press had created a general impression that the american was a failure and when even some of the americans in europe taking their cue from that press were declaring themselves ashamed of their country because of such failure of course these letters were written to correct the errors more recently the tide has completely turned until the danger now imminent is that of extravagant if not exultation so that this fair would be treated somewhat differently if i were now to write about it the truth lies between the extremes already indicated our share in the exhibition was creditable to as a nation not yet a century old situated three to five thousand miles from london it embraced many articles of great practical value though uncouth in form and utterly to the mere sight other nations will profit by it and we shall lose no credit but it fell far short of what it might have been and did not fairly the progress and present condition of the useful arts in this country we can and must do better next time and that without calling on the treasury to pay a dollar of the expense friends in europe i may never again meet the greater number of you oa earth allow me thus to tender you my hearty thanks for many well remembered acts of kindness and unexpected hospitality that your future years may be many and prosperous and your on the great voyage which the journey of life may be serene and hopeful is the fervent prayer of yours sincerely h g new york october ut contents i crossing the atlantic � � � � � � n opening of the fair m the great exhibition iv england � court v the future of day vi british progress vn london � new york the exhibition ix sights in london x political economy as studied at the world s exhibition xi royal sunshine xii the cotton revolution xiii leaving the exhibition london to paris xv the future of france xvi paris social and moral xvii paris political and so the palaces of france xix france central and eastern xx to xxi freedom tower t vm contents first day in the states xxiv the eternal city xxv st peter s xxvi the of to day central � eastern the po xxx to germany paris to london universal peace america at the world s fair england central and northern xl west of ireland � atlantic south prospects of ireland glances at europe i crossing the atlantic april th� the leaden skies the chilly rain the general out door aspect and prospect of discomfort prevailing in new york when our good cast loose from her dock at noon on the th were not particularly calculated to inspire and the goodly number who were then bidding adieu for months at least to home country and friends the most sanguine of the inexperienced however appealed for solace to the wind which they so long as the city completely sheltered us on the east insisted was blowing from a point west of north � whence very that the north east storm now some thirty six to forty eight hours old had spent its force and would soon give place to a serene and atmosphere i believe the at no time this which a brief experience most to before we had passed island it was abundantly certain that our breeze hailed directly from and the beyond and had no idea of changing its quarters time we were fairly outside of hook we were struggling with as glances at europe and a cross sea as had ever enlarged my experience and in the course of the next hour the high the of the scores who had embarked in the settled determination that they would not be sea sick had been exchanged for pallid faces and heaving of our two hundred passengers possibly one half were able to face the dinner table at p m less than one fourth to supper at while a stern but scanty remnant � perhaps twenty in all � answered the summons to breakfast next morning i was not in any one of these so long as i was able i walked the deck and sought to occupy my eyes my limbs my brain with something else than the sea and its the attempt however proved a signal failure by the time we were five miles off the hook i was a decided case another hour laid me prostrate though i refused to leave the deck at six o clock a friend finding me and hopeless in the room persuaded and helped me to go below there i and swayed into my berth which endured me for the next twenty four hours i then summoned strength to crawl on deck because while i remained below my were barely less than while walking above and my recovery hopeless i shall not up the souls nor the of as yet in ignorance of its with any description of sea sickness they will know all in ample season or if not so much the better but naked honesty requires a of the error that this malady is necessarily transient and easily overcome thousands who imagine they have been sea sick oh some river or lake or even during a brief ride are putting to sea with as little necessity or as to send them on a to or the white mountains they suppose they very probably he for a few hours but that the atlantic they fancy will but the general enjoyment of the voyage now it is quite true that any green sea may be sick for a few hours only he may even not be sick at all but the probability is very far from this especially when the voyage is undertaken in any other than one of the four months in the year of every hundred who cross the atlantic for the first time 