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 CHAPTER 8: THE TIME VALUE OF MONEY

Instructor’s Manual Problem Set

Solutions can be found in the accompanying Excel files. Note that if you wish to see all of the formulas at
once, you may use the CTRL+` (Control plus grave accent) shortcut key to toggle them on or off.

1. Using the information below, answer the following questions:

Annual Retirement Income Need 150,000
Years until Retirement 30
Years in Retirement 35
Expected Inflation Rate 2.50%
Rate of Return before Retirement 8.00%
Rate of Return during Retirement 5.00%
a) Using equation 8-10 from the book, how much money will you need to have accumulated at the time
of retirement to be able to meet your income needs during retirement?
b) If you were to make a single lump sum investment today, how much would you need to invest
annually to meet your goal at the time of retirement?
c) If you were to invest an equal dollar amount each year, how much would you need to invest annually
to meet your goal at the time of retirement?
d) Assume that your employer will raise your annual wage every year by at least the rate of inflation so
that your retirement savings can also increase proportionally. Use equation 8-14 to determine the first
required annual investment.
e) To illustrate the importance of the return on your investment, set up a scenario analysis that shows
your investment required today, the annual investment required, and the first annual investment
required considering savings as graduate annuities. Assume four scenarios where your rate of return
before retirement is 5%, 7%, 10%, and 15%. How likely do you think it is that you will be able to
earn 10% or 15% per year on your investments? What do these results suggest to you about the
importance of financial literacy?

2. You are planning to buy a new house. You currently have $35,000 and your bank told you that
you would need a 15% down payment plus an additional 4% in closing costs. If the house that
you want to buy costs $250,000 and you can make a 7% annual return on your investment,
determine the following:
a) When will you have enough money for the down payment and closing costs, assuming that the
$15,000 is the only investment that you make?
b) You decide that you want to buy the house in 3 years. How much do you need to save every month to
achieve your goal?
c) Assume that three years later the house still has the same price and that you can get a 15-year
mortgage from your bank at a fixed rate of 4.5%:
1. What are the monthly payments on the loan?
2. How much will you have to pay the bank each year?
3. What is the total interest over the term of the loan?
4. How much do you pay on interest and principal the first monthly payment?
5. How much in the 50th month? (Hint: use the IPMT and PPMT functions)

45
46 Chapter 8: The Time Value of Money
IM Problem Set & Solutions

3. You want to buy a house, but you still need to pay your car loan of $15,000 over the next 3
years. Your annual income is $50,000 and the bank estimates that your monthly mortgage
payments should not represent more than 28% of your monthly income. You have decided to
use that percentage of your current income to repay your car loan and to save for the down
payment on the house. In this way you will adjust your current monthly expenses to be ready to
make the same monthly payments for 30 years. You estimate that you can get a fixed interest
rate of 6.5% on a 15-year mortgage. Closing costs are estimated to be 3% of the loan value and
you can invest at an average rate of 5%. If the interest on the auto loan is 8%, determine the
following:
a) What is the monthly payment on the car loan? How much can you invest each month?
b) If you decide to repay your car loan and invest the rest for the down payment at the same time, how
much money will the bank loan you in five years? How much can you offer for the house?
c) Is there any change in your answers for part (a) if you decide to pay off the car before you begin to
investment for the down payment?

4. Zebra micro-devices, Inc. is considering an investment in new equipment that will cost $120,000
and is estimated to provide the following annual savings over its 5-year life:
Year Savings estimate
1 $50,000
2 $40,000
3 $30,000
4 $20,000
5 $10,000
a) Should the company acquire the new equipment if it can earn a return of 12% on its investments?
b) Should the company acquire the new equipment if it can earn a return of 9% on its investments?
c) Use the principal of value additivity to calculate the present value of the savings.
d) What is the implied annual rate of return is associated with the new equipment?

5. You want to buy a car on credit for $45,000 at a rate of 5% for 3 years.
a) Create an amortization table of the car loan that shows the portion of interest and principal of each
payment. What is the total amount of interest that you will have paid at the end of the loan term?
b) Create a Stacked Column chart that shows both interest and principal on each column.
c) Calculate the monthly payment assuming that you were able to trade in your old vehicle for $5,000.
Chapter 8: The Time Value of Money 47
IM Problem Set & Solutions

CHAPTER 8: MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. You have decided to invest $4,000 at a rate of 10% per
year during the first 30 years. After that, you will be
more conservative and expect to earn 5% per year.
Which of the formulas in B7 will allow you to determine
how much money you will have 45 years from now?

a) =FV(B5,B3,0,-B1)
b) =FV(B5,B3+B4,0,-B1)
c) =FV(B6,B4,0,-PV(B5,B3,0,-B1))
d) =FV(B6,B4,0,-FV(B5,B3,0,-B1))
Solution: d

2. You have decided to invest $4,000 at a rate of 10% per

year during the first 30 years. After that, you will be more
conservative and expect to earn 5% per year. Which of
the formulas in B7 will allow you to determine how much
money will you have 45 years from now?

a) =B1*(1+B5)^B3*(1+B6)^B4
b) =B1*(1+B5)^B2
c) =B1*(1+B5)^B3 + B1*(1+B6)^B4
d) =B1*(1+(B5*B6))^B2
Solution: a

3. An investment promises a rate of return

of 8% per year, compounded quarterly.
Which of the following formulas will
correctly calculate the future value if you
invest $10,000 for 20 years?
a) =FV(B2/B4,B3*B4,0,-B1)
b) =FV(B3/B4,B2/B4,0,-B1)
c) =FV(B3*B4,B2*B4,0,-B1)
d) =FV(B3/B4,B2*B4,0,-B1)
Solution: d
48 Chapter 8: The Time Value of Money
IM Problem Set & Solutions

4. The student population of Moon University at the end of

the last five years is provided in B2:B6. Which formula
in B7 will allow you to determine the student population
growth rate from the end of year 1 to the end of year 5?
a) =RATE(A6,0,B2,B6)
b) =RATE(A6+1,0,-B2,B6)
c) =RATE(COUNT(B2:B6)-1,0,-B2,B6)
d) =RATE(A2,0,B2,B6)
Solution: c

5. Which formula in B5 will allow you to determine

how many years it will take to quadruple your
savings at 11% compounded quarterly?
a) =NPER(B3/B4,0,-B1,B2)/B4
b) =NPER(B3/B4,0,-B1,B2)
c) =NPER(B3*B4,0,-B1,B2)/B4
d) =NPER(B3/B4,0,-B2,B1)/B4
Solution: a

