THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

The fact that the British Association meets this year in Canada gives

unusual interest to the meeting of the American Association for the

Advancement of Science at Philadelphia, from September 4 to 11. After

the Montreal meeting those who feel inclined can make their way

leisurely to Philadelphia where it is evident from the information

before us, they will meet with a warm reception. On the Friday evening,

September 5, after the address of the retiring president (Professor C.

A. Young, of New Jersey) a general reception will be tendered by the

citizens and ladies of Philadelphia to the members of the British and

American Associations, and the ladies accompanying them. The British

Association has been cordially invited, both by the American Association

to take part in the proceedings, and by the local committee representing

the citizens of Philadelphia, to accept the warm welcome which will be

tendered them during the joint session. The local committee has, indeed,

been divided into a number of subcommittees for the sole purpose of

rendering the stay of their visitors agreeable It will, therefore, only

be courteous on the part of Britons who intend to be present at the

American meeting to comply with the committee's request, and send their

names, together with the number of ladies and gentlemen in their

parties, as early as possible, to Dr. Persifor Frazer, 201, South Fifth

street, Philadelphia. During the week occupied by the session there will

be a number of receptions, entertainments, and excursions, and a day

will be set apart for the examination of the International Electrical

Exhibition, to be held at Philadelphia under the auspices of the

Franklin Institute, and commencing September 2. By an arrangement

between the Canadian and United States Trunk lines, members of the

British Association will be conveyed between Montreal and Philadelphia

at specially low fares, while the hotel charges at the latter city

during the meeting are not expected to exceed three dollars a day. We

believe the number who have already promised to be at the Montreal

meeting is about seven-hundred and fifty, so that with those who will go

without promising, added to the many Canadian and United States

scientists who are sure to be present, the meeting is likely to be in

numbers more than an average one.

Letter No. 4.

_September 17th, Toronto, The "Chestnuts."_

My beloved Mother.--I forgot to mention your birthday when I last wrote,

but you know how glad I am that you were born! And how much I prize

every year that is added to your life; and now as this will find you at

dear Mary's, please give her my fond love and best wishes for this day,

and I shall drink her health to-day, and call upon my sons to do the

same. I posted my last letter at Montreal on Thursday; Dick was quite

ill that day, and after seeing him twice and shopping, I bid good-bye to

Mr. Angus, who went to New York, and then Miss Angus drove me to see

poor Mrs. Walter Brown, whose husband was dying at the Hospital. I sent

my card in and she asked to see me. I did not know her much, but it was

very touching, and I felt my heart quite drawn to the poor young woman,

who came out with her husband on a pleasure trip, and now has to leave

him buried in a far land. He got typhoid fever, and inflammation of the

lungs, and was lying unconscious on a hospital bed, while she sobbed on

my shoulder, and said "Oh what shall I do? what shall I do?" I asked her

if she had any difficulty about money matters, but she said Captain

Douglas Galton had called and kindly arranged everything for her with

one of our kind hosts at Montreal. Her father was coming out to her as

fast as he could, but could not be at New York till the 12th, and her

poor husband died that night, and was buried yesterday. After this,

which upset me much, I went to the Stephens' and met John and E--- and

told them, and John went off also to see Mrs. Brown, for Mr. Brown had

been a friend of his. The Stephens' house is very gorgeous, and full of

beautiful satin-wood walls, and the staircase finely carved mahogany.

Mr. Angus' house, too, has much beautiful carved wood about it, but the

houses are kept so dark on account of the heat and flies, that one can

hardly see well enough to appreciate these beauties. Excepting in this

respect, and the amount of carved wood, the style is very like the

houses of the middle class of well-to-do men in Scotland.

_Friday_.--I got up at six, and walked to see Dick, and found him

better, and he arranged, if well enough, to follow us to Toronto; then

we breakfasted and all the family were up to see us off, and we joined

John and E--- at the station and arranged ourselves in the Directors'

car (Canadian Pacific Railway), a drawing-room with beds (sofas),

dining-room and table in centre, a little kitchen, private bedroom, and

two lavatories. We had a very hot and dusty journey but were otherwise

comfortable, and arrived at Ottawa about twelve. John and E--- went off

to lunch with Lady Melgund at Rido, but as she did not know we were

coming I was not invited, and so Hedley and I lunched in our car, and

then drove to lionize the Claudiere Falls, where the Ottawa River falls

about two hundred feet. The quantity of wood piled about is amazing

(lumber they call it) and it chokes up and destroys the effect of the

river, but it is not in itself ugly, for they arrange it so beautifully

and the colouring is bright. Then we drove to the Government buildings,

and there I was agreeably surprised by the beautiful view, not so grand

as Quebec certainly, but very fine--the Ottawa, with headlands, well

wooded, frequently breaking the line of the river, and the far reach of

country with blue mountains in the background, and then the air so

deliciously sweet and pure, and reviving. We returned there again in the

afternoon, and sat reading till half-past seven, when we returned to our

small house and John and E---, and the conductor gave us a capital

dinner--champagne and all sorts of good things, and we all enjoyed it.

