FOURTH TOUR.
CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES.
From August 18th, 1877, to July 8th, 1878.
After returning from the Continent, a few weeks were spent at the Orphan Houses on Ashley Down, where everything was found to be going on well; but, after much prayer, considering it to be the will of God we should respond to the letter of invitation received at Amsterdam, and visit the United States, on August 18th, 1877, we went to Liverpool, in order to embark for Canada, having been strongly advised to take the shorter sea voyage to Quebec instead of going to New York. On the morning of Sunday, the 19th, Mr. Müller, spoke at the Albion Hall, in the evening he preached at Toxteth Tabernacle; and whilst we remained at Liverpool held three other meetings.
On Thursday afternoon, August 23rd, we went on board the steamship "Sardinian" (Allan Line) and sailed at 7 in the evening. The following morning we touched at Moville, on the North coast of Ireland; and, after waiting there a few hours, to take in the mails, steamed out into the Atlantic. Our cabin, the chief officer's deck room, was tolerably comfortable, and the voyage, though rough, was a favourable one upon the whole. Off the Island of Newfoundland, the weather became cold, and the progress of the vessel was retarded considerably by fogs; but on August 30th, the welcome cry of "land!" from the steerage passengers was heard, and when the fog lifted, Belle Island on our right was in full view, at a short distance only from the ship. On the evening of that day Mr. Müller held a meeting in the forecastle for the sailors and steerage passengers, and spoke afterwards in the Chart Room to as many of the cabin passengers as were able to attend. On the 31st we entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence—460 miles in length—where a heavy sea was running, and soon came in sight of the island of Anticosti, inhabited only (it is said) by bears and wolves.
On the evening of that day, Mr. Müller gave an address at a meeting in the saloon, and early on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 1st, the mail bags were landed at Rimouski, where a few passengers went on shore. The remainder of the day was occupied in going up the River St. Lawrence. On its northern bank, a long range of mountain district extends for many miles; and on its southern side close to the river's brink, numbers of white houses—the homes of French-Canadian settlers—are dotted along the shore for a great distance. In the evening, as we drew near Quebec, the "Sardinian" fired guns as a signal of her approach; and at half-past eight we reached Point Louis, South Quebec, after a voyage of nine days, six hours and a half, and anchored alongside the wharf. From the landing-place a carriage conveyed us up a steep hill to the Hotel St. Louis, where a number of letters awaited our arrival, containing a warm welcome to America, and numerous invitations for my husband to preach in the United States. On Sunday evening, Sept. 2nd, at the Baptist Church, he preached for the first time in Canada, and the following day at a Hall in the city held two other services. We had happy interviews also with several Christian friends. An abundance of work would have been ready for him at once at various places in Canada; but as the letter of invitation, received at Amsterdam came from pastors in the United States, it seemed right to go there first, and particularly to Brooklyn, where Mr. Thwing resided.
On the morning of Sept. 4th, some friends took us in a carriage to see the beautiful Falls of Montmorenci, nine miles distant, where the river of that name, after leaping for miles over a rocky bed, rushes with great velocity to the edge of the high rocks over which it falls, and pours its snowy cataract 250 feet into the valley below. Quebec is beautifully situated, and is a place of great historic interest. Near the town are the "Plains of Abraham," and the spot where General Wolfe fell. A monument erected to his memory and to that of Montcalm, stands upon it. The Citadel, sometimes called the "Gibraltar of America," is a fortress upon the summit of a very high rock, from which there is a magnificent view of the St. Lawrence, and of the surrounding neighbourhood. At 6 o'clock on the evening of the 4th, we went on board a river steamer, and, after a favourable night passage, at 7 the next morning, arrived at Montreal, where some brethren waiting on the landing-stage asked us to remain; we did not, however, accept their kind invitation, and at 9 o'clock started for Toronto, where, after a long railway journey of 333 miles, we arrived at half-past 11 the same night. On the 6th we went on, viâ Hamilton, to Niagara, and—having decided to remain there till the next day—spent the afternoon in surveying the wonders of the celebrated "Falls," situated on the River Niagara, a strait connecting the floods of Lake Erie and Ontario.