6. You are planning for an early retirement, so you decide to invest

$5,000 per year, starting at age 23. You plan to retire when you
accumulate $1,000,000. If the average rate of return on your
investments is 8%, which formula in B4 will allow you to
determine how many years you must invest?
a) =NPER(B3,-B2,0,B1)/23
b) =NPER(B3,-B2,0,B1)*23
c) =NPER(B3,-B2,0,B1)
d) =NPER(B1,-B3,0,B2)
Solution: c

7. What is the result in cell B8?

a) “Accept”
b) “Reject”
c) Neither a nor b
Solution: a
Chapter 8: The Time Value of Money 49
IM Problem Set & Solutions

8. What is the result in cell B8?

a) “Accept”
b) “Reject”
c) “Indifferent”
Solution: b

9. What is the result in B7?

a) 2,316.35
b) 27.27%
c) -2,316.35
d) -14.36%
e) 0
Solution: e

10. Which formula in B4 will calculate the future value of $1,000 invested
at 15% annually after 5 years with continuous compounding?
a) =B3*EXP(B1*B2)
b) =B2*EXP(B1*B3)
c) =B1*EXP(B2*B3)
d) =B1/EXP(B2*B3)
e) =B1*EXP(B2+B3)
Solution: c
Other documents randomly have
different content
dressing-cases, bundles, and umbrellas, of the party to the quaint
old carriages à la Queen Anne's time, and then, scattering groups of
interviewers, we set out for our quarters. Our rooms had been taken
at the Brevoort House, and we were expected with impatience. The
purlieus on the riverside between the landing-place and the streets
in which the fashionable hotels are situated are at least as bad as
those of other great cities; but in New York the horrors of bad
pavements and filthy ways are aggravated by the ribs of the tram-
car ways, which cross the roads in every direction. However, our first
impressions were effaced by the trimness and neatness of the better
parts of the city, the brightness, and even grandeur, of the Fifth
Avenue, and by the wealth and display of Broadway. The
characteristics of hotels on the American system are well known, but
the Brevoort House is not one of these. Instead of a fixed charge per
diem, to include bed and board in all its wonderful profusion of
meals and of dishes, the Brevoort House has a varied tariff for
apartments, and meals à la carte. There is an old-fashioned air
about the house, combined with a great degree of comfort and a full
attainment of all the objects which American travellers desire in
baths, barber's shop, reading-room, bar, and the like. An excellent
cook and a large and well-chosen cellar leave little to be desired in
the way of eating and drinking. But as the kitchens are far away and
dishes are not cooked until the order for them is given, the service,
although plentifully armed, is necessarily slow.
Friends, railway authorities, and representatives of the press
received the travellers on their arrival, and the process of
interviewing commenced at once with great severity. As it would be
inconvenient for all the gentlemen of the press to interview the same
individual at once, a distribution of duties was made, and very soon
after our appearance at the Brevoort House each member of the
party had a little private confidence with the representative of some
leading journal. The peculiar views of the interviewers themselves
were reflected in their reports next day. Some attributed importance
to personal details; others desired to ascertain our political opinions;
some were anxious to be instructed on English social questions;
others were curious to know our views respecting the municipal
government of New York and the condition of the city, founded on
what we gleaned from our inspection of the streets from the
windows of the carriages in which we were carried to the hotel. But
as even in so small a party there was diversity of opinions, the
accounts of the general impressions of the whole body were rather
contradictory and confused. It is a novel experience to English
people to be accosted in the most familiar way by persons whom
they have never seen in their lives, and to be subjected to an
examination, even to minute particulars, respecting their views in
relation to all manner of things, knowing all the while that their
answers will be given with more or less accuracy in print in a few
hours. But it is nevertheless an ordeal to which public men and
notabilities in the United States submit generally without a struggle;
and it would be considered a mark of "aristocratic exclusiveness" if
titled people from England refused to acquiesce in the general
custom.
The effect produced on the party by the first sight of the city was
not agreeable. The unwonted look of the Elevated Railway, of the
forest of crooked telegraph poles, and cobweb-like wires along the
sideways, combined to give an unpleasant sensation to the eye. We
had occasion, subsequently, to recognise the utility of the Elevated
Railway, just as we had to admit the advantages of tramcar railways
for the million; but no device can redeem the ugliness of the one,
and nothing but a fine spirit of self-sacrifice can reconcile a resident
of New York to the devastation caused in the streets, and to the
misery of travelling over the iron ruts which run through most of the
thoroughfares of the city, with the exception of Broadway. It is only
fair to state that the Elevated Railway is not commended by any one
from an æsthetic point of view, and there is a theory afloat that the
telegraph wires will, some fine day, be laid underground; but, all said
and done, there is reason to doubt whether they manage these
things in New York much better than they do in some of the decayed
old capitals of the Eastern World.
In some respects I found the old parts of New York but little
changed since 1861. The words in which I recorded my first
impressions then would not inaptly describe what one sees, in 1881,
on landing at one of the wharves and driving to the Fifth Avenue,
barring the change of seasons, for there was no snow in April, but
the condition of the streets was accounted for by the late and severe
winter, of which the effects had not yet disappeared.
I wrote on 16th March, 1861:—"We were rattling over a most
abominable pavement, plunging into mud-holes, squashing through
snow-heaps, in ill-lighted, narrow streets of low, mean-looking,
wooden houses, of which an unusual proportion appeared to be
lager-bier saloons, whisky-shops, oyster-houses, and billiard and
smoking establishments. The crowd on the pavement were very
much what a stranger would be likely to see in a very bad part of
London, Antwerp, or Hamburg, with a dash of the noisy exuberance
which proceeds from the high animal spirits that defy police
regulations and are superior to police force, called 'rowdyism.' The
drive was long and tortuous; but by degrees the character of the
thoroughfares and streets improved. At last we turned into a wide
street with very tall houses, alternating with far humbler erections,
blazing with lights, gay with shop-windows, thronged in spite of the
mud with well-dressed people, and pervaded by strings of
omnibuses—Oxford Street was nothing to it for length. At intervals
there towered up a block of brickwork and stucco with long rows of
windows lighted up tier above tier, and a swarming crowd passing in
and out of the portals, which was recognised as the barrack-like
glory of American civilisation—a Broadway monster hotel. More
oyster-shops, lager-bier saloons—concert-rooms of astounding
denominations, with external decorations very much in the style of
the booths at Bartholomew Fair—churches, restaurants,
confectioners, private houses! again another series—they cannot go
on expanding for ever! This is the west-end of London—its Belgravia
and Grosvenoria represented in one long street, with offshoots of
inferior dignity at right angles to it. Some of the houses are
handsome, but the greater number have a compressed, squeezed-
up aspect, which arises from the compulsory narrowness of frontage
in proportion to the height of the building, and all of them are bright
and new, as if they were just finished to order,—a most astonishing
proof of the rapid development of the city. As the hall door is made
an important feature in the residence, the front parlour is generally a
narrow, lanky apartment, struggling for existence between the hall
and the partition of the next house. The outer door, which is always
