My first visit, at an early hour on Monday morning, was to the banks of
the Monongahela, which ran by the bottom of the main street, wherein I
was lodged. The water was at this time low, being fifteen feet under its
highest level: the point of junction with the Alleghany lay, as I
discovered, some way below. The opposite heights, which rise boldly from
the water's edge, looked dark and drear enough, covered as they are with
a stubble of blackened stumps, and a few blasted trees, the ghosts of
the ruined forest. The political economist, however, would find ready
consolation in the mounds of coal-dust, the dingy low-roofed buildings,
together with the swinging of a hundred cranks, worked by the engines
whose smoke is seen curling along the face of the steep hill. It is to
give place to these iron giants that the forest has been felled; and to
supply these with fire, the mountain is in this direction pierced to its
centre.
Nature has supplied this place with wharves; and the people appear
quite contented with her handiwork, for they are left as she made them.
I counted fourteen steamboats all busied in taking in or discharging
freight; and the river was here and there dotted by keels of a rude,
picturesque construction: everything, indeed, gave evidence of active
and prosperous trade.
I from hence made a circuit of the principal part of the town, which is
soon accomplished, for it offers nothing externally to arrest the
passer-by for a moment: the streets are narrow, irregular, and
ill-paved; the houses as dirty as the smoke of bituminous coal can make
them, and, though substantially built, are in general wholly destitute
of neatness or ornament.
Upon Grant's Hill, a spur of one of the surrounding heights, that
thrusts itself boldly into the heart of the delta on which the town is
built, I found a Gothic edifice almost completed, the magnitude and
tasteful design of which attracted me: I entered it, and perceived at
once that it was a place of Catholic worship. From a communicative
little man, whom I observed for some time eyeing me with a sociable
look, I learnt that this was the cathedral; and it stands a pleasing
memorial of the liberality of the sects of this town, having been
raised by voluntary subscriptions made among the numerous congregations
of the place.
It is a grateful task to record such evidences of the existence of true
Christian charity; they reconcile one to one's fellows, and serve to
balance the barbarous acts of bigotry and blindness which yet
occasionally disgrace the age and degrade humanity. This edifice, when
completed, will be an attractive object, both from its commanding site
and the character of its architecture, which is of the florid Gothic,
tastefully sustained throughout.
Descending the steep bluff of Grant's Hill, I entered the theatre, which
lies within its shadow. This building was not yet a year old, and
offered one of the neatest-formed interiors possible, calculated to
contain about one thousand persons. It had all the offices and
appointments of such an establishment, well and conveniently arranged;
and in this respect might serve as a model to more important-looking
houses. The ornamental parts of the interior were already disfigured by
the smoke which fills this atmosphere day and night, and fully
exonerates the people from the charge of being wilfully regardless of
neatness and _proprete_ in the arrangement of their dwellings.
I found the manager, Mr. Wemyss, at his post, and all things in
tolerable order. At night the house was filled; though how the people
made their way home again I do not know: even the short distance I had
to explore on the line of the principal street, I found beset with
perils; loose pavement, scaffold-poles, rubbish, and building materials
of all kinds blocked up the _trottoir_ in several places, which were to
be avoided by instinct, for light here was none, natural or artificial.
At length, after a few stumbles, I was securely housed in a small room,
which I was promised the exclusive use of, and wherein the cheerful
light of the bituminous coal, that blazed like pitch-pine, in my mind
made ample amends for the dust it created, and of this, the amount was
by no means trifling.
The next day I was joined by Lieutenant I----d, of the cavalry corps
about to advance on an expedition through the prairies, and across the
hunting-grounds of the Nomade tribes, ranging over the still
slightly-explored regions lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky
Mountains. We were ancient comrades of the spur and snaffle, having
harried the low country in company far and wide; and, the morning being
fine, we were quickly mounted for a raid through this new land.
Crossing the long bridge over the Monongahela, a muddy, turbid-looking
river, we commenced the ascent of Coal Hill, so called from the great
quantities of this material it supplies; along its base lies a range of
busy manufactories, and the roar of the steam-engine resounds on all
sides. Here, too, is a growing town, called Birmingham; but it must
overleap the mountain, or, following the galleries by which the miners
have already penetrated to its centre, become a subterranean city,
before it can hope to rival even a suburb of its gigantic sponsor.
