Chapter I: Front Matter

A FLIGHT IN SPRING

IN THE CAR LUCANIA FROM NEW YORK TO THE PACIFIC COAST AND BACK DURING APRIL AND MAY, 1898, AS TOLD BY THE REV. J. HARRIS KNOWLES

NEW YORK 1898

SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR FREDERICK HUMPHREYS, M.D.

No. 750

COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY J. HARRIS KNOWLES

Dedication

_TO THE LUCANIANS_:

"THE KING AND THE QUEEN"
"THE APOSTLE AND THE ANGEL"
"THE FAIRY PRINCESS"
"JUNO AND PSYCHE"
"THE GYPSY QUEEN"
"THE PRINCESS"
"MINERVA AND JUPITER"
"MERCURY," AND
"THE SPANISH COUNT"

THESE RANDOM JOTTINGS OF OUR HAPPY "FLIGHT IN SPRING," ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY THEIR FRIEND

"THE POPE"

CONTENTS

I PAGE The Circumstances of the Flight.--The Start.--The Car "Lucania."--The Kitchen.--The Cook.--The Poetic Dinner.--Our Accommodations.--Visitors at Newark.--Improvised Theatricals.--Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington.--The Approaching War Crisis 1

II

On through the South.--Thomasville, Georgia.--Dr. Humphrey's Winter Home.--Southern Flowers.--The Old Plantation.--War Declared.--They Leave To-day 8

III

Departure from Thomasville.--Pet Superstitions.--Montgomery, Alabama.--The Capitol.--The Public Fountain.--Montgomery to New Orleans 15

IV

New Orleans.--Surviving Traces of Spanish and French Occupation. --Jackson Square.--Cathedral of St. Louis.--The Cemeteries.--Melancholy Perspectives.--Audubon Park.--Graves for Sale.--The French Market.-- Mobile and New Orleans as Seen Nearly Thirty Years Ago.--St. Charles Hotel.--A Dinner at Dr. Mercer's 19

V

Impressions of New Orleans.--Its Harbor.--The Levee at Night.--Southern Texas.--Its Forests, Flowers, and Birds.--The Prairie Pool 25

VI

San Antonio.--Work of Jesuit Missionaries.--Street Ramble.--The Old Cathedral.--Evenings in our Car.--A Mission Car.--The Tired Clergyman with his Renewal of Vigor.--The Alamo.--The Siege Sustained by Colonel Travis and his Men.--The Tragedy.--Hymn of the Alamo.--The Western Texas Military Academy 30

VII

In Desolate Places.--Beauty Everywhere.--Railway Engineering.-- Analogy in the Conduct of Life.--El Paso.--The Sand Storm.--Human Grasshoppers.--The Placid Night.--Rev. Dr. Higgins.--Juarez.--Rev. M. Cabell Martin.--Strangeness of our Mexican Glimpse.--The Post-Office.--The Old Church.--The Padre's Perquisites.--The Prison.--El Paso Again.--Cavalry Going East for the War 47

VIII

Leaving El Paso.--Deming.--The Desert.--The Armed Guard.--The Cacti and Other Flowers.--The Yuma Indians.--Avoiding Kodaks.--Rossetti's "Sister Helen" 54

IX

Los Angeles.--Our Beautiful Anchorage.--First Impressions.--Sunday Morning in a Garden.--St. Paul's Church.--Pasadena.--The Diva's Car.--Journeying to San Diego.--First View of the Pacific 60

X

San Diego.--The Bathing-House.--Alarming Disappearance.--The Mystery Solved.--Carriage Drive to Mission Cliffs.--Coronado Beach.--The Museum.--The Hotel.--High Fog 66

XI

San Diego to Santa Barbara.--The Old Mission.--The Inner Cloister.--The Afternoon Ride.--The Lady of the Blue Jeans.--Samarcand 74

XII

Leaving Santa Barbara.--Delay at Saugus.--Viewing the Wreck.-- Brentwood.--The Mission Mass.--The Social Afternoon.--The Garden and the Homing Pigeons.--The Grape-Shot.--The Chinaman's Pipe 82

XIII

San Francisco.--Bustling Traffic.--Railroad Employees.--The Flagman.--The Palace Hotel.--The Seal Rocks.--Sutro Residence and Baths.--The Presidio.--Sentinels.--Golden Gate Park.--The Memorial Cross.--San Francisco and Edinburgh Compared.--The Cable Cars.-- Chinatown.--The Opium Den.--The Goldsmiths' Shops.--Across the Bay to Tiburon.--The Bohemian Club 89

XIV

Departure for San Jose.--Palo Alto.--Advertiser.--Leland Stanford, Jr., University 102

XV

Through Santa Clara Valley.--Arrival at San Jose.--Old Friends.-- Semi-tropical Climate.--An Excursion to the Stars.--The Lick Observatory.--Our Journey There.--Sunset on the Summit.--With the Great Telescope.--The Tomb of James Lick.--The Midnight Ride Down the Mountain 108

XVI

Sunday at San Jose.--The Big Trees.--The Fruit Farm at Gilroy.-- Hotel del Monte.--The Ramble on the Beach.--The Eighteen-Mile Drive.--Dolce far Niente 121

XVII

Oakland Ferry-house and Pier.--The Russian Church.--Off Eastward.-- Crossing the Mountains.--Hydraulic Mining.--Stop at Reno.--Nevada Deserts.--Ogden.--The Playing Indian 130

XVIII

Salt Lake City.--The Governor of Utah.--The Zion Cooperative Store.--Thoughts on Mormonism.--The Semi-annual Conference.--The Eisteddfod.--The Mormon Temple.--Organ Music.--Panoramic View of Valley.--Statue of Brigham Young.--Excursion to Saltair.--Departure from Salt Lake City 137

XIX

Glenwood Springs.--The Pool.--The Vapor Baths.--Through the Canons.--Leadville.--Colorado Products.--Canons in New York 149

XX

Colorado Springs.--Ascent of Pike's Peak.--The View from the Summit.--The Descent.--The Springs at Manitou.--Treasury of Indian Myth and Legend.--The Collection of Minerals.--Glen Eyrie.--The Garden of the Gods.--Victor Hugo on Sandstone 158

XXI

Denver.--The Union Station.--The Departing Trains.--The Beauty of Denver.--Dean Hart and the Cathedral.--The Funeral Service.--Seeing Denver 166

XXII

Through Kansas.--Kansas City.--The Cattle Yards.--The Bluffs.--The Fight between the Merrimac and the Monitor 172

XXIII

St. Louis.--Beautiful Residences.--Forest Park.--The Levee.-- Alton.--Old Friends.--Legend of the Piasa.--The Confluence of the Rivers.--The Union Depot.--The Car of the International Correspondence Schools.--Crossing the Bridge 184

XXIV

Through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio.--Columbus.--The Beautiful Station.--Church Service.--Nearing Home.--Parting Thoughts.--Our Amusements.--To Ethel Asleep.--A Parting Wish.--Pilgrimages of Patriotism 194

A FLIGHT IN SPRING