provided with fine carved panels and mouldings, is of some rich
varnished wood, and looks much better than our painted doors. It is
generously thrown open so as to show an inner door with curtains
and plate glass. The windows, which are double on account of the
climate, are frequently of plate glass also. Some of the doors are on
the same level as the street, with a basement story beneath; others
are approached by flights of steps, the basement for servants having
the entrance below the steps, and this, I believe, is the old Dutch
fashion, and the name of 'stoop' is still retained for it."[2]
But the progress, which has never been arrested since the period of
my first acquaintance with the Empire City, is attested by statistics; it
has grown, and it is growing steadily in size, population, trade, and
wealth.
In the evening the Duke and some of the party went to the Madison
Square Theatre to see "Hazel Kirke," which has had a wonderful run:
but, truth to say, I was more struck by the commodiousness and
charming arrangements of the theatre, which are perfect, than by
the situations of the highly strained drama, which was rendered,
however, by a very effective company, and moved many of those
near us to tears.
The day after our arrival (April 26th) the conviction dawned on
certain of us that we must be up and stirring, if certain articles of
baggage were to be rescued from some unknown limbo and restored
to our personal use. (I hope my readers will bear with me if I ask
them to accept a few pages now and then of my diary as the best
account I can offer them of our tour.) The worthy Briton who had
borne up manfully against the unaccustomed trials of sea-sickness,
and had valiantly kept watch and ward over the Duke's baggage and
that of his friends on board ship, had been fairly overwhelmed by
the novitas regni on landing, and he maintained undefeatedly that all
the things—his own certainly—were in the hotel, but "that they
would not give them up!" There was nothing for it but an expedition
to the Cunard dock. Lord Stafford and I drove over to the river side,
and there we found the missing portmanteaux, bags, and bundles,
quite safe, in a large shed, open apparently to all the world, and
returning to the Brevoort were once more entangled in the meshes
of many interviewers.
It needs some reflection to appreciate the great fact called New
York; some previous acquaintance to recognise the prodigious
increase, within the last ten or fifteen years, in all that makes a
great city. The Fifth Avenue has extended its well-ordered rows of
stately mansions and handsome houses almost to the gates of the
favourite recreation ground of fast trotters and well-appointed
carriages. The Central Park is now a beautiful resort, of which any
metropolis might be proud. "O Quirine! Rusticus tuus sumit
trechedipna." If my eyes did not deceive me, I beheld cockades in
the hats of honest Republican "helps," and armorial bearings on the
panels of democratic broughams. Should the enterprise of a
gentleman who proposes to collect particulars of Americans claiming
to be sprung from the loins of kings and emperors, to be published
at a price which suggests that he must believe in the possession of
hereditary wealth by his distinguished subscribers, be successful,
imperial and royal honours will be due to people now content with
belonging to "the first families" in the States. These, however, are
but spots on the face of the sun under which the American "Demos"
basks so contentedly, and they may vary in size and number without
affecting the purity and force of the celestial rays.
The papers contained elaborate descriptions of the Duke and of his
party from the pens of the interviewers of the day before, which
afforded us considerable amusement. His Grace of course was the
central figure, and, judging from the accounts we read, he must
certainly have assumed a variety of appearances. One paper said:
"His gait is marked by a slight limp: his manner is easy, even
careless, and his movements are noticeable for their restlessness."
"Altogether he is the picture of a well-bred English gentleman, and
would never be suspected of being the possessor of a dozen titles
and an income so vast that he cannot possibly spend it all." Another
paper thought he was "a jolly-looking man. He is above the middle
height, of robust build, and the very picture of a thoroughly happy,
healthy, well-preserved gentleman, still in the prime of life. He wears
his beard, whiskers, and moustache, which are of a bright chestnut-
brown, and as yet barely touched by the silver tint of time." The
appreciations of another reporter were very different. He wrote "the
Duke is a tall gentleman with silvery hair and a grey beard, dressed
in a sack coat and grey trowsers." According to another authority
"He has a look about him which would mark him for a Scotchman.
He is tall, of medium size, with greyish hair and whiskers and a
sandy-coloured moustache. He was dressed in a grey suit and Derby
hat." He was described elsewhere as having "a passion for steam-
engines of almost every kind, although the locomotive and the
modern fire-engine are his favourites." We all came in for our share
of fancy sketching and pen-and-ink drawing, and those who knew
themselves best would have been puzzled to detect the originals.
Some of the limners thought us "fair types of well-to-do, well-fed
gentlemen, of the solid build and florid features which English roast
beef produces." Mr. Neale was declared to have "a more elegant
external appearance than the other members of the party. On the
outskirts of his features grow brown whiskers." We all "talked more
affectedly" than the Duke. Mr. Stephen was complimented with
reason on his "magnificent physique." It was astonishing how "well
posted," to use the Transatlantic idiom, the papers were in Burke
and Debrett. They gave full accounts of the ducal house of
Sutherland—of its history and possessions, expatiated on the
grandeurs of Trentham, Stafford House, and Dunrobin, the treasures
of their picture-galleries, the vast acreage of the estates, the
richness of the mines, the wealth of the salmon rivers, deer forests,
and grouse moors, with most un-Republican enthusiasm.
To millions of Americans the exact status of a Duke is as great a
mystery as the rank of a Jam or of a Thakoor is to the mass of
Englishmen out of India; but millions of Americans had heard of the
Duke of Sutherland. Stafford House is a name familiar to those who
remember the times when "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Mrs. Beecher Stowe,
and the anti-slavery agitation which emanated from Exeter Hall
made noise in the world. Still, the great gulf which the Revolution
and the Act of Independence made between the social systems of
the New World and the Old is only passed by the travelled American,
except in rare instances. The colonel who informed Martin
Chuzzlewit that "your Queen, sir, lives in the Tower of London," was
scarcely an exaggeration of popular American ignorance on such
subjects. But, after all, how many Englishmen are there who could
give an exact account of the working of the Electoral College in the
election of one of the most potential of sovereigns, or who could
define the differences between a Republican and a Democrat? An old
lady on board the "Gallia" who insisted that "the Duke of Sutherland
was a cousin of the Queen of England" represents a large number of
people who cannot or do not care to understand the functions and
constitution of what they call "your privileged classes." The authority
to whom I refer above was on her way to her home in the Far West
after a tour in Europe and a visit to Great Britain, and she told her
auditory that "she thought Ireland, at all events, would be a great
deal better off if there were more dollars and less dukes in it,"
which, seeing that the Green Isle has only two peers of that rank,
argued perhaps some intolerance on her part towards the ducal
aristocracy. A duke who takes an active interest in the great works of
national progress which Americans exhibit with a just pride to all
comers is sure to be honoured in the Great Republic; and when he
examines mechanical inventions, ascends elevators, descends mines,
dips into graving-docks, investigates factories and workshops, drives
