We heard some one at the door.  Douglas stood up, poured himself another drink, and said:  “To the University of Chicago.”

Then Dorothy and Mrs. Douglas entered.  Mrs. Douglas pointed to the nearly empty bottle and said:  “You have had a good time I see.”  She sat on the arm of Douglas’ chair and began to smooth out his unruly locks.  “You missed a good play,” she said.  “We had a very good drama here,” said Douglas.  Dorothy was pulling at me to go home.

When we arrived we found Mother Clayton laughing and scolding over Dickens’ American Notes.

CHAPTER XXXIX

Our stay in Washington had come to an end and the campaign was on.

I was building a business block in Chicago, which had come to a tangle owing to labor conditions.  Throughout the country there was a movement for the ten-hour day, and there were many strikes, particularly in the East.

We decided to return to Chicago by way of New York.  Dorothy was in great anxiety about Mammy and Jenny lest they be kidnapped along the way.  Desperate characters were about who picked up negroes in the North and sold them in the South.  It was as common a matter as robbing a bank or picking a pocket.  We kept a close watch on Mammy and Jenny.  In New York we rode together in a carriage.  But this was also made necessary by the fact that negroes were not permitted to use the street cars.

The city now had half a million people; but I found the old places, like Niblo’s Garden, and again walked to Washington Square whither I had taken my lonely way so many years before.  Leaving our boy, Reverdy, with Mammy and Jenny at the Astor House, Dorothy and I spent much time in sightseeing.

Broadway was our particular delight.  Though it was poorly paved, and dimly lighted at night, it was a scene of great fascination.  It was the great promenade.  Omnibuses, cabs, hacks, trucks rolled through it all day long.  There were footmen in livery; luxury was displayed in the equipages.  There were crowds of foreigners; and ragged boys and girls who sold matches or newspapers.  New York had the penny newspaper.  We looked out upon the street in the early morning, when the workers streamed to their tasks.  We saw it at breakfast time, when the bankers hurried toward Wall Street, and the lawyers were going to court, or to their offices in Nassau and Pine streets.  In the afternoon ladies, richly dressed, dandies, and loafers crowded the sidewalks.  There was fashion in abundance; wonderful silks, ermine cloaks, furs, feathers, gorgeous costumes of all sorts.  Gold had been discovered in California!  The Mexican cessions and Oregon could be felt on Broadway.  In the shops articles from every part of the world were for sale.  There were ladies’ oyster shops, ladies’ reading rooms, and ladies’ bowling alleys.