CHAPTER XX.

Lakes Smith and Howard--Lovely Lake Scenery--Long Lake--The Little
American--"Wait till you see our Minnetaunka!"--Minneanopolis--Villa
Hotels--A Holiday Town--The Great Flour-mills--St. Paul's--Our American
Cousins--The French Canadian's Story--Kind-hearted Fellow-passengers--A
New Way of Travelling together--The Mississippi--Milwaukee, the Prettiest
Town in Michigan--School-houses--A Peep at Chicago--Market
Prices--Pigs!--The Fairy Tales of Progress--Scotch Incredulity--Detroit
Ferry--Hamilton--Good-bye to my Readers.




CHAPTER I.

The Grand Trunk Railway--Sarnia--"Confusion worse confounded"--A Churlish
Hostess--Fellow-Passengers on the _Manitoba_--"Off at
last!"--Musical Honours--Sunrise on Lake Huron--A Scramble for
Breakfast--An Impromptu Dance--The General Foe.


After a long day's journey on the Grand Trunk Railway, without even the
eccentricities of fellow-passengers in our Pullman car to amuse us, we
were all glad to reach Sarnia. The monotony of the scenery through which
we passed had been unbroken, except by a prettily situated cemetery, and
the tasteful architecture of a hillside church, surrounded by trees just
putting on their spring foliage.

It was eight o'clock when we got to the wharf, and the steamer