Then we chatted and played whist, and then to bed. Hedley and I in the

drawing-room, and John and E--- in small room, the maids in dining-room.

I can't say I slept well for they moved our car once, causing our

conductor to storm at them for their impertinence, and the arrival and

departure of various trains and fog signals, &c., were not calculated to

favour one's slumbers! Hedley declares that a fog signal in the morning

did not awake me, but he slept through all. About twelve, Dick arrived

from Montreal, much better, and our car was fastened to the train and on

we went to Toronto. We all tried to read, but oh! the shaking, and dust,

and heat were overpowering; still it was interesting to see what

appeared a primitive country with forests half burned, with stations at

"cities" consisting of apparently two or three wooden houses in the

wood--I say apparently, for Sir D. Macpherson told me there were

splendid farms near the railway. Sometimes we saw a pretty lake with

park-like scenery around, and we thought "here we could make a pretty

country place." At ten o'clock Saturday night we arrived at Toronto, and

Sir David Macpherson and his carriage were waiting for us, and it was so

delightful to drive in an open carriage with a lovely moon shining and

the sweet, cool air refreshing us, that we were very sorry the drive was

so short. Lady M--- and her daughter, Miss M---, only in their house,

which seems like an English one in the style of arrangements--servants

and conservatories, and greenhouses, &c., and my bedroom is furnished

like a Scotch one, full of pretty quilts and muslin covers, and odds and

ends. I was delighted to find myself between two very fine sheets, and

slept like a top. Evelyn had a headache and did not get up or go to

church. We drove to the nearest and had a nice service and fair sermon

from a Mr. de Barr, son of a Canadian Judge; Dick, Miss, M---, and I

stayed to Holy Communion, and I was struck with the remarkable number of

young people who remained. After luncheon I had a long talk with Sir

David. He says we are quite wrong about free trade: as the world is, it

should be fair trade, or England will continue to lose, as she is now

losing, every year. The Canadians are obliged to have Protection on

account of the United States, who would send their manufactured goods by

English vessels and so ruin Canadian workshops. No country can grow and

prosper which only produces the raw article of food, &c. Land alone

cannot make a people rich or great; he thinks the Conservative party are

not half, active or energetic enough, and we must have workmen orators

stumping all over the country to reach their own class, or we shall lose

all influence with those who will really be the ruling power. Here, he

says, the Conservatives are two to one in the House of Commons; the

Radicals here abuse their country, and try to hinder and injure all the

enterprise which would enlarge its borders and bring emigrants to take

possession, and do all they can to lower it in the estimation of

outsiders, in hopes that if things come to smash they might have a

chance of a reign of power. Doesn't this remind one of some people in

our own country? Radicals are called "grits" here, and they say you can

recognize a "grit" when you see him, for though they are not at all from

one class or one industry, they have heads that might betoken a sojourn

in a penitentiary!

_Monday, September 8th_.--We did not go anywhere last evening but

strolled about the garden. Mr. Brand, son of the late Speaker, Mr.

Morris, member of the Senate, and another man, dined. Mr. Morris was

Governor of Manitoba. He said in the year 1870 Winnipeg was a little

wild village. Now, when I asked him about buying a few things at Toronto

for the Rocky Mountains expedition, he exclaimed "Oh! wait until you get

to Winnipeg, you can get everything there!" He described a ball he had

given to some royalties (I forget which) and how he had to scour the

country for three hundred miles round to get provisions enough for the

supper, in the year 1874. In my youth I remember reading of Winnipeg,

Fort William and Lake Superior as the outposts of the Hudson Bay

Company, and how travellers, trappers, &c., endured all manner of

hardships, and crossed hikes with Indians carrying the canoes from lake

to lake, and guiding them through endless swamps and rocky bills, until

half-frozen and starved they arrived quite exhausted at these distant

forts. Now we travel by rail in a private car, and Mr. Donald Smith has

a country house near Winnipeg, to which he invited us, and all along

there are "rising cities" which did not exist in any shape five years

ago. When this Canadian Pacific Railway is finished to British Columbia,

and the Atlantic and Pacific are united by it in one, our "Dominion"

then ought to have a splendid future. I don't think I told you about Mr.

