In Training for Work 87 



a break in the dull monotony of the landscape. 

 Between them the muddy stream flowed, 

 treacherous and uninviting ; the shallows marked 

 with white breakers, with whirlpools forming 

 at the tail of the hidden sandbanks. In the 

 distance was a haze of smoke, and as the ship 

 proceeded, feeling her way amongst currents 

 and shoals, the signs of human beings became 

 more in evidence in the whirring of machinery, 

 the clanging of hammers, and the smoke from 

 furnaces, till at length they came to rest on 

 the crowded and busy waters. Such was the 

 entry to the City of Palaces, a title surely 

 appropriated by those who knew not of the real 

 palaces in marble and stone, erected by the in- 

 habitants of the country who possessed clearer 

 conceptions of truth and art. Here the brick 

 buildings were faced with stucco ; they stood 

 four-square on the few feet of firm soil that 

 overlay morass and quicksand, with square 

 porticoes, square windows, and square rooms, 

 and with only one oriental attribute, and that 

 tending to accentuate the bad taste of the 

 west ; namely, that servants, whether man or 



