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KATIIABINE AT EIGHTEEN 
 
LITTLE JOURNEYS 
 
 OF 
 
 KATHARINE 
 
 Being the History of Various Trips taken 
 
 BY Katharine Jane Black at the ages 
 
 OF Four, Nine and Fourteen, 
 
 written by her Father, 
 DAVID POLLOCK BLACK, 
 
 MADE INTO A BOOK AND PRESENTED TO KATHARINE 
 
 ON HER Nineteenth Birthday. 
 

 GS 
 
 Copyrighted 1914 
 
 D. P. BLACK 
 Pittsburgh, Pa, 
 
 DEC 1 1 i9l4 
 
 ©GI,A387903 
 
TO 
 
 KATHARINE JANE BLACK 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 Her Father, the Author. 
 
KATHARINE IN THE GOLDEN WEST. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 N or about February ist, 1900, the Black 
 family, consisting of the "Kid" and the 
 "Old Folks", started for a trip to the 
 State of the Setting Sun on the shores of the Great 
 Pacific. The little party did not travel alone on 
 this trip but joined the special train of a personal- 
 ly conducted tour in which the "Paterfamilias" 
 was not the Conductor as was generally the case in 
 these Little Journeys, he being relegated to a sub- 
 ordinate position of sub-deputy, or man of all 
 work, whose duty it was to furnish general infor- 
 mation. 
 
 This position was assigned him for the reason 
 that he had never been over the route and, of 
 course, knew nothing whatever about it. All he 
 had to do was to keep the rest in ignorance of this 
 fact, a feat not so hard as all were new, and as 
 long as no question was asked that he did not 
 know, all was well and his knowledge un- 
 questioned. 
 
6 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 Besides the Black family, a number of other 
 Pittsburghers were on the train: Dr. B. and his 
 daughter, the two Miss M's., Mrs. K., Mr. W. and 
 his family, and then there was Birdie and her 
 mother. God bless you! we could never have 
 gotten along without them, for was not Birdie the 
 life of the whole party and her mother and Mrs. 
 K. the mothers and chaperons of the rest of the 
 bunch. Yes, and there was Mrs. J. and her then 
 little son and daughter, and Miss D. and B. and 
 good old Aunt Eliza. 
 
 The journey was started over the B. & O. 
 through Washington, Pa., and Wheeling to Cin- 
 cinnati. At Wheeling, our good friend, Mrs. L., 
 came on the train to bid us goodbye and wish us 
 Godspeed. At Cincinnati, the Pittsburgh car was 
 attached to the Special and headed toward the 
 Sunny South, making the first stop at Chattanooga 
 where one day was spent visiting Chickamauga, 
 Lookout Mountain and other points of interest. 
 
 The Black family had been over this historic 
 ground before but of course the Kid had to be 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 7 
 
 shown. The next stop was at Birmingham, but 
 only for an hour or two, just long enough to see 
 the Little Pittsburgh of the South, as the people 
 like to call it. From Birmingham, the train still 
 sped southwardly until New Orleans (the Cres- 
 cent City) was reached. Here two or three days 
 were to be spent and, as the ladies wished to look 
 pretty, a rush was made for the baggage, when 
 lo and behold! two of the young ladies discovered 
 that the checks they held were only the local ex- 
 press checks given at the house to be delivered up 
 at the depot when the baggage was checked 
 farther. 
 
 What dismay when they began to realize 
 that their trunks were quietly reposing at the de- 
 pot at Pittsburgh while they were a thousand 
 miles from home without a change of clothes. 
 For men it would not have mattered much, but 
 for two young ladies to whom all looked to give 
 the party tone and respectability. What was to 
 be done? Nothing could be done but to tele- 
 graph for the trunks to be sent on, but to where? 
 
8 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 The stay in New Orleans would not be long 
 enough to allow them to overtake the party and 
 as no stop of any consequence short of Los Angeles 
 was to be made, that must be the point to have 
 them shipped, and a still further trip of two thou- 
 sand miles to be added to their journey before the 
 baggage could be obtained. 
 
 All felt sorry for the young ladies and all 
 sorts of suggestions and advice were freely given. 
 Some said as the trip would be largely through 
 the plains and the Indian country, the costumes 
 of the squaws might be purchased, and as they 
 never change clothing or wash, the trip could be 
 made nicely. 
 
 New Orleans is said to be a very interesting 
 city but to most of the party it was somewhat of 
 a disappointment. The "St. Charles", our hotel, 
 was good, and the city itself is so unlike other 
 American cities that this alone created an interest, 
 but the French Market, of which all had heard 
 and wanted to see, was so dirty and the huckster 
 women so filthy that all romance and sentiment 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 9 
 
 has departed from that attraction in the minds of 
 the whole party. The Cemetery with the graves 
 above ground was odd but uncanny, and especial- 
 ly when one looks around and sees the lizards 
 running around and through the graves. The 
 party was a pretty healthy lot but they were 
 ready to continue their journey lest they, too, 
 might die and be buried there. 
 
 Having completed their visit, all were ready 
 to continue their meanderings westward, so the 
 Father of Waters was crossed on a ferry boat and 
 the train boarded at Algiers. With the engine 
 headed for the Setting Sun, we are off for our 
 long ride over the rice swamps of Louisiana, the 
 one hundred eighty counties of Texas which we 
 must cross, consisting of almost all kinds of 
 country, the eastern part fertile and well culti- 
 vated ; then to the vast grazing country and even 
 to considerable elevation on the mountains and 
 then across a vast expanse of arid plains. 
 
 Our first stop was San Antonio, the largest 
 city in Texas, although at that time it had less 
 
lo Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 than one hundred thousand inhabitants. Of 
 course, we had to see the Alamo. To most of 
 the readers of this little narrative, it is not neces- 
 sary to explain that the Alamo is not a breakfast 
 food but just an old church, in which a brave lit- 
 tle band of Texans held out for days against the 
 cruel and treacherous Mexican forces of Santa 
 Anna, were promised amnesty if they would sur- 
 render but who, immediately upon laying down 
 their arms, were cruelly murdered. So the battle 
 cry of the Texans thereafter was "Remember the 
 Alamo", which they did to the great sorrow of 
 the Mexicans later. The barracks of the United 
 States regular soldiers here were visited with a 
 great deal of interest. It was also hinted that 
 several of the male members of the party called 
 at the Antler's saloon but, of course, only to drink 
 a bottle of pop and see the fine display of heads. 
 
 After leaving San Antonio, our broker 
 friend, Mr. W., broke the news to the party that 
 he was going to have a little celebration of his 
 own as that was his forty-nmth birthday. This 
 
EN ROUTE 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. i i 
 
 announcement threw the whole party into an up- 
 roar, not because he was having a birthday, but 
 because he had not told us before leaving San 
 Antonio, one of the best places in all Texas to 
 celebrate such an event. Here we were on a dry 
 train, in a dry state, and the next stop El Paso, 
 twenty-four hours ahead. All agreed that some 
 punishment should be meted out to him for this 
 offence. Some suggested ducking but where in 
 this part of Texas could you find enough water 
 to duck a fat man like him. Someone suggested 
 that the people of this train were a law unto them- 
 selves, and as they were the only sufferers by the 
 culprit's offence, they should make and execute 
 the law as they saw fit. It was said as this train 
 was headed for California, the people on board 
 were virtually Californians, and as the offending 
 party was this day forty-nine years old, he conse- 
 quently became a "Forty-niner". All Forty- 
 niners know that the only law which the people 
 feared and respected was that made and executed 
 by the Vigilance Committee, and forthwith a 
 
12 Little Journeys OF Katharine. 
 
 Vigilance Committee was formed composed of 
 both men and women. 
 
 The men thought that shooting or hanging 
 would be about the proper thing but this was a 
 peaceful train and no firearms could be found, 
 while the only rope available was the bell rope 
 which the conductor refused to give up, saying it 
 might soil it. Some were afraid the sinner 
 would have to go free but the ladies had not been 
 heard from yet, and as one remarked she had been 
 reading about the early Christians being thrown 
 to wild beasts, it suggested a thought to her. At 
 the last stop, some of the ladies tried to buy some 
 cakes but could get nothing in this line except 
 ginger cakes cut in the shapes of all kinds of ani- 
 mals. These they also found to be very dry and 
 hard, nevertheless a large bag full was purchased. 
 If the offending party were compelled to eat this 
 entire bag of animals, would not he be about as 
 dry as the rest of the party and would not justice 
 be satisfied. 
 
 This appeared to meet the approval of all 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 13 
 
 the Committee so the arrest was made, trial con- 
 ducted, sentence pronounced and executed with 
 the same neatness and dispatch as though it had 
 happened fifty years ago on the shores of the 
 Great Pacific. But here we are telling long 
 stories and not halfway across Texas yet. As a 
 boy, snakes, bugs and long stories seemed to be 
 the worst three things a boy had to contend with 
 so we will not inflict them on our friends. 
 
 El Paso at last! Whew, what a big state 
 Texas is, but here we are at the Western extremi- 
 ty with Mexico just across the river. And what 
 river? The Rio Grande, of course, which means 
 Grand River. But where is the water? Up 
 north, our rivers all have water in them while 
 they tell us here that this river has either too much 
 water or none at all. The Mexicans call it Rio 
 Bravo. They must have named it in the rainy 
 season. 
 
 A few hours stop is made at El Paso and of 
 course we must go over to Juarez (pronounced 
 Wars). As there was no bull fight on that day, 
 
14 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 the next best thing we could do was to go to the 
 Cathedral and other points of interest which, 
 however, are not many but we are enabled to say 
 we have been in Mexico. 
 
 We had a very obliging conductor on the 
 train and if anyone expressed an interest in this 
 or that along the line, he would say: "Would 
 you like to see it? If so, we will stop." Many 
 little adobe houses were passed, occupied mostly 
 by Mexicans. At one of these, a request was 
 made to be permitted to see the way these people 
 lived. The train was promptly stopped and the 
 conductor, who could speak Spanish, accom- 
 panied us and showed us through the house, 
 where we saw a family of eight all living in one 
 room. Children here ten and twelve years old 
 had never tasted food of any kind excepting milk 
 when babes and beans afterwards. 
 
 After leaving El Paso, the next stop was 
 Tucson, Arizona, where we inspected an Indian 
 school. Some of the star pupils were put 
 through a few stunts to show us how proficient 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 15 
 
 thev were in the Scriptures. The Lord's Pra^-er, 
 the Creed and a few chapters of the Old and New 
 Testament were rattled oft with more or less un- 
 derstanding but when they tackled the Shorter 
 Catechism, a vacant stare was visible on their 
 stolid countenances, which led us to believe that 
 the children of the forest have the same trouble 
 in mastering same that their palefaced brothers 
 have. 
 
 Our next stop is Yuma, said to be the hottest 
 
 place this side of the River St}^, but as it is 
 nearly dark and in February, we are able to stand 
 it during our short stay. However, one hot night 
 is yet before us as we cross the Salton Sea, which 
 is not a sea, by the way, but a plain considerably 
 below sea level. 
 
 But oh! what a difference in the morning! 
 At a little after sunrise the train is found to be 
 standing still ; 3'es, on a siding. As we raise our 
 blind, what a sight meets our eyes. Orange 
 orchards everyw^here, so close to the train that we 
 may almost reach them, — and orange blossoms 
 
1 6 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 which perfume the morning air for miles around. 
 We are at Redlands, California, and the Kid is 
 hustled out of a sound sleep to see this glorious 
 sight which she is not slow to appreciate, for 
 hardly is she dressed until she is out with her little 
 dress up, gathering up the golden fruit as though 
 they had been grown especially for her. In fact, 
 a good many did appear to be hers, for the owner 
 of the orchard, who was out for an early stroll 
 through the trees, kept piling up the delicious 
 fruit in her lap until she could hardly get up 
 again on to the car steps. The gentleman seemed 
 so pleased to see how the child appreciated his 
 production of fruit that he not only helped her 
 up, but he too came into our drawing-room with 
 his arms full, appearing to enjoy the treat almost 
 as much as we did. 
 
 A stop for the day was made here and a de- 
 lightful day it was; after so much desert, cactus, 
 sagebrush and sand, this beautiful garden spot 
 seemed like an oasis in the Sahara Desert. The 
 drive through the town and among the extensive 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 17 
 
 orange orchards, and especially the mountain 
 drive through Smiley Heights was one never to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 Our next day was spent at Riverside which 
 was almost a repetition of the day before, one of 
 perfect delight, with oranges, lemons and other 
 tropical fruits everywhere. What a difiference we 
 find between the fruit growers of California and 
 those of Florida. In the South they charge you 
 retail prices, sometimes more than the fruit would 
 bring in Pittsburgh Market but in the State of Big 
 Things they do not sell at retail. If you want a 
 car load or a train load, you can do business but if 
 you want to buy a dozen, they tell you they do not 
 retail oranges but just go in and "help yourself", 
 which we generally did. 
 
 After Riverside came Los Angeles, that fine, 
 bright, growing city, the pride of Southern Cali- 
 fornia. Here is a city growing so fast that if 
 you want to keep posted you must take the census 
 every month. Many pages should be given to even 
 half describe what we saw in this beautiful city, 
 
1 8 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 only our trip was not gotten up for the purpose of 
 seeing large cities but the country and mountains 
 and plains and such other things which we do not 
 have in the East. 
 
 'Tis only a short trolley ride to Pasadena and 
 here we find one of God's garden spots and for a 
 place in which to live is hard to beat anywhere. 
 A favorite trip from here is to the top of Mount 
 Lowe. A trolley car is taken to Altadena on the 
 foothills and at the station of the inclined plane. 
 This inclined plane is much longer than those 
 around Pittsburgh, is not of one continuous grade 
 and cannot be seen from one end to the other. At 
 the top of this incline we again take the troUeyup a 
 very steep grade to the top of the mountain where 
 "The Tavern" has been erected for the accommo- 
 dation of tourists. A good dinner is served, a 
 stroll over the mountain is taken and we are ready 
 to descend. A trolley car is boarded and we 
 notice that the trolley pole is tied down while two 
 men are at the brakes; these are released and we 
 are ofif for a coast of five miles down the mountain, 
 
IN PASADENA, CALIF. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 19 
 
 sometimes so close to the edge of great precipices 
 that our hair stands straight up. But we are on 
 and cannot get off until the head of the incline is 
 reached, where most people give a sigh of relief. 
 