Tan Horn's conversation with me at Montreal he said "we are a great deal

too quiet in Canada; we don't puff ourselves enough or make enough of

our advantages and our doings. Why, we live next door to fifty millions

of liars and we must brag or we shall be talked out."

_Monday, later_.--I have just returned from a drive with Miss M---

and Hedley to Toronto, and I am surprised at its size and importance,

and busy look and general air of English prosperity and neatness. Though

Montreal is very pretty, the town is too French and idle-looking to be

impressive--there are numbers of well-kept villas and gardens here. We

are now going out to see a regatta on Lake Ontario and to the island.

Lady M--- said last night, when making arrangements, "I think this will

suit the young people," and I exclaimed "Don't put me among the old

ones, please," so I am going. Sir D--- has gone to Ottawa on Ministerial

business.

Letter No. 5.

_September 12th, Niagara Falls._

On Tuesday we drove with John, and Dr. Wilson showed us over the

University and some pretty sketches he had taken. We got berths on board

the steamer from Owen Sound on Saturday. It is difficult to find out who

manages these things, and we had telegrams going to two or three places

before we could make certain of our berths. At four o'clock all sorts of

people called, being Lady Macpherson's "at home" day, and many on me and

E---. I don't admire Canadian women _especially_! We had fourteen

at dinner and a delightful old Irishman, Chief Justice Haggerty, took me

in. The Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Robinson, though only the Provincial

Governor, is treated as the representative of the Queen, and goes before

every one. Professor Godwin Smith and his wife were also of the party.

He says (but I am sure he is prejudiced and that it is not true) that

the Canadian Government is just as corrupt and that there is as much

bribery as in the States. Mr. G. Smith differs in opinion with every

one, for the Liberal side would not publish his letters in the papers,

and so he sent them to the Conservatives, and he says they are far more

impartial and just.

_Wednesday, 10th_.--We started here at one o'clock, first by

steamer on Lake Ontario. It was refreshing after being nearly melted at

Toronto, for there was a good breeze. The size of these inland seas

strike one much. We arrived at Niagara about four, and found Mr. Plumb,

John's quondam friend of eighteen years ago, waiting for us in

waggonette, and we drove at once to his pretty house, surrounded by

peach orchards and vines, an untidy but pretty garden. He asked after

Leonard and Mary. Then we had tea, presided over by his pretty daughter

of sixteen, and then the train by his orders stopped for us at his

garden door, and, as he informed me, the last time it did so, was for

the Prince of Wales! We arrived here, Clifton House, the Hotel, by a

picturesque railway journey, and are opposite the American Falls, and

the Horse Shoe Falls are on our right, nearly facing us. Like many other

people, I am rather ashamed to confess I am not as much impressed and

overwhelmed as I ought to be! Dick took a note from Mr. Plumb to his

nephew, Mr. Macklem, and he arranged to call for us at three. In the

morning we drove to the Rapids and Whirlpool, and went up and down all

sorts of queer places in _queerer_ elevators. The river looked

beautiful, a blue-green colour, and the whirlpool is mysteriously

curious, where poor Captain Webb disappeared! In the afternoon the

Macklems took us to the American side on the fine Suspension Bridge, and

then to Prospect Park, Goat Island, and different peeps and vistas of

the Falls and Rapids. I think the immense breadth and volume of water,

with the incessant rush and roar of the river, strike me more than the

actual Falls. We saw some rapids between the islands "Weird Sisters,"

and finally drove to Mr. Macklem's place, surrounded by rapid streams of

the Niagara and very pretty. There seems no end to this river, it has so

many turns and arms and rapids. We had tea (by this time I was nearly

dead), and three dear small boys appeared; one only two and half had a

violin, and he imitated a person playing on it, and made the sounds with

his voice in the most amusing clever way, and laughed so merrily when we

shouted applause. Mr. Macklem drove us home, and after dinner we played

whist in E---'s nice bedroom. This morning I am not well! We have seen

the maids off with the luggage by early rail and boat for Toronto and

follow in afternoon.

_Friday, continuing_.--I was unable to see anything more of

Niagara; the others crossed the ferry. We left at twenty minutes to

five, and owing to the steamer being late on Lake Ontario we did not

reach the Macpherson's till half-past nine. They waited dinner, and we

rushed down, at least I did, just twelve minutes after my arrival, and

also dressed! A Mr. Pattison, a very agreeable-looking man, who seems an

authority on farming, and a Mr. and Mrs. Plumb (son of our Niagara

friend), who was once at T--- P---, but I had entirely forgotten him.

Mr. Pattison spoke of the ignorant, idle, good-for-nothing young men

sent out here to make a living by their worried relations, sometimes

with scarcely a sixpence, in which case they starved but for the charity

of himself and others, or if with any money they fell into bad hands and

lost everything. So many are sent here that he has made a kind of home

for the destitute.

