FOREWORD AND NOTES BY ANDREW HILL CLARK
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Prefatory and explanatory - The voyage out - The sentimental - The actual
- The oblivious - The medley - Practical joking - An unwelcome companion -
American patriotism - The first view - The departure.
CHAPTER II.
An inhospitable reception - Halifax and the Blue Noses - The heat -
Disappointed expectations - The great departed - What the Blue Noses might
be - What the coach was not - Nova Scotia and its capabilities - The roads
and their annoyances - A tea dinner - A night journey and a Highland cabin
- A nautical catastrophe - A joyful reunion.
CHAPTER III.
Popular ignorance - The garden island - Summer and winter contrasted - A
wooden capital - Island politics, and their consequences - Gossip - "Blowin-
time" - Religion and the clergy - The servant nuisance - Colonial society - An
evening party - An island premier - Agrarian outrage - A visit to the
Indians - The pipe of peace - An Indian coquette - Country hospitality - A
missionary - A novel mode of lobster-fishing - Uncivilised life - Far away in
the woods - Starvation and dishonesty - An old Highlander and a Highland
welcome - Hopes for the future.
CHAPTER IV.
From St. George's Cross to the Stars and Stripes - Unpunctuality -
Incompetence - A wretched night - Colonial curiosity - The fashions - A
night in a buffalo robe - A stage journey - A queer character - Politics -
Chemistry - Mathematics - Rotten bridges - A midnight arrival - Colonial
ignorance - Yankee conceit - What ten-horse power chaps can do - The
pestilence - The city on the rock - New Brunswick - Steamboat peculiarities
- Going ahead in the eating line - A storm - Stepping ashore.
CHAPTER V.
First experiences of American freedom - The "striped pig" and "Dusty Ben"
- A country mouse - What the cars are like - Beauties of New England - The
land of apples - A Mammoth hotel - The rusty inkstand exiled - Eloquent eyes
- Alone in a crowd.
CHAPTER VI.
A suspected bill - A friend in need - All aboard for the Western cars -
The wings of the wind - American politeness - A loquacious conductor -
Three minutes for refreshments - A conversation on politics - A
confession - The emigrant car - Beauties of the woods - A forest on fire -
Dangers of the cars - The Queen City of the West.
CHAPTER VII.
The Queen City continued - Its beauties - Its inhabitants, human and
equine - An American church - Where chairs and bedsteads come from - Pigs
and pork - A peep into Kentucky - Popular opinions respecting slavery -
The curse of America.
CHAPTER VIII.
The hickory stick - Chawing up ruins - A forest scene - A curious questioner
- Hard and soft shells - Dangers of a ferry - The western prairies -
Nocturnal detention - The Wild West and the Father of Rivers - Breakfast in
a shed - What is an alligator? - Physiognomy, and its uses - The ladies'
parlour - A Chicago hotel, its inmates and its horrors - A water-drinking
people - The Prairie City - Progress of the West.
CHAPTER IX.
A vexatious incident - John Bull enraged - Woman's rights - Alligators
become hosses - A popular host - Military display - A mirth-provoking gun
- Grave reminiscences - Attractions of the fair - Past and present - A
floating palace - Black companions - A black baby - Externals of Buffalo -
The flag of England.
CHAPTER X.
The Place of Council - Its progress and its people - English hearts -
"Sebastopol is taken" - Squibs and crackers - A ship on her beam-ends -
Selfishness - A mongrel city - A Scot - Constancy rewarded - Monetary
difficulties - Detention on a bridge - A Canadian homestead - Life in the
clearings - The bush on fire - A word on farming - The "bee" and its produce
- Eccentricities of Mr. Haldimands - A ride on a troop-horse - Scotch
patriotism - An English church - The servant nuisance - Richard Cobden.
CHAPTER XI.
"I've seen nothing" - A disappointment - Incongruities - Hotel gaieties and
"doing Niagara" - Irish drosky-drivers - "The Hell of Waters" - Beauties of
Niagara - The picnic party - The white canoe - A cold shower-bath - "The
Thunder of Waters" - A magic word - "The Whirlpool" - Story of "Bloody Run" -
Yankee opinions of English ladies - A metamorphosis - The nigger guide - A
terrible situation - Termination Rock - Impressions of Niagara - Juvenile
precocity - A midnight journey - Street adventures in Hamilton.
CHAPTER XII.
A scene at starting - That dear little Harry - The old lady and the race
- Running the Rapids - An aside - Snow and discomfort - A new country - An
extemporised ball - Adventure with a madman - Shooting the cataract -
First appearance of Montreal - Its characteristics - Quebec in a fog -
"Muffins" - Quebec gaieties - The pestilence - Restlessness - St. Louis and
St. Roch - The shady side - Dark dens - External characteristics - Lord
Elgin - Mistaking a senator.
CHAPTER XIII.
The House of Commons - Canadian gallantry - The constitution - Mr. Hincks -
The ex-rebel - Parties and leaders - A street row - Repeated disappointments
- The "habitans" - Their houses and their virtues - A stationary people -
Progress and its effects - Montmorenci - The natural staircase - The Indian
summer - Lorette - The old people - Beauties of Quebec - The _John Munn_ - Fear
and its consequences - A gloomy journey.
CHAPTER XIV.
Concluding remarks on Canada - Territory - Climate - Capabilities - Railways
and canals - Advantages for emigrants - Notices of emigration - Government -
The franchise - Revenue - Population - Religion - Education - The press -
Literature - Observations in conclusion.
CHAPTER XV.
Preliminary remarks on re-entering the States - Americanisms - A little
slang - Liquoring up - Eccentricities in dress - A 'cute chap down east -
Conversation on eating - A Kentucky gal - Lake Champlain - Delaval's - A
noisy serenade - Albany - Beauties of the Hudson - The Empire City.
CHAPTER XVI.
Position of New York - Externals of the city - Conveyances -
Maladministration - The stores - The hotels - Curiosities of the hospital -
Ragged schools - The bad book - Monster schools - Amusements and oyster
saloons - Monstrosities - - A restaurant - Dwelling-houses - Equipages -
Palaces - Dress - Figures - Manners - Education - Domestic habits - The ladies -
The gentlemen - Society - Receptions - Anti-English feeling - Autographs - The
buckram Englishman.
CHAPTER XVII.
The cemetery - Its beauties - The "Potter's Field" - The graves of children -
Monumental eccentricities - Arrival of emigrants - Their reception - Poor
dwellings - The dangerous class - The elections - The riots - Characteristics
of the streets - Journey to Boston - The sights of Boston - Longfellow -
Cambridge University.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Origin of the Constitution - The Executive - Congress - Local Legislatures -
The army and navy - Justice - Slavery - Political corruption - The foreign
element - Absence of principle - Associations - The Know-nothings - The press
and its power - Religion - The church - The clergy.
CHAPTER XIX.