 A few days are spent at Pasadena, with a 
 drive to Lucky Baldwin's farm, San Gabriel Val- 
 ley, a trip to Santa Monica, another to Santa Bar- 
 bara and we are ready to go north via Monterey 
 and stop at the Hotel Del Monte. Thence through 
 the beautiful Santa Clara Valley with a stop at 
 San Jose and Palo Alto. We inspect the splendid 
 show farm of Senator Stanford and the Universi- 
 ty, etc., then to San Francisco. Here again we 
 would like to tell about Chinatown, the Palace 
 Hotel, fine business streets. Golden Gate Park and 
 the seals on the rocks at Cliff House, but we have 
 said the details of the big cities would not cumber 
 the pages of this little narrative. A side trip to 
 Santa Cruz and the big trees was most delightful 
 and instructive. 
 
 Now our journey is about half over and we 
 must set our faces toward the Rising Sun. A 
 
20 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 ferry across the bay to Oakland is boarded. Here 
 the Kid found much pleasure throwing crackers 
 to the many sea gulls which followed the boat, 
 and so expert and swift were these birds that no 
 matter how quickly a cracker was thrown to the 
 water, they would get it before it reached the sur- 
 face. Often several birds at one time would dart 
 after it in such a manner as to make collision ap- 
 pear inevitable, but never once did they so much 
 as tip wings in their scramble for food. 
 
 On reaching our train in the depot, we are 
 greeted by our same colored porter, Isaac, who 
 had catered to our wants going West, and ushered 
 into our same old drawing-room, which makes us 
 feel at home. Our first stop was Benecia. How 
 quickly our minds run back to the days when 
 John C. Heenan, the "Benecia Boy", the Ameri- 
 can Champion, was to wipe up the ground with 
 Tom Sayers, England's worshipped hero of the 
 prize ring. Whether he did or whether he 
 didn't, history is not quite clear, but in our young 
 and patriotic minds, nothing but a famous victory 
 for America was ever for a moment admitted. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 21 
 
 Up through the beautiful Sacramento Val- 
 ley, with thousands of fat cattle grazing in clover 
 knee-deep (as plenty of rain had fallen) was a 
 sight worth remembering. Sacramento, the capi- 
 tal of the State, only claimed us long enough to 
 take lunch and a short stroll. Here surrounded 
 with everything in midsummer attire, if not al- 
 most tropical, at one P. M., could we believe that 
 before seven o'clock that same evening we were 
 to be running through snow sheds with snow 
 seven feet deep on the level. Such are the con- 
 trasts of this wonderful State of California. 
 
 Aunt Eliza never lost an opportunity to col- 
 lect souvenirs, even though the train had to be 
 held. One or two extra trunks had to be pur- 
 chased to hold this collection and, of course, like 
 all such collections, some spurious curiosities 
 must crop in and especially when a whole train 
 load of passengers were bent on seeing that such 
 should happen. A large splinter pulled ofif a 
 plank on the San Francisco wharf was palmed off 
 on the poor old unsuspecting soul as a sliver from 
 
22 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 the dispatch boat McCuUough, which, fresh from 
 the Battle of Manila, was lying in the harbor. 
 The splinter was supposed to have been blown of¥ 
 by a gunshot from the Spanish gunboats. The 
 fact that the McCullough was only a dispatch 
 boat never appeared to occur to Auntie. 
 
 We are now approaching the Dutch Flats, 
 made famous by Bret Harte, and the same old 
 story of the big bats was told and of course Aunt 
 Eliza had to bite, and declared she would not 
 like to pass through the Dutch Flats without see- 
 ing the "nine-pound bats". Of course, the train 
 was stopped and not only Aunt Eliza but several 
 others who were curious, climbed down the steps 
 into the snow and up the steep mountain side one 
 hundred fifty or two hundred feet to an old shed, 
 piloted by the conductor and his lantern, only to 
 be shown several nine-pound brick *'bats." 
 
 The next morning we ran into the famous 
 town of Reno, Nevada. Quite a crowd of peo- 
 ple were at the station to meet our train. A little 
 aloof from the rest stood some twelve or fifteen 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 23 
 
 men who we were told constituted the Judge and 
 Jury which met every train so that any married 
 couples wishing divorces could have them granted 
 "while you wait." 
 
 The trip over the Sierra Nevadas was grand 
 and when the best view point was reached on 
 Tenesee Pass, our train was stopped long enough 
 to let us get out and walk about to enjoy the 
 scenery. Away down several thousand feet be- 
 low, we could see a river and wagon road winding 
 down through the valley. A horse and wagon 
 could barely be discerned, so great was our height* 
 The snow also was the first we had encountered 
 at close range since our departure from home. 
 
 The long stretch of road over Nevada is very 
 tiresome, nothing to see but sage brush, cactus and 
 sand; no towns of importance until we reach 
 Ogden. Here we make a short stop but we are 
 too near Salt Lake City to be contented to stop 
 long. A short run pulls us into the wonderful 
 Mormon City. 
 
 What is the fascination of this place? Is it 
 
24 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 the city itself or is it because we know that here 
 Mormonism has existed and flourished, dominat- 
 ing the civil and religious government not only 
 of the city but practically all over the State of 
 Utah. What of the Mormons? Are they a for- 
 eign people? Are they of a different race from 
 ourselves? Are they monstrosities with horns and 
 cloven hoofs? Not at all; they are simply plain 
 American citizens who, on account of their re- 
 ligious belief, were driven out of the little town of 
 Nauvoo, Illinois, and in order to be able to be- 
 lieve, preach and practice their religion in ac- 
 cordance with the dictates of their own con- 
 sciences, they traveled over the then almost un- 
 known trails and mountain passes, to settle in a 
 spot so secluded that further interference seemed 
 next to impossible. But the face of the white 
 man was set westward and they themselves had 
 much to do with blazing the way for others. 
 However, they had time enough to themselves to 
 fix indelibly the imprint of their religion and 
 customs for many generations to come. What 
 
IN THE GARDEN OF THE GODS 
 BALANCE ROCK 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 25 
 
 this peculiar people accomplished in a compara- 
 tively few years, when conditions are taken into 
 consideration, was simply marvelous. 
 
 Of course we were not admitted to the Tem- 
 ple but the Tabernacle was ours to enjoy and 
 listen to the svv^eet strains of music from that 
 marvelous organ, built almost entirely by un- 
 skilled hands in a hall of their own construction, 
 which for acoustic properties has never been 
 equalled. The organist was very gracious and 
 did not lose the opportunity of paying us the com- 
 pliment of playing "Narcissus" and Foster's melo- 
 dies, knowing we were loyal Pittsburghers. 
 
 Salt Lake City has long enjoyed the reputa- 
 tion of being the best laid out city in America. 
 This may be true from a theorist's standpoint but 
 from a practical real estate man's point of view, 
 it is absolutely the worst. The streets are one 
 hundred twenty-six feet wide and six hundred 
 feet apart, making the squares small farms with 
 no access to the center of the blocks excepting al- 
 leys twenty feet wide. Some day a good live real 
 
26 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 estate man will come along and widen these alleys 
 to a width of eighty feet and turn the city inside 
 out by taking all the business to the eighty-foot 
 streets instead of the abnormally wide streets for 
 a city of its size. 
 
 Of course, we had to go down to the Lake 
 and take a dip. Some of the party were about to 
 dive into the water from the pier but were warned 
 by those who knew that diving into Great Salt 
 Lake was very much like diving into a sandbank, 
 so salt and heavy is the water. The Lake is a 
 good place to learn to swim as one cannot sink if 
 he wants to. Someone remarked that it was 
 strong enough to carry an egg and the wag of the 
 party looked around and said, "Yes, I see it is now 
 carrying several bad eggs." 
 
 From Salt Lake City to Glenwood Springs 
 the road is full of fine scenery but the best is left 
 until after passing the Springs. Glenwood Springs 
 is so named because of the water gushing out of 
 the mountain, almost boiling hot and heavily 
 charged with all kinds of curative properties. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 27 
 
 Numerous rooms are chiselled out of the rocks 
 into this hot mountain which serve as hot rooms, 
 steam rooms, etc., for the Turkish Bath establish- 
 ment. The water coming out of the mountain 
 becomes quite a goodsized lake which remains 
 almost too hot to bathe in, notwithstanding it is 
 in the open and snow is piled up all around it. 
 We had the unique experience of bathing in open 
 water almost too hot to be in and at the same time 
 having our friends snowball us from the shore. 
 
 After leaving here we almost immediately 
 plunge into the most beautiful mountain scenery 
 and then up over Eagle Pass, we are in the heart 
 of the Rocky Mountains. At this point, we dis- 
 covered our train was not to go through Lead- 
 ville, so the conductor was appealed to and he 
 said, "Certainly, if you want to go through a min- 
 ing town over ten thousand feet high, we will take 
 you that way and give you an hour or two for in- 
 spection of the town and mines." Some of our 
 party attempted to see Leadville in too big a 
 hurry but they soon found out that hurrying at 
 this elevation is not the proper thing. 
 
28 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 Now our journey is down the Eastern slope 
 of the grand old Rockies and again we discover 
 that our trip via Leadville had thrown us off our 
 schedule time, and if we kept running we would 
 pass through the Grand Canon of the Arkansas 
 River at night. Of course our conductor was 
 seen and at once consented to sidetrack the train 
 at Canon City until morning. The next morning 
 upon reaching the Gorge, the train was stopped 
 and all passengers permitted to walk through so 
 that a better view could be had and again we felt 
 well paid for our trouble. 
 
 At Pueblo, a short stop was made, giving 
 time to inspect the city and what attractions they 
 had to show us. Then on to Colorado Springs, 
 Manitou and the Garden of the Gods. The lat- 
 ter we inspected from the backs of burros so small 
 that we felt like changing and carrying them part 
 of the time. Here we were at the foot of Pike's 
 Peak but as it was winter time and all public ways 
 of ascent closed, we made no effort to go up but 
 drove back from Manitou to Colorado Springs 
 
AT THE FOOT OF PIKE'S PEAK 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 29 
 
 via Cheyenne Canon and then by train to Denver. 
 
 A stop of two or three days was made at Den- 
 ver, where our good friends Mr. and Mrs. S., en- 
 tertained us wath drives, dinners, etc. Denver is 
 worth several pages, but as already stated, this lit- 
 tle tale is not going to fill up its pages describing 
 large cities, and as Denver comes in this class and 
 is getting larger every day, it must be left out and 
 satisfied with the compliment of being left out on 
 account of its size. 
 
 At Brown's Palace Hotel here, a ball was be- 
 ing held on the top floor where the dancing hall 
 was located and of course we must all go, but no 
 one was so much in demand as the "Kid," al- 
 though only four years old. She was asked b^f 
 the dancing master if she w^ould dance with him 
 and when she accepted, he was considerably sur- 
 prised as we presume he only wanted to be nice 
 with the child. So well did they dance together 
 that he claimed several more which were enjoyed 
 by all present. 
 
 Everyone going to Denver must have the old 
 
30 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 stock story put over on him and we were not ex- 
 cepted. For the benefit of those who have not 
 been in Denver and as we may not get a chance to 
 catch you in that city, we will let you have it right 
 here. So healthy is Denver and so many miracu- 
 lous cures are performed that the visitor becomes 
 skeptical and refuses to believe all that is told 
 him. Then they produce the man who came to 
 Denver one year ago with only one lung but who 
 now has three, the one he brought with him and 
 the two of the young woman he has just married. 
 See? 
 
 From Denver to Omaha is but a night, and it 
 is also a night that puts us back from fine weather 
 to the nasty March rain, snow and sleet of our own 
 climate, and we feel at once that we are nearing 
 home. A stop of a few hours is more than 
 enough to satisfy us that Omaha is not a nice place 
 to visit in March, so back to the good warm train 
 we hustle to find Isaac, our black porter, digging 
 out blankets, quilts, etc., for our personal comfort 
 during our journey to Chicago. But Chicago is 
 
Little Journeys of Kj\tharine. 31 
 
 no better. Chicago is either too hot or too cold 
 and always windy, and with all more dirty than 
 Pittsburgh. A day or two was spent in Chicago 
 and of course every man we met told us how big 
 Chicago was, how great it was, how fast it was 
 growing, but above all, their greatest boast was 
 that Chicago was undoubtedly the wickedest city 
 on the globe. The latter we had reason to be- 
 lieve, as our faithful Isaac, the porter, was slug- 
 ged and robbed of all his tips while going from 
 his car to a main street only a few rods away. 
 
 Our stay was not long but plenty long 
 enough to get chilled through and through as the 
 snow filled the air and the wind blew as it always 
 does, and we could not help but wonder why all 
 the people in Chicago do not pull up stakes and 
 move to Los Angeles. 
 
 Only one more night and we were to be back 
 in dear old Pittsburgh, but when Pittsburgh was 
 reached and we looked out on fifteen inches of 
 snow, we wondered if it really was "dear old 
 Pittsburgh" or had we been deluded, led to be- 
 
32 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 lieve that there is no place just like it. We felt 
 very much like the man who came back from the 
 Pacific Coast to his old home town in Ohio, ar- 
 riving just in time to attend a funeral at vv^hich the 
 presiding minister was a new comer in the neigh- 
 borhood. Said minister, after eulogizing the de- 
 ceased so far as his limited knov/ledge of him 
 would permit, remarked that as he was a com- 
 parative stranger to the departed friend, he would 
 like someone of those present to make a few re- 
 marks. No one appeared willing to speak, so the 
 man from the West arose and said he did not care 
 to say anything on that subject, but if there were 
 no objections, he would like to make a few re- 
 marks on the salubrious climate of Southern Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 Now our story is ended, we are back home 
 and thus endeth one of the Early Journeys of 
 Katharine Jane. 
 