_Saturday Morning_.--Sir David M--- returned from Ottawa, and we

breakfasted together. We nearly missed the train at Toronto (not having

Miss M--- to keep us in order; I call her Queen Christina, she is so

masterful), but just managed to get ourselves and luggage in, and to see

George Bunburg, whom I had made several attempts to see before, and who

I hear is enterprising and likely to do well. We reached Owen Sound, and

got into the steamer all right about three o'clock. Nice farms nearly

all along the line.

_Sunday, 14th September_.--I slept pretty comfortably. We got into

a narrow passage between Lakes Superior and Huron, which was pretty and

curious, great numbers of islands and a very narrow path marked out for

steamers, which, as we met several, made the risk of collision seem very

imminent; they moved very slowly, and have established regular rules of

the road, but cannot travel by night, or if a fog comes on. St. Mary le

Soult is a pretty place, on one side American, where they have made a

lock to avoid the rapids from Lake Huron to Lake Superior. We waited

some time to get into the lock, and then found ourselves in the largest

lake in the world, five hundred miles long by three hundred and fifty

miles wide. Of course, it is like the sea, and while I am writing it is

rough enough to make it difficult. No land is in sight. I have had a

talk with an Archdeacon who lives near St. John's College, Winnipeg, and

is reading "Natural Law;" it is really getting very rough and I must

stop.

_Tuesday, 16th_.--I am writing in the train, and I am thankful to

be alive in it. We arrived at Port Arthur at eight o'clock yesterday,

15th, but could hear nothing of our private car, and when the train

arrived no car still to be seen. At last, after hunting about and

asking, everyone, it turned up, and was very satisfactory. Two men were

there to wait on us, and it was well provisioned, and we set off about

an hour and-half late, but no one minds such a trifle in these parts. At

first the line was fairly straight and smooth, but then the country

became wonderfully wild, with rocky hills covered with stumpy trees and

undergrowth of brilliant colouring, and wooded lakes without end. In and

out we wound, sometimes over most light and primitive bridges, and over

high embankments, often running along the margin of the lakes,

consisting of loose sand, which frequently rolled down the sides as we

went over them. It rained nearly all day, and towards night it poured

and was pitch dark. I was just undressed, and congratulating myself that

we had been standing still at a station, and so I had been able to do it

comfortably, and just got into my sofa bed, with Dick and Hedley

opposite me behind their curtains, when we set off, and in a few minutes

I felt a violent concussion; so many jerks come in common course that I

was not frightened, but we stopped, and then our head man came to the

door and said with dignity, "I think it right to announce to you, my

lady, that an accident has happened." "What is it?" "The engine went

over a culvert bridge all right, but the baggage wagon next to it fell,

down off the line, and as we were going slowly they put on the brake and

no other carriage followed." "Can we go on to-night?" "Oh no, the

roadway is broken up." This was a shock to my nerves, but at any rate we

were safe for the night, and after running in and telling John and E---,

we soon all fell asleep. During the night they tacked on an engine, with

its great lamp eye at the back of our car (we are the last carriage),

and every few minutes this monster gave a tremendous snort, but nothing

awoke Hedley, who slumbered peacefully through it all. We got up early,

rushed off to the scene of the disaster, as did all the other

passengers. It was marvellous that the engine went over that bridge, for

really the rails were almost suspended in mid air, but fortunately for

us it did, or we should have followed and telescoped, and probably been

hurt or killed, the baggage wagon being suspended between the engine and

cars, all on one side and down the bank close to the lake, the window

broken through which the guard jumped out. We trembled for our luggage,

which was all there. The lakes and gaily coloured hills that elsewhere I

should admire, make our railroad so dangerous that we have to creep

along, sometimes over long spidery wooden bridges, and again on most

shaky and uncertain looking embankments, and round sharp corners; every

now and then we stop for no apparent reason, and then all rush to the

platform of our car to see what is the matter. Once a party of the

railway officials got out and ran back; we thought some of our luggage

had fallen out, but it seems one of the bridges over which we had just

passed was rather shaky, and they went to investigate. If we had gone on

last night we meant to be detached at Rat Portage, or Lake of the Woods,

but now we go on to Winnipeg if, please God, we can get there.

_Wednesday 17th_.--Soon after writing yesterday, our steward came

in with a solemn face and said: "I have unpleasant news to communicate;

a wire has just come to forbid the train crossing the tressel bridge in

front of us, so every one must walk, and the luggage be carried over."

