A YEAR IN THE GREAT REPUBLIC.*
Or the making of books about America in general, and the United States in particular, there is no end. Each traveller who cannot resist the temptation of putting his or her im- pressions and experiences into print, apologises for doing so, yet evidently entertains the notion that he or she has found something new to tell, and will be listened to with pleasure. The odd thing is, there is hardly a case in which this notion does not justify itself, for a narrative of travel in America is always read, no matter how many predecessors it has had ;, the subject seems to have a fascination as strong and lasting as that of the his- tory of Napoleon. How many histories, biographies, memoirs, essays, dealing with that great epic have been written P Yet there is no sign of the supply slackening, and each succeeding contribution to the magnificent and tragical story of the great adventurer is read with eagerness ; the curiosity of the world about him is never slaked. In a different way, the English reading world is always curious about the United States,— perhaps from some odd motive like that which makes married people who have separated by mutual consent invariably in- quisitive about each other, restlessly attracted by the idea of meeting somebody who has recently seen either party to the compact of dissociation ; perhaps simply from the queer mixture of similarity and contrast between ourselves and the citizens of the Great Republic, and the ease with which we realise all that is told us respecting people who speak our own language. However it is to be accounted for, the fact remains : books of American travel are largely read. It is long since this general curiosity has had such pleasant and interesting material for its gratification as that afforded by A Year in. the Great .Republic ; not, indeed, since Mr. Pidgeon took the matter in hand in his New-World Answers to Old-World Questions.
Miss Bates goes over well-known ground, of course ; and deals with social usages and intellectual phenomena which are familiar to the general reader ; but she lends novelty to the best-worn topic, even to Boston boarding-houses, tran- scendentalism, Emerson-worship, and the religious " de- velopments " of the numerous sects which abound in American society. She is by no means an " all-round " admirer of things American ; she would fail to please Mr. Hannibal Chollop, and she has, no doubt, seriously displeased the com- pilers of Appleton's Guide, and the organisers of Raymond's Excursion Tours, by her free translation of the descriptions • A Year in the Great Republic. By E. Catherine Bates. London : Ward and Downey.
of scenery, &c., evolved from the glowing imagination of the former, and the latter by her systematic avoidance ; with reason in both cases. She is not a prejudiced person ; she has no rigid preconceived notions to which she fits her experiences; she is a good-humoured traveller, possessed of a fair amount of philosophy wherewith to confront the inevitable fatigues and the contingent disappointments of long journeys on
the American scale ; but she has a righteous objection to cheatery of any kind, an English habit of observing and
expecting punctuality, and an invincible determination not to crack up " a place only because she has been well received there, and also to tell the whole truth about travelling on the
stupendous "routes" of the New World. We do not think her unvarnished tale of the disappointing journey from Phila- delphia, vice Baltimore and Washington, to Cincinnati, over the Alleghany range of mountains—according to Appleton, " the finest in America "—will deter people from making the same, but it will certainly moderate their anticipatory transports. She is not intentionally humorous, but she is sometimes un- consciously funny, as, for instance, when she says,—" Harper's
Ferry is decidedly picturesque, the situation being quite equal to many of the inferior Swiss views." One can fancy a patriot
of the Elijah Pogra.m kind reading this with feelings like those of Mrs. Philips in Pride and Prejudice, when Mr. Collins assured her that her drawing-room reminded him of Lady Catherine de Bourgh's little third room at Rosings Park. Miss Bates tells a woeful tale of railway unpunctuality, where delays are matters of hours, sometimes of days, and the pro- curing of even the most distasteful food is precarious. When the road is " washed out " in places by the frequent floods, the sufferings of travellers are severe ; and we find the following note in the writer's journal, in reference to the Alleghany route :—" In a considerable experience of American railway- cars, extending over six months, I have never save once found the boasted dining-car one hears so much about, and that was on the train between Boston and New York, about the only journey where one could have dispensed with it." The Northern Pacific line forms a bright exception in a record of what cer- tainly appears to us to be very dismal and deterrent loco- motion. Miss Bates on Cincinnati—when one has got there— is not encouraging. She says :- " The town is black and grimy and smoky, and the streets, for dirt, beat any we have yet seen. A week later we modified this opinion and thought the palm should be given to St. Louis. A patriotic shopkeeper silenced our complaints of the filthy condition of the St. Louis streets by saying it showed what splendid agricul- tural properties the soil possessed !"