KATHARINE AND SOME OTHER 
 INNOCENTS ABROAD 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 N or about the 20th day of June, 1905, 
 we, the "Bunch," started from Ebon- 
 hurst, Pittsburgh, to "do" Europe in 
 the latest up-to-date fashion. I am not going to 
 tell you what a beautiful June evening it was, 
 how gorgeous the sunset, how blue the sky and 
 how green the grass, for you all know just how it 
 was, not only on that particular evening but on 
 most of the evenings of this beautiful month of 
 Brides and Roses — especially Brides. The only 
 thing that made this evening different from 
 others was the grinding out of the more or less 
 discordant notes of a "Dago's" hurdygurdy, to 
 which the children who had called to bid the Kid 
 goodbye, danced on the smooth asphaltum street. 
 
 By the way, I forgot to tell you who the Kid 
 is. Well, she is the chief member of the little 
 party aforesaid who are to do England and the 
 Continent. Of course, the Kid cannot go alone 
 
34 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 as she is only nine years old. She must have some 
 assistance in making this trip so Aunt Gertie must 
 go along as chief companion and chum of the Kid. 
 Then there must be someone to take care of Aunt 
 Gertie, so the Boss is installed for this purpose. 
 Now, the party is complete were it not for one 
 thing that was almost forgotten. To make a trip 
 like this, it is necessary to have money, so the Con- 
 ductor was reluctantly invited to go along, and, 
 in order to show him that he was not invited only 
 for the purpose of paying bills, he was given the 
 title of "Conductor." Now, that is not a very 
 dignified title as you who have traveled know, 
 but to him it was great, as he knew only of the 
 grand and all-important conductors of the bob- 
 tailed streetcars that pass his door and who are 
 gracious enough to allow him to ride on their 
 cars for the small sum of five cents. 
 
 I am not going to dwell on the trip to New 
 York and tell you how hot and stufify a sleeper is, 
 already made up, as is the Ten-thirty out of East 
 Liberty. Not much, this is to be a pleasure 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 35 
 
 trip and no such discomforts shall be chronicled 
 here. 
 
 Now, in addition to the "Bunch", as above 
 described, our good friends, Col. M. and Mrs. 
 Col. M. accompanied us as far as New York. 
 Of course, this we all appreciated greatly only for 
 the fact, which we could not get out of our heads, 
 that they appeared anxious that we should not 
 miss the boat. On our arrival in New York, we 
 found a great change in temperature and the 
 ladies concluded that they must do some shopping 
 in the way of purchasing some warm wraps. Did 
 you ever notice that ladies must shop until the last 
 minute before sailing and begin at the earliest 
 possible moment after landing? But why should 
 we begrudge them this pleasure? What would 
 traveling be to them without shopping? Shop- 
 ping not being in the line of the Colonel and the 
 Conductor, they put in the day as best they could 
 until evening, when we all wended our way to 
 Martin's, where we had a good dinner, the last 
 good American dinner for several months. 
 
36 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 Next morning we were obliged to be up and 
 about early as our ship had the uncomfortable 
 habit of starting pretty early in the morning. By 
 eight o'clock we were aboard the grand old 
 Baltic, the then largest ship afloat. I say the 
 "grand old Baltic" because she is grandly steady 
 and grandly safe. Other appointments are not to 
 be considered when you feel that you are safe and 
 not throwing up your boots all the way over. So 
 steady was this ship that small vials of tooth wash 
 on our washstands were not thrown over or dis- 
 turbed in the least. 
 
 On board we met, as is always the case, many 
 Pittsburghers, most of whom we knew. Also 
 many prominent people were on board, among 
 whom were the Duke of Sutherland, Dr. Butler, 
 President of Columbia College, Madame Nor- 
 dica, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel N. Nixon and others. 
 But I must not forget our dear little friend 
 "Fritz". Fritz was little German boy who had 
 been traveling with his father and mother in 
 America and was returning home. Fritz was 
 
KATHARINE 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 37 
 
 about six years old and had the map of Germany 
 written all over his face. Fritz had lost his 
 front teeth and the place where they had been 
 might represent the mouth of the river Elbe and 
 his ears stuck out like the Hartz Mountains on 
 the one side and the Alps on the other. Fritz 
 thought he had discovered his affinity in the Kid 
 with the brown hair and we have never yet given 
 up the idea that an international matrimonial al- 
 liance is among the possibilities. 
 
 I will not weary you with a description of 
 our ocean trip. Suffice to say that it was un- 
 eventful if not rather monotonous. The Baltic 
 is not a fast boat and eight days on her seems as 
 long as thirty days in an automobile. We were 
 to arrive off Queenstown about midnight and as 
 we had not seen land for a good while we con- 
 cluded to stay up and see the passengers get off 
 on the lighter. The night was very dark and we 
 did not get off Queenstown until two in the morn- 
 ing but we were bound to see ^'auld Ireland" or at 
 least the sailor boys that come out to meet us. The 
 
38 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 sea was quite rough that night but on the great 
 Baltic, away from land or other boats, we were 
 entirely unaware of it. However, when that 
 lighter came alongside, we thought every minute 
 would be her last. It was quite an acrobatic feat 
 to board her and we were quite satisfied that 
 Queenstown was not our port of entry. 
 
 The next day we put in watching the crew 
 bringing baggage out of the hold. All day long 
 the cranes were manned and still they came up — 
 in fact, we thought the whole insides of the ship 
 were coming up, but everything must come to an 
 end. Here we are up to the dock at Liverpool 
 and what a hustle and bustle. The dock is full of 
 cabs, busses and wagons of every description. 
 Passengers and luggage are handled with re- 
 markable skill. The baggage is placed alpha- 
 betically along the dock before the custom offi- 
 cers commence their examination. We go in 
 among the porters and help to find our belong- 
 ings and when one trunk is found we put the Kid 
 on it until we find another and thus we utilize 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 39 
 
 even the youngest member of our party. Soon 
 we have accounted for all our "luggage" — ^we 
 must say "luggage" now that we are in old Eng- 
 land. The custom officers are very polite and 
 everything is chalked and we are off for the 
 Adelphia Hotel, the old reliable and best hotel in 
 Liverpool, and it looks quite natural as we had 
 stopped there some twenty years before. 
 
 Liverpool is not a city of many attractions 
 for the American tourist so we at once begin to 
 look about for something satisfying. Dear old 
 Chester is only twenty miles away with its wealth 
 of antiquities, so down to the three-story depot we 
 go. Now this depot is just like other depots, not 
 three stories high but three stories low, with 
 large one-story sheds and we wonder where the 
 other two stories are. We are told he who would 
 see must look below. Yes, cellar and subcellar. 
 The subcellar is our station; we must start down 
 deep as we immediately pass under the river Mer- 
 sey which is deep enough to admit the largest 
 ocean vessels. Up to the surface again at Birken- 
 
40 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 head, now a part of Liverpool, for even the some- 
 times called slow Englishman has discovered the 
 advantage of annexing surrounding towns. 
 
 Arriving at Chester we seek the best hotel, 
 which is Grosvenor House. After lunch we se- 
 cure a good carriage and start out to do the town. 
 Here we have our first experience in a trip 
 through a walled city. Chester was an old 
 Roman city and the wall that surrounds it is kept 
 in excellent condition, being from twenty to thir- 
 ty feet high and broad enough for a fine prome- 
 nade on top which gives an opportunity for a 
 splendid view of the city from many points. The 
 Cathedral of Chester is one of the finest in Eng- 
 land and with such a history that I am afraid to 
 tell you all we heard. Here, too, we find the 
 "Rows". Now perhaps you do not know what 
 the "Rows" are. I don't wonder; no one would 
 from the name. Neither would you after seeing 
 them, for no two houses in them are in row with 
 each other. The Rows, however, are houses 
 built several hundred years ago, having two first 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 41 
 
 floors with sidewalks passing the front doors of 
 each floor, the upper sidewalk rising at the end 
 of the square so as to soon reach the second story 
 level and continue so until approaching the next 
 cross street. Most of the buildings along these 
 two-story streets are filled with small curiosity 
 shops depending largely on the tourist for pat- 
 ronage but in some were grocery, jewelry and 
 drygoods stores. 
 
 We drive out to Eaton Hall. This is the 
 country residence of the Duke of Westminster 
 and one of the most magnificent in all England. 
 It is several miles from the front gate to the man- 
 sion through splendid lawns and gardens. Tour- 
 ists are made welcome both to roam over the 
 house, grounds and stables, but no automobiles 
 are allowed. These are excluded, we found on 
 inquiry, because they scare the deer and other 
 wild game which abound in great numbers. Any- 
 one visiting England should not miss Chester and 
 its surroundings. Having seen all this and much 
 more, we return to Liverpool. Now it is our in- 
 
42 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 tention to hire an automobile and wend our way 
 down to London. We want to avoid the "black 
 country" which means Birmingham, New Castle, 
 etc., as we have plenty of that at home. So we 
 start north instead of south and continue in that 
 direction until we reach York. 
 
 Yes, dear old York, another walled town 
 with a cathedral, lots of history and a brogue. Do 
 not think that the Irishman is the only man with 
 a brogue. The Yorkshire man can put the man 
 from Tipperary to shame. In fact, it is so raspy 
 that it will shell corn when talked into a crib, 
 York has solved the problem of a combined depot 
 and hotel. The train lands one on the back porch 
 under roof; no cab is required; the porter carries 
 our luggage into the office where we are booked 
 for rooms, which we accept with fear and 
 trembling, fearing our only view will be of rail- 
 road tracks and that we shall be lulled to sleep 
 with the puffing of the locomotive. With what 
 surprise and delight we throw open our windows 
 and see nothing but beautiful park and flowers 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 43 
 
 everywhere. We have been conducted to the 
 other side of the house. No sound or smell of the 
 railroad reached us and we awoke in the morning 
 to the song of the lark and to be greeted with the 
 sweet perfumes of our front window flower gar- 
 den. Old York is beautiful; we have spent a day 
 and a night there most profitably, but our "Motor 
 Car" as 'Ve English" call it, is at the door so we 
 must say goodbye and be ofif. 
 
 But you have not had a description of our 
 "Motor Car". The most noticeable thing about 
 it was the oldfashioned rear door with the seat 
 on it just big enough for the Kid to sit on ; Aunt 
 Gertie and the Boss on either side of her and the 
 Conductor in front with the Driver. You must 
 be sure and say "Driver" and not "Chauffeur" in 
 England. Further description of the car we are 
 unable to give but think it had four wheels. Our 
 Driver was not a real Driver, but a Sailor, one 
 who had been around the world twice and, al- 
 though he was born and had lived in Liverpool, 
 he had never been to London and did not know the 
 
44 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 road or any part of it. In steering the car, he al- 
 ways looked back as though he expected the rud- 
 der to respond. Notwithstanding, he was a very 
 pleasant fellow and at that date all chauffeurs 
 were new. 
 
 'Twas the second day of July, the beginning 
 of the English harvest. The perfume of the 
 newmown hay and the ripening barley filled the 
 air. A light rain had fallen the night before, 
 enough to lay the dust and we sailed past the 
 beautiful green fields with the fat sleek cattle 
 grazing therein. All stock appears fat in Eng- 
 land. Now and then a covey of quail or stately 
 pheasant would walk across the road ahead of us. 
 But hark! the baying of hounds! We were un- 
 able to locate them, but "Tommy Atkins" thinks 
 they are on our larboard side. The ladies are 
 asked by the Conductor, who has some sport- 
 ing blood in his veins, if they hear that glorious 
 sound, but they declare they can hear nothing for 
 the howling of the darned dogs. Closer and 
 closer they come and all of a sudden, thirty or 
 
ROTTEN ROW, HYDE PARK 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 45 
 
 forty hounds of all colors — spotted, white, tan 
 and brindle — cross the road ahead of us to be fol- 
 lowed by ten or a dozen redcoats on their splen- 
 did English hunters, which take the' hedges with 
 the greatest grace and ease. Surely this is sport 
 in Merrie Old England. 
 
 On we sped over the fine English roads, the 
 first town being Selby, but as^it was not large and 
 did not offer any great attractions, we did not 
 stop, but continued on to Doncaster, where a short 
 stop was made. Sheffield was not directly on our 
 way, but as Sheffield knives and forks had fed us 
 for so many years, we felt it our duty to at least 
 call and pay our respects. Sheffield looks some- 
 thing like Pittsburgh and is about the same size 
 or a little larger. Nottingham was our objective 
 point to stop over night, but when we got near 
 Mansfield, a heavy rainstorm came up and we 
 made that port. Here we found a quaint old 
 stagecoach hotel that appealed to us, so we con- 
 cluded to put up there for the night. 
 
 This was our first experience in the small 
 
46 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 English town "Inn," and as we were prepared to 
 extol the beauties of this kind of a hotel, nothing 
 met our eyes that did not bring forth an expres- 
 sion of joy. The old fourposter bed with its 
 spreading canopy, made way back dear only 
 knows when; with it our imagination soon got 
 busy and manufactured a history that would have 
 made glad the heart of the oldest antique dealer. 
 Oliver Cromwell, Shakespeare and, some were 
 even willing to insist, the Black Prince himself 
 had occupied this venerable couch. But the Con- 
 ductor, wholly lacking in sentiment and cruel 
 enough to throw cold water on our fondest imagi- 
 nations, said he was willing to bet twenty shillings 
 that it was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
 Now, you must know that this was not a paid 
 conductor, but a paying conductor, which is en- 
 tirely different. A paid conductor is one who 
 wants to give you the worth of your money and is 
 ready to stuff you with all kinds of legends, be- 
 ing only restricted by the extent of gullibility of 
 his patrons. Even the musty odor was entirely 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 47 
 
 in keeping with the place and went far to prove 
 its great age, but again, the Conductor said this 
 was no doubt caused by the remains of deceased 
 rats under the floor. Can you imagine a more 
 cruel remark to make to honest sentimental tour- 
 ists who were trying to get all they could out of 
 a trip like this? People cannot be too careful in 
 selecting a conductor if they want to enjoy to the 
 fullest extent a trip abroad. Mark Twain once 
 said that he was very careful in selecting his 
 parents, but even that is not so important as the 
 selection of a conductor. So with all our dis- 
 couragements, we enjoyed the stop at this little 
 old-fashioned inn little more than if it had been 
 a mere Waldorf-Astoria or a Ritz-Carlton at 
 which anybody can stop. 
 