The railroad is only lately completed, and they have had no experience

hitherto of the effect of heavy rains. Some of the bridges are only

temporary ones, but no doubt it will be a good and safe line soon. When

one considers the country it passes through, and the difficulties of all

sorts that they have had to encounter, I think the Canadian Pacific

Railway Company and engineers, &c., deserve great credit. "There is a

train to meet us on the other aide of the bridge to take us on to

Winnipeg;" upon which there was a general outcry. "Part with our

comfortable car and provisions Forbid the thought!" "How long will it

take to repair the bridge?" "I don't know at all; it may be days or a

fortnight." After confabulating with the conductor of the train, we

settled to remain this side of the bridge, and be shunted off till it

was repaired, and tacked on to a train again for Winnipeg. We went as

far as the bridge, and a curious scene was before us; the passengers for

Rocky Mountains on the other side had been waiting there for hours, our

train being delayed by the accident, and they proved to be some of our

long lost friends of the British Association; we greeted each other with

effusion; they rushed on our car, and spoke _all at once_ about the

glories of the Rockies and the dangers they had escaped, and the

_fun_ they had, &c. Some conducted me to the bridge to see what had

happened there; considering that there was a great gap in the bridge,

and the tressels were lying about anyhow, and a great iron crane hung

suspended over the hole by one hook, and the engine lay on its side

below, the wire message telling us it would not be safe to go over was

rather ironical! All the luggage of the two trains was spread all over

the rocks and bushes, and people running here and there, the silent lake

so pretty and lovely in contrast. The men with the crane were coming to

our assistance at Termillion Bay (where our culvert bridge gave way),

and the engineer felt the tressels bending as the engine crossed, and

was considering whether to jump off or stay; he decided to remain in the

cab of the engine, as the jump was a very high one, and down they went

to the bottom, but the men were only cut and bruised, and one broke his

leg. This accounted for the delay in our getting assistance, and

fortunately for us all, that our small accident happened when it did. As

our friends from Winnipeg thankfully exclaimed, "if it had not been for

your accident, which was happily so harmless, we should have gone over

that bridge, and as our train was faster and heavier there would

probably hare been a greater smash;" and we exclaimed, "but for our

comparatively harmless accident, we should have gone over that bridge

that night and come to great grief." Wasn't it a mercy we escaped? We

had Professor Boyd Dawkins, Professor Shaw, Mr. de Hamel, Bishop of

Ontario, Mr. Stephen Bourne, &c., on our car for some miles on our way

_back_, and then we were shunted on a siding to wait as patiently

as we could. At this _Hawk_ something station we parted with our

British Association friends, with many good wishes and waving of

handkerchiefs, and were left shunted on the edge of a disagreeable

embankment over the lake. After all this excitement we read, had dinner

and played whist; then made our own beds, and all the 'boys' slept in

the drawing room with me last night, and E--- had the state cabin to

herself. It was very cold in the night, and I had to hunt up another

rug. We breakfasted at half-past eight, and now the others are taking a

walk while I write. I forgot to say Gibson and Roberts went on with our

luggage, across the bridge (or rather, by its side), in the train which

returned to Winnipeg, and there they will stay till we return from the

Rockies. E--- and the boys are just off in the cab of an engine

exploring to the broken bridge. It will he fun, perhaps, for them, but

_I_ find I have frights enough to endure in our necessary journeys.

There is actually a cow at this station, so we had milk for porridge and

tea; moreover, there is a piece of ploughed land, a rare sight in this

wild stony _watery_ country. The Canadian Pacific Railway have not

had experience before this autumn of the effect of heavy rains on their

roads, bridges, &c., and things have sometimes come to grief in

consequence; some bridges are very good and not temporary.

_Later_.--Since writing the foregoing, John and E--- and Hedley

went off on the cow-catcher of an engine for two or three miles

excursion! Dick did not "paddle his own canoe," but the station master

did for him on the lake here, and he _nearly_ succeeded in catching

a large trout! He and I wandered afterwards on the Rocky Hill, and

picked enough blueberries for dinner, and I refreshed my eyes with some

lovely-berried red-leaved little shrubs. Since luncheon a telegram came,

telling us we might go over the bridge, and so off we went, and on

arriving walked all about, some sketching the fallen engine, &c. We set

off with Mr. Egan the manager, in his car in front of us, _en

route_ for Eat Portage, where I am finishing this journal up to this

date, Wednesday, September 17th. It is lovely weather now, and this

place is very pretty, and looks quite civilized after our wilderness

kind of scenery. Mr. Egan is now going on to Winnipeg, and will post

this for me. After our return from the Rockies to Winnipeg, we shall go

to Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia, where write.

Letter No. 6.

