Hedley And I Then
Rushed Off To The Lincoln Institution For Training Indian Girls, Where
Mr. Rosengarten Was To Meet Us.
It is a very interesting and useful work
(the boys are also under training but we did not see
That part of the
Institution) and the girls look so thriving and happy, and the teachers
say they are _above_ the average in intelligence; they sung a chant
and hymn and gave me a photograph to take home. Mr. Rosengarten offered
to take Hedley with him for a drive to see some of his relations, and so
I have been alone since - reading, and writing to you.
Letter No. 9.
_October 14th_. - I sent my last letter to you on Sunday, and on
Monday morning Mr. Childs called and brought me a note from Mrs. Childs
saying she was very unwell and her doctor said she must be quiet, and
would we defer our visit till Wednesday? I declined this at once, and
Mr. Childs seemed very sorry, but when Dick joined us he said we were in
no great hurry to leave Philadelphia and might as well stay, so I could
only agree to remain till Thursday. He gave us seats at the Theatre to
hear "May Blossom" (a pretty _good_ play, which we all enjoyed),
and he asked me if I wanted any books to read? I said "Yes, I should be
very glad of some," thinking he would lend me a few of his own; well, a
large parcel soon arrived with a lovely copy of Longfellow's Poems and
my name in it, and lots of story books, all new. This morning (Tuesday)
our future host at New Brunswick called, a nice-looking, lively man, and
we go to them on Thursday - Mr. James Neilson. Yesterday afternoon we
spent two hours at Mrs. A. B - -'s, and met Mr. Keally. He is a curious
person, and looks full of _fire_, and I should say _not_ an
impostor, but I should not be surprised if he was _mad!_ He talked
away tremendously quickly, and used all kinds of new words invented to
suit his discovery, and I got quite exhausted trying to understand him;
all I could really make out was that he professed to have decomposed
_hydrogen_, and evolved a lighter element from it, and that his new
force has something to do with _vibration_; that he multiplies
vibrations almost infinitely, and can distinguish _divisions_ of
_tones_ in an unusual manner. Those who have seen his experiments
lately, declare that _no_ force with which scientists are
acquainted could produce the same effects with the machinery used. "If
it is a trick," he said, "at any rate it is a trick worth knowing - if a
pint of water can send a train from this to New York, which it will do
shortly." He employs several people to make his machinery, but when they
have made it and used it successfully, they declare they don't know
_why_ or _how_ it is done. I am trying to persuade John to
stop here on Friday on his way from Baltimore and see one of his
experiments. I have heard John say that he expected some great discovery
would be made shortly, and in the _chemical_ direction. Mr. Keally
is a mechanist, and says he discovered this force by accident. It is
curiously like the one in Bulwer's novel, which everyone was possessed
of and could destroy anything in a moment. Mrs. A. B - - is going to take
us a drive this afternoon. At present my letters to Newport have only
produced an invitation to dine with Mrs. Belmont on Saturday, which we
are unable to accept. Hedley enjoyed his Sunday outing with Mr.
Rosengarten, and was introduced to heaps of people, and felt quite an
important person. He is always much liked, and _I_ am not
surprised.
_Wednesday, 15th_. - At two o'clock we met Mr. Childs at the
station, and went with him to Bryan Maur by rail, and then his carriage
met us and took us to his farm and stables, &c., and then to his house;
it is all very new and very tidy and pretty. He told his wife to buy any
land she liked four years ago, and build anything she liked on it, and
now he has paid the bills and handed her the deeds, and it is all her
own. That's the way husbands do things in America! The wives and
children have a good time here, and the working classes, too, have many
privileges, or perhaps, I should say, that they _share_ them with
the richer and more educated people; everywhere, in the trains and trams
and restaurants of stations and waiting rooms there is _equality_,
and considering all things one does not suffer much by the mixture
excepting that they "_level down_," and one misses the comforts and
_quiet_ of the English railroads. Some of the working men are
remarkably fine and intelligent looking, and always quiet and well
behaved. I do not observe any very great politeness to women, which I
was led to expect was the prevailing habit in the United States, but I
notice that the fathers are wonderfully gentle and helpful with the
children. Mrs. Childs is a bright little woman, and sings well, which
you would scarcely expect when hearing her voice in speaking. It is a
pity that so many of the women have such unpleasant voices, and the
_men_ have generally nothing harsh in their tones. A captain of one
of the Cunard steamers sat next me, and seeing my distress over a
plateful of very large oysters, whispered, "you need not eat them." We
had carefully abstained from luncheon, as dinner was at four o'clock,
and this was the menu for dinner: soup, _big_ oysters, boiled cod,
then devilled crab (which I ate, and it was very good), then very tough
stewed beef-steak, large _blocks_ of ice-cream, and peaches, and
that was all!
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 27 of 38
Words from 26918 to 27917
of 39002
