The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-11-28 00:00:00

REV. J. WOOD IN AMERICA.
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Last Tuesday evening the Rev. J. Wood, pastor of
the church and cougrezation meeting at Gloucester-
street Chapel, delivered 80 interesting lecture in the
echoolro un on his trip to and tour in America. A
pretty large audience gathered, and the Mat or (li. N.
Howard, Req.), presided, supported by the Rev. W.
Lewis, of Hope Chapel. The choir, led by Mr. If.
J. Rogers and Mr. C. Crocker, sang some anthems.
commencing with "Jerusalem, my Happy Home !"
The MAYOII mid before he came, be was in what is
called a ounsklerable fog, f,ir he could not tell what his
duties were. They could not be to tell what the
lecture was ab ,ut—he was no prophet; nor to Intro-
duce the lecturer, because he was very well-known;
nor to say they would hear a very good lecture—
that would be trenching on prophecy; but he was
quite satisfied that in that masterly lauguege of
which be had such control, Mr. Wood would give
• met interesting lecture. (Hear, hear.)
The Rev. J. WOOD felt explanation was nec ee s ~,,
because some of the passages of the lecture were •
little out of date. It was a few years old, how many
he would not tell. When the Evangelical Alliance
was held in New York, three of the Independent
churches of Reading came to their ministers, he being
one, and proposed to pay their expenses for nine weeks
In America. No doubt they wished to get rid of them;
but the ministers accepted the offer .41 the condition
that no one should die or get married during their
almenoe. Ai to the keeping of that condition, those
who could help it did not die ; but as to getting
married, the less said about that the better. When
be came bock the first thing he had to do was to tell
what he had men and heard.—We summarise the
lecture :
" On the 29th August they started' by the steam-
ship Baltic, one ef the White Star Liners, and if
he had to craw the Atlantic Nix times • year, he
would not go by any other line, the arrangAments
being admirable. Passing over the sea-sickness, after
two days the voyage was perfect enjoyment A
hundred saloon passengers were nearly all (except
those going to the Evangelical Alliance), Americans
returning from European town'. Americans think no
more of starting oil over the Atlantic, and taking •
trip through England, France, Germany, Italy, and
Switzerland, than we do of going to Scotland. It is
extraordinary what lassitude a sea voyage produces.
Accustomed to use our minds so much, it is a mystery
how we ate and slept so much, and did so little.
We were at first absurdly stiff, then unreasonably
familiar, then some appeared to become offensive, and
finally we were in danger of getting quarrelsome; but
we closed the voyage in the best of humour with one
another. The lain night the American gentlemen,
capital speakers, made very hearty speechea, welcom-
ing us to their shores, and to their houses if we would
go there. Reply was called for, and for two hours we
entertained each other. This enjoyment did not com-
pare with what awaited us on deck. One remarked
the Atlantic had become the Pacific, the sea was like
• mirror, the moon in full orb, and not • cloud
darkened the sky. The bright reflection of the sky
above on the waters beneath weld scarcely be die-
tineuished from phosphoreacenoe. We all stood and
cued at the beauty, while charming young ladies sung
—" Home, Sweet Home," and other melodies of wel-
come to their native land. It was only when my legs
rebelled against standing that I dragged myself to bed.
Next morning it was Sunday, the and was in view,
and the morning service wad only just over when we
were at Sandy Hook, and gathered to see the entrance
to the New World. With stars end stripes floating
we pawed through the winding narrows close beneath
the wooded banks of Straten Island, where Grecian
marvelous, Swiss cottages, and villas succeeded each
other like • panorama. If I ha I not known it was
New York we were entering, I should have thought
It was Naples. New York Harbour is the finest thing
of the sort I have been privileged to look at. The
curiae's drive right on to the boat, standing in •
passage, the wheelhouse is on the top of the boats,
and they look as though, in an @ICBM of ma-sicknees,
they had thrown their csbins inside out, and turned
their engines upside down. In New York I include
Brooklyn, the first the business city, Brooklyn a city of
residences, very beautiful, with houses of red and green,
a bridge, • triumph of engineering joining the two.
In Brooklyn is Prospect Park, • rival of the Central
008 in New York, and the cemetery. For beauty of
situation, charming ecenerv, and splendid proportione,
you never saw any cemetery to equal the Greenwood
Nmstory in Brooklyn. Through its hundreds of
acres you can drive for hours, and every turning your
eve is fille I with object* the met picturesque. In
New York you are struck with the uniformly palatial
character of the business houses, and the beauty of the
Central Park. The city, though much like some of
our own, looks vaaily better through the atmosphere,
crisp and clear, and with • sparkle which enlivens it.
The island where the city is built is shaped like a sole,
the backbone is great Broadway, the avenues branch
off like the bones, and streets cross the avenues, num-
bered from the sole's month to it. tail, so, given the
number of the street and the avenue, and you have
little difficulty in finding your way. In the New
World, except the atmephere, the speech and acts of
the poop e are marvellously like home. Like the
traveller in florae., I had cromed the sea and changed
nothing but the sky. The difficulty of deciding on
what route to take was adjueted by my having met im
the voyage the lion. Judge Fisher, a prominent
American citizen, full of experience and lei ormetiou
who lived in Cincinnetti, and invited me to go hone
and preach in the church of which he is • member.
You travel 34 hours at express railway speed to reach
the Western City, 700 or 800 miles from New York
stopped at Altoona to see the Allegheny mountable,,
stopped at Pittsburg, the great mining city. I fell in love
with the American mode of travelling, though often
Irritated by the want of punctuality. In • journey of
1,000 miles we were often hours behind time, and
once 14 hours. This Is eying to the line being single,
so that every trek put out WOOS delay. One. we
WINO stopped six hours, and a bedlam of noises
seniecl. Instimid of our shrill whietlee they have a deep
hoarse roar and a whole gamut of bail not,* that they
delight in perfeeredug, When • gathering of iron
monsters takes place, each has something to say' and
the result is like • conversation of wild beasts with
Bor7 era—grunts, howls, roam, and yell., with
gurgling, hirelings, and seertings. On all the trains are
sleeping cars, provided you pay two dollars extra, and
the hair mattress makes a comfortable seat in the day.
A train car is a house on eight wheels. Is 50ft. long 10
wide, and Bft. high, the seats arranged like pews in a
church, a row on each side, and an aisle in the middle,
algillizierelly sitting room for BO people; stoves, •
cabia, fllB and Wad water, In mos% •