A FRENCHMAN IN AMERICA.
[Illustration: Max O'Rell]
_A FRENCHMAN IN AMERICA_
Recollections of Men and Things
BY MAX O'RELL
AUTHOR OF "JONATHAN AND HIS CONTINENT," "JOHN BULL, JUNIOR," "JACQUES BONHOMME," "JOHN BULL AND HIS ISLAND," ETC.
WITH OVER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY E. W. KEMBLE
NEW YORK CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 104 & 106 FOURTH AVENUE
COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
_All rights reserved._
THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAY, N. J.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
I.--Departure--The Atlantic--Demoralization of the "Boarders"-- Betting--The Auctioneer--An Inquisitive Yankee, 1
II.--Arrival of the Pilot--First Look at American Newspapers, 11
III.--Arrival--The Custom House--Things Look Bad--The Interviewers--First Visits--Things Look Brighter--"O Vanity of Vanities," 14
IV.--Impressions of American Hotels, 25
V.--My Opening Lecture--Reflections on Audiences I Have Had--The Man who Won't Smile--The One who Laughs too Soon, and Many Others, 37
VI.--A Connecticut Audience--Merry Meriden--A Hard Pull, 48
VII--A Tempting Offer--The Thursday Club--Bill Nye--Visit to Young Ladies' Schools--The Players' Club, 52
VIII.--The Flourishing of Coats-of-Arms in America--Reflections Thereon--Forefathers Made to Order--The Phonograph at Home--The Wealth of New York--Departure for Buffalo, 60
IX.--Different Ways of Advertising a Lecture--American Impressarios and Their Methods, 66
X.--Buffalo--The Niagara Falls--A Frost--Rochester to the Rescue of Buffalo--Cleveland--I Meet Jonathan--Phantasmagoria, 74
XI.--A Great Admirer--Notes on Railway Traveling--Is America a Free Nation?--A Pleasant Evening in New York, 81
XII.--Notes on American Women--Comparisons--How Men Treat Women and Vice Versa--Scenes and Illustrations, 90
XIII.--More about Journalism in America--A Dinner at Delmonico's-- My First Appearance in an American Church, 110
XIV.--Marcus Aurelius in America--Chairmen I Have Had--American, English, and Scotch Chairmen--One who had Been to Boulogne--Talkative and Silent Chairmen--A Trying Occasion-- The Lord is Asked to Allow the Audience to See my Points, 124
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Frenchman in America by Max O'Rell
- 2: Reflections on the Typical American
- 3: Good by to America Not Adieu
- 4: People do not fraternize on board ship
- 5: Then these numbers are put up at auction
- 6: Illustration GOING TO AMERICA
- 7: Miss Nelly Bly and Miss Elizabeth Bisland
- 8: Illustration CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICERS
- 9: Illustration EVERY ONE HAS THE GRIPPE
- 10: Illustration THE INTERVIEWERS
- 11: Am engaged in Pittsburg on the 16th
- 12: Such as your own washing in the bedroom
- 13: Without the sanction of the waiter
- 14: The waiters are all waitresses
- 15: I was a little afraid of the Bostonians
- 16: Would you be kind enough to give me your autograph
- 17: And she is busy watching the audience
- 18: A connecticut audience merry meriden a hard pull
- 19: And I named the firm of pill makers
- 20: I was glad to see Bill Nye again
- 21: Two chords were struck on the instrument
- 22: The greatest actor America has produced
- 23: Illustration THE NEW YORK CABMAN
- 24: Which at $115 a foot would be $5
- 25: New placards were stuck over the old ones He has arrived
- 26: An impresario once asked me if I required a piano
- 27: Illustration SHOOTING THE RAPIDS
- 28: Illustration GOING TO PITTSBURG
- 29: Before leaving the hotel in Pittsburg
- 30: So I quietly went to the next lavatory
- 31: I should like to have a cup of tea
- 32: I returned to the Everett House
- 33: It explains why a Frenchman and a Frenchwoman
- 34: I shall always remember a beautiful American girl
- 35: There is a little bit of seam come unsewn
- 36: And while on this subject of mesalliance
- 37: Illustration MADAM IS THE CASHIER
- 38: This thrift is also the source of French wealth
- 39: There is a more blissful place than paradise
- 40: She missed a pair of diamond earrings
- 41: Also cures corns and bunions
- 42: And the journalist a mere tradesman