 In the morning our road lay directly 
 through Sherwood forests and the Kid was look- 
 ing behind every tree for Robin Hood, but the 
 Conductor said he was much more afraid of the 
 Sheriff of Nottingham, as our Sailor Driver had 
 gotten more confidence in the car and was letting 
 
48 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 it out and exceeding the speed limit. Notting- 
 ham was reached before noon, so only a short 
 stop was made in order to reach Leicester 
 for lunch, where we found a quaint old-fashioned 
 hotel, but clean and well kept; not even the 
 smell of old age and — other things. Having 
 enjoyed our lunch and given our iron steed a 
 good drink of "petrol" — in this country it would 
 be gasoline, but in England petrol always — ^we 
 are ofif again over the fine hard roads through 
 Rugby and Coventry. As there was no football 
 on at Rugby, and as Lady Godiva did not ride on 
 this particular day, we did not stop long, but 
 headed directly for Kenilworth Castle. Here we 
 got our first experience with England's very clear 
 water. After leaving the main road for a by 
 road leading toward the Castle, we were obliged 
 to cross a small stream, but as the water was very 
 clear and the bottom could be plainly seen, it ap- 
 peared very shallow and our Driver failed to 
 slack up. But it was deeper than he had calcu- 
 lated, and the radiator making a splendid batter- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 49 
 
 ing-ram, the water was thrown high in the air, and 
 as our speed was such as to bring us immediately 
 under it as it came down, we were completely 
 drenched. We were well prepared for rain, as 
 all who travel in England must be, but we were 
 caught off our guard this time. 
 
 It is beyond our power to describe the grand 
 old ruined Castle. Neither will we attempt to 
 tell you of the high old jinks that must have taken 
 place there as well as the plots and intrigues, but 
 we all know that England's grand old Virgin 
 Queen and her associates pulled off some stunts 
 that would have made New York's Four Hun- 
 dred sit up and take notice. 
 
 Lemington, the center of the Shakespeare 
 attractions, is our destination and our stopping 
 place for the night. Hotel Regent, what a de- 
 lightful stopping place after a long day's ride. 
 I wonder how many Americans have stopped 
 there. The next morning our Conductor came 
 down and stated to the proprietor that it was 
 the 4th day of July, he did not know whether 
 
50 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 he could get along without seeing an Ameri- 
 can flag and asked where he might be able 
 to purchase one. The host very kindly di- 
 rected him to a store where he thought the desired 
 emblem could be had, stating that he had not 
 thought of it being the 4th of July. He imme- 
 diately proceeded to unfurl the Stars and Stripes 
 over the hotel, which he gallantly referred to the 
 Conductor's attention on his return, saying: "Do 
 you see what has grown over the hotel since you 
 went out?" Our flag was larger than we had 
 thought of getting and had a staff. It was al- 
 right when the car was going, but dragged on the 
 ground a little when stopped. All that day we 
 displayed grand Old Glory and not once was she 
 insulted, but many times saluted, and especially 
 by our friends, the Irish, who do most of the re- 
 pairing of the roads. 
 
 Our first stop was at Warwick, the quaint old 
 town and grand old castle. Warwick Castle is 
 not a ruin like Kenilworth, but is in fine repair 
 and occupied by one of the family known for so 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 51 
 
 many generations as the King Makers of Eng- 
 land. This little narrative is not intended as a 
 guidebook, so we will not attempt to describe 
 what we saw here, but must say the fine old cas- 
 tle, the beautiful grounds, the splendid old trees 
 transplanted from Lebanon, and the gorgeous 
 peacocks that startle you on all occasions by their 
 hideous screeches or the sudden display of their 
 magnificent plumage, leave an impression that is 
 not easily forgotten. 
 
 Then comes quaint old Stratford-on-Avon, 
 not the town but the history that most interests 
 us, and what of the history? It is here that the 
 greatest writer of the English language was born, 
 married, died and was buried. Yes, it is true 
 that at Stratford-on-Avon, William Shakespeare 
 was born and here he married Anne Hathaway, 
 and here in the church lays his mortal remains, 
 and here in this church over his remains is the 
 marble slab with this inscription which he evi- 
 dently composed. 
 
52 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 "Good friend, for Jesus' sake, forbear 
 To dig the dust enclosed here, 
 
 Blest be the man that spares these stones, 
 And curst be he that moves my bones." 
 
 But did the man who wrote this doggerel com- 
 pose England's greatest literary works? Every- 
 one must judge for himself. 
 
 Most tourists have their official photogra- 
 pher along but we are the exception so the town 
 artist is employed. We should have gone to one 
 of the historic houses and used it as a background 
 for the picture, but this Bunch wants both its 
 story and picture to be free from sentiment 
 or anything that might resemble the legends and 
 fairy tales pumped into us. With the picture 
 taken, there is nothing more to keep us, so the 
 rudder is set heading us for Oxford, where we 
 arrive shortly before sundown to find a brass 
 band playing in the public square. We thought 
 it was probably playing in honor of our arrival, 
 but were sure of it when, catching sight of Old 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 53 
 
 Glory, they changed their tune to the Stars and 
 Stripes Forever, and we promptly dipped our 
 flag in recognition of the compliment extended. 
 
 Here at historic old Oxford we must spend 
 the night and a very comfortable hotel was found. 
 In traveling it is the little things that strike us 
 more than the big ones. With reference to the 
 customs and manners of the people, for instance, 
 the Conductor had occasion to seek a telegraph 
 office and was directed down street where he was 
 looking but unable for the moment to locate. A 
 very nice looking gentleman approached him, 
 stating he observed he (the Conductor) was a 
 stranger and suggested that he might be able to 
 be of service in finding what was wanted. When 
 told the object of the search, the gentleman im- 
 mediately turned back and walked several hun- 
 dred feet to show where to find the office. It 
 struck us how nice and obliging this was, but 
 would it occur in America? I am afraid not, 
 but how much better that it should. The next 
 day we had the pleasure of again meeting this 
 
54 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 gentleman in one of the colleges where he was a 
 professor. The recognition was mutual and very 
 pleasant. 
 
 After seeing through most of the college 
 buildings and grounds, we started for Henley, 
 where the international rowing races were being 
 held. Here we saw a beautiful sight; all the 
 house boats, grand stands, etc., beautifully deco- 
 rated and the flags of all nations floating to the 
 breeze. We were in just time to see the race be- 
 tween the Leanders and our own Philadelphias 
 and also to see our own home team beaten, so 
 "subsequent proceedings interested us no more" 
 and we wended our way down to Windsor Castle, 
 which we went through, and, after a late lunch, 
 started to complete the first link of our automo- 
 bile trip to London. So down through Windsor 
 town and over the bridge past Eaton College and 
 down the King's Road, but as we approached the 
 World's Metropolis, we found the tremendous 
 traffic was hindering our progress, so as we were 
 more or less familiar with the way, we cut across 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 55 
 
 through St. James Park and up through Water- 
 loo Place to Pall Mall, arriving at the Carlton 
 Hotel a little before dark. We had telegraphed 
 for rooms, and upon being given our names, all 
 from the proprietor to the bell boy seemed to 
 know all about us and where our rooms were. 
 This is good hotel keeping. 
 
 As we intended to spend several weeks here, 
 we let our Sailor Driver go. We were sorry to 
 lose him, as he had been a very obliging and 
 pleasant fellow and seemed like one of our party. 
 The Conductor gave him a comfortable tip and 
 suggested as he had never seen London this would 
 be an opportunity and was surprised to hear him 
 say that he had always heard London was a pretty 
 bad place for sailors and he thought he would 
 start back at once, stopping till morning at a small 
 town on the road. Perhaps he was right. 
 
 London was not new to any of us except the 
 Kid, but is always interesting to anyone unless it 
 be our ''Tommy Atkins". After a thorough 
 scrubbing we dressed and came down to dinner 
 
56 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 and felt quite at home when we heard the beauti- 
 ful strains of music and recognized our own towns- 
 man, Bert Nevin's "Narcissus". As we were all 
 hungry we ordered a good dinner. Being also 
 very dry we observed with interest that a number 
 of people were partaking apparently with much 
 relish a drink from the look of which had we been 
 south of Mason's and Dixon's line, we should 
 have pronounced a "Mint Julep," but as the 
 liquid appeared white and sparkled considerably, 
 the ladies said it was either apollinaris or vichy 
 with mint in it and of course a soft drink, and as 
 it looked so refreshing said they would have some 
 too. One glass, while touching the spot, did not 
 seem to be sufficient to quench the thirst which the 
 long ride had created, and another was ordered 
 and drank with much relish. The Conductor 
 did not want to spoil the pleasure of the dinner 
 by saying just then that "champagne cup" is not 
 classed among the soft drinks and thought he 
 would say nothing about it, allowing it to speak 
 for itself. On going to our rooms the ladies re- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 57 
 
 marked that they believed riding in an automo- 
 bile had the same effect as the ship, leaving one 
 vv^ith sea legs for awhile. 
 
 As this little narrative is only to be a book- 
 let, it will be impossible to tell what we saw in 
 London, but of course the Kid must see the Tower, 
 St. Paul's, Hyde Park, Rotten Row, Kew 
 Gardens, the British Museum, the Parliament 
 Buildings, Westminster Abbey and a thousand 
 and one other things. There are two ways of 
 seeing London, one is to spend about two weeks 
 and see in a superficial way the most notable 
 things, and the other is to spend a lifetime, neither 
 of which would complete the job. Well, as we 
 did not have a lifetime at our disposal for this 
 purpose, we chose the former way and let it go 
 at that. 
 
 On leaving London our next objective point 
 was Ostend, Belgium. On making inquiry as to 
 the best hotel at Ostend, we were told the Hotel 
 Splendide certainly would give us full satisfaction 
 and as the name sounded good to us, to the Splen- 
 
58 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 dide we went and never regretted it. The train 
 ride down to Dover was pleasant and not too long 
 and even the trip over the Channel was very pleas- 
 ant for once, — not a roll or white cap to make us 
 afraid. Being met at the door of the Hotel 
 Splendide by the hall porter, a fullblooded Hindu 
 dressed in all the splendors of the East, we 
 thought we might have made a mistake and ar- 
 rived in the Orient instead of Continental Europe. 
 Our stay at this beautiful watering place was 
 most delightful. The nice little bathing-wagons 
 instead of our bathhouses were a real curiosity to 
 us. These bathhouses are on wheels and when 
 you enter them a man hitches a horse to them and 
 hauls you down to the water's edge where you get 
 out after having put on your bathing suit and take 
 your bath. Of course you are expected to remem- 
 ber the number of your bathingwagon to which 
 you return and again dress, throwing out your 
 wet bathing suit to be gathered up and tipping 
 your attendant. Then you pull a string, fasten- 
 ing the ring in the end on to a hook which raises 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 59 
 
 a small flag on the outside of the wagon which is 
 the signal to the man with the horse to pull you 
 up the beach again and your ablution is completed. 
 
 While we had been obliged to see our own 
 countrymen defeated in a rowing contest in Eng- 
 land, we had the great satisfaction of seeing our 
 own crack New York polo team defeat the great 
 Hungarian noblemen's team. The Hungarians 
 were a splendid looking lot of men but did not ap- 
 pear to have the skill or horsemanship that our 
 men had and they went down to defeat with not 
 any too good grace as they seemed to be hard 
 losers. 
 
 From Ostend we went to The Hague without 
 stopping at either Antwerp or Brussels, as we had 
 been both places before and were anxious to press 
 on to the land of the Dutchman. What a quaint 
 and beautiful city is Holland's capital with The 
 House in the Woods and its other attractions. All 
 visitors at The Hague of course must go down to 
 Holland's seashore resort, Scheveningen, but nice 
 as it is, it cannot be compared to Ostend. 
 
6o Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 From the Hague we go to Amsterdam and 
 see Holland's metropolis and a fine city it is with 
 its streets of water as well as land. One almost 
 thinks he is in Venice and especially at night when 
 we look from the windows of the Hotel Amstel 
 and see the thousands of colored lights arching 
 the river and canals. Of course we must go to 
 see the diamonds being cut, and the old palaces 
 and galleries and what not, but the most interest- 
 ing trip is down the river by boat to Zaandam, 
 then by auto or carriage to Monnickendam, 
 where we get a nice clean lunch, and then get into 
 a small boat with a boatman dressed in all the 
 gorgeous trousers and other trimmings of the me- 
 dieval Dutchman, for a nice sail to the Island of 
 Marken where all the people from the youngest 
 to the oldest dress as their ancestors did for hun- 
 dreds of years past. The little boys and girls are 
 dressed exactly alike except that the boy has a 
 button on the crown of his cap. The young 
 lovers walk around with their little fingers locked 
 together, the many skirts of the young lady and 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 6i 
 
 the great bulging trousers of the young man, mak- 
 ing it impossible for them to get closer together. 
 After going through several of the neat and clean 
 little houses where a family of father and mother 
 and six or seven children all live in one room, with 
 only one bed visible, we wonder where so many 
 sleep, but are shown that what looked like drawers 
 were really beds shoved into the wall during the 
 daytime and drawn out at night. 
 
