THE CENTENNIAL AT PHILADELPHIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4534, 25 May 1876, Page 3

THE CENTENNIAL AT PHILADELPHIA

• No. in. [FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.] New York, April 17, 1576. ' LEAVING SAN J-RANCISCO. A month ago we were at San Francisco. Let us now travel across the great Continent, staying at a few places of interest, as well for the pleasure of sight-seeing as for a rest from the monotony and fatigues of so long a journey. Not that it is any great hardship to make the journey across without stoppage, but necessarily some fatigue attaches to a journey of 3000 miles in the short space of seven days, and there is no object to be gained by hurrying. We are holiday-making, and will take it easy, therefore, and stop where we please, and as long as we please. THE NEWSLETTER. With regret we quitted Macguire's new Opera House that last night in the gay city, and sighed to think that never again, perhaps, should we hear "that dramatic cocktail, Mrs. Oates, a combination of steel springs and red tights, with a generouslyconstructed mouth—an irrepressible jack-in-the-box, who slaughters Offeubach, aDd flourishes her sinewy extremities through the immortalities of Verdi aud Auber." Such are a few of the compliments of the San Francisco Newihtter to the very able impersonator of " Girofle-Oirofla." The same paper has a column headed, " Are they Quacks ?" followed by the accompanying distich :— When patients comes to T, I physics, bleeds, and sweats e'm, Then, if they cliooie to die, What's that to I- -I let's 'em.—J. Lcltsom, 1770. And then, in italics :—" Gentlemen, you call yourselves doctors. Have you a diploma ? " Under which is a list of about fifty names, with the claims of the nominees to be called doctor, and explanatory notes, as :—" On the Wing;" " Nostrum Peddler ;" "Travelling About;" " Graduate Sing SiugPrison;" "Alias Henry Clay Wilkins, Bigamist;" and so on. In another part of this amusing paper (I can't call it the " chaste family journal " which it wishes to be thought) is a notice that its " Itinerant Liar" will visit certain places. Is it possible thai that can be a soubriquet of their " special correspondent " ? My mind misgives me; but it is in black and white now, and I must trust to your honour and to your anxiety for peace in your dwelling, not to head this column in a similar manner. ILL-USED PORTMANTEAUS. Well, it's time to be leaving our early breakfast and newspaper. The giganiic coach, with its gorgeously-painted panels, awaits us at the door. The luggage is piled up behind, and soon we are railing round the corner of Montgomery-street, and down Market-street, to the ferry 'for Oakland. Our luggage is checked, a corresponding brass check is given us for each portmanteau, and we have no more anxiety about it till we get to Omaha, where it must be re-checked at the luggage office for your final destination, or any place on the road where you are likely to require it. This system of checks is a most admirable one, and the most implicit reliance may be placed on it. It is only reasonable to allow that mishaps may sometimes occur when so many thousands of parcels are transmitted daily ; but I must say I never heard of any miscarriage of luggage. One thing must however be said, and that is with regard to the handling of the traps, which is simply disgraceful. Everything is banged and dragged about, and fluug from the cars, with a delightful carelessness, not at all reassuring to the lady with the weak trunk. Americans use nothing but the strongest wooden boxes, bound and edged with iron, with edges of iron projeefcina a quarter of an iuch, and little wheels unde£ neath, ivhich may be used by the servants at home, but which those abroad carefully ignore. My portmanteaus have been all round the world, but never in all my experience did they suffer as in the United States._ By their shape they are simply unrecognisable, and it would take a yery archaeologist of the first water to reconstruct from the fragmentary letters which remain, the name which originally adorned their smooth tops, now, alas, rugged with furrows. OAKLAND. The luggage being checked and a ticket procured (get it the day before ; it is not done in a minute), and berth secured in one of Pullman's sleeping-cars, wo leave San Francisco with regret at 8 a.m., and speed in one of those magnificent ferry boats, which also has several' mail trucks on board, to Oakland, distant about three miles across the beautiful bay. Here the landing is ai a wooden jetty, which runs out into the bay for two and a-quartcr miles. The train proceeds through a part of Oakland prettily dotted _with suburban villas. Oakland contains 25,000 people; according to some people it will not be long before it rivals San Francisco in magnitude and importance. An effort is to be made to deepen the river and construct large docks ; and if that is done, it is reasonable to suppose that a great part of the trade will be attracted to that side, where is the terminus of the railway, and so save the trouble of crossing three miles of water. COMFORTS IN THE CARS. By degrees we settle down and look around us. Our small traps are all comfortably stowed. The coloured porter, in a neat