We had much difficulty in scaling the hill; the track was knee-deep in
heavy mud, and in trying to follow a narrow ledge, by which we
calculated to avoid this impediment for a hundred yards, I----'s horse
made a false step, and fairly rolled down a precipitous descent of some
fifty feet into the road beneath, to the infinite amusement of a group
of miners, who had probably been "guessing" that such a termination to
our scramble was likely: they now swore that a better Racker[11] down
hill they had never seen. I----d had thrown himself adroitly out of his
seat on the upper side of the ledge the very instant of the brute's
slip, and, being unhurt, soon caught the astonished nag, which remained
quietly looking about by the bottom of the precipice, half buried in an
avalanche of shingle and small coal he had loosened in his course.
Once on the summit of this coal-hill, the plan of the growing city of
manufacture lay displayed as on a chart beneath our feet, together with
a great extent of country, and the course and character of the two fine
rivers which, combined at this spot, take henceforward the name and
style of the Ohio, or River of Beauty.
The course of the muddy Monongahela is north-west; and, from about
north-east, the clear, lively Alleghany comes bounding into it,
breasting its turbid waters, and bearing their heavy mass back by its
brisk charge close against the western bank, whence, side by side, they
take their downward course, but each preserving its distinctive
character and colour for a considerable distance; divided by a pretty
verdant island, about a couple of miles below their junction, they each
embrace a moiety of it, renewing their churlish fellowship once more
when this obstacle is passed.
The town stands upon a small alluvial delta, of a triangular form, at
the exact point of union between the rivers,--a spot so lovely, that, as
I looked upon it, much as I respect manufactures, I found myself
involuntarily wishing that fate had reserved it for some less dirty
purpose. As the city grows, it must of necessity climb the steep bluffs
by which it is encompassed; and on these it is not too much to imagine,
at no far period, the squares, terraces, and crescents of a wealthy and
public-spirited community; whilst, within the crowded triangle beneath,
the clang of the noisy steam-engine and the black smoke will lie
drowned, and along the narrow strips of level soil skirting its rivers
will rise the warehouses and wharves of its commerce.
To the north of the Alleghany you see the little town of that name, with
one or two buildings conspicuous, at this distance, for their size:
this, too, is united to Pittsburg by a bridge of great apparent
lightness and strength.
From the abutting hill whence we took our first long survey of this
congeries of future cities, we took a western course, following the line
of the Ohio; but holding to the high lands, till coming back, when we
made a _detour_ to the north, and thus got frequent and fine views of
the neighbourhood.
The country appears generally hilly, with rich glens and valleys lying
between, having numerous streams of clear living water, and presenting
every proof of exhaustless mineral wealth; hence its adoption by the
industrious swarm whose fires darken the sky by night and day.
The day after this, I----d embarked on board a steamer for Louisville,
on his way to join the head-quarters of his corps, somewhere upon the
Missouri. The Republic allows no sinecure pay to its soldiers: most of
these gallant men pass the best half of their lives upon the frontier,
wasted by sickness, removed far from society or sympathy, poorly paid
and worse thanked, enjoying very little present consideration, and
without hope of future fame. It must require an ardent imagination, and
all the romance with which poetry has invested sword and feather, to
keep an American soldier to his colours in this time of peace; as, on a
sober worldly view, his appears the least enviable condition to be
found in the community.
I on this day took a solitary ride up the Monongahela, and visited the
scene of Bradock's defeat and death. I found it all snugly fenced in,
and under good cultivation. An intelligent farmer, who was on the spot,
good-naturedly undertook, in answer to an inquiry I made, to act as
_cicerone_. The localities appeared like a book to him: he told where
the French lay _perdu_; pointed out the cover from whence the British
advanced, to be repulsed headlong; where they, according to his legend,
were re-formed, and once more thrust forward, to be again, and finally,
overthrown.
I understood the minutest details of the whole affair, as well as the
positions occupied by French, English, Indians, and Virginians, before
my good-natured guide appeared quite satisfied; at least, I was forced,
out of consideration for my own time and his patience, to say so much,
and with many thanks to leave him: not, however, until he had urged me
strongly to come home and take tea with his wife, or at least take a
drink with him; one or both of which I pledged myself to do on a future
occasion.
It was not a little amusing, at this distant day, to observe the ardour
with which my guide canvassed the lost fight, of which he had read, as
he informed me, twenty different accounts.
