A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible Lands — John Shaqi
A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible LandsWhittle, Walter Andrew
Religion
A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible Lands
Whittle, Walter Andrew
Europe -- Description and travel; Middle East -- Description and travel
A pleasant hour is spent with Dr. Norvin Green, President of the
Western Union Telegraph Company. His reminiscences of European travel
are rehearsed. He says that in London one can buy more for a shilling
and less for a pound than in any other place on earth. President Green
gives me a letter to his European representative, and kindly extends
other courtesies that are duly appreciated.
After attending to banking business and securing our ocean passage, we
decide to run over to New Haven and spend a few days with some special
friends. The double railroad track between New York and New Haven is
constantly in use. When about half way between the two cities, our
engineer spies a handsomely dressed gentleman walking on the other
track, and going in the same direction that we are going. A train is
coming facing the gentleman. Unconscious of the presence of more than
one train, he steps from one track to the other, just in front of our
engine. Seeing the danger, both engineers try to stop their trains,
but do not succeed. Both blow their whistles at the same time, but the
walker, thinking all the noise is made by one train, pays no attention.
Crash! Our engine strikes the man, and throws him twenty feet from the
track. The trains stop. The passengers gather around the unfortunate
man. The blood is oozing from his ears and nostrils. I take his head
on my shoulder and raise him up to get air. He struggles—gasps for
breath—and all is over. A letter in his pocket indicates his name and
residence.
A carriage is waiting for us at New Haven. On reaching there, we are
driven at once to the happy home of Mr. W. G. Shepard, who forthwith
presents me to Master Walter Whittle Shepard. This important character
is only twelve months old, but is full of life and promise. If he
combines the sweet spirit and graceful manners of his mother with the
strong character and bright intellect of his father, I believe he will
make a great and useful man notwithstanding the fact that he bears the
author’s name.
New Haven, with her one hundred thousand souls and great manufacturing
interests, with her parks and colleges, with her broad streets and
lordly elms, is one of the prettiest cities on the American continent.
When we retired last night, the snow was falling thick and fast; but we
awoke this morning to find that God had snatched a beautiful Sabbath
day from the bosom of the storm.
Mark Twain is in New Haven. In the course of a lecture delivered here,
he said: “A certain college student got the words theological and
zoological confused—he did not know one from the other. In talking to
a friend, this collegian said: ‘There are a great many donkeys in the
Theological Garden.’”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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