Letters of travel;
Brooks, Phillips, 1835-1893
i'.tt'.?fc<»^iai;:!|l.'<Wil! wmtt m ;-. :':e:^-:':i'm&: i,,.-. :jy , l'.'" ' 1 ^ -1 /no. LETTERS OF TRAVEL BY PHILLIPS BROOKS LATE BISHOP OF MASSACHUSETTS {EDITED BY M. F. B.) NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 31 West Twenty-third Street 1S94 Copyright, 1893, By e. p. button & CO. All rights reserved. The Eiverside Press, Cimbridfie, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. SRLF URL PREFACE. These letters of travel of the late Bishop Brooks have been selected from his correspondence with mem- bers of his family. They relate to two joiu-neys, of more than a year in duration, taken in 1865-66 and in 1882-83 resj^ectively, — the former when he was Rec- tor of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, the latter when he was Rector of Trinity Church, Boston, — and to shorter summer trips, generally of about three months in duration. The circumstances under which they were written are sufficiently evident from the letters, and call for little comment. Several of these series of letters Bishop Brooks regarded in the light of a record of his travels and experiences, and after his return reclaimed them, and found frequent enjoyment in the reminiscences of his journeys which they awakened. Further details of these same journeys and other letters relating to them will appear in the forthcoming Life of Bishop Brooks. But before that is given to the public, it seemed possible and desirable to put in shape these letters of travel, which give an important chapter of his life that was always of the greatest iv PREFACE. deliglit to him, and in which are represented many of his most striking personal characteristics. An interesting journey taken in 1887, which in- chxded his attendance at the Queen's Jubilee Service and his last meeting with Eobert Brownmg and Mat- thew Arnold, as well as his second visit to Tenny- son, is unmentioned, for the reason that he was accom- panied on that journey by members of his family to whom the writing of those letters which should con- tain the continuous record of the summer was commit- ted. For the same reason, one letter alone appears in this collection to represent a journey made in 1890, when, in addition to a trip to Switzerland, he visited parts of England including Cornwall and Devonshire, which are associated with Kingsley's Westward Ho ! and also Andover, the name of which is so closely con- nected with the life of the Phillips family in America. The letters retain the familiar character which be- longed to them as being intended for the members of his own family. It will be seen that in no other form could they have been given to the public, and they are thus enabled to convey not only an interesting story of travel, but also something of that personal charm and ready wit and genial appreciation which those who were nearest to him loved so well. His warm remem- brance of friends from whom he was absent will be evident in all these letters, and his nature will be seen in its sunniest and most playful mood. October, 1893. CONTENTS. PAGE First Journey Abroad, 1865-1866 1 In the Tyrol and Switzerland, 1870 139 Summer in Northern Europe, 1872 154 From London to Venice, 1874 172 England and the Continent, 1877 181 In Paris, England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1880 . . 187 A Year in Europe and India, 1882-1883 .... 191 England and Europe, 1885 325 Across the Continent to San Francisco, 1886 . . 343 A Summer in Japan, 1889 355 Summer of 1890 374 Last Journey Abroad 376 LETTERS OF TRAYEL. FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. 1865-1866. Steamek Scotia, Monday p. m., August 14, 1865. Dear Mother, — My first letter from abroad shall be to you. It will not be mucli of a letter, for nobody feels like doing anything- on shipboard, and especially this afternoon, when the ship is rolling- worse than it has yet. We have had a splendid passage so far ; I have not been seasick for a moment since I came on board, and we are now more than half- way across. Father and William gave you my biogra- phy up to the moment of sailing. They came pretty near having to go to Europe themselves. The first days out were very smooth, and we were well used to the motion of the vessel before the rough sea began. There has been considerable seasickness aboard. We spend almost all the time on deck. I have scarcely been below except for meals and sleep. It is the nicest, laziest, and pleasantest life in the world. We breakfast at 8.30, lunch at 12, dine at 6, and sup at 7.30. There is the funniest collection of people here : English, French, Germans, Portuguese, Jews, and Secessionists ; lots of Southern people going 2 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. to foreign parts to hide their shame. I have made some very pleasant friends, especially a nice English family, whose son has been in our army. They live in Cheltenham, England, and