"It was a shame," he said, "a right-down sin, and a throwin' away of
men's lives, ever to have put them under Bradock's command," whom he
accused of having "no more military gumption than a goose."--"Why," he
said, "two companies of British grenadiers would have eat every
_crapaud_ on the ground, if they'd bin let to go round and in at one end
o' the ditch, instead of walking right straight up hill agin' the loaded
muzzles of guns they couldn't see, only by the smoke out o' the long
grass."
Then he would take off his hat, wipe his brow, and fairly knock it
against his knee with vexation at the British defeat.
"Why, sir," he said, at the same time grasping my thigh, where I sat in
my saddle, with an energy that brought tears into my eyes,--"why,
mister, just do you look up at that little knoll to the right; the place
warn't cleared then, and there was a heap o' dead timber lying
there-bout. Well, sir, Washington sent, out of his own head,--for he
warn't a deal thought on then, you see,--a company of Virginians to try
the trees for it. Well, now just look where they were fixed by that
move, right over the _crapauds_,--every mother's son o' them Virginians
good for a squirrel at fifty yards. I'm d----d if they wouldn't have
used up every human of a Frenchman behind the drain, if it had been left
to a settlement between them, and if the English would only quietly ha'
looked on, and kept Johnny from breaking cover and treeing it."
"And why the devil didn't they use them up?" I here demanded, to give my
vexed informant time to breathe.
"I'll tell you why, if you don't know. Why, because that d----d Bradock
was blind as well as deaf, and took the Virginians for inimies; so, not
bein' able to get at Johnny, he slamm'd it right smash into them, and
killed the biggest half on 'em as they were tryin' to run back to their
own side. Sir, it was nothin' better than an eternal murder, and Bradock
ought to have swung for it; but he was shot down, somehow or other, and
died amongst better men, only shootin' was a sight too good for him."
Taking the statement of my friend for the ground of my opinion, I left
him, at once amused by his enthusiasm and informed by his intelligence.
I did purpose keeping tryst with my new acquaintance, and having the
battle fought over again, when I might have been able to do some justice
to the force and spirit of his narration; but other routes were to be
visited, and my time was limited to a few days: so we met no more.
On another day I rode by the United States' Arsenal, a fine building,
inclosing some acres. It is well situated, near the banks of the
Alleghany, about two miles out of the town. This is one of the most
considerable _depots_ for arms and ordnance stores to be found in the
Western country.
From this I pursued my way up the river for a mile or two, to where, at
a pretty quiet spot, I observed a boat just leaving the bank for the
north side. I hailed the ferryman, and he returned immediately, when,
adding myself and nag to his freight, he again commenced pulling up the
stream, assisted by a couple of curly-headed urchins, his sons, two out
of twelve, as he laughingly told me; adding, that they were capital
helps.
We had a couple of market-waggons aboard the flat, each drawn by a pair
of horses. The river, I fancied, was here about as wide as the Thames at
Southwark, running clear and strong; the banks tolerably bold, very
regular, and fringed by a luxuriant growth of various trees and
water-loving shrubs. On the other side I fell on the Pennsylvania canal,
and I for a mile followed the line by which it approaches the town of
Alleghany, till, coming to a rough high hill, I was tempted to try the
ascent, which, after a good deal of ducking and scrambling, I
accomplished.
The prospect from the summit amply repaid me: at my feet lay the growing
town of Alleghany, which stands on a fine alluvial plain affording ample
space for a city as large as Pekin; with two ports, one on the
Alleghany, the other on the Ohio. I here traced the course of the canal
to the aqueduct on which it crosses the river. Two fine steamers, with
their galleried decks tier over tier, were stemming the current, each
looking like the old wood-cut of Noah's Ark,--houses built upon rafts,
of three stories high, with balconies running round them, the whole
being covered by inclined roofs. Many of the picturesque-looking keels
found here were also working up for the quays; and the waters just
before the busy town presented a strange contrast to the view either up
or down the rivers, where all was tranquil and solitary as when the
light _pirogue_ of the adventurous _voyageur_ first timidly skimmed
along by their rich shores, sending the startled deer to the mountain
and drawing the watchful savage down.
How to get back was now a consideration without retracing my steps, to
do which I had neither the instinct nor the inclination. I pushed for a
near wood, from which I perceived smoke stealthily curling over the tree
tops; and, after a long threading of the thicket, stumbled upon a little
colony of charcoal-burners, the blackest and the merriest devils I ever
met: they might have been Iroquois, or negroes, from their colour; but
the first reply I got to my hail rendered any inquiry as to country
unnecessary.