 After seeing the people and their customs in 
 this interesting Island, we again take a sail boat 
 and land on the mainland at Volendam. Here we 
 see another kind of dress, much like those on the 
 Island of Marken, but of a richer material and of 
 better make. The people of Volendam are well- 
 to-do and their Sunday dress probably cost more 
 than your best "bib and tucker". From Volen- 
 dam we drive to Edam, where the best Edam 
 cheese is made. Here we go through the cheese 
 factory and stables for the cows which are clean 
 as anybody's house. Of course we buy some 
 cheese and have it sent over in bond. It proba- 
 
62 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 bly costs more than it would to buy it from your 
 grocer, but one has the satisfaction of knowing 
 that it is the real thing. 
 
 Back to old Amsterdam, but we have lost all 
 desire to see more of a big city since our delight- 
 ful visit among the people of the Island of 
 Marken and Volendam and all the rest of the 
 dams, so we to "Deutschland Kommen" and up 
 the famous Rhine we pass through the towns of 
 Dusseldorf, Cologne, and past Bonn, Coblenz and 
 Fair Bingen on the Rhine and in spite of all we 
 can do, the old familiar poem keeps running 
 through our heads: 
 "A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers; 
 
 There was lack of woman's nursing, there was 
 dearth of woman's tears; 
 
 But a comrade stood beside him, while his life- 
 blood ebb'd away. 
 
 And bent with pitying glances to hear what he 
 might say. 
 
 The dying soldier faltered as he took that com- 
 rade's hand, 
 
 And he said, 'I never more shall see my own, my 
 native land. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 63 
 
 Take a message and a token to some distant friends 
 of mine, 
 
 For I was born at Bingen — at Bingen on the 
 Rhine.' " 
 
 But this a practical age, so terribly practical 
 that half of the poetry and sentiment, if not all, 
 are ground out of us as the cruel locomotive 
 wheels keep whirling along the top of the steel 
 rails, bearing us to Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
 
 We have pleasant recollections of Frankfort 
 of years gone by but we find a new city. We are 
 whirled up to the best hotel in the city — the grand 
 Hotel Furstenhof, as cold as an iceberg and as 
 new as Chicago. Are we to be deprived of all 
 of the quiet comforts of old cities? If so, why 
 not stay at home? New York can furnish bet- 
 ter hotels than any new city in Europe. How- 
 ever, Frankfort is a fine city and a good central 
 place to stop. Here we concluded to hire a ma- 
 chine. Directions were gotten where to go and 
 the Conductor after considerable difficulty found 
 the place. He also found a lot of people who 
 
64 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 spoke the worst German on top of dirt; he could 
 not understand them and of course they could not 
 understand him. It became plainly evident that 
 the services of an interpreter were absolutely nec- 
 essary, but where in the world could you find any- 
 body who could understand such Dutch? They 
 said a young man had just come in who was tour- 
 ing the country, wanting some repairs made, and 
 "he might be able to understand you^\ What do 
 you think of that? The young man was brought 
 forth. He looked good. He probably had trav- 
 eled in England. The Conductor asked him if 
 he could speak English and was told promptly 
 that he could speak nothing else. Now how was 
 that to help out? The Conductor felt all along 
 that he could do that but a fellow feeling seemed 
 to exist between them as they could at least under- 
 stand each other. On being asked if he lived in 
 England, he said. No, in the United States. 
 Which? Pennsylvania. Where in Pennsylvan- 
 ia? In Pittsburgh. Where in Pittsburgh? East 
 End. "Why, for heaven's sake", cried the Con- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 65 
 
 ductor, "you don't live at the corner of Penn and 
 Murtland Avenues, do you?" Not quite, just one 
 square southeast. What's your name? Moore. 
 "I know your father well," said the Conductor, 
 and thus our great big world grows small. But 
 how were we to get a machine if he could speak 
 no more German than his name would indicate 
 and a week's touring had taught him? Necessity 
 knows no law and very little German, but when 
 you want a machine and they want your money, 
 you generally get together; so did we. 
 
 The next morning found the machine at the 
 hotel door and in a few minutes we were headed 
 for the mountains with the beautiful watering 
 place, Homburg, as our destination. Homburg is 
 a favorite stopping place for the Kaiser, but he 
 was not there while we were. We presume he did 
 not care to divide honors with us. From Hom- 
 burg to Bad Nauheim was our next move and then 
 to Wiesbaden, all beautiful places. In Wiesbaden 
 we had our first and only accident. A big Ger- 
 man and a small pushcart. The cart had four 
 
66 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 three-gallon cans of milk on it before we struck 
 it. What that big man said to us was a plenty. 
 We all understood him. Isn't it strange that 
 swearing is so much alike in all languages? There 
 is one sure panacea for troubles-in Europe, how- 
 ever, and after a handful of change had been ap- 
 plied, that great big German face which looked so 
 terrible to us before beamed like a harvest moon. 
 Then we began to wonder how long it would take 
 him to load up again and hide in the alley await- 
 ing the approach of another automobile. Oh, 
 these honest Germans, one cannot most always 
 sometimes generally tell. 
 
 Back to Frankfort, then to Darmstadt and 
 Heidelberg. Yes, dear old Heidelberg, nestled 
 in among the hills with history and legends ga- 
 lore. What a book it would all make. The 
 great castle on the mountain above and the swift- 
 ly flowing Neckar at its feet, the University and 
 the Beer Gardens vieing with each other for su- 
 premacy in the town itself. Our auto was to be 
 at the door at eight o'clock but late the night be- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 67 
 
 fore, the Conductor learned that seven duels be- 
 tween the swellest of the swell aristocratic German 
 students would be pulled off on the mountain 
 across the river beginning at seven A. M., and as 
 he was a man of peace and deplored the very ex- 
 istence of such a horrible practice, he felt it his 
 honest duty to attend at this function and perhaps 
 he could persuade them to desist. So word was 
 sent to the garage not to have the machine ready 
 until nine o'clock. In order to reach the field of 
 battle in good time, an early start was made. Af- 
 ter swallowing a cup of coffee, a carriage was se- 
 cured and the driver tipped off as to where to go 
 and given to understand that no time must be lost 
 lest blood might unnecessarily be shed before our 
 peacemaker could reach the scene. 
 
 After a hard drive far up the mountain, a 
 little inn was found where the slaughter was to 
 take place. The tap room was already opened 
 and doing a good business with combatants, their 
 friends, doctors and undertakers, all of whom had 
 come over in case their services might be needed. 
 
68 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 On the second floor a large room was provided 
 with no furniture but an operating table which 
 was covered with bandages, surgeons' needles, etc. 
 While preparations were being made, our hero 
 (the Conductor) was permitted to remain in this 
 room, but when everything was completed, he was 
 informed that as the duels to be fought this morn- 
 ing were between members of the very first fami- 
 lies of the Fatherland, no spectators would be al- 
 lowed to remain in the room. We were unable 
 to say why this rule was adopted unless they were 
 afraid our Conductor would faint at the sight of 
 blood and especially such blue blood. However, 
 the mountainside rose immediately in the rear of 
 the house in such a manner that one could walk 
 right up level with the window and thus look in 
 and see as well as if inside. 
 
 After a very great deal of preparation by the 
 principals and their seconds and special examina- 
 tions by the doctors, all eventually seemed to be 
 ready. We were unable to imagine why the doc- 
 tors were so particular unless they were testing 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 69 
 
 their hearts or looking to see if a yellow streak 
 existed somewhere. Well, at last everything ap- 
 peared to be quite ready. The first couple out 
 were two boys about eighteen or nineteen years of 
 age. One toed the mark with great nonchalance 
 while the other came with fear and trembling and 
 had to be supported. However, he must have 
 had great courage to overcome such terrible fear. 
 In his pitiable condition nothing could be ex- 
 pected of him so at the command of the referee, a 
 slash, a stroke or two, and he had received a gash 
 across the cheek that was to pronounce him a hero 
 for life. Honor had been satisfied. He was put 
 on the operating table by the doctors and his 
 wounds sewed up, but not too closely, — it must 
 be done in such a manner as to leave a horrible 
 scar that would disfigure him through life. The 
 next battle was between two older students and 
 was somewhat a better entertainment, as enter- 
 tainment it was, there being no danger of serious 
 injury but only the disfiguring process as above 
 stated. After witnessing five contests and being 
 
JO Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 fully satisfied with this line of amusement, — a 
 start was made with the feeling that the German 
 duel is not so dangerous as our wrestling matches 
 nor so artistic as our prize fights. Much of the 
 awe and admiration for the man with the sword 
 scar has departed from us. 
 
 The iron horse that was to carry us to Strass- 
 burg by way of Baden Baden was at the door and 
 all were impatient to start. The diminutive look- 
 ing machine seemed entirely incapable of carrying 
 us out of this mountainous country, but the chauf- 
 feur insisted that "the road is good". This was 
 about the extent of his English vocabulary. Our 
 German friend was right; it appeared hardly fif- 
 teen minutes until we had left the mountains and 
 were in the open country consisting of the typical 
 small farms of southern Germany. How little 
 the German farmer has improved his condition in 
 the last two hundred years. Wheat, rye and bar- 
 ley were being harvested entirely without ma- 
 chinery. A kit of farm hands consists of five per- 
 sons, four women and one man and he an old man 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 71 
 
 at that, as all the young men are either in the 
 army, at school, or as is the case in this country, 
 gotten tired of the farm and gone to the city for 
 employment and to seek their fortunes. 
 
 The little machine did nobly and long before 
 noon Carlsruhe, the home of Bismarck, was passed 
 and we were approaching Baden Baden, but here 
 we must encounter some mountains again. Baden 
 Baden is a small place, only known as a watering- 
 place, but very pretty with several good hotels and 
 a fine *^Bad Haus" as the Springs and Casino are 
 called. We get a good lunch at the Hotel 
 Stephanie, drink as much water as we can hold 
 and, after resting and sightseeing for an hour or 
 two, we are off for Strassburg, which we reach 
 about sundown. Here we find a beautiful city 
 and quaint old town combined where all the old 
 people speak French and all the young ones Ger- 
 man. Strassburg, as you know, as well as all of 
 Alsace and Lorraine, were a part of the indemnity 
 exacted from France by Bismarck at the close of 
 the Franco-Prussian War. Since that time Ger- 
 
72 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 many has been trying to Germanize the people by 
 forbidding the teaching of French in the public 
 schools. The old as a rule, and many of the 
 young, are still loyal to France on the quiet. Em- 
 peror William has tried to win the people by 
 building a new "Schloss" here, the first new 
 Schloss we have ever seen. It appeared deserted 
 and, as we passed through it only a few guides 
 and many guards were visible, so all in all, we 
 doubt if the Kaiser finds it a very congenial abid- 
 ing place. 
 
 After Strassburg we turn our faces toward 
 Switzerland and up alongside the Rhine, through 
 Bale (pronounced Basel) to Lucerne. Rooms 
 had been telegraphed for at The Sweitzerhof 
 where we had stopped years before with great 
 comfort, but what was our disappointment when 
 we arrived to be told that the house was entirely 
 full. They told us, however, that they had se- 
 cured rooms for us at a little new hotel just below 
 which they felt sure we would like and enjoy. 
 We doubted it, but were delighted to find that 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 73 
 
 the rooms engaged for us were on the second floor 
 with a nice balcony overlooking directly on Lake 
 Lucerne. The Carnival of Venice, which is 
 celebrated once a year, was being held and as it 
 was now dark, hundreds of brilliantly lighted 
 boats crowded with dancers, all dressed in the cos- 
 tumes of the country, were continually passing to 
 and fro in front of the hotel. We were particu- 
 larly hungry and yet did not want to miss any of 
 the pageant, so we had our dinner served out on 
 our own private balcony, where a splendid view 
 was obtained all during dinner and far into the 
 night. 
 
 Those who have traveled in Switzerland 
 need no description of Lucerne, but all will agree 
 at once that it is one of the most delightful spots 
 in all Europe. The sail on the Lake, the ascent 
 of both the Rigi and Mount Pilatus, viewing the 
 Lion cut out of the rock, and buying cuckoo 
 clocks were indulged in to our heart's content, but 
 we are touring and cannot tarry too long even at 
 dear old Lucerne. So on to Stuttgart by way of 
 
74 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 Rheinfelden and Schaffhausen where the Rhine 
 falls, producing a splendid spectacle, not of 
 course so grand as our own Niagara Falls, but 
 beautiful in the extreme. Stuttgart, the capital 
 of Wurttemberg, is a beautiful city; we cannot 
 stop long as we are heading for Munich by way 
 of Augsberg. 
 
 Of course, it would not do to leave Munich 
 without saying something of the magnificent pic- 
 tures in the many galleries of this great, quiet, 
 cultured German city on the banks of the "Iser 
 rolling rapidly". The splendid music in the great 
 beer gardens, patronized by the best people of 
 Munich as well as the strangers within her gates, 
 but we must not dwell on this point, as it is rather 
 a delicate subject and in our exuberance we might 
 give ourselves away. 
 
 Back to Lucerne, crossing Lake Constance 
 and Lake Zurich, through the city of Zurich, 
 which is the largest and one of the prettiest in 
 Switzerland. After another short stay at Lu- 
 cerne, we take the train for Interlaken, over the 
 
SCENE ON I^AKE LUCERNE 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 75 
 
 mountains on the funicular railroad and down 
 the lake on the boat with the majestic Jungfrau 
 looming far above into the clouds. But the Jung- 
 frau, unlike the Pilatus and the Rigi, has not been 
 conquered with the funicular railroad, so we have 
 to content ourselves with reaching about a ten 
 thousand feet level, going up one side by way of 
 Grundewald and returning by Lauterbrunnen. 
 Interlaken furnishes much grander mountain 
 scenery than does Lucerne but lacks many of the 
 other things that make Lucerne so attractive. 
 
 Our next stopping place is Berne, the capital, 
 with its many attractions, and especially the bears. 
 No one would think of going to Berne without 
 seeing the bears; in fact, they could not, for the 
 bear is everywhere. 
 
