ^» •^ii^* a5> ? <■& 
 
 AUG 88 
 
 N. MANCHESTER, 
 INDIANA 46962 
 
 ^ * * o, *> 
 
 •ft.' l i» -• -vr- _ -