have invited me to visit them. We had service yesterday ; the Captain (Judkins) read service and a sermon. It was quite interesting. I thought of you all at home, and felt that you were praying for us. It is hard to count these things, though, for we have gained already two hours on you, and are o-etting; farther and farther to the eastward all the time. We have not had the sensation of dan- ger yet, except the last two nights, when it has been very foggy, and we have run along blowing our whistle almost all the tune, not knowing what ship or iceberg we might run into any minute. As yet all is safe. It is wonderfid how fast the time goes here. The days have not dragged at all, though there is next to nothing to do. We read a little, and walk the decks, and look for ships, and the hours slip by delightfully. Father told you, I suppose, that the Langs were on board. I am burnt up as brown as a berry, and never was so well in my life. It is a splendid begin- ning of my tour. How I would like to look in on you at home, or rather how I would like to have you all here ! You would enjoy it intensely. It would not be so agree- able if one were sick, but everybody says the voyage has been most remarkable. I leave the next page to be filled u]3 between here and Queenstown. Q DUBLIN. 3 Wednesday Morning, August ICi. It is still beautiful and delightful. Just a week since we sailed, and the most splendid week I ever passed. Last night on deck, with a high wind, clear starlight overhead, and the phosphorescent water below, was glorious ! I shall be almost sorry to land, except for the nights, which are very disagreeable in these miserable little berths. My room-mate is an Englishman, just returning from a tour around the world. He is intelligent and civil, but I see very little of him. They say we shall l)e in at Queens- town on Thursday night. I will mail this on board to-morrow, and then write again to you from Dublin. Thursday Morning, August 17. All lias gone well, and we shall come upon the coast of Ireland to-night. To-morrow morning I go from Cork to Dublin, where I shall stay till over Sunday. Perhaps this letter will reach you a little earlier by being mailed on board, so I will close it here. You may consider our voyage as prosjierously over, and me as safely into the Old World. No stranger ever got into it easier. When I write again, there will be more incidents to record. Now I only ask you to thank God with me for my safe voyage. Give lots of love to all the household, beginning with father and going down to Trip. How I shall depend upon your letters at London. Your loving son, PHILLIPS. Gebsham Hotel, Sackville Street, Dublin, Friday Evening, August 18, 1865. Dear William,^ — Safe in Dublin. Is n't it fmmy ? The Scotia arrived at Queenstown at four this morn- 1 His brother, WUliam G. Brooks. 4 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. ing", and we at once went ashore. I breakfasted at Queenstown, and then took the train for Cork, where I spent three hom*s wandering up and down the queer- est city that was ever made. It is one imiversal Sea Street and Fort Hill. The source whence all the Bid- dies and Patsies have flowed over the Atlantic was evident at once, and there are plenty more of the same sort to come. At twelve o'clock we took the train for Dublin, and rode all the afternoon through the loveliest country that ever was seen, — endless fields with their green hedges and rich crops, and men and women together harvesting them. I reached here at six o'clock, and got a room in Gresham's Hotel, a good house which you will see marked upon the picture. It has been a perfect day, especially after the long confinement of the voyage. How strange it seems to be here ! The old town, so far as I have seen it to-night, looks like Boston. To- morrow I shall see the great Exliibition and all the lions, and call on one or two people to whom I have introductions. The Archbishop (Trench), I am sorry to hear, is out of town. I shall stay here till over Smiday, and leave on Monday for Belfast and the Giant's Causeway ; but I only meant to say I am here safe. God bless you all ! Affectionately, Phillips. Jedburgh, Scotland, Wednesday p. M., August 30, 1865. Dear Father, — See if you can find this little place upon the map, and then picture one of the Brooks boys set down at the Spread Eagle Inn (the picture of a little English or Scotch inn), after an SCOTLAND. 