Oliver Otis Howard, Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, major general , United States army : volume 2

October 2d, when I arrived in Birmingham, Mr. Howard Lloyd, the banker, took me in his carriage through part of the city and then out into the country. After a swift suburban ride, we stopped at his residence. All the country round about reminded me of the beautiful suburbs of Philadelphia. Mr. Lloyd's wife was a Howard and the daughter of a well-known physician. I found here a charming family-at least a half dozen beautiful children. I had come to give a promised address, having engaged to do so at our Y. M. C. A. Convention in Berlin. That evening Mr. Lloyd took me to a large auditorium belonging to the Y. M. C. A. of Birmingham and I had a full house and a very attentive audience. On this occasion I endeavored to show them something of the work of our United States Christian Commission which the young men had set in motion during the Civil War. In England one thing was evident, that the young men themselves, members of the association, were striving all the while to do good to others, and not simply to be the recipients of bounty.

From Birmingham I passed on rapidly via London to Antwerp. Our journeys had been so timed that my son Jamie and Miss Adelheid von Bodemeyer, accompanied by a friend from Gottingen, met me. We four took passage on the steamer Nederland October 4, 1884. The weather was rough and the waves troublesome till we passed beyond the North Sea, then the weather was fine.

October 18th, early in the morning, we were at last at Sandy Hook and by twelve noon were at Jersey City. The Customhouse officers were polite