"Hola! my friend," shouted I at the top of my voice, as a tall,
half-naked being stalked out of one of the huts, from which I was
separated by a deep ravine; "pray step this way for one moment."
The man did as I desired, without a word; a couple of attendant imps
hanging on to the strings of his knees.
"I'm sorry to trouble you," I added, as he drew within easy
speaking-distance; "but the fact is, I have lost my road, and fear to
lose my dinner."
"I'faith, thin, sir, if you'll tell me where-abouts you lost the road
I'll find you the dinner, and go and look for the road while you're
atein' it: with the blessing o' God, it will be the first road I seen
since I've bin this side o' Pittsburg, to say the laste."
"Maybe you've seen a fine aisy-goin' road betune Cork and Cove?" I
replied, in the same accent.
"Maybe I hav'nt," grinned the pleased charcoal-burner, laughing from ear
to ear. "Och murder! you're the devil, sure! wasn't it the last ten
miles I ever toed of Irish ground? Long life to you, sir! wait till I
call the wife. Molly ashtore, come out av id, for here's a witch of a
gintleman here. Jem, you robber, go and bid your mammy stir herself and
come here."
Away ran Jem and his brother, or rather flew, for their feathers were
fluttering in the air. I laughed immoderately whilst my countryman,
with the most puzzled air, exclaimed,
"Och murder! but it's the quarest thing alive. Sure you must have know'd
us?"
He was now joined by his wife and two or three others of the little
family, who all appeared nearly of an age. Poor Molly, the Mistress,
looked weak and haggard, and told me she "had the shakes on her for the
last six months." She was affected to tears when her husband told her of
my witchcraft, in knowing where they were from, and joined in begging
that "I'd come round and take a bite o' cake and a sup o' spirits and
water, to keep me from feelin' faint till I got to my dinner."
I requested, however, as my time was short, that one of the little ones
might at once put me on the nearest track by which I would reach the
bridge; and finding I would not accept their hospitality, the father of
the family, attended by Jem, walked along with me to where a bridle-path
led on to a waggon-track, which he desired me to pursue. Here I left my
friendly countryman, and with a "God send you safe home, sir!" he turned
to his own humble dwelling, to think with a full heart of that distant
home my chance visit had recalled in all its freshness, and which,
although he may never look to revisit, no son of poor Ireland ever
forgets.
A circuitous route led me on to the main road, pursuing which I soon
reached the bridge; but on my way through the street was struck with the
growing air of this place, which I cannot help thinking is one day
destined to be the great city of the river of beauty.
I entered the smoky Pittsburg, more than ever charmed with the scenery
amidst which it is seated, still beautiful despite the ravages of the
miner and the pollution of steam, smoke, charcoal, and all the other
useful abominations attendant upon the manufacture of iron, glass,
pottery, &c. The wealth and various attractions of this rich heiress of
Nature have proved her undoing.
The greatest ravage which I had to mourn, because it appeared carried to
a wanton and heedless extent, was the havoc everywhere making with
barbarous and indiscriminate zeal amongst the neighbouring timber. I
looked about upon the nearest hills, many of which are already bare,
denuded of every shrub; and sorrowed to think that even such others as
yet rejoiced in their rich forest garb were but enjoying a brief
respite from the axe and flame, being assuredly condemned and marked for
destruction.
Every man here, in fact, is at work "for his own hand;" and as each
proprietor is desirous to make the most he can of his acres, these burn
and destroy on all sides, never feeling satisfied that their land is
cleared whilst a single tree lives to tell where once the forest waved.
In noticing the well-fenced fields, the comfortable dwellings,
substantial offices, and generally excellent condition of these farms,
one can hardly credit the history of the settlement of this Western
country, when it is considered that, amongst these well-cleared and
well-cultivated fields, within the memory of living men, the Indian
ranged and the uncouth buffalo herded, and that the first "white-man"
born west of the Alleghany is still living: by the way, a whimsical
anecdote relating to this gentleman is current in Pittsburg, and which I
here relate as I myself received it.
At a public dinner, Mr. R----, the person alluded to, being present, had
his health proposed and cordially drunk, as "the first white man born
west of the Alleghany." Now Mr. R---- happening to be very
dark-complexioned, a waggish countryman of mine, who was seated next to
him, could not help adding, with a sly air, having repeated the toast,
"and not particularly white either."
"Why that's very true," returned the subject of this jest, with much
good-humour; "and the reason assigned for the exceeding redness of my
skin is in itself not a little illustrative of the late condition of our
country, which is, in fact, the true subject of this toast.
