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.
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