NEW YORK, HUDSON RIVER, AND NIAGARA FALLS.
As we drove over the rough streets of New York in the early hours of
Sunday morning, it appeared as a city of the dead. There was no sign
of life as our horses toiled along Broadway and up Fifth Avenue to the
Buckingham Hotel, where we had secured rooms.
This hotel, though comfortable, had the disadvantage of being too far up
town for short sojourners, but it has the merit of being conducted on the
European system--that is, the rooms and meals are charged for separately.
The American plan is to make an inclusive charge of from four to five
dollars a day, and it is often troublesome only being able to have meals
in the dining-room between certain hours. Besides, it is pleasant to
be able to visit the restaurants of New York, which are admirable, and
equal, if not superior to those of Paris. Delmonico's, where we dined one
evening, is particularly excellent.
We were glad when eleven o'clock came and we could go to St. Thomas'
Church, close by. It is one of the most frequented of the many beautiful
churches of all denominations in New York, and of very fine interior
proportions. Upon the dark oak carving is reflected in many hues the rich
stained glass. The service was rendered according to the ritual of the
English Church, which is followed by the Episcopal Church of America.
They succeed in America in uniting a non-ceremonial service with a bright
and hearty one. We listened to a very powerful sermon on St. Paul on the
Hill of Mars, in which the eloquent preacher boldly declared that the
political honesty of the Athenians 2000 years ago was superior to that of
the United States of to-day.
On our way back we went into the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which was
just opposite to our windows at the "Buckingham," a very large marble
building, but still unfinished.
We found four reporters waiting at the hotel to "interview" my husband.
He had eluded them on the landing-stage, but they would take no denial
here, and we were much harassed by others in the course of the day.
Our luggage arrived at noon. It is almost a necessity to employ the
Express Company for the conveyance of "baggage" throughout America, as
the hackney carriages and hotel omnibuses are not prepared to take it.
The charges are very high, and it is often extremely inconvenient having
to wait two, three, or even four hours for it, after arrival in a town.
The geography of New York is exceedingly simple, and is followed in
nearly every American city. "Avenues" traverse the length of the town,
which are called first, second, or third avenues, and the "streets" which
intersect them are also numbered consecutively, so that you have--Third
Street, Fifth Avenue, and know that it is the third street from the
commencement of Fifth Avenue.
The houses are built in blocks, and for the most part in the upper
portion of New York, of dark red sandstone.
There are ample means of cheap locomotion by two "elevated" railways,
and innumerable tramways. Each of the former runs the whole length of
the city, a distance of ten miles. They were built by rival companies
who afterwards amalgamated. A double line is laid upon iron piers in the
centre of the street on a level with the third stories of the houses on
each side. One wonders how the necessary powers to build such a line were
obtained, but in "free" America, vested interests and damage to property
are not taken into account, when financiers have a scheme to carry out.
It is said that the value of the surrounding houses has been increased
rather than otherwise by the proximity of the Elevated: more curiously,
the tram lines running below it, and which were formerly insolvent, are
now paying well.
The uniform fare is ten cents, except after four o'clock on Sundays, when
it is reduced to five cents, the same as the fare of the "trams." The
train consists of an engine and four light coaches, all of one class,
and fitted with comfortable cane seats. They succeed each other every
five minutes. A conductor is on the platform of every carriage, and opens
the iron gate at the end as soon as the train stops. There is a marked
absence of all confusion and haste, partly attributable to there being
no collection of tickets, which are dropped into a box on the platform
immediately after purchase.
Cabs are few in number and very expensive. They charge four and a half
dollars, or nearly 1_l._, from the quay to the hotels, without luggage,
and one dollar a mile, or a dollar and a half per hour.
[Illustration: Elevated Railway, New York.]
Independently of these exorbitant prices, driving is very unpleasant
from the streets being paved with blocks of granite, and being kept in
shocking repair.