5 Eno-lisli dinner, to tell liis adventures to the family in the back parlor of 41 Chauncy Street, Boston. Let me show you how I got here. Get the big Atlas which we had out on the Sunday night before I left, and trace me on from point to point. The last time I wrote I was in Dublin. I spent two days there ; saw the great Exliibition (whose only very striking point is the collection of pictures), the college, and the other sights of the dingy old town. I spent Sunday there, and went to service at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where we had the whole cathedral service in its most splendid style, Sunday afternoon, having failed in town to see Archbishop Trench, whom I was most anxious to see of any man in Ireland, I went down to Bray, a watering place near Dublin, where I heard he was to officiate. I did not fuid him there, and so came back to Dublin ; whence I started the next morning and went by the w^ay of Belfast up to Port Rush on the northern coast, where I spent Monday night. Tuesday, I drove over to the Giant's Causeway and inspected it thorouglily. It was most interesting, — more wonderful in its forma- tion than I had imagined. Then back to Belfast, and on Tuesday night took a crazy little steamer, called the Lynx (about as big as the Nelly Baker, — not quite), for Glasgow, where contrary to all reasonable probabilities and amid all sorts of disconrforts we were landed for breakfast on Wednesday morning. Spent the day there. It is a fine city, and puts one right into the midst of " Rob Roy." Nichol Jarvie lived close by the hotel, and I was inclined to run over and congratulate the good bailie on his safe return from the Hidilands. There is a fine old cathedral there, in whose crypt, you may remember, one of the finest 6 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. scenes in " Rob Hoy " is laid. Thursday morning was clear and lovely, and I took the train early for the foot of Loch Lomond (Ballocli), and then the steamer up the lake ; it is a glorious sail, different from anything I know in America, and full of romantic interest ; then across by coach to Loch Katrine, and down that beautifid lake by steamer. This is the one celebrated in the " Lady of the Lake," and you pass right by Ellen's Isle. Then by coach through the Trossachs, a splendid mountain gorge, to Stirling, where I spent Thiu'sday night ; saw the great castle and the old home of the Scottish kings. This brought me to Edinburgh on Friday morning. Of Edinburgh I cannot say enough. It is the queen of cities, the most romantic, picturesque, mi-American, old-world town that ever was. I have been there till to-day, and would like to have stayed a week longer ; its beauty is not forgettable, and its quaint sights are past all description. I went to church there on Sun- day: in the morning to one of the plainest of all plain Scotch Presbyterian churches, where you sat on a board as wide as three matches, and heard a sermon of an hour long; and in the afternoon to an Episcopal church, where the service was intoned. How strange these old towns are! You do not think of them as belonging to these days. They seem to have done their work in the world, and handed it over to us, and crept under their glass cases where they are kept for shows. Still, let me say for Edin- burgh that I found it practical enough to get there a traveling suit of fuie Scotch tweed, for which I paid only five pounds, which is less than half what it woidd have cost me in America. Monday I went down to Abbotsford and " Fair Melrose." It is like a dream SCOTLAND. 7 to see these places. Sir Walter, the splendid old fellow, seems to walk and talk with you. It was the day I had been looking for, ever since I first read your old Lockhart's Life some fifteen years ago. It will always be •one of my memorable days. Yesterday I was at Roslyn Chapel and Hawthornden, both beautiful, the chapel a wonderful little gem of sculp- ture ; then back to Edinburgh in the afternoon and up Arthur's Seat, the famous hill which overlooks Edinburgh. I am on my way now to the English lakes, and have stopped here over night to see the old abbey, and a Scotch family to whom I have a letter of introduction. I have seen a good deal of Scotclunen. Their thrift and intelligence demand respect, but they are cold. I spent the evening in Glasgow with the family of a professor there, who all talked the broadest and most unintelligible Scotch. The professor insisted that Pennsylvania was a city, but was pretty well informed aboiit our war and politics, — an Abolitionist and a Northern man. I wish that you could see this queer little town. It is Scotland in a nutshell. Thursday p. m. I was broken off here, and must close my letter hastily to make sm-e of Saturday's steamer. I am very well, and enjoying everything very much indeed, as you can see. To-day I have spent about Jedburgh with the Andersons, to whom I had a letter, and who prove to be very pleasant people. Sunday I expect to spend at Windermere on the lake ; after that I shall begin to get towards London, reaching there in about ten days. . . . Love to everybody. How I should like to 8 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. see you all! I shall depend on getting a letter at London. Your affectionate son, Phillips. Queen's Hotel, Manchester, Tuesday, September 5, 1865. Dear Mother, — My last letter was directed from Jedburgh, Scotland. This, as you see, comes from Manchester. I