Burned Bridges - Bertrand W. Sinclair (best ereader for academics txt) 📗
- Author: Bertrand W. Sinclair
Book online «Burned Bridges - Bertrand W. Sinclair (best ereader for academics txt) 📗». Author Bertrand W. Sinclair
He Discovered In Himself A Disinclination To Talk About His Labors In
That Field.
Macleod Smiled And Forbore To Press The Subject. Tacob Astor Met Mine. He Bid Me Wait My Turn."
Despite The Assiduity With Which Mcallister Danced After The Figure Of
The Prince, He Was Not Among Those Presented. That Honour He Sought The
Next Day, On The Trip To West Point:
"As General Scott Was Presenting Colonel Delafield's Guests To The
Prince I Approached The General, Asking Him To Present Me To His Royal
Highness. A Giant, As He Was In Height, He Bent Down His Head To Me, And
Asked Sharply, 'What Name, Sir?' I Gave Him My Name, But At The Sound Of
'Mc,' Not Thinking It Distinguished Enough, He Quietly Said, 'Pass On,
Sir,' And I Subsequently Was Presented By The Duke Of Newcastle."
Forty-Three Years After That Clamorous Greeting Of New York To The Young
Prince Of Wales The Present Writer Was To Witness In Paris The Visit Of
Edward Vii. For The Purpose Of Cementing The Entente Cordiale. The Tired
Face Told The Story Of The Hardest-Worked Public Servant In The World.
In 1860, On Fifth Avenue, He Had Already Begun To Pay The Price Of The
Royal Privilege Of His Exalted Birth To Bear The Arduous Burden Of Royal
Responsibility.
There Are Extant Many Old Wood-Cuts Showing The Prince At The Academy Of
Music Ball. But The Following Morning, That Brought Repose To So Many,
Brought None To Him. There Were Visits To Be Paid To Brady's
Photographic Studios At The Corner Of Tenth Street And Broadway, To
Barnum's Museum, To General Scott At His Twelfth Street Residence, And
The Broadway Store Of Ball, Black & Company.
That Night A Great Torchlight Parade In Honour Of The Prince Was Given
By The New York Firemen. The Prince, With His Suite And A Number Of City
Officials, Stood On The Hotel Balcony, While Five Thousand Men In
Uniform, With Apparatus And Many Bands, Marched By. Fireworks Were Set
Off, The Brilliant Beams Of The Calcium Light--Then A Novelty--Were
Thrown Upon The Standing, Boyish Figure Of The Prince, Thousands Of
Flaring Torches Danced And Waved Against The Darkness Of The Opposite
Square.
The Next Day, Sunday, October 14th, Brought Some Rest. In The Morning
There Were Services At Trinity, Where Dr. Vinton Preached; Then A Quiet
Afternoon At The Hotel. With Monday Came The Prince's Departure. At
Half-Past Nine He Left The Fifth Avenue Hotel, And In Company With The
Duke Of Newcastle, The Earl Of St. Albans, And Mayor Wood, Was Driven
Down To The Harbour Where The "Harriet Lane" Was Waiting To Take Him To
West Point And Albany.
The Next Reception That The Chronicler Of Fifth Avenue Events Has Seen
Fit To Record Was That Given To General Grant After The Close Of The
Civil War. At The Fifth Avenue Hotel A Number Of The City's Leading
Business Men Met And Planned The Public Greeting, And One Hundred And
Fifty Men Subscribed One Hundred Dollars Apiece. The Reception To The
Returning Soldier, Which Took Place At The Fifth Avenue Hotel November
Chapter 4 (A Slip Of The Axe) Pg 4220, 1865, Was Hardly One Of Which The City Or The Street Had Reason To
Be Proud.
Loose Management Led To Disorder And Dissatisfaction. Twenty-Five
Hundred Jostling, Pushing Persons Crowded The Halls, Corridors, And
Reception Rooms. The General Stood In One Of The Hotel Parlours
Surrounded By The Committee, With Mrs. Grant And Other Ladies To His
Right, And On His Left Generals Wool, Cook, And Hooker, John Van Buren,
Ethan Allen, And Others.
Little Judgment Seems To Have Been Used In Issuing The Invitations. The
Throng Was Indiscriminate. Farce Comedy Was In The Air. Religious
Fanatics, Passing Before The Hero, Offered Up Prayers For The Salvation
Of His Soul. Precocious Children Were Thrust Forward To His Attention.
Preposterous Questions Were Propounded By Preposterous People. To Add To
The Confusion The Names Of Those Persons Who Fought Their Way Through
The Throng To Be Presented To The General Were Announced To Him By A
Little Man Who Got Most Of Them Wrong.
In A Postscript To His "American Notes," Written Many Years Later,
Charles Dickens Told Of The Vast Changes He Found On The Occasion Of His
Second Visit To The United States--"Changese Knee. He Was Next
To Helpless Since Every Movement Produced The Most Acute Sort Of
Pain--Sufficiently So That When He Had Made Shift To Get Some Breakfast
He Could Scarcely Eat. In The Course Of His Experiments In Self-Aid He
Discovered That To Lie Flat On His Back With The Slashed Foot Raised
Higher Than His Body Gave A Measure Of Ease. So He Adopted This Position
And Stoically Set Out To Endure The Hurt. He Lay In That Position The
Better Part Of The Day--Until, In Fact, Four In The Afternoon Brought
Sam Carr, Shotgun In Hand, To His Door.