It is alleged that the extremes of climate prevent the use of any other
material, but there is probably more truth in the statement that the
money voted by municipal councils for their paving finds its way into
other channels. Washington and Boston were the only towns we afterwards
saw with good pavements, without ruts or holes. Above the thoroughfares
is a rose of telegraph and telephone wires, and poles and standards
abound in the streets. At nearly every house there is a telephone to put
the inmates in connection with some place of business or some relative.
In the afternoon we went to Trinity Church, which may be called the
cathedral of New York. The service was just ending, and the choir were
filing out of the chancel under a blaze of golden glory from the sun
shining through the east end window, singing the hymn, "Angels of Jesus,
Angels of Light, Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night."
The voices grew fainter and fainter, and finally died away on the
breathless stillness of the air. Then the huge organ, blown by
electricity, pealed forth, and the spell was broken.
Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. Astor, and the Stewart family live in gorgeous
palaces, and one is struck how even this Republic cannot prevent a
monopoly of property and an accumulation of wealth. Mr. Vanderbilt has
three adjoining houses, forming a block, in Fifth Avenue, for himself and
his married children.
The squares and gardens are well kept, and it is pleasant to see them all
open, full of people sitting in them, without the railings which make
London squares so gloomy and of so little pleasure even to those who have
the _entrée_.
We drove round Central Park--a perfect triumph of landscape gardening,
with but little help from nature. The "Mall" and alleys were thronged
with gay crowds, listening to the band, and boats were plying on the
lake. There were not many carriages, the fashionable world having fled
from the fagging heat of New York; but those we saw had servants in
livery, a comparatively recent innovation, and one much disapproved of by
the people.
The cross-bar waggons in general use, weighing little over two
hundredweight, with their skeleton wheels, whirl along at a great pace,
but the horses all have a check-rein passing over the head, which is far
more cruel than even our gag bearing-rein.
_Monday, July 14th._--We began our wanderings by going over the beautiful
Brooklyn Bridge, which unites New York with its monster suburb, the home
of half a million of people, principally of the working classes, of whom
a large proportion are Irish. It is a marvellous structure, the finest
suspension bridge ever built, and a mile and a quarter long. So graceful
and light is the curve it describes that from a distance it seems to
be a spider's web suspended in mid-air. We had a long "tram" journey
through the dull and dirty streets to Greenwood Cemetery, the great
burial-place of New York. A gateway of much beauty marks the entrance,
and over the centre arch are the words, "Weep not, for the dead shall be
raised." A granite obelisk in the centre of a grass plot attracts our
attention. Below it lie the bodies of 103 persons who perished in the
burning of the Brooklyn Theatre in 1876. Under that green mound what a
mass of human passions were laid to rest! Some of the monuments are very
finely conceived in design, and execution; others were grotesque and
ugly. Nothing, however, mars the beauty of the whole--the shining river
running through this valley of the dead, the surroundings bright with
marble, flowers, and shrubs--only, a sweet garden where the people come
and walk in the evening cool, watching the sun sinking over the harbour,
and thinking, it may be, of how they too will likewise join those who lie
at rest here.
In the afternoon we paid a visit to Wall Street, the scene of so many
fortunes lost and won. The din in the Stock Exchange was deafening,
and the appearance of the frantic, yelling speculators anything but
attractive.
The "stores," or shops, in Broadway are very fine inside, but the windows
are not so well set out as in Paris or London. The goods for sale are
also more general in character, and nearly double in price. This arises
from the large duties or imposts in a great measure, but also because the
unit of a dollar (4_s._ 2_d._) is so high. It seems as easy to ask one
dollar as one shilling or one franc, and the former coin scarcely goes
farther than the latter throughout the States.
The _New York Herald_, _Times_, _World_, and other papers come out with
long accounts of the interviews given yesterday. They went into the most
precise details of dress, manners, and speech.