have reached England since I wrote, and seen something of it already. From Jedburgh I went to Kelso and Berwick-on-Tweed ; thence to New- castle-on-Tyne, and to Durham, where I spent a few hours and saw one of the greatest and best of the English cathedrals ; then to the little village of Bar- nard Castle, where I spent the night, and on to Win- dermere in Westmoreland. My present enthusiasm is the English lakes. They are very beautiful. I walked from Windermere to Ambleside at the head of Lake Windermere, and spent Sunday there, a thorough English Sunday. I attended service in the parish church. At Ambleside, or rather close by, at Rydal, are the old homes of Wordsworth and Dr. Arnold, and a few miles off, at Grasmere, the homes of Hartley Coleridge and De Quincey. From there I went on Monday, by coach, through a splendid lake and mountain region, to Keswick on Derwentwater, where Southey lived and is buried, and then by rail via Lancaster to Manchester, where I arrived last night. Here I came across Americans again. I have seen three or four already from Philadelphia. This hotel is one of the great resorts of Americans in Eng- land. I am going to make one or two calls here, and then shall be off to York. YORK. 9 Wednesday Morning', September G. I spent last evening at Mrs. Gaskell's. She is an authoress ; wrote the Life of Charlotte Bronte and several novels ; a charming lady and most hospitable. I had a letter to her from Philadelphia. She knows all the literary people in England and told me a great deal about them. I met there a Mr. Winkworth, brother of the lady who did the " Lyra Germanica." He is the most intelligent Englishman about our affairs that I have seen. This was the pleasantest meeting with English people that I have had. Mrs. Gaskell promised me a letter to Ruskin, in London, with whom she is very intimate. York, Thursday Evening, September 7. You see I began this sheet all wrong, and so you will have to make its order out by the dates. When I left off I was at Manchester. I left there yesterday forenoon, and reached here about two o'clock. Here, you know, is the greatest of the English cathedrals. I went all over it yesterday afternoon, and attended the evening service. The music was very fuie. This morning I took the train early and have spent the day at Ripon, where there is another fine cathedral, and at Fountains Abbey, which is the oldest and most com- plete of the old monastic establishments. I am back here to-night, and shall start in the morning for Lin- coln, Ely, Cambridge, and so to London. I should like very much to stop at Boston, just for association's sake, and shall, if I have time. York is, I suppose, the oldest city I have seen yet. Here we get our first sight of the old Romans, who had a splendid town here, and whose old wall still remains. 10 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. I am afraid my letters sound very much like guide- books. You must forgive me, but remember that I have nothing to write except what I see and hear. You can see that I am going all the time, and from morning to night. There has not yet been one stormy day, and I have enjoyed everything hugely. I have been well all the time. So far, I have seen hardly anything of Americans, for I have been off their routes. I have talked with Englishmen in the trains and at the hotels. I had no idea till I came here what a tremendous American I was. I have n't seen a New York paper since I left. How I shall revel in all your letters next week. Good-by. God bless you all. Phillips. Golden Cross Hotel, Charing Cross, London, Sunday Evening, September 10, 1865. Dear Father, — At last conununication is re- smned. I arrived here yesterday, and found at Bar- ings your noble, long letter, in which I reveled. I hope to get others to-morrow by the steamer which arrived yesterday. How good it was to get in sound of you again and hear the wheels in Chauncy Street moving on as smoothly and pleasantly as ever. By this time you are all together again except Fred, and he will be there soon. How I wish that I could sit down with you ! My last I mailed at Lincoln. From there I went to Boston. How strange it seemed ! As we rode over the marshes (fens, they call them here) that surround the town, and saw the bricky mass rising before us, it was easy to believe that we were coming in over the Back Bay and would be with you at supper. It is a pretty little town of about 11,0Q0 LONDON. 