FREDK. AUSTIN, 1st Regt. | Military Band Leader, | | A. ROSENBECKER, Drct. | 1st Regt. Grand Orchestra,| | ALBERT KLEIST, Pres. of | Committee on C. Musical Sy., |=> Address and | Resolutions. E. B. KNOX, Col. 1st Rgt. | Inf. I.R.G., | | GEO. W. LYON, P., | | CHAS. N. POST, | Done at Chicago, April 21st, 1885." This may be the place to mention, what I am reminded of whenever I have to speak of America, the cordial, lavish hospitality with which English visitors are received in that country. Apart from the favour shown to me by railway and steamboat companies, who, so far as I was personally concerned, carried me everywhere free, the committees of the leading clubs offered me in all the principal cities the honours and advantages of membership. Not only was I a member of all the best clubs, but I was, moreover, treated in every club-house as a guest. This sometimes placed me in an awkward position. More than once I have felt tempted, at some magnificent club-house, to order such expensive luxuries as terrapin and canvas-back duck; but unwilling to abuse the privileges conferred upon me, I condemned myself to a much simpler fare. It seemed more becoming to reserve the ordering of such costly dishes for some future occasion, when I might happen to be dining at a restaurant. It must be admitted that in many of the conveniences of life the Americans are far ahead of us, and ahead are likely to remain; so averse are we in England to all departures from settled habits, inconvenient, and even injurious as these may be. Every opera-goer knows the delay, the trouble, the irritation caused by the difficulty, when the performance is at an end, of getting up carriages or cabs. This difficulty has, in the United States, no existence. When the opera-goer reaches the theatre an official, known as the "carriage superintendent," presents a large ticket in two divisions, bearing duplicate numbers. One numbered half is handed by the "carriage superintendent" to the driver. The other is retained by the opera-goer, who on coming out at the end of the representation exhibits his number, which is thereupon signalled or telegraphed to a man on the top of the house, who at once displays it in a transparency lighted by electricity or otherwise. The carriages are all drawn up with their hind wheels to the kerbstone, so that the approach to the theatre is quite clear. The illuminated number is at once seen, and the carriage indicated by it is at the door by the time the intending occupant is downstairs in the vestibule. It is astonishing how easily this system works. CHAPTER IX.