_Tuesday, July 15th._--We had a pleasant morning in seeing the
magnificent armoury of the "Seventh Regiment of the National Guard." The
Seventh Regiment includes in its ranks some of the best men in New York,
and the National Guard corresponds exactly to the Volunteer force of
England. The Drill Hall is 300 feet long and 200 feet broad, unbroken by
a pillar, and large enough to manoeuvre a battalion, having a solid
oaken floor so constructed as to prevent reverberation in marching. Each
company has a room for itself, and the officers' room, the library, and
the veterans' room, where those who have left the regiment come to meet
their sons and relatives now serving, are beautiful apartments, richly
furnished.
In the afternoon Sir Roderick Cameron kindly took us over to his charming
place on Statten Island. It is beautifully wooded, and when the salt
marshes are drained, and the mosquitoes reduced in numbers, his farm will
no doubt be the site of a populous suburb.
_Wednesday, July 16th._--By nine o'clock we were waiting on the shores of
the Hudson River for one of the floating palaces which ply to and from
Albany. The _C. Vibard_ was seen presently coming--a magnificent vessel
of colossal size, with three decks towering one above the other, and yet
drawing but six feet of water. What we were particularly struck with on
these river and lake steamers was that, although there is no distinction
of class, no inconvenience whatever results. All is orderly and quiet;
everybody is well-dressed and well-behaved. Indeed, throughout the
States, rowdyism seems to be as absent as pauperism, and the deference
paid to ladies might well be imitated in older countries. They have a
separate entrance at hotels, and a separate "guichet" at post-offices and
railway stations. A lady may travel with perfect comfort alone, and walk
in the streets without fear of any annoyance.
A fresh wind dappled the blue sky, and raised the muddy waters of the
grand old Hudson. Across from New Jersey and Hoboken, those thriving
suburbs of New York, came the busy hum of life. The well-wooded hills
were clothed with villas, whose domes or towers peep out from amongst the
dense foliage. Here and there, standing in a little park, were châlets,
or a cottage with gilt minarets, or, even in still more incongruous
taste, a Chinese pagoda. It is here the merchants from the great city
take their rest and pleasure, within ear-shot and easy reach of their
familiar haunts around Wall Street. On the opposite shore the great
wall of basaltic trap-rock, known to the early settlers by the name of
the "Great Chip Rock," but to their more practical successors as the
"Palisades," forms an impenetrable wall, rising in a sheer precipice
from the river, a height of from 300 to 600 feet.
Meandering along by its mighty brother, unseen on the other side, there
is another river, running at a lower level.
Historical associations crowd upon us as we sail up between the broad
banks, stretching from the memory of the early band of settlers who under
Hendrich Hudson, the Dutchman, made the first voyage of discovery up
the river to which he afterwards gave his name; to the little villages
of Tappan and Tarrytown, glowing with the memories of the brave but
ill-fated Major André. Need I repeat his well-known story? In the dead of
night he landed from the _Vulture_ at Stony Point to meet Arnold, who had
turned traitor, to arrange with him for the surrender of West Point, the
key of the position. André was captured in returning by land, searched,
the papers found on him, and executed, to the sorrow of both armies;
whilst Arnold, escaping to the _Vulture_, was rewarded with 6000_l._,
and became a Brigadier-General in the British army. Many know well the
monument afterwards erected to André in Westminster Abbey.
Sunnyside, a little white cottage, the home of Washington Irving, lies on
the hill, almost hidden by the surrounding trees. The front is covered
with ivy grown from a sprig that Sir Walter Scott sent from Abbotsford.
"Sleepy Hollow," the scene of so many of Washington Irving's charming
romances, is quite near. Every side of life is here represented. All
manner of men have found their greatest happiness in the quiet beauty
of the Hudson's banks. Besides authors and actors, such as Forrest, the
great tragedian--science, in the person of Professor Morse, of telegraph
fame, and the great merchant princes, such as Stewart, Astor, and Jay
Gould, have made their homes here. Miss Warner, authoress of the "Wide,
wide World," has a cottage near Teller's Point.
