Page:Notes of a Pianist.djvu/23

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CONTENTS.
xiii
PAGE
CHAPTER X.
Williamsport—Fresh telegram from Governor—Guards to hurry to defence of capital—My cousins—One in the Northern, another in the Southern army—Hagerstown in the possession of the Confederates—On the road to Harrisburg—Everybody frightened—What shall we do?—Concert out of question—Road obstructed by freight trains, wagons of all sorts, etc.—Train stops on middle of the bridge over the Susquehanna—Great anxiety—Women, dead with fright, do not cease talking—Tired of suspense—Strakosch, Madam Amelia Patti, and myself get out of the cars—Station encumbered by mountains of trunks—Discover my two pianos—Chickering Sons—Three thousand men at work on the intrenchments—Clergy place themselves at the disposition of the Governor for defence of the city—Troops from New Jersey and New York—New York reporters—Sensational news—Dinner, gentlemen!—The poor blacks—Cattle driven towards the mountains—General Milroy defeated—A young man just killed on the fortifications—Report concerning McClellan—Know McClellan—Old men, women, and children leaving the city—Murmurs against Philadelphia—Beauregard's factotum and barber—Kamon—His singular history—A little Spanish boy adopted by me in Spain—The tocsin sounds—Bands parade the streets—What does military enthusiasm amount to?—Which side is truth?—Jefferson Davis on one side, and Lincoln on the other, order thanks to the Almighty—The panic increases—A general sauve qui peut—All kinds of vehicles put into requisition—Train leaves in a few minutes—Great confusion—Curse my gallantry—Ladies give no thanks for courtesies rendered—At Philadelphia—Leave for New Brunswick—Concert at New London—Drawing for recruits commenced—Irish resist—Rioters burn railroad bridge at Harlem—Troops ordered from Morris's Island—'Tribune' office burned—Presented with basket of flowers—Fitchburgh—Nashua—News of taking of Port Hudson received—Manchester—Forced to give up concert 208
CHAPTER XI.
On a tour—Mademoiselle Cordier, Brignoli, Carlo Patti, Behrens, Max Strakosch, Ashforth—Behren's weaknesses—Devivo, Levy—A blessing to hotel proprietors—A tempest of snow—Rockford—Young ladies' seminaries—Cultivating the mind and improving the taste imperative among American women—Prefer our system of educating women to that of Europe—A sleigh ride—Its disagreeableness—Winter true season for inspiration—Sacrifice myself—End of the ride a seminary of young girls—Germans and spectacles—Curiosity of the young girls—'Maiden's Prayer'—Female servants—Harvard—Tempest of snow—Agreeable surprise—O civilization!—Rash judgment and agreeable surprise—Return to the cars—Strakosch was nearly frozen—Have to pass the night at Harvard—Fifty or sixty passengers—Disabled soldiers, etc.—Reminded of a storm at sea—Terrible condition of things—Obtain lodgings at the postmaster's—The postmaster and his family—Poverty, but not want—Europe cannot understand the character of the American farmer—Good night—Condition on awaking—The trapper's signs of cold winter—Muskrats and trout—Sick young soldier—Anxiety for him—Noble hearts in this world of dollars and cents—Suffering from the cold of men and cattle—Milwaukee impossible 221