an engine, or goes deeply into the working of a farm or of a fire
brigade, he excites something like enthusiasm, especially if he be
discreetly moved to express his feelings of admiration to those
around him.
It was considered by all the Duke's friends that a banquet at
Delmonico's was obligatory, and to the refined taste and
discrimination, polished by long experience of many capitals, of
"Uncle Sam," to the brilliant originality of Mr. Hurlbut, and to the
sober judgment and critical acumen of Mr. Butler Duncan, with the
proviso that there were "not to be too many dishes," the task of
ordering "a quiet little dinner" at that famous restaurant was
confided. What the notion of the chef as to "much or many, more or
most," under ordinary circumstances, may have been, it would not
be easy to determine, but his inventive genius was confined within
the limits of a moderate menu, and the result quite justified the
reputation of the house in regard to cuisine and cellar. Especially
admirable was the arrangement of the table in the cabinet, which
was set forth with exquisite flowers and fine fruit. There is no single
establishment of the kind in Paris, or in any other city, as far as I
know, which can rival Delmonico's new restaurant. It serves the
purpose of Willis's Rooms, the London Tavern, the Albion, the
Freemasons', and similar establishments in London, for public
banquets and breakfasts, civil, military, political, and social; for
anniversary convivialities as well as for little dinners and suppers;
and of the Café Anglais, Bignon's, Voisin's, &c., in Paris. It is
provided with many pretty suites of rooms, and some vast salons,
with a very large restaurant à la carte. It is a blaze of lights and
mirrors at night, and there is a cliquetis of steel, plate, and glass, a
coming and going of ladies and gentlemen in evening dress, a
constant movement and an animation in the corridors and
approaches, which make one think that, if they be always in force,
New York must be in a state of perpetual festivity and luxurious
enjoyment. It should be remarked that the charges are high in
comparison with the highest standard with which I am acquainted,
and that the habitués should belong to classes to whom money is no
object.[3] And yet close at hand there is much poverty, if not
absolute misery. The sewerage of streets not far off the Fifth Avenue
in all its glory was, we were told, in the worst possible condition, and
some of the houses, filled with squalid people packed as they are in
the lowest parts of London, were pestilential and poisonous. Some
people who do not like Republican Republicanism in power, though
they do not object to Democratic Republicans in office, seem inclined
to lay the blame of bad sewers, bad air, bad pavements, and bad
water on the various Commissioners, the elected of the people, who
have charge of such things in the Empire City. I was especially
warned against the water. It was denounced and charged, in the
press, with many serious offences against the public health and
against nose, eye, and palate, and I did not test the truth of the
accusation.
The Delmonico dinner was but a preparation for a function at the
Union League Club, which was giving a "Ladies' Reception" at the
Club-house in Fifth Avenue, where "all New York was to be present."
The boast, or threat, was scarcely an empty one. As far as the
spacious premises could accommodate New York, its fathers and
mothers, indeed its grandfathers and grandmothers, its uncles and
its aunts, they were there; but the sisters and daughters appeared
either to be kept at home, or to dislike the Union League Club, for
there were in the vast crowd of well-dressed people of both sexes
but few young ladies, which was a bitter disappointment to the
gayer of the party; and when one of them repaired to a supper-
table, at which there was a rolling fire of corks going on, and asked
for a glass of champagne to keep up his spirits, the domestic whom
he addressed demanded his wine-ticket, and he, being destitute of
any such document, retired disconsolate and thirsty. Mr. Hamilton
Fish, the President of the Club, and other members of the
Committee did the honours for the Duke, and presented many ladies
and gentlemen in their progress through the Club to him, and many
amiable offers of service and suggestions for the disposal of our time
were tendered, which the time aforesaid would not permit us to
accept. It was trying to wander about long series of rooms upstairs
and downstairs, and to struggle up and down staircases and along
corridors in a throng of strangers; more trying still to be brought up
all standing, and to be made an involuntary enemy to progress by
the ill-timed but well-meant efforts of the Committee of Reception to
introduce eminent citizens or citizenesses to the Duke and his
friends. The walls were hung with paintings lent for the occasion by
members of the Club, and the predominance of the Foreign schools
in the American market was very clearly marked in the names of the
painters and the choice of subjects. There were Meissoniers and
Rosa Bonheurs, and pictures from Brussels, Paris, Dusseldorf, and
Munich, as well as a display of native works, but there were few, if
any, specimens of the divisions of the English school. Mr. Bierstadt
told me subsequently that there was a growing appreciation of the
works of British artists in the States, and that some valuable
examples of our best modern painters had been recently acquired
for their galleries by private collectors. At all events, on the present
occasion the best pictures in the world would literally have gone to
the wall, as there was no chance of seeing them thoroughly,
although the rooms were brilliantly lighted. Mr. J. Milbank is the
fortunate owner of De Neuville's "Reconnaissance," as well as of a
good Bonnat and Bouguereau, and Mr. Sloane lent a Gerome (a
Moulvie) and a De Neuville, Mr. Raynor sent a "Mussulman at Prayer"
by Gerome and good examples of Troyon. Of Corot there were
numerous pictures belonging to different members. Mr. J. C. Runkle
was happy in the possession of Millets, Geromes, Corots, and
Troyons, and liberal in lending them. Detaille's "Halte" (belonging to
Mr. C. S. Smith), Meissonier's "Trumpeter," and many other pictures
exhibited by members betokened the existence of taste and money,
and altogether—"glimpsed" as it was—we saw an excellent selection
and had a fair criterion of the value of New York art interiors. There
was a sprinkling of naval and military United States officers in
uniform among the guests, and I observed that since I was last here
an innovation has been made on the Republican simplicity which
affected indifference to ribands and decorations, and that several of
the officers wore emblems of service on their breasts and in their
button-holes—whether authorised by the State or the tokens of
voluntary association, like Freemasons' badges, &c., I could not
ascertain, as I did not like to ask. The Union League dates from the
early period of the Civil War, when, as I remember, there were two
opinions in New York, and it was started by prominent members of
the Republican party to support Mr. Lincoln in the Empire State and
city when he much needed help. The attack on Fort Sumter gave a
powerful impetus to the development of the national sentiment in
favour of union and unity, and the death of Ellsworth and the defeat
of the first Federal army at Bull Run added such an intensity and
coherence to the feeling that the Union League became a power in
the State, equipped regiments, raised funds, and in every way
contributed to the carrying on of the war with spirit, affording by its
action and success a powerful illustration of the vigour with which
voluntary associations can be worked in America. That there was still
in New York a strong party which by no means belonged to the
Union League Club or approved of the principles of the association,
however, we had reason to suspect from the manner in which our
announcement that we were going to the Ladies' Reception there
was received by some of our American acquaintances. At one of the
several clubs of which our party were made honorary members
during our stay in the city, I happened, the same night, to ask a
