The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-12-07
NOTES BY THE WAY.
A JOURNEY FROM MAINE TO CHICAGO.

~>coOS W eAAC We Aio" AN"A'A's$A -
the sound! Many are the columns written
for The Journal under that caption; but OF
late home interests have occupied our at
tentlon and we have had but little time for
travel outside of Maine. But on boarding
the train at the Grand Trunk depot in
Lewiston on the evening of Oct. q, 1905,
and finding we were really started for
Chicago, the hustling city of the west, some.
thing of the old time interest in travel re-
wives and we determine to make the most
of the trip in the amount of information as
well as pleasure that can be got out of it. The
train is loaded with passengers who have
been shopping and young people who work
in the city and who are homeward bound
for the week, as it is Saturday night. The
number diminishes at every station, until
long before we reach the New Hampshire
line practically none are left but the long
distance people, and they have mostly
taken to the sleepers.
We reach Montreal about O'clock in the
morning and after good breakfast start
out to view the city in the two hours that
we have to wait there, Ease and economy
suggest the street car as a good means OF
getting tieeting view of the place SO we
occupy the time in that way and by the eX-
penditure of a few nickelS got quite an idea
OF this historic town, which, while a near
neighbOr to us, has much that is quaint and
old. The city seems to be decidedly
Frenchy. The signs on the shops, the APP
pearance of the people, the incessant
chatter of those around us in the French
language, the many little items iii customs,
dress and style, all remind us that We have
stepped cover the line
But nine O'Clock has come and We reach
the station just in time to board the through
train that is to bowl US along with but a
few stops for the day, and those at a few
important functions. 1t is a lovely Sunday
and we lazily settle back to enjoy the rapid
change of scene in as comfortable manner
as possible. South of US we catch glimpses
of the waters of the st. Lawrence sparkling
in the sunshine, while on the opposite shore,
in the State of New York, we catch fleeing
view of village after village, Later we ride
for miles in plain view of the grand waters
of Lake Huron, vast inland sea with i'm
mense shipping interests. In the evening
we patroniZe the cafe car and order a
simple lunch which, while all right, only
cost us ninety cents.
During this long Sunday in riding through
city. village and farm one thing especially
attracted our notice. Not a single loaded
team or crew of men at work was seen for
the whole day outside of the railroad inter
ests. Say what We may, there is some re-
gard for Sunday in Canada, if not in
| the United States. Our route lies through
a wealthy agricultural region, but really we
prefer that the other fellow should occupy
it. The farmhouses are small and poor, the
OutbuildingS shabby, the barns what We
would call diminutiye in size, while every
where stacks of hay and straw abound,
The land is free from rocks and easy to till,
the soil is fertile, there is every opportunity
to farm on a large scale, but there is sense
OF drearineSs and isolation on these prairie
farms that repels instead of pleases. Those
long, low stretches of prairie with their
sticky black soil and multitude of DOGGY
places mean malaria to those obliged to live
there.
At Il. nj. Monday, only 36 hours from
Lewiston, we enter Chicago. located on
what one hundred years ago was an I'M
broken prairie. over which roamed vast
herds of buffalo which furnished food for
the wild Indian, savage, bloodthirsty and
unciviliZed. We think of this as we boar d
the electric car and ride over the paved
+brpnuad ,ti+b a e
humanity, packed closely with teams and
vehicles of every description, with police
men at every crossing. AS we watch the
active, nervous, hustling crowd, listen to
the babel of noises around us, note the con-
slant presence of danger and even death to
the pedestrian in the maze of the street,
| our brain, used only to the quiet of the
! tarly say to ourselves, what a change less
than a half century has wrought on this
spot"
Upper Madison street, which is to be our
location while in the city, is reached, and
then after obtaining a room as headquar-
tiers we started out in quest of adventure.
We had the day before us, free of any care
VI uu1Ss anu iculCLDCl tiltl ioSotcu
where in Chicago is our old friend Cassius,
surnamed Roberts, who as a kid used to
fight the boys and court the girls in historic
Brooks back in "Rleeding Waldo" SO we
start out to find him, which is no very diff
ticult matter. Boarding an Ogden Avenue
Car some two miles away we find him the
superintendent of post office with some
thirty employees under his direction. We
are invited into his private office, have a
pleasant chat, and then rise to return to our
lodgings. But Cash isn't built that way.
We were from his old home and he wanted
to talk with us and show us cordial hospital
ity So we were forthwith taken in charge
and escorted to his pleasant home but few
blocks away. Here we were introduced to
Mrs. Roberts, whom he married in the
West, and who with the traditional hospi-
tality of her Southern breeding gave cor
dial welcome to the friend of her husband
and the best that the place afforded was at
our disposal
In the afternoon Mr.. Roberts brought out
his automobile and gave us spin over the
residential districts of the city. We rode
nearly forty miles during the afternoon
and were much impressed with the streets
and parks of the city, their extent and beau
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