At Tappan Zee the river opens out into a lake ten miles broad. The
gloomy fortress of Sing Sing, the State prison, lies on an island near
the shore. Croton Lake is close by, and supplies New York with from
40,000,000 to 60,000,000 gallons daily, through an aqueduct thirty-three
miles long. The wooden sheds found at intervals along the banks are the
great storehouses where in winter the ice is cut and kept, ready to
supply the vast consumption of New York.
The beautiful bay of Haverstraw leads to the narrow defile and the
northern gate of the Highlands. In rugged and varied beauty the mountains
close us in on every side, overshadowing us with their wooded heights;
maple and sycamore mingling with darker belts of pine, or a thick
undergrowth of stunted oaks. They are so like the Highlands that you
look--but in vain--for the bracken and the furze.
"The glory of the Hudson is at West Point," says a well-known author, and
I suppose there could not be a more beautiful situation for the Military
College of the United States, the Sandhurst of America, than at West
Point. It stands on a commanding bluff, the river winding round three
sides of the promontory in an almost impregnable position.
From the southern gate of the Highlands, green marshy fields, with
weeping-willows trailing along the banks, form the chief feature of
the landscape, and we pass several thriving towns like Peekskill and
Poughkeepsie. In the afternoon, blue and purple in the far distance, we
saw the glorious range of the mighty Catskill Mountains, forming one
unbroken series of snow-capped domes, hiding in their deep recesses many
of Nature's grandest secrets. The evening was closing in as the steamer
passed under the swinging arch of the bridge at Albany, the chief town of
New York State.
Albany is chiefly remarkable for its very fine Capitol, which has been in
process of building since 1871, and is still far from finished, though
it has already cost an enormous sum. At the present time every one is
talking about Albany, owing to the fact that Grover Cleveland, the
newly-selected Democratic candidate for the Presidency, is the Governor.
Delaware House gave us shelter for the night; and at 8 a.m. the next
morning we were in the "cars" on our way to Niagara.
This was our first experience of American railways. There is no
distinction of classes in the railway company's fares, but greater
luxury is obtained by travelling in the drawing-room or sleeping car.
The former belong to the Wagner, the latter to the Pullman Company,
who make a separate charge, which is levied by the special conductor.
This is his only duty, except to make himself a nuisance, and generally
objectionable. The beds are made up by an obliging coloured porter. The
cars are very long, and run on sixteen wheels. There is communication
through the train, but it is only used by the condescendingly grand
officials and the numerous news and fruit vendors who torment you with
repeated exhibitions of their varied wares. The windows are so large,
that if opened dust and grit from the slack coal burnt by the engines
smother everything, so that with the car full (and they hold from twenty
to thirty) the atmosphere becomes terribly oppressive. In winter,
and when the stoves are lighted it is even worse. The Americans are
very proud of their railway system, but after travelling over most of
their lines, it is impossible to see that we have much to learn from
them. The traffic is conducted in a very happy-go-lucky style. There
is an absence of civility, with a superabundance of officials, and a
porter is not to be met with. The traveller must carry his hand-luggage
himself. The system of checking the baggage is, however, admirable.
A brass check attached to the trunk ensures its going safely to any
destination, however distant, and only being given up on presentation of
the duplicate, which is in possession of the passenger.
Our journey lay through the smiling valley of the Mohawk River. The
operation of hay-making was going on in many of the fields we passed. The
hay was cut, raked, turned over, unloaded, and stacked by machinery--the
most convincing proof of the absence of hand-labour. Throughout the vast
continent of America, from the farms of the east to the cattle ranches
of the west, there is the same cry for labour. Still greater is the
demand for domestic servants. American girls think nothing of serving in
a "store" or at a railway buffet, or even in an hotel. They have their
freedom at certain hours, and when their work is done they are their
own mistresses; but domestic service they look upon as degrading. It is
almost wholly confined to Irish immigrants. A gentleman told us of a
large mountain hotel where the waiting during the summer months of the
season was done by an entire school of young ladies, who at the end of
the time returned with their "salaries" (the term of "wages" is never
used) to pay for their winter's schooling.
