A Holiday Tour in Europe. Described in a series of letters written for The Public Ledger, etc

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A HOLIDAY TOUE IN EUROPE. DESCRIBED IN A SERIES OF LETTERS WRITTEN FOR THE PUBLIC LEDGER DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1878. BY JOEL COOK. "J. O." PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1879. Copyright, 1878, by J. B. Lippincott _e Co. INTEODUOTIOK When the writer of this collected series of letters started on his " Holiday Tour," in July, 1878, he had no thought of making a book, or of contributing any materials for a book. It happened, however, he being a trained journalist, with quickened faculty of observation, that, before passing out from the Capes of the Delaware, he had seen along the Eiver and Bay that which he believed to be important to make publicly known in behalf of the material interests of the people of Philadelphia, and so the first letter of the series came to the Public Ledger office through the hands of the pilot.

Next from Liverpool came the second letter, describing the voyage on the Ohio, one of the splendid steamships of the American Line, which ships the writer deemed to be worthy of every medium for more intimate introduction to the American public. Then began the three months of the European part of the " Holiday Tour," through England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Rhenish Germany, Switzerland, and back through France, England, and Ireland, the letters prompting themselves as the writer passed along, until they expanded into the series now so familiar to the great constituency of the Public Ledger. The collection and publication of the letters in book-form is the result of influences wholly outside of their author. While they were in course of publication, expressions of

Introduction

. pleasure caused by the perusal of them were frequent and emphatic from readers of the Public Ledger in all stations in life, — not only from those who had never travelled in Europe, but from tourists who had gone over precisely the same ground, and who found a keen renewal of their satisfaction in the " Holiday Tour." This was natural, for the letters were far away removed from any hackneyed or conventional style, being sprightly, bright, and graphic descriptions of scenes, incidents, places, and other subjects of observation that had been seen by tens of thousands of other tourists, and written about by scores and hundreds, but which now had a fresh and attractive coloring thrown over them by these letters. Expres sions of satisfaction were followed by numerous requests for back numbers, and when these could no longer be filled, there came requests for their publication in collected form.

Hence the book. The letters thus favorably received were written by Mr. Joel Cook, one of the editors of the Public Ledger ; they are republished, with the concurrence of Mr. Childs, in compliance with the suggestions already mentioned, and the undersigned is glad of the opportunity to add his testimony as above written. W. V. McKEAN, Managing Editor. Public Ledger Office, Philadelphia, November 26, 1878. CONTENTS. LETTER PAGE I. The Departure 7 II. The Ocean Voyage — Neptune's Welcome ... 8 III. The American Steamship Line 14 IV. A Sunday at Sea — The British Squadron ... 20 V. Ireland and Liverpool 23 VI. The Ancient City of Chester 29 VII. Chester to Holyhead 32 VIII. Dublin— Brown Stout and the Phœnix ... 37 IX. Crossing Boyne Water — Belfast — Linen ... 42 X. The Giant's Causeway 48 XI.

The Clyde and Glasgow 55 XII. The Highlands— The Pass of Glencoe .... 60 XIII. Edinburgh and Roselin 66 XIV. Crossing the Border— York 74 XV. Scarborough 81 XVI. Haddon Hall and Chatsworth 83 XVII. Warwick, Kenilworth, and Stratford-on-Avon . . 89 XVIII. A Sunday in London — St. Paul's, and Westminster Abbey 94 XIX. London — The Underground Railway .... 100 XX. London Sketches — Cleopatra's Needle — The Bank of England— The Times Office 105 XXI. London Taxation— The Old-Clothes Market . . .113 XXII. London — The American Minister — Popular Recreation 117 XXIII. Some English Impressions 122 XXIV. Brighton — England's Great Watering-Place — The Brighton Aquarium 129 XXV. Crossing the Channel 134 XXVI. Some Parisian Impressions 141 XXVII. A Sunday in Paris— Versailles 147 XXVIII. Paris— A French Cemetery— PSre la Chaise . . 152 1* CONTENTS.