_September 21st_, 1884.--I am beginning this in our car _en

route_ to the Rockies, in fact with their snow-covered summits well

in sight. I posted a letter to you, No. 5, at Winnipeg, and also a

newspaper for Mary. From Winnipeg the Canadian Pacific Railway is much

more comfortable, for on the boundless flat of the prairies there is no

need for many tressel bridges or crumbling embankments, and we went

along without fear, excepting that in the neighbourhood of settled

parts, we had to look out for cows. Once we stopped very suddenly (their

brakes are so good in America), having near gone over one in the dark.

They use sometimes a curious kind of sound from the engine, not unlike

the _moo_ of a cow in distress, and I saw it effectually drive some

off the line. The maids met us at Winnipeg Station, and seemed anxious

to go to the Rockies, so we settled they might, and they rushed back for

their things, but they returned only in time to see our train off! On

the whole we thought it was as well they had not come, for maids don't

generally like this kind of life, and we did not need them. We changed

cooks at Winnipeg against my wish, but the others were not satisfied

with our first one, and we have certainly not changed for the better; he

is a coloured man called David, and has been ill, or pretends to be,

since yesterday, and another coloured man whom, we call Jonathan, comes

in to help him.

_Saturday_.--We arrived at Moose Jaw after a very rocking journey,

so bad that I could not sleep, and sat in a chair part of the night; at

last, however, the cold and sleepiness overcame all fear, and I slept in

my bed soundly. We saw lots of Indians in red and white blankets, ugly

and uninteresting creatures. We made acquaintance with the Roman

Catholic Archbishop, who has been travelling in the car next to ours. He

is a French Canadian, but talked English well. He is very pleasant. He

introduced me to two priests, one of whom had been working among the

Indians thirty years. Afterwards he had a talk with John, and remarked

upon my youthfulness to be his mother. Of course, I am always being

taken for his wife, and they seem very much puzzled about it altogether.

_Saturday night, the 20th_.--We reached Calgary after a quieter

night--quite an important city. A good many wooden houses, two or three

churches (I think the congregations must be very small in each), and on

Sunday morning all the inhabitants were out in their best, the men

loafing and smoking about, and quite smart-looking young ladies showing

their finery with great enjoyment, as they do at home. A mounted police

officer drove a pair of good horses to meet some of his men, and there

are cavalry barracks here for them. The train twice a week from Winnipeg

is their only communication with the outer world, so when it arrives

everyone, even from long distances, crowds the platform. We always take

a walk at these resting places, but it is nervous work to go far, as the

train starts without any notice, and they never keep to the time named.

_Wednesday, September 25th_.--After leaving Calgary, which I

forgot to say is near a coal mine (Mr. de Winton, son of Sir Francis,

has a ranch near), and is likely to be an important place some day, we

went to Laggan, which is well into the mountains, and there we saw

Professor George Ramsay, brother of Sir James, and he told us to get

hold of the contractor, Mr. Ross, who would help us about going further

on. The railway people, &c., all said to our great disgust that ladies

would not be allowed to go down the steep incline to British Columbia;

upon this we found out Mr. Boss, and he kindly consented to take us down

the Pacific slope in his own car. At first the boys said I had better

remain behind in our own car, but I felt that if there was a risk I

would rather encounter it with them, and I wanted to see more of the

country, so we prepared to start on Monday, but it poured, and Mr. Ross

would not go till Tuesday. We took a small bag with night-gown, brush

and comb, &c., and left the rest of our goods in charge of the odious,

but I think honest, David, and started yesterday morning in Mr. Ross's

car, in some respects a more convenient one than ours, for it has a

writing table and a stove in the sitting room after an early breakfast

at half-past seven. It was a glorious sunny day. We had two engines

reversed, one before and one behind, and no end of brakes with safety

'switches,' every now and then to be turned on and to send us up hill if

the engines ran away with us, and we crept down very slowly. It was very

exciting, and the scenery magnificent, vistas of snowy mountains opening

continually as we turned the corners, covered with brilliant yellow and

red and purple foliage; and when we came to the foot of Mount Stephen

(called after Mr. George Stephen, of Montreal), Mr. Ross said, "we ought

to call one mountain Rayleigh." I exclaimed, "Oh, yes! There is a

beautiful snow one which has been in sight all the way coming down, let

that be Raleigh." And so it was agreed, and E--- and I sketched

it.--Afterward Mr. Ross, said, "Rayleigh has quite a family after him,"

a curious succession of gradually decreasing tops, and we agreed that

they should be _his five brothers_. At one place we went down to a

bridge, very high over a river, and I thought, "it would be unpleasant

if the engine runs away here," but curiously enough I was not at all

nervous, for I felt so much care was taken, and it was a glorious day,

and the scenery lifted one's soul above the small things of life

_here_, and made one think of Him who created all these wonders,

and yet became our human friend and sympathizer, and now lives to give

us bye and bye even "greater things than these!" At last we got to the

_Flats_ all safe, and then John and Dick walked to the end of the

"construction," about five miles. If one was prepared to ride and rough

it exceedingly, one could reach the Pacific in ten days, but ladies

could not undergo the hardships, and we would not be left alone. Mr.