11 people. You walk up froui tlie station through Lincoln Street to the church, which is the principal object of the town. It is a fine old piece of architec- ture. The sexton, who showed me through it, was very civil, especially when I told him where I came from. The vicar was away, or I should have called on him. I left my card for him. The Cotton Chapel is a nice little room, well restored; you see it on the right, or south side of the church, in the exterior one of the views that I send you. They still use the old John Cotton pulpit, but the sexton told me that they thought of getting a new one and giving the old relic to the American Boston. I went then to Peterborough, where I meant to spend the night and go to Cambridge the next day, but Peterborough was so full, owing to a great sheep-fair, that I could not find lodgings, and concluded to come right through to London and go to Cambridge by and by ; so this is my second day in London. I am right in the centre of the City at the head of the Strand, close to Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey. It is a fascinating place, for there is not a step that is not full of association. I have seen little yet in detail. To-morrow I begin. To-day I went to hear Spurgeon, and found myself in an immense crowd and rush. He is not graceful nor thoughtful nor imaginative, and preached a great deal too long, but he is earnest, simple, direct, and held the hosts of plain-looking people wonderfully. I believe with all his rudeness and narrowness and lack of higher powers that he is doing a good work here. 12 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. Thursday Evening, September 14. This must go into the mail to-morrow, so I shall finish it to-night. Since Sunday I have been seeing London, and have been very busy. Let me see: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Brit- ish Museum, the Tower, the National Gallery, the Sydenham Crystal Palace, Regent's Park and its Zoological Gardens, the Tunnel, with lots of lesser sights, and the greatest sight of all which one has always in wandering about the streets of this great Babel. To-day I took the steamer on the Thames, all the way along past the City, and through its old bridges. Every rod here has some interest of its own. Yesterday I dined at Mr. Adams's at half past seven o'clock, a very pleasant dinner, and both Mr. and Mrs. Adams were very cordial and hospitable. Mrs. Adams was especially full of inquiries about you and mother. Their son Henry, and daughter, and one or two others were there. On Monday I go down into Hampshire to visit Mrs. Kenible. I have a very kind and pressing invitation from her. From there I shall very probably keep on into the Isle of Wight. I do not know how to fuid time enough for England, especially for Lon- don, as I must leave here by the 10th of October. I have left the hotel and gone into lodgings at Mrs. Dekker's, No. 1 A, Craven Street, Strand. It is a little cheaper and a great deal more comfortable. I was very much disapj)ointed at not getting letters from any of you by the last steamer. I do hope the next will bring some. Don't forget me. I am so tired, to-night, as every night, that I can hardly write, so you must forgive the j^oorness of this letter. I think of you all and home constantly. Tell Fred to write. I have a letter from Franks, who HAMPSHIRE. 13 talked of going to Boston with him. I hope he did. God bless you all. Affectionately, Phillips. Warnford Cottage, Bishops-Waltham, Hampshire, Wednesday, September 20, 1865. Dear William, — To-day's letter must be to you. You certainly deserve it for the splendid long epistle which I received last Saturday, for which I cannot thank you enough. I am glad that you had so pleasant a visit at Trenton and Saratoga, and I en- joyed your account of it exceedingly. Certainly, so far as mere natural beauty is concerned, I do not believe there is any need of one's leaving America. I am writing this before breakfast (they don't breakfast till half past nine) at the window of a little English cottage which looks out on as perfect an English scene as you can imagine. There is a piece of lawn like velvet in front, with gorgeous flower beds spotted over it ; then a hawthorn hedge shutting out from view a little winding lane, beyond which are the broad, smooth hills of Warnford Park, with splendid great trees grouped about over it, and the Hall in the distance, which owns and rules the whole estate. Is n't that English ? I am staying here with Mrs. Kemble, who occupies this little cottage close to the large estate of her brother-in-law. He owns the Hall. I came here on Monday, and have enjoyed my visit very much. Mrs. Kemble is, as I expected, very bright and interesting, very kind, hospitable, and cour- teous. The family is only herself and one daughter, who is just as bright as her mother. Yesterday I drove out with Mrs. Kemble to Winchester, about twelve miles, where I saw the cathedral, in some 14 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. resi^ects one of the finest in England, and called on one o£ the canons, to whom I had a letter from Bishop Mcllvaine. The drive there was very beau- tiful, over the Downs, as they call them, a soft roll- ing country, spotted over with the sheep who are to supply the Southdown mutton, which you know is the great product of this part of England. To-day I shall leave here and go to the Isle of Wight, getting