LETTER PAGE XXIX. Paris— The Exposition of 1878 157 XXX. Paris — Stores and Street Costumes — Breakfasts and Barbers — Street Scenes — The American Legation — The Herald Office — The American Bank — The Great Balloon — The Champs Elysees — A French Dinner — Paris by Night 167 XXXI. Paris— The Fete of St. Cloud— The Bois de Boulogne 177 XXXII. A Ride into Belgium — Brussels and Lace-making — - Waterloo 183 XXXIII. The Journey to the Rhine — Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne 189 XXXIV. The Rhine and some of its Legends .... 195 XXXV. Mayence and Heidelberg— The Old Red Sandstone . 203 XXXVI. Baden-Baden— The Great German Watering-Place . 208 XXXVII. Baden-Baden to Basle—Strasburg . . . .213 XXXVIII. Basle to Lucerne — Alpine Scenery — Lake Lucerne — The Rigi Kulm and Railway 218 XXXIX. • An Alpine Pass — Crossing the Brunig — An Alpine Waterfall— The Giessbach 227 XL.

An Alpine Valley — The Aar — Interlacken — Alpine Hotels 232 XLI. Berne and its Bears — From the Rhine Waters to the Rhone 236 XLII. Lake Geneva, the Great Alpine Filter — Geneva and its Peculiarities 242 XLIII. Geneva to Chamounix — Mont Blanc — Going up the Alps 248 XLIV. An Alpine Negotiation — Chamounix to Martigny — The " Mauvais Pas" — Martigny to Geneva . . 256 XLV. Journeying Down the Rhone — Lyons . . . 264 XLVI. Lyons to Paris — A Ride through Burgundy . . 271 XLVII. Paris to London — Re-crossing the Channel . . 275 XLVIII. London — The South Kensington Museum . . . 281 XLIX. East London by Gaslight 285 L. London to Liverpool — -The Cove of Cork and the Blarney Stone — Homeward Bound .... 292 Index

Letter I. The Departure

Delaware Breakwater, Friday, July 12, 1878. The misfortunes that envelop an ocean voyage when fog prevails have come down like a pall over the company who sailed on the American line steamer Ohio from Philadelphia, on Thursday morning, July 11. Dense fog met us in Delaware Bay, and compelled anchorage during the night. With a steamer of the length and draught of the Ohio, navigation in a channel crowded with vessels like the path up and down the bay is extremely difficult at all times, and is dangerous, and, in fact, impossible, if safety is at all considered, during fog. What we should have met on the Banks of Newfoundland came to us below Newcastle. We passed the Cape May steamboat Republic, her passengers crowding every available spot for observation to give us a hearty send-off, — she going up to the city, — and then the fog came down over us and stopped the voyage.

We have spent twenty-four hours in the bay. I do not write this, which, through the courtesy of the pilot, I am able to send you, as any matter of news, however, for fogs have enveloped our entire seaboard for weeks ; but rather to take the opportunity to call attention to a few improvements in the navigation of the Delaware River and Bay, which will greatly facilitate the passage of deep-draught vessels. These improvements must come before long if we wish to keep up Philadelphia's growing commerce. In piloting a vessel of eighteen to twenty-three feet draught over the various shallows that obstruct the channel, it does not do to calculate the tides merely by making a sum in arithmetic out of the relative times of high water at Philadelphia and the Breakwater. Winds and other influences affect the tides, and sometimes make hours of variation from the previously calculated times of high water.

Deep-laden vessels run too much risk of grounding by depending entirely on such calculations, though this is the only system now in vogue. It does well enough for light-draught vessels, but will not avail heavier tonnage. Hence there are unavoidable delays, which careful captains must submit to if they desire to insure the safety of their ships. The Delaware River and Bay have been greatly im proved by the recently established range lights ; but these should be supplemented by a system of tidal gauges, which can be cheaply established, and would vastly facilitate navigation. Many other similar channels to large cities are thus provided, and with great benefit to their commerce. The river needs, for aid in crossing bars, to have tidal gauges set up at several places, — for instance, at Fort Mifflin, Red Bank, Pennsgrove, New Castle and Fort Delaware (for the respective approaches to New Castle Light), Reedy Island, and Duck Creek Flats.