Ross informed us that we must return soon to Kicking Horse Lake and

Laggan, as there would be no train later. However, we said that John was

extremely anxious to see the working of the line at the end, and it

would be a great pity for him not to have the time, and "_could_ we

stay the night?" He replied, "certainly." Hedley and E--- walked on at a

great pace after the other two, beyond my powers, and I sauntered on

quietly alone, only meeting a few men, belonging to the railway in most

cases and working on the line, which is the only _road_ which one

can walk on comfortably here, and I got three miles, but then a horrid

bridge stopped me, as I hate walking on planks far apart over a height

without a helping hand. I have been all along struck with the far

superior accent and good English of the working men in America (Canada

especially); they have often very good features, too, and wear a

well-shaped moustache, and meet one with a smile. They treat one as

equals, but they are not at all rude, and are always willing to help. I

spoke to some in my solitary walk, and only that they were hard at work

hammering in nails, &c., I should have liked to "tell them a story."

They all returned from end of "construction" on a truck train, Dick and

E--- on an open car, and Hedley and John in the cab of the engine. We

then dined; such a fat coloured man Mr. Ross has in his car! He could

hardly squeeze through the narrow passages, but he managed to give us

something to eat. Mr. Ross received a telegram later to say Mr. Angus,

our host at Montreal, Mr. Donald Smith, both directors of the Canadian

Pacific Railway, Mr. Cyrus Field, &c., &c., were at Calgarry, and wanted

to _come on_, so all is arranged for them, and they are expected

soon, and we hope to return with them this afternoon to Laggan, to our

own car. Last evening E--- suddenly said, "I wish we could sleep in a

tent?" Mr. Ross answered, "I can easily manage it for you," and

accordingly two men of business (I think contractors for food, &c.),

were turned out of their tent, and came to our car, and John and E---

slept in their small tent near the river. I don't think they will want

to do it _again_, and I was better off in a nice room all to

myself, where I could dress comfortably, but had not many appliances for

that end. We all met at eight o'clock breakfast, and our black man (who

looked more than ever like a large bolster, well filled and tied at the

top for his head), cooked us an eatable beef-steak, and after this John

and Mr. Ross's brother "_Jack_" rode off to penetrate as far as

they could beyond "construction." I am a little nervous about his ride,

for the road is a mere track, and very rough, however, wagons and mules

_do_ travel on it. E--- has made many pretty sketches; mine are

scanty and perfectly horrid. I don't improve at all. The sun is trying

to come out. We are on a siding, close to numbers of tents and mules and

wagons, a sort of depot for provisions, clothes, &c. I have never seen a

tipsy man or woman since I landed at Quebec! and in many parts of Canada

alcohol cannot be bought, and the penalty is _always_ severe for

selling or giving it to an Indian. Further on I passed yesterday quite a

"city" of tents; over one was printed "Hotel Fletcher," another,

"Restaurant, meals at all hours," "Denver Hotel," "Laundry," "Saloon,"

&c. These are _speculations_, and are not connected with railway

officials. Some of the men (one was taking a photograph of "the city,")

have the American _twang_. Mr. Rosa is going off directly the

directors arrive, far into the interior, on an exploring tour into the

Selkirk range, &c. The line is "graded" about fifty miles further on,

and the bridges and tunnels are making. They are working the other end

from Port Moodie on the Pacific, and will meet by the spring of next

year. What a pity the British Association's visit to Canada was not in

1885 instead of 1884? Some day are going to carry the line higher up, so

as to avoid the steep incline down which we travelled so cautiously, but

they are very anxious to get the line done _somehow_, and it is

really wonderful at what a pace they go.

_Calgarry, September 27th_.--On Wednesday, 24th, after John had

gone off riding, Dick and I waited about for the directors' car, which

we expected that morning, but alas! though it arrived at eleven, they

only stopped at the telegraph office a moment, took no notice of us, and

went on to the end of "construction," returning in about an hour, (John

got back much later, and we wondered why Mr. Ross advised him to go, as

it obliged him to miss this car); they again only made a pause, during

which Dick spoke to Mr. Angus, and E--- also had a few words with Mr. D.

Smith, but she was too modest in urging our claims to be helped on up

the incline and they went and left us in the lurch. I heard afterwards

that the American part of the company were in a great hurry to get on,

Mr. Angus Field having telegrams following him all along the line, but

we should not have detained them, and they would only have had to drop

us at Laggan, where our own car was waiting. So we had to wait another

night, and all went to bed very grumpy!