back to London on Friday, and then I shall get ready at once to go on the Continent. I find it is impossi- ble at this time of year to see people or institutions in England to advantage ; so I propose to go to Ger- many and the East a little earlier, and thus secure time in the spring to run over here when everything is in full blast and I can do it more satisfactorily, I have seen most of the " sights " of London. After I wrote to you I went to Hyde Park and the Kensing- ton Museum, where is the best collection of modern English pictures, Reynolds and Hogarth, and Wil- kie and Leslie, etc. There is the original of the " Blind Fiddler " over the nursery mantelpiece at No. 41. The whole museum is very interesting. Mrs. Gaskell sent me a letter to Mr. Ruskin, and I drove out to Denmark Hill, where he lives, to present it. He was not at home, so I only had the pleasure of seeing his house, but I shall see him, I hope, by and by. The house is a very pretty su^bur- ban mansion ; a fine picture of Turner's was over the mantelpiece. I saw a good deal of the Adamses. Mrs. and Miss Adams came to my lodgings and left a card, " The Minister of the United States." Sun- day I dined with them ; Sunday morning I went to the Foundlings' Chapel, where the children do some of the best chanting in London ; in the afternoon I BONN. 15 went to St. Paul's Cathedral and heard a capital ser- mon from Melville, who is called one of the best preach- ers in England. I called on Dean Milnian with Mr. Winthrop's letter, and had a very pleasant visit. He lives in a curious old deanery close to the cathedral. My next will be dated somewhere the other side of the Channel. All goes well with me so far, as you see. I am in capital health and spirits. Just now I think of you all together at home ; how happy you must be. Do write to me every week, for steamer day is always looked for eagerly. It has been very hot here, but is cooler now, and England is the most beautiful thing you can conceive. Good-by. God bless you all. Phill. Hotel Goldener Stern, Bonn, Monday, October 2, 1865. Dear Mother, — Isn't this a funny j)lace from which to write you? I wish you could see it, you would think it funnier still ; but you would have to allow that it is very pretty. It stands on the Ehine just before you come to the Seven Mountains, where the beauty of the Rhine commences, and is one of those queer old German cities which we have always pictured and know so little about until we have seen them. But I might as well go back to where I was at my last writing. I told Fred to send you my letter from London, so I will begin there. On Tuesday morning I went by rail to Dover, and thence by boat to Ostend. Everybody expects to be seasick on the Channel, but I was disappointed. We had a foiir hours' sail, as quiet and gentle as if we were going down to Hingham. It was most charming, and not a soul on 16 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. board suffered from the sea. We came vip to tlie wharf at Ostend, and felt at once that we were in Europe. I brushed up my French and went ashore, passed the custom-house examination, and took train by Bruges to Ghent, a queer old town full of historic interest ; from there to Brussels, a lively French town. I found it right in the midst of its annual fete of national independence. The streets were illvmiinated, fireworks everywhere, and people sitting at tables drinking beer in honor of independent Belgium. I fomid all the best hotels full, and was crowded into a poor one, and jabbered my French for the first time to waiters and chambermaids. I went from Brussels to see the field of Waterloo. Everybody does, though it was n't much of a battle by the side of Gettysburg and Antietam. They run an English mail-coach out there every day. Then I saw the Brussels streets and churches. From Brussels to Antwerp, a dear old city, full of Rubens's pictures and the quaintest old Flem- ish houses and costumes. From Antwerp to Rotter- dam, part by rail and part by steamer, up the Maas, through miles of dykes and windmills into my first Dutch towuo Such a language as they talked there ! I have n't half an idea what anybody said to me. I made a tolerable show of French and got along splen- didly in German, but the Dutch was too much for me. I could only smile blandly and point what I thought was the nearest way to the next town. From Rotter- dam to the Hague, a nice old place with canals instead of streets, and fine old pictures of Rembrandt and Rubens, and a lot of others; then to Amsterdam, where all is canal and not street again, and the horrible Dutch tongue still. I went to the New Church (built in 1408} and heard them sing two BONN. 17 verses of a hymn in their language. That was enough, and I ran down the nearest canal to the English church and heard our own dear liturgy and a sermon from the English chaplain instead. From Amsterdam to Diisseldorf, where the pictures come from and