Telegraph-poles set up on shore, with arm signals to indicate the depth of water on the bars, will be sufficient. They can be very cheaply made, and with a few range poles mounted with conspicuous targets, would not probably cost over two thousand dollars, while an equal sum would pay for their at tendance throughout the year. These would give the masters and pilots of large vessels the information of relative states of tides they now need, and would add greatly to Philadelphia's facilities for foreign trade. It is a subject worthy the atten tion of the Board of Trade and Maritime Exchange, and would commend itself to official sanction, I should think, whenever brought to the attention of the proper authorities.

Letter II. The Ocean Voyage

On Board American Line Steamer Ohio, July 15. When I wrote the Ledger from the Delaware Breakwater ii. reference to a few needed improvements in the beacons THE OCEAN VOYAGE. 9 marking the channel along the bay and river, I represented what is the result of the experience of the captains of the American line steamers in that respect. If there were tidal gauges marking the various shallows, say from Fort Mifflin down to Cherry Island Flats, giving a plain indication of the depth of water, many delays in the passage of deeply-laden vessels would be avoided. Now, caution requires the anchor ing of a vessel when the voyage might be continued if the actual depth of water on the shallows were plainly indicated. The subject is one worthy of attention, and, at a very small cost, a great improvement can be provided in the easier and speedier navigation of the river.

Another small but at the same time advantageous improve ment might be made in the easier entrance to the bay by somewhat changing the signals from the Five-Fathom Bank Light-ship. Off the entrance to the bay, on the Cape May side, the water is shallow, so that the deep-water channel is on the Cape Henlopen side. The shoals off Cape May surround what is known as the Five-Fathom Bank. The Light-ship No. 40, marking this shoal, is about four miles from it, and is located about twenty miles from Cape Henlopen and thir teen miles from Cape May. Deep-draught vessels pass south of it, whilst smaller craft may go between the light-ship and the shoals. Hence, in making the entrance of Delaware Bay, the light-ship is the beacon that is sought. In coming on the coast when approaching this ship in uncertain weather, and with the two masts in line, the beacon looks very much like an ordinary ship's light, so much _o, in fact, that shipmasters are sometimes uncertain about its identity.

Captain Morrison tells me that he has on several occasions seen this light in this position, but was not so reasonably certain about it as to war rant his depending upon it, especially when ships' lights were also seen along the horizon to all appearances similar to this one. The character of the beacon should be changed, so as to make it an absolutely certain guide in all weathers, and no matter what the position of the masts to the approaching vessel. The improvement suggested is the burning of a blue light every hour, or some similar device that will attract the attention to this particular light as the one sought. This light-ship is one of the most important beacons along the coast. It is the earliest guide to the mariner seeking the A* Delaware Breakwater, who comes across the ocean, and, in fact, is the beacon sought by the greater part of our Phila delphia foreign commerce.

The dark ship, with its two huge globes, elevated on the masts, rocks up and down on the waves, and in thick weather the deep sound of the fog-siren, w*orked by steam-power, comes over the water, a warning to the shipmaster of the beacon he cannot see. The siren sa luted the Ohio as she passed within a few hundred feet ; the steamer answered ; and thus we bade good-by to America and began the transatlantic journey. Cape May was too far off to see more than the dim outline of the light-house and the huge hotels, like little hazy specks along the shore ; and in a few moments the land had all disappeared, as the steamer rapidly left it on her eastern journey. neptune's welcome. It is a curious physical fact, noticed by most landsmen who venture upon sea-voyages, that no matter how pleasantly the journey begins, or how keen the enjoyment, as land recedes the spirits sink and the interest wanes.

The sea, which is at first charming as it rocks you in its cradle, gradually changes to an object of aversion, and then of disgust. There seems to be a difference of opinion arising between the ship and the traveller. One wants to be quiet aud the other don't. The ship persists in a very bad habit of rolling about, and all the efforts of the traveller — his bracing up and holding on, and stretching out and doubling in — will not keep her quiet. At first there is an effort to keep the ship down, but it fails ; and then there is an effort to keep the stomach down, and it fails. Then one loses all his reverence for the sea, and as he pays the inexorable tribute to Neptune he wishes that either he had never been born, or else had had good sense enough to stay home with his mother. Then comes a season of profound iu difference to the beauties of the ocean and of positive hatred of victuals.