uniform, attends to all demands, reasonable and unreasonable, with the utmost imperturbability of temper ; the conductor bustles about, and we begin to find out that instead of a miserably cold drive, we shall be rather too warm if anything. For these wonderful cars contain every convenience. In the centre is a large room containing 24 seats, each seat •wide enough for two to sit in. The seats are arranged as in a carriage, and are of about the same dimensions. At each end are compartments—one devoted to washing, and retiring-room for ladies, and that at the opposite end to stove, smoking, and dining-rooms for men. Towels are unlimited, and iced water always on tap. The car runs with a swinging motion, without any hideous rattling of window sashes, and goes wonderfully smooth, especially on the steel-coated rails, which are being laid down wherever new ones are required. THE RAILWAY IN THE SIERRA. TJapidly we pass across the Wyoming Valley, by the waters of the bay, and iu the afternoon pass through the streets of Sacramento, where the domed Capitol stands out prominent among the ordinary dwellings. Then the ascent of the Sierra Nevada begins, and we go on winding up the ever-chang-ing glens, now across a canon on a light trestle bridge, that one would think incapable of bearing the vast weight imposed upon it, and now around some sharp curve, cut in the precipitous mountain side, with a wall of perpendicular rock on the one hand, and what appears in the diminishing daylight a fathomless abyss on the other. MISSING THE LIONS. During the afternoon we met an excursion train which had been from Sacramento to the summit with a large lot of holidaymakers, among whom the most prominent wore a "lover and his lass," with intertwined arms, who, by "special permission," had fixed themselves up on the platform, in front of the engine. I had seen a good deal of freedom on railways, such as dangling one's legs behind, &c, but never before or since have I seen such a liberty taken with the cow-catcher. They had seen in broadest daylight what no amount- of gorgeouß sun-set-on the Sierras could compensate for our missing the sight of—Cape Horn. We reached it after dark, and all the most enthusiastic lover of scenery could observe was the faint silver streak of the American River gleaming hundreds of feet below. So nothing con be Eaid, and 1 can't tell whether <

Mr. Crossett, in his excellent guide, is right or wrong when he says, " that the best view of thia noted place is obtained when going past." But in broad daylight wo hare passed many places—digging towns, chiefly, nestling cosily among the hills; among others, Yuba City—about which it occurs to me that a stranger who waa a— well, he "wrote a book," said the Americans—gave awfully queer names to some of their towns, instancing one as "You-be-d •" This unfortunate scribe had mistaken his informant's "Yuba Dam" for the profane appellation given above. We have also been through Newcastle and Auburn—"sweet Auburn"—but, in this case, hardly answering to the poet's description. A sort of inside-out look it has about it. On we go past Dutch Flat, China Ranch, and Emigrant Gap—all tell-tale names—and awake next moraiug to find that we have passed the summit crossing of the Sierras, 7017 feet above sea level, having been through 15 feet depth of snow; having passed Truckee, where tourists flock in summer time to visit the beautiful lakes Donner and Tahoe; and have left a long way behind the far-famed silver mines of Carson City and Virginia—most famous of all the Comstock lode, on which are the celebrated Virginia Consolidated and California mines. OUR REPORTER COMFORTABLE. " But you haven't told us where you slept." The simple reason for my not doing; so being that I was so comfortable as to make me forget that I had beea travelling hundreds of miles while I slept in luxurious ease in a bed 6 feet by 4, with a good mattress and pillows, and lots of blankets too, and two ■windows iu my bedroom, and a mirror a3 well. When bedtime comes —and everybody can suit themselves as to the hour for retiring—the porter pulls down the roof above each compartment in somo magic way, and therefrom takes all the bedding required. It's a capital trick ; quite as good as that of the hat, which produces everything one wouldn't expect. This pulled down part formstheupper berth. For the lower one the seats pull out, and the mattress aud bedclothes are placed on them. In front o£ all a rich damask curtain is drawn, and the completeness of the isolation from the outer world is secured by a head-board that separates each section from top to bottom of the car. AX UMIMPEACHABLE STORY. I was told an amusing story by a number of individuals at different times, and, oddly enough, the events related happened in the very car in which each was travelling. I have also read it in a book recently published about the trip, and it happened when the author was travelling. I have known it happen when the train was going East and when the train was going West, and the number of people that ear must have carried is astonishing to think of. Not being an engineer, I will not attempt to calculate the number of engines requisite to draw that car, and if you're good at acoustics, you can