Coming to her account of the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, with a vivid recollection of Bayard Taylor and Walter Thorn- bury, one is rudely disenchanted by Miss Bates, who says they are not to be compared for beauty with those of Adelsberg and many others on a smaller scale in Europe. Travellers who can bear the fatigue will do well to follow the writer's example, and include in their Western trip a visit to the Grand Carlon of Colorado. This misleading name suggests the neighbour- hood of Denver and Colorado Springs, but the famous canon is in reality many hundreds of miles from either one or other, and is situated to the south of Arizona, between New Mexico and South Carolina. About this grand spectacle there is no disappointment; it is well worth the pains it costs.
Except that it is all interesting, because of her original and downright way of putting things, there is less to remark in Miss Bates's second than in her first volume. Her Western tour was made in a thorough fashion ; she went everywhere, she saw everything, she did everything, just as on her Eastern tour she met everybody ; but she is a little too un- enthusiastic about the beauties of South California and the Yo.
Semite Valley, and we are glad when she gets on to Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. Her description of Monterey, one of the most famous Californian watering-places, with a
" simply perfect " hotel, standing in 140 acres of exquisitely cul- tivated grounds, and gardens like fairyland, is enchanting. We think she must be unreasonably restless, for she was evidently bored to death by a fortnight's halt there, and grows quite lively when she starts for Santa Cruz and the Big Tree Grove. Her praise of the latter is very cordial. But if we would find real enthusiasm, the fullness of content, that kind of satisfaction which makes a travel-book quite delightful, we must accom- pany Miss Bates on an expedition which she was particularly advised not to make. " What do you want to go to Van- couver's Island for.?" asked her counsellors. " Puget's Sound
is just a huge sheet of water. Victoria might be interesting if you were in the lumber trade, but from the tourist's point of view you will be woefully disappointed." The Yellowstone Park and the Rocky Mountains were still to be " done," and Australia was in the immediate future ; it was a thing to hesitate about ; but the travellers took, not their friends' advice, but their own way, sailed for Victoria from San Francisco, and had every reason to rejoice that they had done so. Miss Bates's readers are also to be congratulated ; her Vancouver's Island and Yellowstone Park chapters are delightful. " It is difficult to imagine," she premises, " what would satisfy those who condemn Victoria and Puget Sound as being without beauty or interest." She is a little dis- appointing about the Rockies, taking it too completely for granted that all their interest and romance have been exhausted by Miss Bird. A chapter on the American Mines and Salt Lake City is very interesting; it contains a fair and candid estimate of Brigham Young, and a vivid description of Lake Point. Miss Bates says of her expedition to the latter place : —" It seemed to take the rather unpleasant Mormon taste away, and leave only the remembrance of the great natural beauties of the situation in a district which certainly owes its present fertility and prosperity to the indefatigable energy and industry of this body of—believers, fanatics, or impostors?"
We have purposely noticed the second volume of Miss Bates's book in the first place, because it covers the greater space and more varied experiences. Her first volume, in which the pic- turesque quality is wanting, is full of good sense, clear observa- tion, and shrewd judgment. A considerable portion of it is devoted to " Social and Literary Boston," to " Boston Theology," and to " Spiritualism in America." The first of these subjects is excellently treated, with candour, taste, and originality ; the second is made intelligible to readers unaccustomed to such vagaries, with remarkable ingenuity and clearness. The doctrines of " The Christian Scientists," known as "the religion" at Boston, are very curious, and quite new to us. Sketches of eminent Bostonians are well drawn. Of the chapters devoted to " Spiritualism in America " we hardly feel qualified to judge ; the author means them to be read or skipped, according to the faith or incredulity of her readers. We have not skipped them, but we do not offer any comment upon them. The first volume is a valuable con- tribution to our knowledge of social and intellectual life in the United States. The second is a remarkably pleasant and lively narrative of personal adventure by a writer whose naturally keen and accurate powers of observation have received careful cultivation.
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