gentleman with whom I was speaking, "Have you been at the Union
League Club Reception?" "Union League! What on earth would take
me or any one there who could go anywhere else? No, sir! I should
be very sorry to meet a friend of mine inside that sort of place." It
was, I suppose, like asking a member of Brooks's if he went much to
the City Conservative, or a Carlton man if he was going to the
Cavendish, but that sort of knowledge which enables people to avoid
social rocks does not come but by experience.
Long as the day, and trying as our experiences had been, our
labours were not yet over. The Duke's fame as an amateur of fire-
engine work had been proclaimed and insisted upon in the American
papers, and it would be difficult to say whether an ordinary reader
thought the principal object of his Grace's visit was to buy railway
shares or land, or to put out fires in the United States. If there is any
one of the many things of which Americans are proud, that they take
more pride in than another, it is their Fire Department. And their
pride is not at all diminished by the reflection that fires are perhaps
more frequent and destructive in the United States than in any
country in the world, not even excepting Russia.
Mr. Butler Duncan had arranged before dinner that we should visit a
fire-station; but it was understood that no warning should be given,
and that we were to take any station near at hand à l'improviste.
Accordingly we went from one of the clubs down Fifth Avenue, and
turned up a cross street to a house not distinguishable from those
on either side of it, except by a lamp and the name and number of
the station. On the ringing of a bell the door was opened by a man
in a kind of uniform, and we were shown into a hall occupying the
whole of the ground floor, in the centre of which there was a fire-
engine and tender, and at one side stalls, in which four horses were
peaceably nibbling their fodder by gas-light. The officer in charge
summoned his chief, who came downstairs partly dressed, and who,
when made acquainted with the desires of his visitors, quickly set to
work to carry them out. On his pressing a brass knob in the side of
the wall, we heard the clang of an alarm-bell, and in a second or
two, down the stairs, pell-mell, there came a gang of firemen, who
had evidently been sleeping in their boots and breeches, and who
were hastily buttoning their coats as they descended. In the
twinkling of an eye they were in their places on the fire-engine and
the horses trotted out and placed themselves in position of their own
accord, so that by an electric arrangement the harness was lowered
on their backs from the ceiling, and secured in a moment. The gate
in the wall was thrown open in front to the street, and out dashed
the engine ready for work. All this was exceedingly well done. The
Duke was so pleased with it that the experiment was repeated
again, and we retired thanking the courteous chief of the
establishment for the trouble he had taken, and with the conviction
that if they do not always put out fires in New York, it is not owing
to any deficiency in the speed with which the engines are turned out
of the stations, or the efficiency of the Fire Department.
April 27th.—The early morning was devoted to a stroll down Fifth
Avenue and Broadway, and then we returned to the hotel and gave
some time to the consideration of the plans for the journey which
was to be made to the Far West, and to the details of the excursions
which had been arranged before we left England. We had "friends in
council," and it says a good deal for the care and forethought with
which the expedition had been sketched out that but very few
alterations, and those of a trifling character, were necessary in the
programme. The hall of the Brevoort House was still thronged with
gentlemen desirous of interviews with the new-comers, or verifying
the descriptions of them in the newspapers.
In the forenoon we were conducted to the Elevated Railway, and
took our places in the special train which started from a station in a
cross street close to the Brevoort House, off the Fifth Avenue. I am
not going to be the world's policeman, or to inveigh against a mode
of conveyance which is tolerated by the people most affected by it;
but as I travelled along this extraordinary construction, I could not
but feel, as I inadvertently looked into a long series of private
interiors, through the open windows on a level with me, and beheld
the domestic arrangements of family after family carried out under
my eyes, that I was taking a great liberty with private life. Here,
drawn by an engine which in common with the carriages distilled oil
plentifully on the road below, at a height varying from 20 to 40 feet,
was I being borne along in the middle of streets thronged with
people and filled with vehicles, looking into drawing-rooms or third-
floor windows as I travelled. In a city elongated for miles as New
York is, the convenience, no doubt, is very great; but I fail to see
why the railway should not have been made on the plan of our own
Metropolitan underground system. The speed, in spite of the
numerous stoppages, was very respectable, more than 15 miles an
hour; but we were retarded from time to time by the trains in
advance of us. Wonderful was it to see them gliding round the sharp
curves as the line pursued its sinuous course through the streets like
a monster millipede. At some parts of its career the railway seems to
run right over the pavements, and if the passers-by are not careful,
they may receive some of the disjecta of the carriages on their
clothes and faces; indeed I am not sure that any amount of care
would prevent that sometimes occurring. The remarks which I made
to one of the railway officials respecting the inconvenience to which
the railway must subject the people living in the houses on either
side of it, were met by the statement that "the rents had not
diminished." The case of a householder who brought an action
against the Company for damages and got a verdict in his favour
was not regarded with much favour, and was, I was told, not likely
to become a precedent, inasmuch as the final appeal did not lie with
the court in which the judgment had been entered; and it was the
intention of the company to carry the cause to a higher jurisdiction,
where their contention that they had right to cause inconvenience to
the few on account of the benefit of the many would be accepted,
probably, as good morality and law. To my mind, however, nothing
but hard necessity could compel people to live under such conditions
as those to which the inhabitants of the houses exposed to the
nuisance of the Elevated Railway must submit. It is not alone that
they are under incessant inspection of the passengers if they keep
blinds and windows up or open, but that the noise and whirl must be
distracting. A train passes every minute, I was told, during the hours
of business. There are two of these elevated railways, one going
east from the Battery to Harlem, the other west from the same
starting-point to Fifty-Ninth Street. The Metropolitan line starts from
a point near West Broadway to the Central Park. The line on which
we were travelling ultimately struck out for the more open country
till we came to the Harlem river. There we got out and inspected a
very remarkable bridge, with a draw of a most ingenious
construction for the passage of vessels, which will be completed
speedily. From the railway we enjoyed a fine view of the Croton
Aqueduct, of which New York may well be proud, the high bridge by
which it is carried across the Harlem River being an imperial work
recalling the grandest enterprises of the kind of the Roman
engineers. There was a good view of the Central Park and of the
country which has been so rapidly encroached upon by the builders;
but there is still a considerable tract of land occupied by sheds and
shanties of a very abject and miserable aspect, in the possession of
squatters who cause much anxiety to landowners, and are very
difficult to dispossess. Whether they have rights of disturbance or
not I cannot say. Probably if they were to introduce some of the
machinery of the law which is considered peculiarly suited to the
