The Contributor.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 46, 10 February 1894, Page 13

The Contributor.

IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA

(By W. H. Mathieson

“Victuals and Drink.

X was struck while in the States by the restless energy and hurry everywhere manifested by the people of all classes. In nothing is this more noticeable than in eating. One business man told me they were trying to effect a change in this respect, and as one means to that end had taken to dining at restaurants conducted on the English system, under which you have to wait at least ten minutes between each course. Tea is not nearly so much used as with us, and the inferior grades of Chinese tea are in most request, but the world’s fair will do much to popularise the Ceylon article, which was greatly in evidence there. The difference between the Pair tea and what we get here was very marked, but of course there is Ja duty on it in Hew Zealand. While on the subject of eating end drinking and accommodation for travellers, let me say that our principal hotels are conducted in a manner that reflects credit on the gentlemen at their head. I consider they are a credit to us. I should consider that the closing of them would be nothing short of a calamity. I found this out by comparison with other parts of the world. I come back with a very different idea of their importance to what I had when I went away, and I am pleased to make the amende honourable, as my views oh the temperance question are well known. American' Railways. The ticket which I bought for my long ride through America was about three feet long, and folded up like a book. Every State had a separate ticket, which was torn off at intervals until I reached my destination. There is only one class in ordinary passenger trains called through courtesy firstclass. It is equal to about thirdclass in England, which is like our first in New Zealand. There is another called the emigrant train, which is an ordinary goods train with a few cars attached, supplied with a store and cooking utensils, so that the travellers can prejiare their food. The journey across the Continent occupies from a fortnight to a month, depending on the traffic. Therefore you have to pay 7 dols. or 30s extra, every ‘24 hours for the pleasure of travelling by the through trains. I consider that this price is little short of robbery, but at the same time I must say that you get every convenience, every luxury just the same as if you were in a first-class hotel. The meals are served in a manner that is simply astonishing. A new dining car is switched on every day, and your dinner is cooked just the same as on board ship. There are four waiters in the long car, two cooks and one white head steward —seven for that car alone; four day coaches with a darkey steward to each, and a head white man to look after them—l2 altogether. Then we have the guard, the conductor, his assistant, two brakesmen, two men in the luggage van, four in the mail van, the head machinist, the driver and stoker —25 men in all to run a through train in America, so it will be seen that a passenger train is an elaborate affair. There are 14 of these constantly running backwards and forwards across the continent, and four times as many again between New York and Chicago. The carriages, or cars as they are called, are 80ft. in length, and being on the broad gauge are nearly as wide again as our carriages. Every train has a distinctive name which is only known to those using the road. There is “ The Elyer,” “ The Hummer,” and “ The Lightning Express,” &c. The ordinary time occupied between Hew York and Chicago is 24 hours to do 1,000 miles. That includes stoppages, but this is cut down by “ The Lightning Express ” to 18 hours, also including stoppages. These trains do not stop

to water, as at certain parts of the road they let down a scoop and fill up the tender in a few [seconds. The fare by these expresses is 18 dollars extra —£3 15s. You may be sure that 50 miles an hour was quite fast enough for me. I had no ambition to travel at between 60 and 70 miles an hour. Just think of it one moment — two and a-half hours to Dunedin ! Cleopatra’s Needle.

As I had two hours to spare after I purchased my ticket, I took the ’bus to the Central Park. This ’bus had an automatic fare collector. If you have not the exact fare the driver will change the money for you at the small trap-door at the top. I had a stroll round the gardens, which were very neatly kept. I saw Cleopatra’s Needle and made a bee-line for it, but was brought up sharp by a gentleman in blue, who made me go round nearly a mile. As my time was about up I started to run. Now, the policeman thought, “that man is up to something,” so he followed me. When I got to the obelisk there was a ladder leaning against it, and I was curious to examine the peculiar characters of this venerable block, said to be over 4,000 years old. This tapering shaft, which has withstood the storms and earthquakes of 40 centuries, is about 70 feet high and four feet square at its base. The four faces have been polished and covered right up to the top with hieroglyphics and symbolical figures deeply cut into the hard rock, showing great skill. The chisel marks are as plain now as if done yesterday. I can assure you I felt a great veneration for that solitary record of the very earliest civilisations known to man. There it stood alone in a new world, thus connecting the earliest and the latest. If it could only speak what a tale it would unfold. It would set at rest many a disputed point. I climbed the ladder. The policeman came up breathless to see what I was doing, as I had my note-book out and was busy taking down an Inscription w'hich read that “ The cost of removing from and placing on this spot this obelisk and pedestal was borne by William H. Vanderbilt.” This inscription is some distance up the Needle. I looked down and asked him with a laugh did bethink I meant to steal it, that he was following me so closely. He turned on his heel and walked away without saying a word. But time and tide w r ait for no man. I had to hurry away, and took the night train for the Chicago World’s Pair. What I saw there I will reserve for another chapter.