- 43: And present them to the reader in the most readable form
- 44: Nat Goodwin told many good stories at supper
- 45: What a change after English chairmen
- 46: Should be the motto of chairmen
- 47: I have felt very tempted to imitate a confrere
- 48: Chairman eloquent and chairman the reverse
- 49: Reflections on the typical american
- 50: Illustration THE TYPICAL AMERICAN
- 51: Illustration CURIOSITY IN AUSTRALIA
- 52: Look at the advertisements in the newspapers
- 53: And good fellowship his most prominent quality
- 54: Illustration FIFTH AVENUE FOLK
- 55: Illustration A TELEPHONE AND TICKER
- 56: Talent from Dozen Operas and Theaters
- 57: That the reception could not be held at the Tremont House
- 58: I had seen Mounet Sully in the part
- 59: At forty minutes past eight the train arrived at Portsea
- 60: In a mining town in the neighborhood of Glasgow
- 61: In supposing that your lecture was not appreciated
- 62: And the sleighs laden with wood for the Quebec folks
- 63: The beautiful scenery at Quebec was
- 64: The other Canadians seem pretty equally divided
- 65: As we passed the toboggan slide
- 66: Canada has no actors worth mentioning
- 67: Who was asking me to lunch at Rideau Hall
- 68: Toronto is a thoroughly American city in appearance
- 69: These placards are merely eye ticklers
- 70: From Brantford I drove to the Indian Reservation
- 71: Who roughly bade me come to the baggage van
- 72: But a lecturer is on the road every day
- 73: To morrow night I lecture in Minneapolis
- 74: The activity in Chicago is perfectly amazing
- 75: As I was packing my valise for a journey to St
- 76: Once said a Philadelphian to a New Yorker
- 77: Soon after arriving in Minneapolis yesterday
- 78: Paul and the Minneapolis papers
- 79: Does the unco guid exist in America
- 80: There are parvenus in religion
- 81: The Jewish unco guid crucified Christ
- 82: Been looking at the unco guid
- 83: If the unco guid is the best product of Christianity
- 84: Illustration A CITIZEN OF MILWAUKEE
- 85: I lecture in Cleveland to night
- 86: And advertised as a forbidden book
- 87: My book contained one misstatement
- 88: The gouty man is sometimes decidedly funny
- 89: Talmage choosing the pulpit in preference to the stage
- 90: The monotonous hymns were accompanied by a cornet a piston
- 91: Talmage is so superior to the matter they are made of
- 92: Illustration THE WHIPPED CONDUCTOR
- 93: The portly Harrison responded with more daring humor
- 94: In Jonathan and His Continent
- 95: Illustration A SHOT IN TEXAS
- 96: The hall porter came with letters for my companion
- 97: Illustration MY BROKEN VALISE
- 98: Illustration THE KING OF THE SWAMPS
- 99: Illustration A GERMAN TRAGEDY
- 100: Fredin was kind enough to call yesterday at the Burnet House
- 101: And the scenes of wild confusion in the Burnet House
- 102: I happened to hit on the right line for Brushville
- 103: The last Brushville train was gone
- 104: A representative of the Brushville Express
- 105: This morning I opened the Brushville Express
- 106: They volunteered information on Brushville
- 107: I advised my manager to call the entertainment A causerie
- 108: Dime museums and free libraries such is America
- 109: Yesterday morning I went to see the Richmond Libby Prison
- 110: If you were a disciple of Wagner
- 111: Illustration A TERRIBLE WAGNERITE
- 112: Brearley thinks that the Americans
- 113: Originally many colored students attended at Oberlin College
- 114: Refuses to admit colored youths to membership
- 115: And an American of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- 116: When the preacher described the supper of Belshazzar
- 117: The savoir faire of a Frenchman
- 118: Illustration A BALTIMORE WOMAN
- 119: Illustration SOME EASTER BONNETS
- 120: Illustration PURITAN LACK OF CHEERFULNESS
- 121: I am quitting Whitewater to morrow
- 122: The conversation turned on humor
- 123: Illustration THE MISSIONARY AND THE FIJIS
- 124: Grand Rapids is noted for its furniture manufactories
- 125: The Teutonic is behaving beautifully
- 126: ' he may take his revenge in 'Jacques Bonhomme
