The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-05
BOOKS OF TRAVEL,


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"E. A. Abroad" book by a Western
hand all but takes the reader to Europe. f. \.
does not give an account or how she started. so
and So and breakfasted thus and saw such a
place. with the aht and the oh! of high art crit
icism. No; she goes gaily about, making fun of
the old masters and calling the old ruins rub
bish. ''It must be laundering big ruin to
waken my enthusiasm" says she, She begins
with a crisp account of going on shipboard and
the voyage, with anecdotes of the English trav
elers on board, and pleasant enjoyment of the
far northern twilight. She lands at Glasgow,
and takes the greatest delight in the living
verdure of Scotland; the huge, luscious straw
berries; the velvety, pure, rich skins of the
Scotch girls; the solidity and neatness of stone
cities stone walls and stone payements; the
splendor of flowers; the entire absence of weeds.
She also has an intense relish for
the bad dressing of the female
BritiSher, and for the pimply fellow
dropping his his who shows her over Abbotts
ford, and she calls old portraits humbugs, and
old royal relics horribly dirty rags Sheadmires
neat farms and the smooth running railroads
going under solid stone bridges at every cross
road, and then gloryingly tells how scrubby the
wheat and oats look, how yardsquare the
meadows She says you can seemore handsome
houses in ten mile ride in America than in an all
day ride in England, everything being so walled
in there so Observation-Disclosures being another
name for stupid America is the paradise of
women, says E. A, and she funnly tells how
the inferior female sex is stfed, sat on and sup
pressed in England. She describes the pen,
about large enough for q good-sized og-kennel
set off to accommodate all the women in the world
who wish to see the House of Lords in session,
with steel bar across its entrace to keep the
dangerous, wicked female creatures barred off
from the lords, and how by standing up in the
dog-house, she dimly discovers white-wigged
clerk, the lords themselves being loaded down
with dullness. "Dulll Heavens and earth! An
American party platform is q circus beside
Them" says E. A. With her sharp eyes
she sees everything in London. On the
continent she observed not only the mirth and
sparkle of life, but also the broad women,
stunted by Carrying huge weights on their heads,
the horny handed women working like oxen in
the field, the women knitting as they run on er-
rands, while the men smoke or march in uni
forms. She completely describes European rail
way travel. She tells about the draped windows
of houses and the draped toilette takes in ''poo-
naise, over-skirt and underskirt." She turns up
her nose at the little patches of vineyards, at
the slouchy old German towns, at the cat-claw-
ing Heidelberg students, at the girls working at
such light, handy chores as STRENGTHENING and
od-carrying. The impudence of the book is re-
freshing. is simply delicious, She tells exactly
what you want to know, but what was never be-
fore put into a book. For instance she says
that Italy in summer is very dusty, that italian
trees are small and scrubby, that the gondoliers
clothes are dirty, that the Doge's palace smells
of fried onions, that Italian melons taste like
pumpkins, and various other matters not men
ticned in Childe Harold or elsewhere Not
that she is unappreciative. Deges
flash gorgeously III scarlet. gold and ermine,
from her pages. Olive and orange orchards
vaulted Italian ceilings, the handsome Roman
people the Apennines and the Mediterranean are
portrayed with fine effect. Still she must men
ton the italian people i'll fuzzy rags like frizzly
chickens ana the patched officials. She cannot
overlook the man driving a woman and COW,
She has to tell how the washing is done in the
rivers Yes, thank goodness here is book at
last. that tells how that is done In Paris she
not only describes the great city but also de-
picts the French guide who says, ''If YOU are
not pleased with me quit your service and you
may go to the devil" The book is full of Jest
and anecdote from the beginning to the end
When E. A says farewell to chicken wing and
salad which she has eaten till she expects her
head to branch out in lettuce, she leaves. very
glad and contented with her own land. She has
a thrilling ocean adventure before landing. The
book is a vivid one.
Mr.. Andrew Carnegie. of the Edgar Thomp-
son Steel Works, Pittsburg, Pa. the firm that
supplies the iron work for our new Capitol,
made a coaching trip i'll England The newspa-
pers told about it at the time. They also de-
scribed his arrival at Dumfermline, his native
town, where he laid the cornerstone of a fine
public building which was his gift to that town.
Then came the news that he had written a book
of notes ON the coaching trip and had printed it
for distribution among his friends. A burning
desire to read that book seized the public mind,
and Mr.. Carnegie finally gave it to the public
just as it was-a gay, careless friendly thing,
intended for his friends and himself The book
is generally called ''Carnegies Coaching Trip"
but is named an American Four-in- hand in
Britain" 1t is beauty. The cover is decorated
with lettering of horseshoe nails and with
horses heads and the whips the umbrella
basket, the horn and the feld-glass of the coach.
Inside the book is cold pressed paper, the de-
light of reading eyes elegant large, black print,
wide marginSand fine photograph of the coach
and all on board The tour is charming, espe-
cially in the rich southern counties of England,
which seem to hold the best of the
land, namely London, Windsor, Cam
bridge Wentworth, Stratford, and so on
Inc BOOK Is WRITTEN III q HiSt, Hle,
careless rapture, telling exactly how the trip
was made, what sights they saw, what they did
and said and whom they met. The motto of
the coaching party would serve others It was,
whatever is is lovely. All that does happen and
all that doesn't shall be altogether lovely Stale
bread poor fare, heat, cold, rain, no dinner, all
were to be lovely. Each long days coaching is
described. The wonderful roads-nowhere but
in England can such roads befound-like a
smooth marble floor on which the coach rolled
without a lar the laughter songs. Jokes and ey-
carnations of pleasure of the coachers, the
walks up and down hills and along fragrant En-
glsh lanes, while the coach went ahead, are de
lghtfully described The coachers walked a
great deal, examining closely the captivating,
minute loneliness of out-of the-way paths, wan
dering by brooks and in bosky dells, seeing snug
homes talking with country people, visiting his
toric scenes about each village. They made
library or manor seat, or to go to concert, or
70 aa.rolnlt titltin1 q nd