At Syracuse we experienced for the first time the strange custom of
running the train through a street in the heart of the city. Many lives
are annually lost, and terrible accidents occur frequently at the level
crossings. "Look out for the locomotive" is on a large sign-board, but
the public depend more upon the shrill whistle or the ringing of the
engine bell. The effect of these engine bells is very melodious when,
deep-toned and loud-voiced, coming and going in a station they chime to
each other.
_Friday, July 18th, Clifton House, Niagara Falls._--"What a moment in a
lifetime is that in which we first behold Niagara!" And it is difficult
with a very feeble pen to say anything superior to such a commonplace
platitude, even when in the presence of one of Nature's most glorious
works.
Notwithstanding all written and said, imagined or described, Niagara
cannot be put into words; cannot be conveyed to the imagination through
the usual medium of pen and paper; can only be seen to be--even then but
partially--understood.
There is a blue river, two miles wide, without ripple or ruffle on
the surface, coming down from a great lake, pursuing its even course.
There are breakers ahead--little clouds, then white foam sprayed into
mid-air. The contagion spreads, until on the whole surface of the river
are troubled waves, noisily hurrying down, down, with ever-increasing
velocity, to the great Canadian fall. The mockery of those few yards of
clear, still water! In a suction green as an uncut emerald, a volume of
water, twenty fathoms deep, is hurled over a precipice 160 feet high.
One hundred million tons of water pass over every hour, with a roar that
can be heard ten miles away, and a reverberation that shakes the very
earth itself, into the seething cauldron below, shrouded in an eternal
mist:--"There is neither speech nor language, but their voices are heard."
In a minor key the American waters repeat the mighty cannonade, and
blending their voices, mirror the sea-green colour of the wooded
precipices as they flow on their onward course. Long serpent trails of
foam alone bear witness to the late convulsion.
The gorge is narrowing; the waters are compressed into a smaller space;
they are angry, and jostle each other. They hiss, they swirl; they
separate to rush together in shooting shower of spray, and so struggle
through the Rapids.
A gloomy pool, with darkling precipices of purple rocks, forms a basin.
The waters are rushing too surely into that iron-bound pool. The current
is checked and turned back on itself, to meet the oncoming stream. A
mighty Whirlpool forms. The waters divide under the current, and one
volume returns to eddy and swirl helplessly against the great barrier,
whilst the other volume, more happy, finds a cleft, broadened now into
a wide gateway, and gurgling and laughing to itself, glides away on a
smooth course, to lose its volume in Lake Ontario. What a world-renown
that stream will always have--a short course full of awful incident.
On the 25th of July, 1883, Captain Webb was drowned while attempting
to swim the rapids. Diving from a small boat about 300 yards above the
new cantilever bridge, he plunged into the stream. The force of the
current turned him over several times; then he threw up his arms and
sank, crushed to death, it is supposed, by the pressure of the water. The
enterprising owners of the restaurant at the rapids, have arranged with
his widow to come over during the season to sell photographs opposite the
spot where her husband perished.
Goat Island forms the division between the American and Canadian Falls.
The waters are rapidly eating away the banks, and the rocky promontory,
which forms such a principal feature, may some day disappear. What a
glorious junction it would be! Four years ago a large piece of rock in
the centre of the horse-shoe came away, and its symmetry was somewhat
marred. The three pretty little Sister Islands are joined by their
graceful suspension bridges to Goat Island. These islands, lying out
as they do amidst the roughest and most tumultuous part of the rapids,
have a magnificent view of the waters as they come tumbling down.
The Hermit's Cascade is connected with the pathetic story of a young
Englishman who, coming one day to see Niagara, remained day after day
overpoweringly fascinated. Unable to tear himself away, he lived year
after year for ever within sight and hearing of the falls. He is supposed
to have perished in their waters whilst bathing one day, but whether
intentionally or not was never known. I believe those who have sat and
watched those tumultuous waters for any great length of time would
understand the working of the spell on a sensitive brain.
