Part 13 (1/2)

Canandaigua, _September_ 1.--A party of us went down to the Canandaigua hotel this morning to see President Johnson, General Grant and Admiral Farragut and other dignitaries. The train stopped about half an hour and they all gave brief speeches.

_September_ 2.--Rev. Darius Sackett preached for Dr. Daggett this evening.

1867

_July_ 27.--Col. James M. Bull was buried from the home of Mr. Alexander Howell to-day, as none of his family reside here now.

_November_ 13.--Our brother John and wife and baby Pearl have gone to London, England, to live.

_December_ 28.--A large party of Canandaiguans went over to Rochester last evening to hear Charles d.i.c.kens' lecture, and enjoyed it more than I can possibly express. He was quite hoa.r.s.e and had small bills distributed through the Opera House with the announcement:

MR. CHARLES d.i.c.kENS

Begs indulgence for a Severe Cold, but hopes its effects may not be very perceptible after a few minutes' Reading.

Friday, December 27th, 1867.

We brought these notices home with us for souvenirs. He looks exactly like his pictures. It was worth a great deal just to look upon the man who wrote Little Dorrit, David Copperfield and all the other books, which have delighted us so much. We hope that he will live to write a great many more. He spoke very appreciatively of his enthusiastic reception in this country and almost apologized for some of the opinions that he had expressed in his ”American Notes,” which he published, after his first visit here, twenty-five years ago. He evidently thinks that the United States of America are quite worth while.

1871

_August_ 6.--Under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A., Hon. George H. Stuart, President of the U. S. Christian Commission, spoke in an open air meeting on the square this afternoon and in our church this evening. The house was packed and such eloquence I never heard from mortal lips. He ought to be called the Whitefield of America. He told of the good the Christian Commission had done before the war and since. Such war stories I never heard. They took up a collection which must have amounted to hundreds of dollars.

1872

_Naples, June._--John has invited Aunt Ann Field, and James, his wife and me and Babe Abigail to come to England to make them a visit, and we expect to sail on the Baltic July sixth.

_On board S.S. Baltic, July_ 7.--We left New York yesterday under favorable circ.u.mstances. It was a beautiful summer day, flags were flying and everything seemed so joyful we almost forgot we were leaving home and native land. There were many pa.s.sengers, among them being Mr.

and Mrs. Anthony Drexel and U. S. Grant, Jr., who boarded the steamer from a tug boat which came down the bay alongside when we had been out half an hour. President Grant was with him and stood on deck, smoking the proverbial cigar. We were glad to see him and the pa.s.sengers gave him three cheers and three times three, with the greatest enthusiasm.

_Liverpool, July_ 16.--We arrived here to-day, having been just ten days on the voyage. There were many clergymen of note on board, among them, Rev. John H. Vincent, D.D., eminent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, who is preparing International Sunday School lessons. He sat at our table and Philip Phillips also, who is a noted evangelistic singer. They held services both Sabbaths, July 7 and 15, in the grand saloon of the steamer, and also in the steerage where the text was ”And they willingly received him into the s.h.i.+p.” The immigrants listened eagerly, when the minister urged them all to ”receive Jesus.” We enjoyed several evening literary entertainments, when it was too cold or windy to sit on deck.

We had the most luscious strawberries at dinner to-night, that I ever ate. So large and red and ripe, with the hulls on and we dipped them in powdered sugar as we ate them, a most appetizing way.

_London, July_ 17.--On our way to London to-day I noticed beautiful flower beds at every station, making our journey almost a path of roses.

In the fields, men and women both, were harvesting the hay, making picturesque scenes, for the sky was cloudless and I was reminded of the old hymn, commencing

”Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, Stand dressed in living green.”

We performed the journey from Liverpool to London, a distance of 240 miles, in five hours. John, Laura and little Pearl met us at Euston Station, and we were soon whirled away in cabs to 24 Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square, John's residence. Dinner was soon ready, a most bountiful repast. We spent the remainder of the day visiting and enjoying ourselves generally. It seemed so good to be at the end of the journey, although we had only two days of really unpleasant weather on the voyage. John and Laura are so kind and hospitable. They have a beautiful home, lovely children and apparently every comfort and luxury which this world can afford.

_Sunday, July_ 22.--We went to Spurgeon's Tabernacle this morning to listen to this great preacher, with thousands of others. I had never looked upon such a sea of faces before, as I beheld from the gallery where we sat. The pulpit was underneath one gallery, so there seemed as many people over the preacher's head, as there were beneath and around him and the singing was as impressive as the sermon. I thought of the hymn, ”Hark ten thousand harps and voices, Sound the notes of praise above.” Mr. Spurgeon was so lame from rheumatism that he used two canes and placed one knee on a chair beside him, when preaching. His text was ”And there shall be a new heaven and a new earth.” I found that all I had heard of his eloquence was true.

_Sunday, July_ 29.--We have spent the entire week sightseeing, taking in Hyde Park, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London and British Museum. We also went to Madame Tussaud's exhibition of wax figures and while I was looking in the catalogue for the number of an old gentleman who was sitting down apparently asleep, he got up and walked away! We drove to Sydenham ten miles from London, to see the Crystal Palace which Abbie called the ”Christmas Palace.” Mr.

Alexander Howell and Mr. Henry Chesebro of Canandaigua are here and came to see us to-day.

_August_ 13.--Amid the whirl of visiting, shopping and sightseeing in this great city, my diary has been well nigh forgotten. The descriptive letters to home friends have been numerous and knowing that they would be preserved, I thought perhaps they would do as well for future reference as a diary kept for the same purpose, but to-day, as St.