The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-07-29
A TOURISTS LETTER
Down the st. LaWrence-MOntreal-
Lake Champlain-SaratOg0.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y
July q, 1867.

Inc JOuf1SI WHO NISlLS niagara
Falls ought by all means to descend
the st. Lawrence as far as Montreal.
From Niagara there T two routes,
one by the British and one by the
American line[ Passengers by both
lines arrive at Montreal on the same
boat. The American steamers are
most comfortable and pleasant, but
those wishing staterooms through to
Montreal, should go to Toronto and
engage them before going on board.
We can have but few more beauti-
| full rivers on this continent than the
| st. Lawrence. The far-famed Theus-
and Islands are worthy of their repu-.
tation for beauty, and yet one Is
apt to be surprised to see how much
they resemble any other islands Of the
same number. The Rapids are not
more praised than they should be.
Running the Rapids awakens the
keenest sensations of pleasure, hight
ened by the apparent danger. 1t is
the momentary renewal of our youth.
The LaChine Rapids, the last of the
series, are not only exciting but dan
gerous. =
: Montreal is more of a city than your
correspondent had expected to see.
1t has two very large cathedrals-the
French and the English-besides the
Church of the Jesuits. These build
ings are very massive and handsomely
finished. The Church of the Jesuits
is built In the shape of a cross, and
elegantly finished and frescoed. The
English (Episcopalian) Church is also
a very fine building. The Catholics
of Montreal think the Church of the
Jesuits the grandest on the-continent.
Everything in the nature of a public
Improvement is of the most substan-
tial character. Massive hewn stone,
put together with iron fasteGings. is
characteristic. The clocks are said to
be much better than those Of any of
our Eastern cities Of course, every
one who visits Montreal sees the great
iron bridge. Coming down the st.
Lawrence, the tourist passes under it.
and in leaving that city for Lake
Champlain, he passes through
it.. If you will imagine a steam
boiler made square instead of
round, and the joints of the iron in
stead of laping as they do in a boiler
bent in and bolted together just as
the joints of a steam pipe are some
times bent out and bolted together,
then imagine a great iron tube made
in this way large enough to pass a
locomotive through the tube a mile
and a quarter long. and resting upon
stone abutments and piers at proper
intervals, and you will have as good
an idea of the grandest bridge in the
world as one can have without seeing
it. Although the bridge has not one
brace of any kind, it is as solid as
masonry, and the trains u through
it as fast as they run on any part of
the road.
Forty-four miles south of Montreal
is Rouse's Point, the head of Lake
Champlain. The lake is so narrow
that one feels secure against the
could be put to shore in the event of
would be compelled to take to the
the lake by daylight, should remem-
Der that they can lay over at Platts-
burg and take the next boat in the
morning. At Burlington, Vermont.
our boat took on board a picnic party.
Before they left the boat, the lake
became a little rough, and many a
pale face and white lip among the
ladies evinced the fact that the mind
had wandered back to home, sweet
home" Among many other interest
ing tabaleaux, there was one Oft very
pretty girl, with a very pale face,
hanging to the rail of the boat, her
head resting on the shoulder of her
beau, his arm around her waist. He
was a gallant young fellow; but
some of the young bachelors on
board wondered if he wasn't tired.
When you arrive at Saratoga, the
great acme of a tourist't success the
first thing is to order your trunk to
your room, and having with soap and
brush removed the slightest suspicion
of any faint from pe%rspiration or the
dust and cinders of the railway train,
dig up from the bosom Of your trunk
your most elegant and fashionable
attire, and being suitably arrayed,
sally forth to find your place in this
grand dress parade of the fashionable
and the artificial. There are quite a
number of good substantial old gen.
tlemen and old ladies here. With
them in many cases come their
manageable daughters, but the
sons very rarely. The young men
here are not of the best class appa-
rent'y. They are not the sons of the
old gentlemen, or the brothers of the
young ladies who fill the parlors, but
are of that class of exquisites aud
tops about whom we read in Punch
and the Yankee Notions. who have
gathered together a few dollars 10
New York and come up TO Saratoga
to put on a little style.