calculate for yourself how loud a whisper must be that is heard throughout a car containing, at least, 500 passengers, when every four passengers occupy six feet in the length of the car. The story runs that the 500 and odd in this gigantic caravan had turned in, and sought for slumber. But to the prayer of one suppliant the god turned a deaf ear, for had he not a conscience ? Had he forgotten that he left the land of gold without buying for his spouse that new bonnet ? Could she forgive him ? No. His life had been a burden to him ever since the fatal day when he had refused to shell out the " spons." So, ere he slept, he sought forgiveness, and the following conversation ensued:—"Julia, darling, do forgive me." Interval of silence. "Dearest Julia, kiss me, and say you forgive me." Another interval. "My own darling, jusfc one kiss before you go to sleep, to shew that you forgive me." The tittering passengers (49S in number) only required the ejaculation of an invisible major : " For heaven's sake, Julia, kiss him, aud forgive him, and let us get some sleep," to burst into such a roar of laughter as no car ever contained before. Now, that's perfectly true, for are there not 49G witnesses more than the law requires to vouch for its accuracy ? I beg, therefore, that no doubt will cross the reader's mind as to the veracity of the subscriber. A DESERT—GRUBBING. But we must hurry on, across the great Nevada Desert, when alkaline fiats, basalt rocks, hot springs, and sandy wastes, prevent the hope of much good ever resulting from attempts at settlement. The country is almost covered with snow, which "ets deeper as we proceed, and no forests clothe the hillsides. The only habitations met with are the regular stopping places for trains, either roadmen's huts, or signal stations, or eating stations, where 20 to 30 minutes are allowed for meals that are ready when the train arrives. And that brings us to the subject of lunch baskets. If a bachelor travels, let him avoid lunch baskets, for he can always get tolerable tucker at the stations, but in case of the train getting stuck up anywhere, let him take a few biscuits aud a good old bologna with him. For a family it is all right, as women and children don't like to have their meals at odd hours. Not that the hours are unreasonable, but they vary a little. The porter will cook your tea, or coffee, or eggs, on the stove—of course the rest of the repast must be cold. One old gentleman on my train had three baskets, one of wines, another of plates, &c, and another containing his baked meats, too numerous to specify, and one day, when we ran off the line aud so didn't stop for breakfast till 2 p.m., I was glad to take advantage of his hospitable offer and share his turkey coffee aud eggs with him. A ROMANCE DESTROYED. Through the great mining districts of Nevada we spin along at the rate of 25 miles an hour, past Battle Mountain, so called fiom an Indian fight that took place there. It is also famous for having been, in the early days of the railroad, the home of a •horde of ruffians, gamblers, and others, who stuck up the trains, and committed a few unpleasant atrocities, till they were cleared, out by. the noble Red men being turned loose on them. A little way beyond is Be-o-wa-we, where the line takes its serpentine course through a red ridge, which is the dividing line of the Shoohones and the Piutes. The specimens of the noble Red man that we encountered were a very sorry looking lot, and we think with regret of the happy clays when Fennimore Cooper was to us the greatest of living authors. These d rty-looking beings, their faces smeared with red and striped with yellow and black, are these the aboriginal nobility of the plain ? and the squaws and -she wigwams—all are equally novel and dirty. (To be continued.)

" So far, so good," as the boy said when he finished the first pot of his mother's jam. The late visit of the three able Civil Servants to this city will perhaps be productive of some good ; for we learn that they were heard to express their astonishment at the cheapness of Mr. Samuel Coombes' clothing compared to that to be procured in the South. It was, we believe, their intention to have patroaised Mr. Coombes' establishment, but took slight offence at a remark passed by Mr. Coombes, which they overheard as they passed by his emporium, to the effect that their dark Southern suits were too heavy for thi3 climate, and that light grey would be better for them. Many a true word is said in jest; and before Messrs. Gisborne, Knowles, and Seed took their departure they evidently came to the conclusion themselves that grey was quite heavy enough for them. Having arrived at this opinion, they determined not to lose the opportunity of paying Mr. Coombes a visit; for, as the first-named able Civil Servant remarked to the second (but out of the hearing of the third), "that it was evident the lot were getting seedy." However, the whistle of the steamer which was to bear them away having sounded, they were prevented from giving their intended patronage to Mr. Coombes, who, had they done so, would have treated them in a far different manner to that which they have experienced during their official tour. (tor continuation of news see Supplement.)