Carr Had Seldom Been In The Cabin. This Evening, For Some Reason, He Put
His Head In The Door, And Whistled Softly At Sight Of Thompson's
Bandaged Foot Cocked Up On A Folded Overcoat.
"Well, Well," He Said, Standing His Gun Against The Door Casing And
Coming In. "What Have You Done To Yourself Now?"
"Oh, I Cut My Foot With The Axe Last Night, Worse Luck," Thompson
Responded Petulantly.
"Bad?" Carr Inquired.
"Bad Enough."
"Let Me See It," Carr Suggested. "It's A Long Way To A Sawbones, And
Providence Never Seems Quite Able To Cope With Germs Of Infection. Have
You Any Sort Of Antiseptic Dressing On It?"
Thompson Shook His Head. He Would Not Confess That The Pain And Swelling
Had Caused Him Certain Misgivings, Brought To His Mind Uneasily A Good
Deal That He Had Read And Heard Of Blood-Poisoning From Cuts And
Scratches. He Was Secretly Glad To Let Carr Undo The Rude Bandage And
Examine The Wound. A Man Who Had Spent Fifteen Years In The Wilderness
Must Have Had To Cope With Similar Cases.
Chapter 4 (A Slip Of The Axe) Pg 43
"You Did Give Yourself A Nasty Nick And No Mistake," Carr Observed. "You
Won't Walk On That Foot Comfortably For Two Or Three Weeks. Just Grazed
A Bone. No Carbolic, No Peroxide, Or Anything Like That, I Suppose?"
Thompson Shook His Head. He Had Not Reckoned On Cuts And Bruises. Carr
Put Back The Wrapping And Sat Whittling Shavings Of Tobacco Off A Brown
Plug, While Thompson Got Up, Hopped On One Foot Across To The Stove And
Began To Lay A Fire. He Had Eaten Nothing Since Morning, And Was
Correspondingly Hungry. In Addition, A Certain Unministerial Pride
Stirred Him To Action. He Was Ashamed To Lie Supinely Enduring, To Seem
Helpless Before Another Man's Eyes. But The Effort Showed In His Face.
Carr Lit His Pipe And Watched Silently. His Gaze Took In Every Detail
Of The Cabin's Interior, Of Thompson's Painful Movements, Of The Poorly
Cooked Remains Of Breakfast That He Was Warming Up.
"You'll Put That Foot In A Bad Way If You Try To Use It Much," He Said
At Last. "The Best Thing You Can Do Is To Come Home With Me And Lie
Around Till You Can Walk Again. I've Got Stuff To Dress It Properly.
Think You Can Hobble Across The Clearing If I Make You A Temporary
Crutch?"
Thompson At First Declined To Be Such A Source Of Trouble. He Was
Grateful Enough, But Reluctant. Carr, However, Went About It In A Way
That Permitted Nothing Short Of A Boorish Refusal, And Presently Mr.
Thompson Found Himself, With A Crutch Made Of A Forked Willow, Crossing
The Meadow To Sam Carr's House.
His Instincts Had More Or Less Subconsciously Warned Him That It Would
Not Be Well For His Peace Of Mind Or The Good Of His Soul To Be In
Intimate Daily Contact With Sophie Carr. But His General Inability To
Cope With Emergencies--Which Was Patent Enough To A Practical Man If Not
Wholly So To Himself--Culminating In This Misadventure With A Sharp Axe,
Had Brought About That Very Circumstance.
He Had Not Looked For Such A Kindly Office On The Part Of Sam Carr. That
Individual's Caustic Utterances And Critical Attitude Toward Theology
Had Not Forewarned Thompson That Sympathy And Kindliness Were
Fundamental Attributes With Sam Carr. If He Had An Acid Tongue His Heart
Was Tender Enough. But Carr Was No Sentimentalist. When He Had Bestowed
Thompson In A Comfortable Room And Painstakingly Dressed The Injured
Foot He Left His Patient Much To His Own Devices--And To The
Ministrations Of His Daughter.
As A Consequence, While The Wound In His Foot Healedave Referred To America. And This I Will Do And Cause To Be
Done, Not In Mere Love And Thankfulness, But Because I Regard It As An
Act Of Plain Justice And Honour."
The Amende Honorable Was Not Less Welcome For Being Long Due And The
Distinguished Visitor Sat Down To Loud Applause And The Strains Of "God
Save The Queen." Mr. Raymond Responded To The Toast "The New York
Press," And Was Followed By George William Curtis, William Henry
Hurlbert, Charles Eliot Norton, Joseph R. Hawley, Murat Halstead, Edwin
De Leon, And E.L. Youmans.
Three And A Half Years After The Dinner To Dickens Fifth Avenue Greeted
Chapter 4 (A Slip Of The Axe) Pg 44In A Similar Way A Distinguished Russian Guest. That Was The Grand Duke
Alexis Alexandrovitch, Who Was Entertained By The New York Yacht Club At
Delmonico's December 2, 1871. James Gordon Bennett, The Younger, Was
Then Commodore Of The Club, And Received The Grand Duke In The
Restaurant's Parlours At Seven O'clock. The Guests Included The Grand
Duke And His Suite, The Russian Minister, General Gorloff, Admiral
Poisset, Admiral Rowan, Members Of The Russian Legation, Russian
Officers, And Members Of The Yacht Club. Against The Walls Of The
Banquet Hall The Stars And Stripes Blended With The Blue St. Andrew's
Cross. The Guests Were In Naval Uniform. The "Queen's Cup," Which Had
Been Won By The "America" In 1851, Had The Place Of Honour Among The
Club Trophies. To
Comments (0)