Food is not only distasteful, but one does not want to see or smell it, or even have it talked about. In fact, one regards as his deadliest enemy the steward who will rattle the dishes and glasses, and thus from afar off recall the horrid idea of eating. Strange, what a metamorphosis. A few hours before, the first duty of the passenger was to get even with the steamship company by eating everything in the larder, — NEPTUNE'S WELCOME. 11 but the steamship company has conquered. With shrewd business management, they had calculated all this when laying in supplies. Next comes the desire to hide away in corners, and to vanish from society ; to cease shining as a social light and a conversational prince ; in short, to go to bed, — and not to be particular about what bed, whether a sofa, berth, or even a plank.

Then conies oblivion, — a period of self-abnegation and forgetfulness, — the only consciousness being of a very, very weak stomach. Thus pass hours, when the patient becomes aware of a vague returning interest in the world's affairs. He thinks that possibly he may at some time in the dim future become once more a useful citizen. Next is the stage of tea and toast, of gruel and good advice, — of gruel that will not stay in the stomach, and good advice that will not stay in the mind. Every one advises what is best to do or to take, — principally the latter. The prescriptions are as varied as they are numer ous. In fact, you are told to take everything, from salt mackerel up or down the bill of fare, from soup at one end to toothpicks at the other ; and to drink the entire wine list. Mankind are all born doctors when it conies to telling others how to cure their iljs.

The stage of advice over, the patient crawls out into the world again and appears on deck, sur rounded by others who have been there, and a languid interest begins to be taken in what is going on — excepting the dinner gong. Gradually this interest increases, until, amazing as it may seem, you actually muster up courage, in an unguarded moment, to look down a skylight at the table. Thus the Rubi con is passed, and as man is always progressing to higher and better and more complete knowledge, so in this case, the look creates the appetite, and the next thing is to boldly march to the task, snap fingers at old Neptune, and win the battle. Then rattle plates and glasses as you please, 0 steward, they have no more terrors for me. The stomach has become an aching void, a yawning chasm that the bill of fare is incompetent to fill.

The solicitude is no longer lest food should come in sight : it is now to devise the most expeditious ways and means of putting it out of sight. The conflict with the steamship company recommences, and the pleasant labor of getting even with the larder begins with the rising of the sun, but by no means stops with the going down of the same. Then you poke fun at fellow-sufferers not so well advanced in convalescence ; but if any one should ask, " Have you been sea sick ?" the answer will be, " Oh, my, no; never felt better in my life." How quickly we forget our ills ! ON THE SEA. It would be difficult to devise a method of obtaining more perfect rest than a sea-voyage. As the best rest is always to do just the opposite of what is the ordinary occupation, so the sea-voyage accomplishes this by being the complete antithesis of what happens on land.

You cannot do anything if you would. There is no space to do it. Your abiding-place is a room six feet square, with berths on one side and a sofa on the other. Your companion has to go outside to give you a chance to dress. There is possibly a hundred feet or so of deck to walk on, but it is so unsteady that your reputation as a tem perance man suffers the moment a promenade is attempted. The ship will roll and pitch and bump the passengers about, and necessitate gyrations that would do credit to an acrobat. When meal-time comes there is always an extra roll provided, — not of the French or Vienna bread, but the kind that brings dishes, soup, and the greater part of your dinner running down hill into your lap, and then over the other side to your opposite neighbor. First one way, then the other, you and all about you are continually sliding down-hill ; and the captain, with that bland smile which so greatly reassures you, says he never saw it smoother in his life.