wants of Ireland, the New Yorkers might find it to their advantage.
On the route to the Harlem River the line rises to a dizzy height,
quite above the tops of houses of three stories. Now that the system
has been adopted, it seems impossible to change it, as these "L
Lines," as they are called, have cost too much money (I think more
than twelve millions sterling) to be abandoned or bought up, and
they are still in course of construction. No amount of utility can
compensate for the intrinsic ugliness of these erections which block
up the vista and darken the streets below; and in winter time, when
New York, groaning under a burden of snow, has to suffer from the
accumulations thrown down by the railway, the inconvenience must
be greatly aggravated.
When this very interesting excursion was over, the party returned to
the Brevoort House, and after a short interval for repose they were
off again, this time to visit Wall Street, the Chamber of Commerce,
and the Sub-Treasury of the United States. The latter is an
exceedingly fine Doric building of white marble, with a noble
rotunda, supported inside by sixteen Corinthian columns. It stands
upon the site of the Federal Hall, where Washington delivered his
first address as President of the United States. The Duke and his
friends were received here by General ——, and conducted through
the various departments to the strong rooms, in which were
deposited, in neat jackets of canvas, many millions of gold. At the
Chamber of Commerce we found some interesting memorials of the
old British occupation, portraits of governors and generals of the
ante-revolutionary period. The venerable statistician, Mr. Ruggles,
gave us much valuable and elaborate information respecting the
enormous development of the trade of New York, and expatiated on
the vast extension of the wheat and corn-growing power of the
United States, and its increasing exportations to Europe.
In the evening the Duke and his friends were entertained by the
Hon. Edwards Pierrepoint, where we met a very distinguished party
—Mr. Blaine, Secretary of State, Governor Cornell, Mr. Hamilton Fish,
Mr. Jay, Mr. Low, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Royal Phelps, Mr. Stout, Mr. Potter,
Mr. Choate, Messrs. Beckwith, Mr. Robinson. The honours of the
mansion in Fifth Avenue, which contains many interesting souvenirs
of Mr. Pierrepoint's official career in England, were graciously
rendered by Mrs. Pierrepoint. And later, there was a reception, at
which a number of eminent persons were presented to the Duke.
I am not sufficiently versed in the details of fire department
management in great cities to offer an opinion on the merits of any
particular system. I have seen many fires in my life, and I can only
suppose that if the present arrangements are nearly perfect in any
one place fires must be regarded as invincible, and fire departments
can only report progress and stay the march of the well-called
devouring element towards universal sway. Alderman Waite was very
anxious that the Duke, as an expert, should have an opportunity of
seeing officially the working of the New York system, and it was
arranged that what was styled another "impromptu" should be
made.
On our way from dinner at Mr. Pierrepoint's to a fire station near our
hotel we had to pass the house in the Fifth Avenue where Mr.
Edison's head-quarters are situated, and the party turned in to pay
him a visit. We found him, a bright-eyed, smooth-faced, broad-
browed, almost boyish-looking man, with a pleasant, gentle manner,
literally in a blaze of his own making, as far as the manifestation of
the electric light was concerned, in a room clear as day, in which
Edison lamps were doing the work of the sun, or of a moon with
sunny proclivities. He turned his lights off and on at discretion. Coal-
owners and gas share proprietors trembled. "But," said Mr. Edison,
"there is a great deal yet to be done." And indeed the world is wide
enough for gas and electric lighting—for old Captain Shandy and the
new blue bottle.
Whilst the Duke and his friends were visiting Mr. Edison there was a
small gathering of gentlemen on their way to the quarters of Engine
Company No. 4 in Eighteenth Street, near Broadway, where we
speedily joined them, and saw a repetition of the business of last
night. The engine was reposing in its bedroom—the horses, near at
hand, were at work in their cribs and mangers. Foreman Shay strikes
a gong and manipulates an electric bell, and down tumbles at once,
ready for work, a gang of firemen from their beds in the room
above, and in an instant lead out the horses, which rush to the
shafts, are harnessed at once by a detachment of the harness, all
ready above them hanging from the roof, by the electric power of
the station, and are in galloping trim in 2 minutes 30 seconds. This
was done several times; the horses seemed to like it more than the
firemen. The Alderman and the Fire Commissioners, and others were
much pleased at the expression of the Duke's satisfaction, and a
gentleman whom I regarded with much interest on account of his
title (which I commend to our army reformers), "Fire Master"
Sheldon, was especially gratified. It would seem as if the title was
honorary or undeserved, for there is no master of fire in New York,
as several conflagrations during our stay in the city proved in a very
conclusive manner. But in order to show how a fire ought to be put
out the Duke, instead of going to bed, was taken off to the corner of
Twelfth Street on Fifth Avenue, after the inspection of the premises,
stables, sleeping-rooms, and office. The Fire Commissioners,
marshals, and aldermen trooped in front of us till we come to the
"alarm," which lived in a little pillar-looking box by the side of the
kerbstone. The Duke, properly instructed ad hoc, turned on the
alarm, and hey presto!—well, nearly so—the effect of his operations
became manifest.
Be it noted that our small crowd at the corner of a street close to the
most dignified thoroughfare in New York attracted little or no notice
from the passers-by; but presently there was a thunder of wheels
and hoofs, and a cry of "Hi! hi!" up Fifth Avenue, and vomiting out
sparks of fire, snorting, and curveting, came down the engine of our
friend Captain Shay from Eighteenth Street, No. 14, in 2' 5"; and in
fast succession rushed up engine No. 18, from Tenth, Greenwich
Avenue, in 2' 40"; No. 3 Hook and Ladder, from Thirteenth, near
Fourth Avenue, in 3'; No. 33, from Mercer Street, near Fourth, in 3'
25"; the Insurance Patrol from Great Tower Street in 4'; and No. 5
Hook and Ladder Company, from Charles Street, in 4' 25". It was
very fine to see these engines and their attendants as they made
night hideous hastening to the summons, and then ranging up in
order to begin, for which there was happily no need. A strong patrol
of police came up at the double, formed across the road, charged
the crowd to keep them back, and made a resolute demonstration of
physical force on the Duke as he was in the act of examining an
engine; but such interludes speedily lost all interest in the necessity
which presented itself for working out the law of self-preservation,
for a special call having been made for the self-propelling engine,
No. 24, from Morton Street, near Hudson, and in 6' 15" that fearful
mechanism made its appearance—a veritable Stromboli on wheels,
and apparently quite wild with fine spirits, and perfectly
unmanageable, for it went rampaging up and down the Avenue,
vomiting fire and sending the spectators flying for their lives. The
hydrant was opened, and the cold water had a calming effect on No.
24, which began to propel a strong jet of water down the Avenue,
and, after covering itself with glory and some unwary passers-by
with wet, was taken off, and our little party broke up for the night.
April 28th.—Our last day in New York! Our visit to the Empire City
was just long enough to satisfy us that it would need a longer
sojourn than we could afford to enable us to gain even a general
idea of its sights and institutions, and a lifetime to exhaust its
hospitality. We perched for a moment on the rim of the Circean bowl
and flew off after a glance at the surface, not taking even a sip of
the contents, unless the dinner at Mr. Edwards Pierrepoint's pleasant