Biddle's Stairs lead down to the "Cave of the Winds." It is awe-inspiring
to watch the fall from below, and yet this is only a streamlet of the
great volume of the fall. What must it be inside, when the beating of the
spray-like hail, the roaring of the winds, mingling with the thunder of
the cataract, form a combination of the majesty of the elements on earth.
After a morning spent amongst these terrifying wonders, we had a quiet
drive along the right bank of the river through Cedar Island. The thunder
and roar was succeeded by quiet pools and swiftly-flowing currents,
calm and clear, rippling in the afternoon sunlight. Weeping-willows,
long grasses, and bending reeds whispered in the cool breezes. From the
heights above we again surveyed the whole scene. And returning home once
more came under the spell of the Mermaid, looming white and mysterious in
the gloaming.
Niagara becomes very dear--a child of the affections; and to those who
are unfortunate enough to have to picture Niagara from description,
I should say efface mine quickly, quickly I say, and turn to that of
Anthony Trollope:--
"Of all the sights on this earth of ours which tourists travel to see--at
least, of all those which I have seen--I am inclined to give the palm to
the Falls of Niagara. In the catalogue of such sights I intend to include
all buildings, pictures, statues, and wonders of art made by men's hands,
and also all beauties of nature prepared by the Creator for the delight
of His creatures. I know no other one thing so beautiful, so glorious,
and so powerful.
* * * * *
"We will go at once on to the glory, and the thunder, and the majesty,
and the wrath of that upper belt of waters.
"Go down to the end of that wooden bridge, seat yourself on the rail,
and there sit till all the outer world is lost to you. There is no
grander spot about Niagara than this. The waters are absolutely around
you. If you have that power of eye-control which is so necessary to the
full enjoyment of scenery, you will see nothing but the water. You will
certainly hear nothing else. And the sound, I beg you to remember, is not
an ear-cracking, agonized crash and clang of noises, but is melodious and
soft withal, though loud as thunder. It fills your ears, and, as it were,
envelopes them; but at the same time you can speak to your neighbour
without an effort. But at these places, and in these moments, the less of
speaking I should say the better. There is no grander spot than this.
Here, seated on the rail of the bridge, you will not see the whole depth
of the fall. In looking at the grandest works of nature, and of art too,
I fancy, it is never well to see all. There should be something left to
the imagination, and much should be half concealed in mystery.
"And so here, at Niagara, that converging rush of waters may fall down,
down at once into a hell of rivers for what the eye can see. It is
glorious to watch them in their first curve over the rocks. They come
green as a bank of emeralds, but with a fitful flying colour, as though
conscious that in one moment more they would be dashed into spray and
rise into air, pale as driven snow. The vapour rises high into the air,
and is gathered there, visible always as a permanent white cloud over the
cataract; but the bulk of the spray which fills the lower hollow of that
horse-shoe is like a tumult of snow.
"The head of it rises ever and anon out of that cauldron below, but the
cauldron itself will be invisible. It is ever so far down--far as your
own imagination can sink it. But your eyes will rest full upon the curve
of the waters. The shape you will be looking at is that of a horse-shoe,
but of a horse-shoe miraculously deep from toe to heel; and this depth
becomes greater as you sit there. That which at first was only great and
beautiful, becomes gigantic and sublime till the mind is at a loss to
find an epithet for its own use. To realize Niagara, you must sit there
till you see nothing else than that which you have come to see. You will
hear nothing else, and think of nothing else. At length you will be at
one with the tumbling river before you. You will find yourself among the
waters as though you belonged to them. The cool liquid green will run
through your veins, and the voice of the cataract will be the expression
of your own heart. You will fall as the bright waters fall, rushing down
into your new world with no hesitation and with no dismay; and you will
rise again as the spray rises, bright, beautiful, and pure. Then you will
flow away in your course to the uncompassed, distant, and eternal ocean.
"Oh! my friend, let there be no one there to speak to thee then; no, not
even a brother. As you stand there speak only to the waters!"