The first distant view of them was rather disappointing; but a closer inspection revealed their magnitude and grandeur to the full. "The waters for which the Niagara (a name signifying Thunder of Waters) forms an outlet cover an area of 150,000 square miles, floods so grand and inexhaustible as to be totally unaffected by the loss of the hundreds of : millions of tons which they pour every hour through succeeding centuries over rugged, perpendicular cliffs into the depths beneath."
After driving to a bridge just above the American Falls, we made a partial circuit of Goat Island on foot, halting at all the chief points of interest. A staircase on the right led first to Luna Island, where, standing by a railing close to the edge of the precipice, we beheld the vast, swift, overwhelming waters of the American Falls, 169 feet high, immediately beside us, rushing in a tremendous torrent right over the brink, down into the fearful gulf below. "This, we thought, surpasses everything; surely this must be the grandest Cataract in the world." But it was not; for a few more steps brought us full upon the great Horse Shoe Fall, on the Canadian side of the river, a mighty Cataract 150 feet high, and 1,900 feet in breadth, where with overwhelming velocity and force, "1,500 millions of cubic feet of water" (according to Professor Lyell) rush every hour over the ledge of rocks, forming a huge, boiling cauldron at the bottom of the cliffs. And then the "Rapids!" those wondrous Rapids—which some think equal to the great Cataracts themselves—especially attracted our attention. Just above the Falls, the bed of the Niagara descends about 51 feet in three-quarters of a mile, and there, over rough ridges of rock, great masses of stone and large boulders, its waters surge and foam, in ten thousand fantastic shapes, and in the wildest turmoil, as though frantically eager to rush over the precipices into the abyss below. After seeing the "Rapids" we crossed the river by the new Suspension Bridge, and returned to the Clifton Hotel.
The next afternoon, at half-past 2, we left for New York, travelled in a Pullman's sleeping-car all night, and at 7 on the morning of Sept. 8th reached our destination, after a journey of 446 miles. From the terminus a carriage conveyed us to Brooklyn, "the City of Churches," about seven miles distant, where—at the Pierpoint House—we remained for six weeks. On Sunday morning, Sept. 9th, at Dr. Talmage's Tabernacle (said to be the largest church in the United States), in the absence of Dr. Talmage, Mr. Müller was most affectionately introduced to the audience by Professor Thwing, who in the course of a short speech from the platform, paused for a few moments, and shaking hands with him before the assembled multitude welcomed him to the United States. Mr. Müller then addressed the congregation, and preached for three-quarters of an hour with much help from the Lord. In the evening he spoke again at the Tabernacle, and after the meeting, amongst the numbers who pressed forward to greet us was a sister in Christ, one of the former Orphans from Ashley Down, who has been married for many years.
During our visit to Brooklyn, Mr. Müller held a great number of meetings. On Sept. 12th he spoke at the Fulton Street prayer meeting, New York, and besides his regular preaching, visited Orphan and other Institutions, ministered amongst the Germans (of whom there are about ten millions throughout the United States), and continued actively engaged in the Lord's service until Sept. 20th, when we went by river steamer up the Hudson, to the city of Hudson, and attended a Convention, where be gave three addresses. On the 22nd we returned to Brooklyn, and on the following morning and evening he preached at Plymouth Church. On the 24th he spoke again at the Fulton Street prayer meeting, preached in German at Newark on the 25th, addressed the German students of the Theological Seminary at Bloomfield on the 26th, attended meetings for pastors, whom he addressed, visited a Hom[oe]opathic Institution, preached at Williamsburg, East Brooklyn, on Oct. 7th, and continued day after day to labour uninterruptedly, until Oct. 20th, when we went to Boston, after he had spoken in public at Brooklyn and the other places above mentioned 50 times.