where many splendid ones are still, to Cologne, where the great unfinished cathedral is, at which they have been working six hundred years ; and from there, here. To-day, I have come into Germany, where they speak German and charge you for your dinner in thalers. I like the Germans much. I respect the Dutch, but I would not live among them for a million a year. To-day, too, I have come into the region of Romish churches and relics. I have seen the skulls of the Three Wise Men, the thorns of Christ's Crown, the wood of the True Cross, one of the water pots of Cana of Galilee, the steps of Pilate's Judgment Seat, and a church lined with the skulls and bones of the eleven thousand martyred virgins of Cologne. Of course you are expected to believe in them all, and is n't that pretty well for one day ? But the cathedral is very noble, by all means one of the great sights of the world. That brino's me to Bonn. From here trace me to Coblentz, Mayence, Heidelberg, Frankfort (where I have directed my letters to be sent and hope to hear from you), Leipsic, and Berlin. Am I not a lucky chap to see all this? I am splendidly well, and keep on the go all the time, and, as I said, am getting the hang of German enough to be quite at home with the people. I eschew all delicacies and rough it gen- erally. Last night for the first time I found a feather bed for covering in my room. I kicked it off and slept like a top without it. The worst thing to me 18 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. about tliis traveling is that you can't drink water. Think of my misery. But it is too vile to touch. However, we are now in the region of light Khine wines. For twelve and a half groschen (25 cents) you get a bottle of good wine which answers pretty well, but I would give a dollar for a pitcher of ice water to-night. All living here is cheap, but in Hol- land it is very dear and very poor indeed. I think I did right in coming alone, that is, as no very intimate friend offered. I find companions everywhere, and see nuicli more of the people than if I were with a party of my own. It costs a little more, because I have to pay aU fees, which are a great exjjense here for one, instead of dividing them among a party. To-day I met a Philadelphian on the steps of Cologne cathedral, and last week I found a family of parishioners at the Hotel St. Antoine in AntweriJ. My dearest mother, you cannot think how strange it seems to be writing in this little German inn, and knowing that you will read it in the old back par- lor at home, where you have read my letters from Cambridge, Alexandria, and Philadelphia. Johnnie will bring it up from the post office some night, and Trip will break out into one of his horrible concerts two or three times while you are reading it. Then as soon as it is over, father will get out his big candle and you will put up the stockings, and all go up the old stairway to the old chambers, and to bed. Well, good- night and pleasant dreams to you all, and don't forget that I am off here wandering up and down these old countries and thinking ever so much about you. At Frankfort, where I hope to be early next week, I shall find your letters and have a talk with you again. CASSEL. 19 Audi now, g-ood-night ; peace and every blessing be with you always. God bless you all. Phillips. Cassel, Germany, Monday Evening, October 9, 1865. My dear William, — Just before I left Frank- fort-on-tlie-Main to-day, I went to the bankers' and found there your good letter of September 22. It was my company on a lovely ride up the country to this queer old German town, whence I answer it from the dining-room of the Romlicher Kaiser hotel. A thousand thanks for it. I shall not write so good a one, but I will try to tell you what I have been doing in a very busy week since I wrote to mother last Mon- day night from Bonn. I left there by the Rhine boat and landed first at Kaiserwinter, on the right bank at the foot of the Drachenfels ; climbed that hill and saw one of the loveliest views in the world from the old castle at its top. We went up through vineyards and looked down on the Rhine winding past the Seven Mountains ever so far towards the sea. Kaiserwinter is a charming little German village, and on my return from the hill I heard the bells chiming, and stopped to ask what it meant. I was told it was a " Fest " or village feast, and so roamed into the village to see it. It was the most perfect German picture. The young men of the village were firing at a mark in a little wine garden, and all the hamlet were gathered to drink the new wine and look at them. By and by the bird was shot down, and the man who shot it down was thereby king of the Feast. He had the privilege of choosing the prettiest girl in town for the queen, and then, with a rustic band of music, the jn-ocession, 20 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. headed by the king and queen, marched through the old streets