Half the passengers declare that there is a big, heavy box somewhere forward, rolled from one side to the other, to make the ship rock and keep passengers away from the table. But after awhile the " sea legs" are got on, and this rolling is not so noticeable, though it is a bad habit the vessel has, which she keeps up more or less all the sea over. The chief thing done, however, on board ship is — nothing. The ten days' passage to Europe is the most complete exempli fication it is possible to give of the meaning of that vulgar but expressive American word — loafing. The voyage is a prolonged and enforced idleness, varied by sea-sickness at the start and a growing anxiety for something to do as the goal approaches. The gong sounding for meals is the great event of the day, — it promises something to do.

A passing vessel is a wonderful thing. All eyes watch her ; all tongues guess her name, ON THE SEA. 13 destination, and rig ; dispute about her distance ; and await with breathless interest the result of the signals. And when she is spoken aud found to be the schooner Rappahannock, of Philadelphia, twenty days out, with hopes of being sold to the Russians for a privateer, or the Mary Jane, of Tuckahoe, laden with hoop-poles, all the passengers are happy. Then the Banks of Newfoundland are another subject of deep inter est, most people supposing them to be dry land, and some will ing, in the dire monotony of the voyage, to wager they are that or anything else, so that an interest is gotten up in something. The gulls and Mother Carey's chickens, porpoises and flying fish, and occasionally a whale, also are subjects of earnest study.

Some of the passengers help the captain sail the ship ; others try to imitate the boatswain's whistle ; others play games. We have some Philadelphians aboard who for fourteen years past have been steadily playing euchre, never changing part ners, and have on this ship, according to the official record they keep, played their twenty-eight-thousandth game. Here is also a study for the ennuied passenger, that these four gentle men, since 1864, in all the ups and downs of American life, have continued their games through weal and woe, with no break in their circle ; no cheating at cards, and are now continuing them with a vim that even sea-sickness cannot shake. Then the dozen or so doctors we have on board as passengers discuss the 'pathies, and astonish the laymen by taking each other's prescriptions.

Thus the voyage goes on, dreary in fog and storm, when all things are wet and cheerless; pleasant on the bright days, when all hands get up on deck, and the ladies recline in steamer chairs and sup their chicken broth, and the men watch the heaving of the log, and discuss the distance travelled, and the position of the ship, and the probable length of the voyage, or the proximity of icebergs. The passage is carefully scanned on the chart, which hangs in the companion-way, and occasionally an impatient voyager is told that we are within two or three miles of land, and upon asking where, is significantly pointed downward, — the nearest land being the bottom of the sea. And thus we go on, setting our watches a half-hour ahead every twenty-four hours, taking our four or five meals a day, with chicken broth on deck be tween meals, — and the children, of whom there are four in the cabin, run about to be petted by the passengers and sailors, and beg oranges of the steward.

But like Columbus, we are on the constant lookout for the approaching land, and will be glad indeed to hear the sailor's welcome cry announcing it. This is the experience of millions of transatlantic voyagers who have gone over the great ferry during all these years, and whose wonder is, that with all the vessels constantly passing between England and America, it is still possible for you to steam along for days together without seeing a single sail. With monotonous thump the screw goes on regularly, revolving day and night, making its thirty revolutions a minute, driving the great ship forward, and boring a gimlet-hole for three thousand miles through the Atlantic. The officer walks the bridge, peering over the sea, watching the compass and the lookout, and giving an occasional direction to the obedient seamen.

The lookout stands at the bow, holding on to a brace, intently gazing out ahead, whilst the wind blows hard enough to sweep him off the forecastle. The steersmen hold the wheel, whilst the waves dash against the rudder and shake and rattle the chains. The ponderous machinery moves quickly, and away down in the hold the perspiring firemen and coal-passers keep pouring in the fuel, which comes up through the huge funnel in dense clouds of smoke, that lie in a long, black, narrow line of dark haze for miles over the sea in the wake of the vessel. But the harder the wind blows the brighter it makes the fires burn, and the easier is steam raised, so that it drives the steamer the quicker on her journey. Thus we go on, the machinery singing a lullaby at night, whilst the sea rocks us to sleep, and all hands trusting to the Divine Creator of the vast deep to take us safely across it.