house, the feast of Spartan simplicity at Delmonico's, where every
dish was a culinary triumph, and the glasses were charged with
wines of race, could be likened to a draught.
"Surgit amari aliquid de fonte." I wonder who was behind "Box 2174,
Post Office, New York"? Because we all had a circular to-day
containing two printed papers, one entitled "Who is my neighbour?"
the other, "Shall the Victors of Spitzkop fight in vain?" in which
reference was made to that box as the centre of an organisation—
based on the supposition that there is an ever-present feeling of
hate to England in the mind of the American people, which, I
believe, is erroneous—to make a war against Great Britain for the
purpose of assisting the Boers to obtain the restoration of their
independence. The man behind the box, however, stated his case
artfully and forcibly, if not truthfully. He declared that the immediate
and provocative cause of the annexation of the Transvaal was the
attempt of the "Republic" to construct a railway to Delagoa Bay.
"Alas, they did not know the depths of English hate and English
greed! First the English missionary, next the English Consul, and
then her hireling soldiery. This is the policy of England—first lies,
next intrigue, then butchery." There was an appeal to Mr. Gladstone,
however, following one "to the American people," which argued that
the man behind the box had more confidence in the former than in
the latter, though they were reminded and adjured "We have fought
for the African! Let us now fight for the Africander!" and there were
model resolutions to be adopted at imaginary public meetings; the
last of all was—"Resolved: That we advise the English masses to
take the government of their country into their own hands, for their
dukes, their earls, their knights, and their lords and their merchant
princes can only lead them in the future as they are now doing, and
have done in the past, to war, dishonour, desolation, death, debt,
misery, and taxes." The appeal terminated with some doggerel,
headed "War Song of the Africanders." Some one else sent us
numbers of a comic periodical, with a woodcut of our respectable old
British Lion, in a shako and uniform, retreating precipitately from a
very bandit-looking person, with the words, "The British Lion meets
a Real Live White Man!"
If Americans are subjected in England to the same fire of paper
projectiles that was opened on the Duke and his friends, there is
some reason for their avoiding our country. Circulars we are
accustomed to at home—announcements of alarming sacrifices and
reckless sale we can bear with patience. But here we have ways and
means revealed to us of achieving absolute health, wealth, and
happiness—patents and portents—mechanical inventions certain to
"annihilate both time and space," and make "investors" happy—
parents with children to be adopted—patent safes—veritable El
Dorados—mines of gold and silver—medicines of subtlest power—
agricultural implements—chemical products—hair dyes—new motive
forces—astrologers burning to reveal the secrets of the world of
spirits and stars—mediums palpitating with anxiety for conference
and confidence—the Atomic Steam Coal Gas Reform's disciples
insisting on our using their gas "made from refuse coal-dust and
steam" and joining the "National Gas Reform Syndicate."
Having completed all our baggage arrangements and handed the
pile over to Mr. Trowbridge, the obliging agent of the London and
North-Western Railway, to see safely stowed in the special train at
the other side of the river, we drove down to the wharf, where the
steamer "Juniata," chartered by our indefatigable hosts, the
Philadelphia Railway Company, was awaiting us. We embarked, and
made an agreeable excursion up and down the river, inspecting the
termini of the railways and the corn elevators, and passing under the
great bridge which is to connect Brooklyn with the city. The lively
aspect of the waterway, crowded with shipping, and the incessant
movement of the vast ferry-boats and steamers, impressed us
greatly. When one thinks that it is not three centuries ago since
Henry (whom the Americans persist in calling Hendrick) Hudson
made his way up the stream and began the civilising processes on
the Red man, which have ended in their disappearance, New York,
with its forest of steeples and chimneys, and great elevators, is
indeed a marvel. At the beginning of this century its population was
very little over 60,000; last year it was 1,207,000.
The four Commissioners sent over by Charles II. "to reduce the
Colony into bounds" in 1664, who, August 29, "marched with 300
red-coats to Manhadoes and took from the Dutch the chief town,
then called New Amsterdam, now New York, and turned out their
Governor, with a Silver Leg, and all the rest but those who
acknowledged subjection to the King of England, suffering them to
enjoy their houses and estates as before," had a very easy task if
the old book[4] from which I quote be correct. "Thirteen days after,"
continues the writer, "Sir Robert Carr took the fort and town of
Aurania, now called Albany, and twelve days after that the fort and
town of Avasapha, then Delaware Castle, manned with Dutch and
Swedes, so that the English are now masters of three handsome
towns, three strong forts, and a castle, without the loss of one
man." In those days New York was reputed a large place,
"containing five hundred well-built houses of Dutch brick, the
meanest not valued under one hundred pounds—to the landward it
is encompassed with a wall of good thickness, and fortified at the
entrance of the river, so as to command any ship that passeth that
way, by a fort called James Fort." The inhabitants "were supplied
with venison and fowl in the winter and fish in the summer by the
Indians at an easie price, and had a considerable trade for the skins
of elkes, deers, bears, beaver, otter, racoon, and other rich furs."
These Indians are described as well proportioned, swarthy, black-
haired, very expert with their bows and arrows, very serviceable and
courteous to the English, being of a ready wit and very apt to
receive instruction from them, "but there are now but few Indians on
the island, being strangely decreased since the English first settled
there, for not long ago there were six towns full of them which are
now reduced to two villages, the rest being cut off by wars among
themselves or some raging mortal diseases." The question arises,
however, how it was that these wars and diseases did not reduce the
numbers of the Indians before the arrival of the English, and the
answer might point to the theory that the latter had had something
to do with the spread of both. And, indeed, the author soon tells the
terrible secret of it all. "They are very great lovers of strong drink, so
that without they have enough to be drunk they care not to drink at
all—if any happen to be drunk before he has taken his share, which
is ordinarily a quart of brandy, rum, or strong waters, to show their
justice they will pour the rest down his throat, in which debauches
they often kill one another, which the friends of the dead revenge
upon the murtherer." He declares they are descendants of the Jews,
and gives some curious reasons for it. In another place the author
says, "Don't abuse them, but let them have justice and you win
them. The worst is that they are the worse for the Christians, who
have propagated their vices and have given them tradition for ill,
and not for good things." Alas, that it should be so! How little was
the pious prayer he offers heard on High! "I beseech God to incline
the hearts of all that come into these parts to outlive the knowledge
of the Natives by a fixed obedience to their greater knowledge of the
will of God, for it were miserable indeed for us to fall under the just
censure of the poor Indian conscience whilst we make profession of
things so far transcending it." What Nemesis has followed the wrong
the English white man rendered to his fellow? None, I trow.
 CHAPTER III.
DEPARTURE FOR PHILADELPHIA.
Our Special Train—On the Rail—Eye-sores—The Quaker City—The Pennsylvania
Railroad—Reminiscences—Excursions—The New Public Buildings—Mr. Childs and
"The Ledger"—Mr. Simon Cameron—Baltimore—Arrival at Washington.