 Lausanne, our next stop, is attractive in many 
 ways, affording good schools and pure French for 
 the education of the young, but Geneva is too close 
 to tarry long here. No one ever stays long enough 
 in Geneva to grow tired of it. We had had oppor- 
 tunity enough of mountain-climbing so did not go 
 
76 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 up Mont Blanc, which is reached from this place. 
 Geneva is a beautiful little city built on both sides 
 of Lake Geneva, the spill of which forms the 
 headwater of the river Rhone. Of course, one 
 cannot leave Geneva without purchasing a watch, 
 and, as the Kid was the only one not already sup- 
 plied, she was the lucky one. The ladies found 
 great pleasure in shopping here, as prices seemed 
 low and the shopkeepers so nice that they could 
 not refuse to buy. If changes in garments had to 
 be made, that, too, could and would be done and 
 if an excuse were given that it would be impossi- 
 ble to wait in the city for the time required to 
 make the changes, the answer would come : "We 
 will send you the goods and if not satisfactory, you 
 can return them, not paying us a cent." 
 
 The more we see of Geneva, the less sympa- 
 thy we have for John Calvin on account of being 
 exiled there. If ever we are to be exiled and it 
 makes no difference to the exiling party, we would 
 suggest Geneva. While a Swiss city, everyone 
 will tell you that a purer French is spoken here 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. ^'j 
 
 than in France itself, for which reason many boys 
 and girls are sent here to study French. This is 
 our last stop in beautiful, free and hospitable 
 Switzerland and quite loath we are to leave it, al- 
 though gay Paris is just before us and destined to 
 be our next stop. 
 
 A whole day's run in a French railroad train 
 is required to reach Paris. Our party was large 
 enough to command a compartment to ourselves, 
 although two seats were still unoccupied. A suit- 
 able tip to the guard was all that was necessary 
 and frequently we had an opportunity of seeing 
 him turn away passengers who argued that there 
 was room for two more. This guard, while per- 
 haps not true to the best interests of the railroad, 
 certainly was true to us, which is not always the 
 case with people who can be bought; the trouble 
 being that they will not stay bought. The day's 
 ride was not an uncomfortable one and a good 
 opportunity was given to see quite a little of the 
 French country. 
 
 Arriving somewhat after dark at the French 
 
78 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 capital, we made for the best looking carriage and 
 told the driver the name of our hotel, The Elysee 
 Palace, where we had telegraphed for accommo- 
 dations. As this is one of the best and newest of 
 Paris' numerous hotels, we were surprised that he 
 had never heard of it. Several other drivers were 
 appealed to with no better results. Finally, after 
 writing it on paper and finding that most of the 
 drivers could not read, — a more intelligent man 
 was found who said something to the driver that 
 sounded nothing like what we had said to him, 
 and then all threw up their brows and cried: 
 ''Oui, oui", our driver cracked his whip and we 
 were off. We have often wondered why the peo- 
 ple of Paris do not understand French. This ex- 
 perience was a little hard on Aunt Gerty, who was 
 to be our interpreter when we got to France, but 
 she made good later when educated French people 
 were encountered. 
 
 Our hotel proved to be very attractive and 
 situated on the magnificent avenue. Champs 
 Elysees, but as we found in several other fine ho- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 79 
 
 tels, they could "sleep us better than they could eat 
 us", so we soon got the habit of going out for din- 
 ner where we could get things more to our lik- 
 ing and where Parisian life in all its gayety enter- 
 tained us as we dined. In this connection a rather 
 unique situation was brought about. A lady 
 friend of the whole party from Toledo, Ohio, who 
 was in England, telegraphed that she would dine 
 with us the next evening. Crossing the Channel 
 she met a lady shipmate of her late voyage across 
 the Atlantic, who advised that she go to her hotel 
 and the Toledo lady, having selected none, ac- 
 quiesced. Securing a room to her satisfaction, 
 she dressed for dinner, called a carriage and said 
 to the driver "Elysee Palace". He promptly 
 failed to understand her. However, she had less 
 trouble than we and arrived in time for dinner. 
 We had decided to dine at the "Cafe de Paris" 
 that evening and, as it made no difference to our 
 friend, there we drove. After dining and seeing 
 the sights, our guest declared she must get back to 
 her hotel. On being asked at which hotel she was 
 
8o Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 stopping, she wrinkled her brow, bit her lips, and 
 failed to remember either the name or the loca- 
 tion. There she was — what was to be done? At 
 last, her countenance brightened and she said: "I 
 have it — The Oriental. The everlasting cabman 
 was again called and told to drive to The Orien- 
 tal Hotel. He drove for about three miles, across 
 the Seine and dear only knows where and pulled 
 up in front of a large hotel, only to bring the ex- 
 clamation from our guest: "That's not the place". 
 Neither it was, but where was the place? That 
 was the question. Every name that sounded like 
 "Oriental" was run over. At last our driver's 
 face brightened and he shouted: "L'Oriente". 
 "That sounds good", said our friend, so back over 
 bridges and through streets until we began to 
 think he was going to take us to The Orient for 
 sure. Finally he pulled up in front of a hotel 
 and the porter coming to open the carriage door 
 was recognized and all were happy. On looking 
 around, we found that we were just across the 
 street from the Cafe de Paris where we had dined. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 8i 
 
 But were we not in "Gay Paree" and have not 
 many people been lost there? 
 
 Well, here we were confronted with the same 
 problems as in London, so much to see, so much to 
 tell about and so much not to tell about. The 
 Louvre, both the picture gallery and the shop, 
 and I am not sure that I should tell it, but the shop 
 did have a few more trips to its credit than the 
 gallery. Of course, for the Kid's sake, we had to 
 visit Napoleon's Tomb, the Church of the Made- 
 leine, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the col- 
 umn of the Bastile, the column Vendome, the 
 Grand Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, The Tro- 
 cadero, Notre Dame, the Statue of Jeanne d' Arc, 
 etc., etc., etc. One day, by automobile to Ver- 
 sailles; the beauty and grandeur of this summer 
 capital of the French people we cannot attempt 
 to describe in this little booklet, but must say for 
 the benefit of those contemplating a visit to Paris, 
 that this must not be left out. Another day, Sun- 
 day, at St. Cloud, was well spent, where thousands 
 of the French people go with their families to 
 
82 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 picnic and commune with nature. Here the 
 French people of the middle or poorer classes 
 show to good advantage, where all, from the old- 
 est to the youngest, join in a day of rest. Then to 
 Fontainebleu, a fine day's drive of about eighty 
 miles round trip. Here was one of Napoleon's 
 favorite palaces. On our trip here, we found 
 that Uncle Sam was not the only man who knows 
 how to collect revenue^. Our chauffeur had hardly 
 passed out of the gates of the city until he stopped 
 to buy gasoline. When the Conductor remon- 
 strated with him for stopping so soon and asked 
 why he had not supplied himself before starting, 
 he was informed that a high revenue on gasoline 
 in the city made it necessary to stop and buy as soon 
 as the city limits were passed. This law also made 
 it necessary to stop every machine and open the 
 gasoline tank and run a gauge down to measure 
 how much you had. I wonder if this is one of 
 the good laws our civic reformers never tire of 
 telling us the European cities have. Another lit- 
 tle trip we found very pleasant was to Robinson 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 83 
 
 for dinner. This trip is not in the guide books, 
 but is certainly unique inasmuch as your dinner 
 is served high up in the trees. The tables are 
 reached by ladders and the food sent up by rope 
 and pulleys, the waiters only going up once to 
 set the tables. 
 
 Paris, like all other attractive places, must 
 be left behind by the tourist, so we take the train 
 for Calais to cross again the much dreaded Eng- 
 lish Channel. Our trip was uneventful so far as 
 the train was concerned, but oh, that boat. Never 
 was that old Channel rougher and never were 
 more sick people on one boat. Every passenger 
 except the Kid gave up all they had. A man and 
 woman were sitting next each other with heads 
 resting on each other's shoulders whenever con- 
 venient. The ship doctor was very busy. Notic- 
 ing this couple and observing that the man was 
 very sick, said to the woman: "Your husband is 
 quite sick". "Yes," said she, "he is sick alright, 
 but he is not my husband. I never saw him be- 
 fore." The Boss was hors de combat on this voy- 
 
84 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 age and the command had to be handed down to 
 the next in rank until it reached the Kid, she being 
 the only one capable. On arriving at Dover, 
 considerable efifort was necessary to arouse all 
 enough to board the train for London. Arriving 
 at London, the driver was told to drive to the 
 Carlton, our old stamping ground of several 
 months before, where every man and boy seemed 
 to know and welcome us as old friends. It cer- 
 tainly did sound good to hear everybody speaking 
 in our own language — it appeared that we were 
 nearing home. 
 
 We had intended going from London to 
 Liverpool by train but recollections of the beauti- 
 ful English country and good roads appealed to 
 us and as the distance was only two hundred miles 
 and could be driven by machine in time to catch 
 our boat, that mode of travel was decided on. Ar- 
 rangements were made for a machine for the next 
 morning at eight o'clock, but at that hour rain 
 was falling in such torrents and indications were 
 that it would continue that the automobile man 
 
Little Journeys of ICatharine. 85 
 
 was telephoned and asked what it would cost to 
 cancel our contract and were told "Nothing," 
 which we thought very fair. By noon the rain had 
 ceased and we again called up our man and found 
 that he was still ready to take us, so the start was 
 made. We had not much more than gotten 
 started when again it began to rain and kept at 
 it off and on most of the afternoon. As the day 
 advanced, it grew very dark and only then did we 
 remember that this was the day of the great 
 eclipse of the sun. Several times the sky would 
 clear enough to permit us to see the sun but was 
 misty enough that we could look directly at the 
 sun without hurting our eyes. In this way we 
 were enabled to see it in all stages of the eclipse. 
 
 By evening we were again at the Hotel Re- 
 gent, Lemington, where we were recognized and 
 welcomed as the people with the flag. We were 
 chilled through and through by the cold and rain 
 augmented by the speed of the machine. A big 
 wood fire was burning in the hotel and all gath- 
 ered round it. A good hot dinner was served and 
 
86 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 all were as good as new. While seated at dinner, 
 a boy came in and announced that the Treaty of 
 Peace between Russia and Japan had been signed 
 at Portsmouth and that President Roosevelt had 
 been instrumental in a large measure and was 
 given most of the credit therefor. 
 
 The next morning was an improvement on 
 the day before. We hade made seventy miles in 
 the afternoon from London and had one hundred 
 thirty still before us for the day. Arriving at 
 Liverpool about four o'clock, we had the rest of 
 the day and evening for completing our arrange- 
 ments for departure on the Cedric the next morn- 
 ing. Our homeward voyage was uneventful, the 
 weather was generally cold and the sea somewhat 
 rougher than our eastward trip, but on the whole 
 an average one for this season of the year. Our 
 arrival at the dock was early enough to permit of 
 our coming home, but the shopping had to be 
 done, so another day was spent in New York and 
 the ladies declared that it was the best day's shop- 
 ping since leaving home. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 87 
 
 From New York to Pittsburgh is only a night 
 so our story is ended. To those who have been 
 patient enough to follow this little tale to the end, 
 I wish to apologize for having taken them over 
 so much ground and told them so little, but you 
 know every party on going to Europe, makes a 
 solemn compact one with the other that no tales 
 will be told on returning home, hence the reason 
 I have said nothing. 
 
 D. P. Black. 
 
KATHARINE ON A JOY RIDE. 
 
88 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 A JOY RIDE. 
 
 PREFACE:— No,— not that but an APOL- 
 OGY. If more authors would apologize for the 
 stories they write, we would feel less bitter toward 
 them and still less, if they would leave untold the 
 tales altogether. This little narrative was written 
 at the combined requests of the "Stout Lady", the 
 "Kid" and the "Otherone", and on the imperative 
 command of the "Boss", all of which must be 
 obeyed. 
 
 The Author. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 T was a beautiful Saturday morning in 
 mid-August 1910 that the "Bunch" 
 started from Ebonhurst, corner of Penn 
 
 and Murtland Aves., Pittsburgh, for a "joy ride" 
 
 over the Alleghany Mountains. 
 
 The "Bunch" consisted of: The "Boss". 
 First, I will have to describe the "Boss", for is she 
 not the Boss and must be obeyed? Well, as I was 
 about to say, the "Boss" is a lady of mature age, 
 (but not old), fully developed both mentally and 
 physically; her exact weight unknown to anyone 
 save herself, as she always weighs herself in the 
 privacy of the bathroom after securely bolting 
 both doors and pulling down the blinds. It is 
 safe to say, however, that she assisted materially 
 in holding the automobile close down to the 
 ground. 
 
 Then there was the "Stout Lady", built 
 along the same lines as the "Boss" only more so, 
 
90 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 her weight also being an unknown quantity, but 
 it is safe to say you could double the amount you 
 would guess if guessed in her presence. The 
 ^'Stout Lady'" like the "Boss", was a very impor- 
 tant person as ballast was necessary to keep the 
 machine from turning somersaults over the thou- 
 sand and one "Thank you ma'ams". Besides 
 that, she was the life of the party and kept all in 
 good humor. 
 
 There was also the "Kid". The "Kid" was 
 not built along the same lines by any means. 
 Where the "Boss" and the "Stout Lady" were tall 
 across, the "Kid" was tall up and down and so 
 thin that she had to stand twice to cast a shadow; 
 but without the "Kid" we might as well have 
 stayed at home, for she was always in a good 
 humor and even when all were thrown into the 
 air going over a "Thank you ma'am", and the 
 "Stout Lady" failed to light on the spot she left 
 but square in the lap of the Kid," the latter fair- 
 ly howled — sometimes with joy, sometimes with 
 pain — but always laughing. 
 
THE CONDUCTOR AND HENRY 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 91 
 
 All personally conducted trips must have a 
 conductor, whose duty it is to entertain the party, 
 act as pathfinder and explain everything along 
 the road. (It makes no difference whether he 
 knows what he is talking about or not so long as 
 he doesn't let the rest know it.) I hardly know how 
 to describe this conductor. He was far from 
 slim, yet not so fat, and not so young as he used 
 to be, but not yet old. When standing straight, 
 he was absolutely unable to see his feet, although 
 he wore full Number Nines. It was the con- 
 ductor's duty to pay all tolls and bills — I put tolls 
 first because of their greater importance. Some 
 of the roads had toll gates every mile and on both 
 sides of the road. 
 