Letter III. The American Steamship Line

On Board American Line Steamer Ohio, at Sea, July 20. We passed a ship the other day bound to America. She had every sail set. We saluted. She ran up the British Union Jack, for she was an English vessel. We ran up the THE AMERICAN STEAMSHIP LINE. 15 American flag. That flag is a scarce article in ocean commerce, but it is seen sometimes, and it was a proud thing to know that Philadelphia has raised it over as fine a fleet of steamers as cross the Atlantic, even if it is a rare sight to the sailor. This circumstance prompted the thought that possibly, if Americans were true to themselves, not only would our one American line increase in prosperity, but the lines themselves would mul tiply. The chief freight traffic across the Atlantic is carrying grain and provisions eastward to Europe. The vessels, both steam and sail, go with full cargoes, and the shipment is mainly controlled by Americans.

Many a vessel comes out to America in ballast to get a return cargo that will pay the expenses of both voyages and give a profit besides. The greater part of this freight is through traffic shipped from the West on through bills of lading, and controlled as to its transatlantic carriers to a large extent by trunk railway influences. The railways can, if they wish, put much of this on board Ameri can vessels ; and, in fact, they do so, and would do more were it not, as I have said before, that American vessels had be come a scarce article on the ocean. West-bound freight is scarce, difficult to get, and in fact but partial cargoes are ob tainable at any time, whilst many vessels come out to America without any cargo yielding freight. All the western-bound ships we have passed have been light, possibly only carrying ballast.

The freighting that pays, it will thus be seen, goes from America, and can be to a great extent controlled as to its ocean carrier by Americans. On a steamship line the chief profit, excepting in special cases, is in the freight. The passenger traffic across the ocean that pays the largest relative profit is in the steerage. Whilst it costs probably one dollar and a half per day to provide food for each cabin passenger, without calculating the extra cost of cooking and attendance, table-furnishing, cabin-space, etc., it will take not over one-fourth of that sum to feed a steerage passenger, where there are little or no extras that cost. Yet, whilst the cabin passengers — taking all classes, adults and children, and all rates of fare together — will average probably sixty-nine dollars in come apiece to the vessel, the steerage will average twenty three or twenty-four dollars apiece, which is one-third.

Thus the relative profit is larger to begin with for the steerage, whilst it is increased the more by their closer stowage and the very slight cost of taking care of them. Locality to a great extent controls steerage travel both ways across the ocean, the passenger seeking the most convenient port, so as to save ex pense. But there is much of it controlled through agents operating for various lines, especially from inland points. Emi gration of large communities is directed in this way, and there has been much competition in Europe to thus attract traffic for the various lines. For some time past the steerage travel to America, which a few years ago grew to large figures, had been declining, so that about an equal number of passengers were going each way ; but latterly the movement towards America has considerably increased.

The foreign element predominates in the steerage. In the cabin, however, the Americans are in the large majority. Englishmen, French men, and Germans travel for business ; a few going for pleasure. The American, however, generally travels for pleasure, and as a race, comparatively speaking, the American probably fur nishes proportionately more travellers than all other races put together. This is certainly the case on the Atlantic, and is probably the result of observation on all steamships sailing between the United States and Europe, whatever their flag. The statistics of the Cunard line show a large majority of Americans in the cabin, and the Inman, White Star, Anchor, and other lines will do likewise. I have heard com petent judges estimate that this year, with the extra attrac tion of the Paris Exposition, three-fourths of the cabin passengers crossing the Atlantic will be Americans.

Thus it will be seen that Americans in reality can, if they so desire, control the greater part of the transatlantic travel, both in freight and cabin passengers, and if they were animated by a proper spirit they could encourage not only one, but several American lines. A moderate estimate is made tbat over fifty thousand Americans are this year crossing the ocean, and pay ing the steamship lines four million dollars passage-money. What a magnificent subsidy this would be to American steamers, were there enough of them in existence to accommodate all the travel, and were the Americans paying it inclined to so spend it ! Such a subsidy would be far better than any grudgingly given by Congress, and would enable American lines to raise their flags as numerously and as boldly as the Union Jack or the German tricolor.