and called on all the gentry, who treated them and gave them contributions for a feast, to which they all returned in the garden. Here they made merry through the afternoon, and closed all with a dance. It was just like a German story book. Juch-he, juch-he, juch-heise, heise, he, So ging der fiedelbogen. Think of being at a dance of German peasants on the Rliine ! From here I took the boat again, and sail- ing down past vine-covered hills topped with ruined castles, I came at last to Coblentz. Here I stopped again and climbed to the Castle of Ehrenbreitstein, where was another view of the Rhine and the Moselle, which flows into it just here. Then the boat again, past the great Castle of Stolzenfels and countless others, one on almost every height, till we came to St. Goar, the most delightful little village on the left bank. Here another stop, and then on through the region of the choicest vineyards to Mayence, the quaintest of old fortified towns. You have no idea of the beauty of this river from Bonn to Mayence. I think we have rivers whose scenery by nature is as fine, but tlie castles and ruins have grown to be a part of the nature, and are not separable from it, and the soft October air and sunlight of those days showed everything at its utmost beauty. The trees were gor- geous in color with not a leaf fallen, and the vineyards climbing the hills, and perching on every inch of ground that faced the southern sun, were very inter- esting. From Mayence I went to Worms, where Luther dared the Diet; then to Mannheim, and so to Heidel- berg. Of all beautifid places this is the most perfect. CASSEL. 21 It lies along the Neckar, and is overlooked everywhere by the noblest of" old ruined castles. Here is one of the great universities which I went to see. The boys looked pretty much like Cambridge juniors, exce^jt where here and there you see one with his face all slashed up from a duel. Let us be thankfid Cam- bridge has not got to that. From here I went up to Wiesbaden, one of the great watering and gambling places, a splendid German Saratoga. It was in full blast, and I saw the roulette and rouge-et-noir tables in the gorgeous saloons crowded day and night. At night, a great free concert by a splendid band, and illmnination of the beautiful grounds. It was a strange sight. Then to Frankfort, where I spent Sunday at the Hotel de Russie. It is a fine town, part of it very old and quaint, part very new and fine ; there are some good pictures, some good statuary, and an old cathedral, where I went and heard a German sermon and some splendid German music. Goethe was born here, and his house still stands. To-day, I came from Frankfort here, through one of the richest historic regions of all Germany. This is another of those old towns to which I am get- ting very used, and which delight me more and more. I like the Germans immensely. They are frank, kind, sociable, and hearty. They give you an idea of a people with ever so much yet to do in the world, capable of much fresh thought and action. Their language is like them, noble, vigorous, and simple. I am getting hold of it very well. They think for themselves and unselfishly, and they believe in America. Their peasants are poor, but seem intelli- gent, and their better classes have the most charming civility. I have seen more pretty women than I saw 22 FIRST JOURNEY ABROAD. in all England, and I have not seen the best of Ger- many. I am unpatient to get to Hanover, and Berlin, and Dresden, where one sees the finest specimens. Here, then, you have another week's biography. Is it not full enough ? My next will be from Dresden. I shall spend all this month in Germany, and about the first of November leave Vienna for the East. I am splendidly well and happy all the time, but very often, to-night, for instance, I would like to look in upon you all at home, and tell and hear a thousand things that will not go on paper. As to money, you will get two drafts, one in London and one in Cologne. These currencies with their perpetual changes are great nuisances. First, in Belgium, it was francs and centimes ; then, in Holland, thalers and groschen ; then, in Prussia, florins and kreutzers ; and now back to thalers and groschen again. I received a weekly " Herald " to-day ; many thanks. Send one once in a while, say once a month, for the only paper on the Continent that pretends to give American news is the London " Times." It is two months to-day since I sailed. How they have gone ! And to me they have been the fidlest months of my life. Not a day without something that I have longed all my life to see. So it will go on till I see the sight that I shall be most glad of aU to see, you and father waiting on the wharf to see me land, as you came down before to see me sail. Good-by; love in lots to father and mother, and Arthur and John and Trip, and Fred when you writa God bless you aU. Phill. BERLIN. 23 Berlin, Tuesday, October 17, 1865. 