 Last, but not least, we had a Chauffeur, as 
 good and faithful a son of Ethiopia as ever 
 "shofed" a car, and his name was Henry. Henry 
 was built something after the lines of the French 
 Percheron horses — close to the ground ; this being 
 the case, he never "got up in the air". 
 
92 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 Well, with Henry at the wheel, with three 
 suitcases and two bags and the rest of us packed 
 in like sardines, the signal was given at 8:30 A. 
 M. sharp and we were off. 
 
 Anyone accustomed to touring well knows 
 the only place you get lost is getting out of the 
 towns and cities. Well, we did succeed in get- 
 ting out of our own city without experiencing 
 this difficulty, although most people would have 
 thought we were getting far from the straight 
 and narrow path toward Bedford, as our course 
 lay out Penn Avenue, to Braddock Avenue, 
 through Swissvale and Rankin, over the bridge 
 to Homestead, turning southeast up the river 
 past Kennywood Park, through Duquesne, over 
 the bridge into McKeesport, after crossing both • 
 railroads turning sharp to the left about one-half 
 mile, again turning sharp up the hill to the right 
 at Flatiron Building, into White Oak level ma- 
 cadam road to Greensburg pike just west of Ir- 
 win, turning east on pike through Irwin to 
 Adamstown, turning right down clay road one 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 93 
 
 mile to macadam road into Greensburg, passing 
 through town two squares past courthouse, turn- 
 ing left under P. R. R., taking first right hand 
 road past fairgrounds, through New Alexander to 
 Blairsville, up pike over Pack Saddle Mountain, 
 through Armaugh, turning right at unpainted 
 church, along clay road, down steep hill to ma- 
 cadam road with toll, along Conemaugh River 
 into Johnstown, in center of town turning left 
 two squares to Bedford Avenue, turning right up 
 the hill, then leaving pike, turning right through 
 Scalp Level and Windber some distance, brick 
 and macadam, along top of mountain, down east 
 side of mountain with beautiful view into fine 
 valley, to Bedford. 
 
 Now, gentle reader, do not get discouraged. 
 I am not going to describe the road further. I 
 am only anxious to get you out of town and on 
 your way thus far so you will not come back, as 
 you are sure by this time that you can find a bet- 
 ter way home. 
 
94 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 We arrived at Bedford Springs about 4 P. 
 M. and found many friends already there. Bed- 
 ford Springs Hotel is a fine looking old brick 
 and frame building among the trees, giving you 
 at once the impression that within its walls you 
 will find good old fashioned hospitality at 
 modern not moderate prices. This is such a 
 restful place after a hard day's mountain ride 
 that we were loath to leave it in the morning, so 
 nine, ten, eleven o'clock went by and we were not 
 yet started. Henry had fed our iron steed with 
 ten gallons of gasoline and it was long since pant- 
 ing at the door, champing the bit, as it were, to 
 climb the three mountains between there and Mc- 
 Connellsburg, the county seat of Fulton County. 
 
 Our path lay for several miles along the 
 banks of the Blue Juniata and then suddenly up 
 over one, two, three mountains and then to the 
 east, and far below, spread like a map before us, 
 lay a beautiful valley with McConnellsburg in 
 the midst. There at the Fulton House we got a 
 good well-served luncheon. Again we are off, 
 

 
 
 KAIHAKINK A^ AN ORANGK (iK<)\\ lAi. 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 95 
 
 but we are not yet quite rid of the mountains, as 
 right in our path is a very formidable one. But 
 mountains have no terrors for the brave little 
 Columbia as she throws wide open her nostrils 
 and bounds from breaker to breaker, and we are 
 soon at the top and look over into Franklin 
 County with its beautiful farms, large brick 
 houses, telling us at once that this is the beginning 
 of the land of the Pennsylvania Dutchman. And 
 surely he knows how to farm and how to live. 
 
 We had intended to stop over night at 
 Chambersburg, the county seat of Franklin 
 County, but it was yet only the middle of the 
 afternoon and we felt we must press on to Gettys- 
 burg, with much less resistance than did Gen. 
 Robert E. Lee in sixty-three. 
 
 On approaching from the west, the battle- 
 field is reached before the town, so we drove up 
 and down several of the avenues lined with mon- 
 uments and teeming with historical interest, 
 which, however, we were not familiar enough 
 with to appreciate fully. We therefore drove to 
 
96 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 town, left our baggage at the hotel, secured a 
 guide and again drove over the great decisive 
 battlefield of the Civil War. This alone was 
 sufficient compensation for crossing the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains. 
 
 After a more or less uncomfortable night at 
 a very inferior hotel, we started about nine o'clock 
 for Philadelphia via York, Columbia, Cotesville 
 and Downington, arriving at the Bellevue-Strat- 
 ford, Philadelphia, at about 3 :oo P. M., with 
 Pittsburgh air in all four of our tires, no mis- 
 haps or accidents of any kind and having to our 
 credit one of the most pleasant trips of our lives. 
 
 A very amusing incident occurred at this 
 point. On the evening before at the hotel at 
 Gettysburg, a lady who was with her husband (or 
 rather he was with her) , discovered that a 5 
 o'clock breakfast was served for those wishing to 
 leave on an early train. She conceived the idea 
 that if they would take their breakfast at that 
 hour, they would be sure of getting into Philadel- 
 phia the next day. The husband objected to get- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 97 
 
 ting up so early and, in order to dissuade his wife, 
 told her that an extra charge was made for the 
 early breakfast. The wife was about ready to 
 acquiesce, but thought she would inquire if this 
 was true before giving up. Upon being assured 
 that no extra charge was made, she informed 
 hubby that they would take the early breakfast 
 and get an early start. This they did at 5:30, as 
 we could see from our windows, which they were 
 just beneath. Did you ever notice how much noise 
 a "one lunger" can make under your window at 
 5 A. M.? If you have, you will know that we 
 got no further sleep until they were gone. We 
 took the regular breakfast, and, as I have stated, 
 started about 9 o'clock, arriving at Philadelphia 
 about 3 P. M. Some five hours after, or about 
 8 P. M., our friends of the early breakfast came 
 strolling into the hotel, the wife with a look on 
 her face which plainly spoke "I told you so". 
 
 I wish to say it had been the "Stout Lady's" 
 intention to accompany us only as far as Bedford 
 and from there return to Pittsburgh, but the 
 
98 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 mountain air and the exhilarating sensation of the 
 Joy Ride were so enjoyable that she concluded to 
 go as far as Gettysburg, but when that point was 
 reached, the place for returning was shoved on to 
 York and again to Philadelphia. As it was our 
 intention to spend a few weeks at the seashore, we 
 put the machine up in storage, allowing Henry 
 to have his vacation by going to Baltimore to see 
 his friends. Slowly and sadly the "Stout Lady" 
 wended her way to the Pennsylvania Station to 
 take her train back home and the Boss, the Kid 
 and the Conductor hied themselves off to Beach 
 Haven to spend a week or two basking in the sun 
 and bathing in old ocean. But somehow it seemed 
 tame and lacked animation and they longed for 
 the road. 
 
 The return of the Stout Lady left one seat 
 unoccupied in the machine, which would not do. 
 Now, the Boss, in addition to being Boss, is al- 
 ways looking out to give others pleasure, so a 
 young lady who was visiting her sister in East 
 Orange was suggested and was unanimously 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 99 
 
 elected a member of the party on the spot. A 
 letter was sent off post haste and brought an an- 
 swer by wire, not one telegram but two, presum- 
 ably fearing its miscarriage and that would have 
 been awful. This young lady made the second 
 kid and will be designated, like Pecksniff's 
 daughter, the "otherone." 
 
 Thursday morning came and so did the 
 "Otherone", but lo and behold, there was no 
 Henry, and as he was all important in this trip, 
 feelings of deepest despair were beginning to fill 
 the hearts of some of the party, but the Conduc- 
 tor said he knew Henry would not be one minute 
 too early, neither would he be a minute too late. 
 As the time for starting had been fixed at 8:30 
 and 8:25 passed with no word of his arrival in 
 Philadelphia, even having been received, the sus- 
 pense became painful, but like Jules Verne's 
 Phineas Fogg, he was at 8:29 announced by the 
 uniformed porter, who approached the Conduc- 
 tor with the correct salute and said: "Your car 
 is at the door, sir." Immediately, all faces 
 
loo Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 brightened, our luggage was hustled into the ma- 
 chine, bills paid, goodbyes said and we were off. 
 Our faces were turned toward Bethlehem 
 but, unlike the Wise Men of the East, we had no 
 star to guide us as it was broad daylight, and we 
 immediately proceeded to get lost as usual in get- 
 ting out of town. This was occasioned, however, 
 by some of the streets we were to take being torn 
 up for repairs and in taking side roads, we did 
 not always get back to the proper place. Only a 
 few minutes, however, and we were on the Bethle- 
 hem Pike, with our hands in our pockets paying 
 toll like veterans. In all seriousness, we think it 
 high time that some of the rich counties in east- 
 ern Pennsylvania put their hands in their pockets 
 and build a few fine macadam roads free of tolls 
 as we have in Allegheny County. 
 
 The day was fine, the road fair and on we 
 sped through Montgomery, Bucks and Lehigh 
 counties, arriving at South Bethlehem where Le- 
 high College is located. This college was richly 
 endowed by the late Asa Packer. Thence we 
 
THE BRIDAL VEIL, WATKINS GLEN 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. ioi 
 
 crossed the Lehigh River into Bethlehem, both 
 thriving business looking towns. It was not yet 
 time for lunch, so we inquired the way out of town 
 to get to Easton. As heretofore, several persons 
 told us of as many different roads as there were 
 inquiries. One more intelligent man than the rest 
 said: ''As you appear to have a good machine and 
 distance does not make much difference, I would 
 advise going through Nazareth and get a ma- 
 cadam road all the way and only about ten miles 
 farther. As we had never been to Nazareth and 
 never expected to get there again, we took his ad- 
 vice and found as he said fine roads, but one place 
 for about three miles, they were putting on fresh 
 oil. 
 
 At Easton we stopped for lunch. Upon in- 
 quiry we were told that the best house was the 
 Karldon. Recollections of the Carlton in Lon- 
 don and its fine grill room steaks came to our 
 minds, so decided on it at once and made no mis- 
 take. Quite a large parade was being held at this 
 place and as we could get no information who 
 
I02 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 they were and for what purpose they were parad- 
 ing, we came to the conclusion the demonstration 
 was for us. In fact, we found the word "Wel- 
 come" posted up in several of the towns we passed 
 through and thought it real nice in them to be so 
 kind and hospitable to us strangers within their 
 gates. Easton is a very fine town, the home of 
 Lafayette College. 
 
 After lunch we pushed on to Delaware Water 
 Gap and felt well repaid for our journey thus far. 
 Certainly it is a beautiful spot, with the fine hotels 
 placed far up on the mountainside. The new ce- 
 ment bridge being constructed over the Delaware 
 River at this point is beautiful to behold. The 
 Delaware River at this point breaks through the 
 mountain, producing a bit of beautiful scenery 
 never to be forgotten. 
 
 Having passed through Northampton County 
 and arrived at Stroudsburg, the county seat of 
 Monroe Co., we had passed through the best 
 farming part of our trip since leaving Philadel- 
 
H^HlTa 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^Kt^^'-^^^ 
 
 ^tt 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 te^ 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 j^ 
 
 
 \7^^^ 
 
 DELAWARE WATER GAP 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 103 
 
 phia, but while it is fine, it does not quite equal 
 the farms of Lancaster County and the Cumber- 
 land Valley. Our road now passes up over Mt. 
 Pocono and is fifty-two miles to Scranton, mostly 
 mountain road. But the Columbia is fond of 
 mountain climbing and after getting a good drink 
 of gasoline, we are ofif again, arriving in Scranton 
 before dark, having traveled one hundred seventy- 
 six miles since morning. 
 
 Scranton reminds one of a little Pittsburgh, 
 nestled in among the hills with blazing furnaces, 
 tall smoke stacks, and none too clean, the hotel 
 especially. We did not stay long here but took a 
 little walk after dinner. Found quite a nice little 
 square with several pretentious monuments, but 
 the light was not very good and we were unable 
 to read the inscriptions so we concluded they were 
 Old Lackawanna and Mr. and Mrs. Scranton and 
 let it go at that. This day's trip was rather a long 
 one and the last fifty miles over none too good 
 roads, yet the Boss, the Kid and the Otherone all 
 said they enjoyed it immensely. It is safe to say 
 
I04 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 they were tired, however, as they all refused to go 
 even to a nickelodeon, and for the Kid, especially, 
 this was quite a sacrifice. 
 
 It rained most of the night and was still rain- 
 ing in the morning. This was not very encourag- 
 ing, as we had a hard mountain road of sixty-two 
 miles ahead of us before reaching Binghamton, 
 N. Y. We immediately proceeded to gtt lost in 
 getting out of town, but as we went only a mile 
 or so, thought nothing of it and were soon on a 
 good macadam road. This road we were not long 
 to follow, but you know how hard it is to leave a 
 fine macadam road for a poor one, so we kept 
 speeding along until we came to some stone masons 
 who told us we had passed our turning place about 
 five miles back, but that we need not go back as 
 we could follow on, bearing to the right and again 
 strike the proper road. This we did and were 
 well paid for it, as we wound our way up a 
 crooked creek with an old mill and mill dam 
 which reminded us of our earlier days at Bell's 
 Dam on old Chartiers Creek, where sunfish three 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 105 
 
 inches long looked like sharks and suckers like 
 whales. But with the Columbia climbing, climb- 
 ing all the time, we were soon to leave this beauti- 
 ful creek and gain the high road to Binghamton, 
 and right sorry we soon had reason to be, as this 
 road was the worst we had encountered since 
 leaving home. The water breakers were high 
 and steep, while the road was so narrow that we 
 had to take them straight. 
 