At 12.30 we landed at the Pennsylvania Terminus or Depôt, where

our special train was in readiness, consisting of several Pullman
palace-cars and the private car of President Roberts, and a staff of
smart, well-uniformed coloured waiters, and, as we found, with an
ample store of creature comforts. At the Depôt the experts
examined the whole system of transportation of freight, stowage,
passenger traffic, and baggage checking. As far as I could gather
from Mr. Neale and the Directors, who applied their minds to the
subject, the American system of checking luggage offers no
advantages which would recommend its introduction in England,
although it may be, and is, no doubt, exceedingly well suited to the
United States, where passengers may have to travel thousands of
miles continuously over different lines of railway with many breaks.
It seemed to our London and North-Western Directors that English
travellers would not put up with the delays which would be
experienced in the transportation of their baggage from the railway
stations to the hotels, under the American check system, and that
they would prefer a short detention when the train arrived, in order
to pick out their own property and carry it away with them bodily.
Presidents and vice-presidents of railways in this country are great
powers, and exercise vast influence, if not in the State, at least on
their own lines—aye, and farther too. On one occasion I was
informed, when inquiring into the functions of the several officers of
a great company, that one of them was charged especially with
looking after those interests of the railway which might be affected
by legislation—in other words, that he had to see lest the company
should suffer detriment from the views of persons who might be
returned to positions in which they might carry out theories
dangerous to their monopoly. The distance from New York to
Philadelphia is ninety miles, which, under ordinary circumstances, is
traversed in two hours and a half, or thereabouts; but our special
was timed to do it in considerably less. The train passes right
through the streets of Jersey City, which would be considered a large
town in the old country, and boasts of a population of nearly 90,000.
As the bell of the engine tolled, women and children skipped out of
the way or ran across the line, when they eluded the vigilance of the
railway officials who lowered ingenious barriers as the train
approached. But although they say "practice makes perfect," "killed
by the cars" is a very ordinary head-line in the American
newspapers. The country outside "Jersey City," which is like an ugly
continuation of New York, is flat and uninteresting, but the low land
which the railroad traverses is dotted by factories and industrial
establishments of all kinds. We were soon aware that we were
carrying with us the plague of hideous advertisements plastered
upon walls, and even upon the natural features of the country, which
we had observed in the environs of New York. From imperious
commands to "smoke" somebody's "mixture" down to wheedling
supplications to "use" somebody else's "oil," the eye encountered at
every hundred yards on the hoardings, on the sides of houses, on
trees and palings, the mendacious advertisements of quack doctors
and sellers of patent or unpatent nostrums, frequently illustrated by
woodcuts set forth in glaring colours. So close to Jersey City that we
were scarcely aware that it was separated from it by a few fields, we
came to Newark, a great town of brick and wood houses, chimneys,
factories, and churches, containing more than 120,000 people, and
as we ran through the streets we got glimpses of some fine-looking
buildings, of which we have nothing more to say.
Then came Elizabeth City, with many well-to-do houses and country
seats around, and some small mansions with patches of ground,
which would not be quite dignified with the name of "park" in
England. "New Brunswick," a manufacturing town of 20,000 people,
thirty-two miles from New York, was specially commended to our
notice on account of the College called Rutgers', and a few miles
farther on we were told that we were passing Princetown College,
which is one of the most celebrated institutions in the United States.
"Trenton," the capital of New Jersey, is famous for its potteries, but
to us it was chiefly attractive in connection with lunch, and we were
whirled past the State House, the Penitentiary, and Lunatic Asylum
at a speed unfavourable for the calm contemplation of the town
which Washington made historical by the defeat he inflicted on the
unfortunate subjects of the Grand Duke of Hesse, in the pay of King
George. The conviction is growing upon my mind that the party of
travellers, of which I have the honour of being one, is not likely to
have much experience of actual American railway life, or much
knowledge of the ordinary conditions in which people live in the
United States. It is neither our fault nor misfortune that we are so
specially well taken care of; but my recollection of what the traveller
had to endure in crowded railway cars in former days, and in the
rush and scuffle at the tables d'hôte of the hotels, whilst it induces
me to congratulate myself and our friends on our exemption from
such trials, is a satisfactory demonstration that we are not likely to
gain much insight into the manners and customs of those who, like
ourselves, are wandering over the face of the Union.
Passing a very small Bristol, the train brought us in sight of
Philadelphia, where we were safely handed over to a number of
gentlemen who were awaiting our arrival with most hospitable
intent, and thence we were driven to the Continental Hotel. In the
drive through the streets between the railway terminus and the
hotel, our friends were very much struck by the fine appearance of
the town, which was far superior to New York in the cleanliness of
the streets, and quite rivalled the Empire City in the display in the
shop-windows and the gay appearance of the large establishments
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