_Thursday, 25th_.--After breakfast we walked some way, and then

Hedley and I remained at the telegraph station (this is the only source

of information in these parts), and the others went on. An hour or two

later the freight train began to think of starting up the incline, and

Hedley and I got into the cab of the engine. We soon came up with E---,

who joined us there. Some two or three miles further on John and Dick

appeared, wildly gesticulating as they stood on the middle of the line

to try and stop us, but the engineer declared we were now on too steep

an incline, and on we went, much to our dismay, for this entailed thirty

or forty miles walk for rheumatic John and not over-strong Dick. We

reached the top all right, and found ourselves at "Kicking Horse Lake,"

and to our great relief up walked John and Dick. It seems they made a

rush at the train as it passed, and John jumped on an open car all

right--but Dick caught his foot in a sleeper and fell down, but had the

presence of mind to pick himself up very quickly, and caught the last

engine (we had one at each end) and jumped on the cow catcher! I

shuddered to think what _might_ have happened to Dick when he fell,

but he only got a bruise on his knee and a severe injury to his

trousers! We reached Laggan about half-past one, and found our cook

still much of an invalid, with a real negro to assist him! I think the

negroes are much more manly and altogether pleasanter than the

half-breeds, who are mean, discontented, and impertinent when they dare.

This negro was a capital servant, and had lived with his present master

(to whom he was returning after the said master's absence in Europe)

twelve years. We left Laggan at half-past nine, Friday 26th, and had

glorious scenery, most of which we had previously passed in the dark.

Rocky mountains with their snowy tops all about us, and the lovely

yellow and red and purple colouring on their sides. E--- sketched

vigorously and I smudged! We reached Calgarry about five, and found the

Indians in great force, for they had received their treaty money quite

lately, and were arrayed in gorgeous blankets of red and white and blue,

and any number of gold and coloured beads! They are quiet enough, and

don't look at all as if they would venture to scalp us, or make an

oration like "Chincanchooke" with dignified eloquence; the expression of

the elder ones is unpleasant, and you can see at once the results of

even a _little_ education by the brighter and happier countenances

of the boys and girls. I took a lonely walk on the prairie, over which a

strong cold wind was blowing. I saw several people riding in the

distance. We left Calgarry on 27th, Saturday, by a train partly freight,

and consequently it rocked and jumped, and crashed and crunched, and we

could scarcely play whist, or hear each other speak, and when we went to

bed sleep was banished, at least from _my_ eyes. I watched the

stars instead, and the brilliant morning star about three or four

o'clock shining like a small moon, and then the sun rise over the

prairie. We arrived at Winnipeg about six o'clock, on _Monday,

29th_; our _nasty_ cook had no dinner provided for us, and

though we had authority for remaining that night in the car to sleep,

conflicting orders produced all kinds of unpleasantness, and we were

shunted about and taken two or three miles off from the depot where

alone we could get anything to eat. After making a great fuss we were

taken back and had a good dinner at the restaurant, which we enjoyed

after our monotonous fare in the car. Our maids, who had been a

fortnight at the Hotel doing nothing but spending our money, met us and

brought letters, &c. Dick heard from Augusta for the first time--her

letters had not reached him.

LORD RAYLEIGH, THE PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, AND PARTY

RETURN FROM THE ROCKIES.

Lord Rayleigh, the president of the British Association for the

advancement of Science, Lady Rayleigh, Clara Lady Rayleigh, Hon. Hedley

Strutt and Hon. Richard Strutt returned yesterday afternoon from the

Rookies in a private car attached to the regular train.

A TIMES reporter boarded the car about nine o'clock last night, and had

a pleasant chat with Lord Rayleigh and the members of the party. They

went to within a few miles of the Columbia River, saw the rails being

laid on the Canadian Pacific Railway and were very much pleased with the

wonderful rapidity the work was being done. Lord Rayleigh said he

thought the Rockies were one of the wonders of the world--next to the

Canadian Pacific, chimed in Mr. Strutt and Clara Lady Rayleigh. The

latter said the party were struck with the brightness, intelligence and

kindness of the men along the Canadian Pacific Railway line. The

kindness they had shown to them would never be forgotten. The party

could scarcely believe that the towns along the railway had grown up to

their present size within the past two or three years, as they did not

think it possible in a new country like this. They were loud in their

praises of the country, and predicted that thousands of emigrants would

come from England to Manitoba as a result of the Association's visit

here. The party put up at the Potter House to-day, and will leave for

the east to-night--_Winnipeg Daily Times, September 30th._