 Here we met our first mishap by pulling our 
 grease pan off, but as this did not reflect on either 
 the machine or the driver, the Conductor and 
 Henry took off their coats and went to work, or at 
 least Henry did. The machine was run with the 
 wheels on two large stones, (they were ever pres- 
 ent) forming a natural pit so that the men, espe- 
 cially Henry, could get under. In less than 
 twenty minutes, the pan was securely bolted on and 
 we were good as new. On we sped over roads, 
 sometimes up, sometimes down, but always steep 
 and rough. However, all things must come to 
 an end, even bad roads, although it takes longer. 
 
io6 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 At last we struck the winding course of the Sus- 
 quehanna and followed it over fine roads about 
 ten miles into Binghamton, having covered 
 about seventy miles, not as the crow flies, but as 
 we run. We were all hungry and making inquiry 
 for the best hotel, were told that either the Arling- 
 ton or Bennett would supply our wants to our full 
 satisfaction. As the Bennett appeared to be di- 
 rectly in our course, we selected it and had a fine 
 lunch. 
 
 From here everything seemed to change. No 
 matter in what direction v/e wanted to go, on in- 
 quiry we were told the roads were fine and so we 
 found them. As our next town was Owego, 
 twenty- two miles away, we headed that way and 
 by some mistake we failed to get lost in getting 
 out of the beautiful little city of Binghamton, 
 which, by the way, they call the "Parlor City" on 
 account of its trim and natty appearance. On we 
 flew over roads as good as our own Three Degree 
 Road or any others of the four hundred miles now 
 completed in Allegheny County. Owego fairly 
 
IN \V ATKINS GLEN 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 107 
 
 seemed to come toward us. We were told here 
 that several roads lead to Watkins Glen but were 
 advised to cross over the Susquehanna River and 
 keep down the south side. This we did and found 
 the road posted for Watkins Glen. But we found 
 in "these parts" that they post every road whether 
 it is the shortest or longest to the objective point. 
 Down the river we flew between river and moun- 
 tain, bearing all the while to the South, which the 
 Conductor felt we should not do, but as there were 
 no bridges and the river could not be forded, we 
 were obliged to continue on the road selected. The 
 road was good and the scenery fine so it mattered 
 little where we were going and the Conductor re- 
 marked ''whether we were right or wrong, we 
 were going somewhere like the dickens". 
 
 We soon found ourselves back in Pennsyl- 
 vania opposite the town of Sayres, twenty-four 
 miles from Owego. As there was a bridge here, 
 we crossed and found that to get to Watkins Glen, 
 we would go by Waverly and Elmira, twenty-five 
 miles away. Leaving the Susquehanna, we fol- 
 
io8 Little Journeys OF Katharine. 
 
 low up the Chemunk over more good roads, ex- 
 cept one place where they were building some 
 new macadam, and we were soon at Elmira, at 
 sundown, with Watkins Glen (like Sheridan) 
 ''still eighteen miles away". We were advised to 
 stop for the night here as a new road was being 
 built and the autos were thrown to the east side of 
 the lake instead of the west. We, however, did 
 not feel satisfied to stop so near our destination, so 
 started, feeling we could make it by dark, but at 
 a point about about nine miles from either town, 
 one of our rear tires began to let down. Not a 
 puncture, just a slow leak, but it had to be fixed 
 and as it was getting dark, a new inner tube was 
 put in. We were all ready to start when we found 
 it also leaked, so a second one had to be substi- 
 tuted. 
 
 The girls in the meantime had concluded to 
 walk ahead a short distance until we would over- 
 take them, but as more time was consumed than 
 usual putting in the tire, they concluded that the 
 Conductor and Henry had picked up the wrong 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 109 
 
 girls. In fact, they did mistake three ladies in 
 the dark and chased after them, blowing the 
 horn to attract their attention, when lo and behold, 
 the Boss, the Kid and the Otherone hove in sight 
 in the darkness and what a time the boys had try- 
 ing to convince the girls that a mistake had been 
 made. In time comparative peace reigned and 
 the girls themselves admitted that they, too, had 
 hailed another machine, thinking of course that 
 it was the boys. (Maybe.) 
 
 Well, the darkness seemed to increase and the 
 road grew narrower and we had to look out for 
 the forks so that we might not get into the new 
 road making. At last we saw a forks of the road 
 but no guide post. A house was near and the Con- 
 ductor proceeded thither to make inquiry, but the 
 little parlor was filled with young men and women 
 singing to the accompaniment of a cabinet organ: 
 ''Has anybody here seen Kelly?" Now the Con- 
 ductor's name was not Kelly, but he could not help 
 having a fellow feeling, as he himself was about 
 as hopelessly lost as ever Kelly was. Paying no 
 
I lo Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 attention to their appeal, he felt along both sides 
 of the door checks for a bell without results, so he 
 began to pound vigorously on the door, being 
 heard only by the big watch dog who came bound- 
 ing around the corner of the house. This compli- 
 cated matters a little, as any further knocking on 
 the door had to be done backwards, as it required 
 both eyes to watch and both feet to kick in order 
 to keep the dog at bay. Each rap brought a re- 
 newed onslaught from the dog but nothing from 
 within, and Kelly seemed as far from being found 
 as ever. But they came at last to the end of the 
 song and taking advantage of the lull, the Con- 
 ductor renewed his attack on the door, bringing 
 a very nice young lady who was as calm and placid 
 as the beautiful Lake Seneca lying at our feet. 
 
 Being directed to take the east or right hand 
 road and being assured that it was not altogether 
 bad, and that the first turn should be to the right 
 and the next to the left, and not up the hill but 
 hugging the lake on the left, then short to the left 
 into town, and that the distance was about three 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. i i i 
 
 miles, we were once more on the way. Following 
 along the narrow road, which the head lights 
 caused to look white and both sides black, a queer 
 sensation was produced on all of the bunch. Some 
 remarked how ghostly and rocklike those large 
 overhanging trees looked. A turn in the road 
 threw the headlights in that direction, and behold, 
 they were overhanging rocks and not trees. We 
 realized how beautiful this must be in daylight 
 but the most of it we had to lose on account of the 
 darkness. 
 
 We were approaching the town, of Watkins 
 Glen and beyond and far up the hill or young 
 mountain, we could see a cluster of lights and con- 
 cluded this was our destination, the Glen Springs 
 Hotel, so through the town and up the hill switch- 
 ing backward and forward we went till we pulled 
 up at the entrance, to be met by the head colored 
 porter who asked us to stop our engine, a rule en- 
 forced with all machines. As we started to re- 
 move our luggage, we were asked if we had en- 
 gaged rooms. Upon answering in the negative, 
 
1 1 2 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 were told we had better go to the office before un- 
 loading as the house was entirely full. At the 
 front counter, the Conductor encountered both the 
 manager and chief clerk and demanded three good 
 rooms and bath but was told that not even the bath 
 was available, as every room was taken. 
 
 Experienced conductors are not easily dis- 
 mayed, so he began to parley and found out that 
 just three rooms wxre unoccupied, but they were 
 already engaged and the travelers were expected 
 every minute, their trunks having already arrived 
 by express. The Conductor did not know, of 
 course, but ventured the remark that all the trains 
 were in for the night, hence the expected guests 
 could not now arrive. This much of the argu- 
 ment must have been correct as it w^as not denied, 
 but the clerk said the party was evidently coming 
 by automobile, otherwise they would not have ex- 
 pressed their baggage. This the Conductor knew 
 to be a good argument, as he had been doing the 
 same thing, but still claimed the rooms on account 
 of being first on the grounds. The manager 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 113 
 
 showed signs of weakening, but the clerk stood 
 firm, so the Conductor proposed, as they could 
 not agree, that he be chosen as third party to break 
 the tie, w^hich was done. He being entirely disin- 
 terested, decided promptly without fear or favor 
 that the absent party had no standing, and the 
 baggage was ordered in. The manager remarked 
 that late as it was he had business in the village 
 and the clerk said if that was the case, he was go- 
 ing also to escape the wrath to come and would 
 shut the house as soon as we got in. It was too 
 late for supper, but a cold bite was furnished and 
 all were shown to nice clean rooms and good beds, 
 which were enjoyed after a hard day's ride. In 
 the morning, inquiry was made as to whether the 
 expected guests had arrived. The clerk said a 
 machine had come puffing up the hill, but by the 
 time it reached the hotel, the lights were out and 
 the only man visible was the night watchman, who 
 informed the late travelers that the house was 
 closed and they would have to go to the village 
 hotel for the night. 
 
1 14 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 What a wonderful sight met our eyes as we 
 stood on that front porch the next morning. At 
 our feet was the beautiful Lake Seneca, from one 
 to five miles wide, thirty-six miles long and strang- 
 est of all, six hundred feet deep. Under the hill, 
 the calm and restful village of Watkins lay, the 
 county seat of Schuyler County, and far beyond 
 the sloping hills and splendid farms of central 
 New York state. After breakfast, we took a stroll 
 to the Glen, only ten minutes' walk from the hotel, 
 past the various springs whose waters will cure you 
 of whatever ails you, through a cemetery and down 
 the long winding cement stairs into the bottom of 
 the Glen, three hundred feet below. Many water 
 falls and rapids constantly surprise and delight the 
 senses as one wanders from one beauty point to an- 
 other. If all our trip had yielded us no harvest 
 until now, we would have been paid abundantly 
 right here. Tourists through New York state 
 should never fail to visit this spot. 
 
 It was almost noon when we returned to the 
 hotel, but we were so intoxicated with the beauty 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. 115 
 
 of the place that we were not hungry, and as Hen- 
 ry and the machine were both ready and waiting 
 at the door, we paid our bills, loaded our baggage 
 and started off, expecting to stop for lunch at 
 Flanagan's Restaurant at Canandaigua. This is a 
 place famous for sea foods and we later found it 
 to be fully up to its reputation. The first forty or 
 fifty miles of our journey were over fine clay roads 
 mostly in sight of Lake Seneca, through Pen Yan, 
 the county seat of Yates County. At Flint, a very 
 small place, we struck the macadam road which 
 we had all the way to Buffalo. "Westward Ho", 
 the brave little Columbia, appearing to recognize 
 her old friend, the "Macadam", sprang forward 
 by leaps and bounds until the Conductor had to 
 caution Henry to hold her down. Canandaigua 
 and our appetites arrived at about the same time. 
 
 There we had a good lobster dinner and af- 
 ter making the usual inquiries about getting out 
 of town, we again headed toward the Setting Sun, 
 on through fine country and smart towns, Lima, 
 Avon, Caledonia and Batavia. It was necessary 
 
ii6 Little Journeys OF Katharine. 
 
 several times to cut around places where repairs 
 were being made, such as top dressing to the ma- 
 cadam, thus adding some ten miles to the distance, 
 but even the side roads were good. As the sun 
 was hanging low over Lake Erie, we glided grace- 
 fully into Buffalo and pulled up at the Iroquois 
 Hotel, where we put up for the night. Had trav- 
 eled one hundred forty-six miles since twelve 
 o'clock. 
 
 The next morning being Sunday, we were not 
 up and about so early as we did not expect to do 
 as much as some on the trip homeward. About 
 one hour before we were ready to start, we met a 
 Pittsburgh friend who told us he was just starting 
 and was going to make the trip through to Pitts- 
 burgh in one day, as he had a Thomas Flyer and 
 nothing could prevent his reaching home that 
 night. Lunch was packed so that they would not 
 be obliged to delay a moment. After bidding them 
 Godspeed, we had our breakfasts and started, 
 found much of the Lake Road torn up for re- 
 pairs, so considerable distance was added by de- 
 
Little Journeys of Katharine. i 17 
 
 tours. Some twenty miles from Buffalo, we over- 
 took our friends with the Thomas ; they were hav- 
 ing tire trouble. After offering assistance and be- 
 ing assured that none was required, we pursued 
 our way only to be overtaken by them and they ob- 
 served in passing : "This is the last you will see of 
 us." But such was not the case. Twenty or thirty 
 miles farther and we overtook them again; more 
 trouble. They still declined assistance, however, 
 and we went on to Erie, where we had lunch, 
 thinking of course our friends would pass us 
 meanwhile. After driving through the finest resi- 
 dence part of Erie, and seeing the town generally, 
 we wended our way leisurely to Cambridge 
 Springs which we reached about four P. M. and 
 stayed until morning at the recently reconstructed 
 Hotel Vanadium, which is now first-class and to 
 be recommended. Sometime after our arrival at 
 Cambridge Springs, our friends of the Thomas 
 passed through, still headed for home and de- 
 termined to reach it without stop. 
 
 The next morning about nine A. M. we 
 
1 1 8 Little Journeys of Katharine. 
 
 started on our last day's trip for home, coming 
 through Saegertown and Meadville and again 
 overtook our friends by the roadside, having been 
 obliged to stop over night at a farm house and 
 were still making repairs when we passed them. 
 Through Mercer we came, stopping at Butler for 
 lunch and arrived in Pittsburgh about 4:30 P. M., 
 having covered 11 28 miles and with the same 
 Pittsburgh air in all our tires except one and that 
 was not a puncture. We had crossed the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains twice and passed through the 
 counties of Allegheny, Westmoreland, Indiana, 
 Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin 
 Adams, York, Lancaster, Chester, Delaware, 
 Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Lehigh, Nor- 
 thampton, Monroe, Lackawanna, Susquehanna, 
 Bradford, Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Lawrence and 
 Butler in Pennsylvania, and Broome, Tioga, Che- 
 mung, Schuyler, Yates, Ontario, Livingston, 
 Genesee, Erie and Chautauqua in New Nork, 1^ 
 in all. 
 
 And now that we are home and look back 
 
Little Journeys of PCatharine. i 19 
 
 over our trip, all declare that it was a most enjoy- 
 able and successful one and say they are ready to 
 repeat it at any time. 
 
 To those who have been patient enough to 
 follow this little tale to the end, we wish to say 
 goodbye. 
 
iiB,i&E»pS 
 
 mi^'Sffi 
 
 
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