"Shortly after my father had located his family on the Ohio, my mother
was, whilst in the act of fetching water from the stream a little way
outside the stockade within which our dwelling stood, startled by the
near whoop of an Indian warrior, and, on raising her head, perceived
close beside her a chief of the neighbouring tribe; she instantly fled
like a deer; and, being young and active, gained the shelter of the
stockade, within which, however, she fell exhausted, but was so
preserved. Some time after I was ushered into life; and the darkness of
my complexion was always referred to the chance of my mother having been
thus frightened and followed by the young Indian."
"And a mighty natural mode of accounting for the same," replied Pat;
adding with a most provoking air of simplicity, "but may I ask did you
ever hear your poor mother say whether the Indian overtook her or not?"
The last night I acted here was made memorable by the jovial condition
of a couple of the leading members of the corps dramatic, and as it
chanced, diplomatic. The play was "The Irish Ambassador," and the first
news I had of my principal colleague, his Excellency the representative
of his most Catholic Majesty, was, that he had arrived, but in a state
unfit for our purposed conference, having been rendered utterly
incapable by an imprudent application of gin cock-tail, prescribed, as
his Excellency himself assured me with tears in his eyes, as a sovereign
remedy for a disorganized state of nerves, to which he was unhappily
subject.
An excuse was made for the unavoidable absence of the Spanish minister,
on the score of ill-health; and the indulgence of the meeting requested
for one of the _attaches_, who had boldly undertaken to read the absent
diplomatist's instructions at first sight. This point got over, we
proceeded smoothly, as might be expected, until the period when his
Highness the Grand-duke was required in person, when it became evident
that, through sympathy or some cause less sentimental, the Prince too
was royally rocky: availing himself of his rank however, he made shift
to reach a chair, and, aided by the support it afforded, maintained his
place at the conference.
Nothing could exceed the charitable forbearance with which this
republican assemblage looked upon the fallen condition of royalty:
whether they judged that it was no way out of character for a German
sovereign and the possessor of a hock-cellar to be fuddled, or whether
they considered that this was no bad specimen of royalty to exhibit to
their children's contempt, I know not; but, happily, the signs of their
displeasure fell lightly on his Highness, and our negotiation was at
length, though lamely, brought to a conclusion.
On Tuesday the 8th of April, at eight o'clock P.M. I once more took my
place in the Good Intent, to re-cross the Alleghanies; when, turning our
backs upon the River of Beauty, we slowly traversed the dark streets of
its sooty neighbour; for, strange to tell, although the material for gas
lies at their doors in exhaustless abundance, and although they use a
great quantity of coal-coke for manufacturing purposes, the streets
remain as dark as the extremity of their deepest mine on a holiday.
This too, I found upon inquiry, was by the good citizens laid to the
account of the "removal of the deposits." "It is enough," they say, "for
one side to originate a question, however obviously excellent and
desirable, to have the antagonist party oppose it, and make the measure
a new watchword to try battle on."
I was informed of one spirited individual having offered to light the
place with gas on his own risk, but, as a matter of course, he was
immediately opposed by both parties; and so matters will rest, until the
good people, wearied of being kept in the dark, open the eyes of their
divided corporation; and in those days will the Pittsburgians cease to
walk in darkness, and become what, considering the quantity of coal they
possess, they are well entitled to be,--a gas-enlightened community.
It was raining when we departed, and continued to rain all night, as we
weltered through the mud. Next morning, although a shower yet fell, I
became so weary of the close confinement of the stage, that I alighted
at the foot of Laurel Hill, and, putting stoutly forth, pushed on ahead
of the heavy vehicle. The road winds about the steep side of the
mountain, and from several points affords grand views of the forest,
valleys, and humbler hills below. The early shrubs were already putting
forth abundant leaf and blossom, for the winter had been singularly
mild, and the quiet air was impregnated with sweetness.
When very near the top of the mountain,--for the ascent is full four
miles,--I encountered one of those groups which appear in constant
progress along the great Western line. The extent, however, of the
present caravan made it peculiarly interesting. It consisted of five
long, well-covered waggons, each drawn by eight or six horses, was
attended by three or four led nags, and a number of dogs of various
denominations. The occupants of the waggons were women and children: the
faces of the chubby rogues were all crowded in front to look upon the
passing stranger, with here and there a shining ebony phiz thrust
between; the chief freight appeared to consist of household furniture
and agricultural implements.
By the side of these waggons first rode four or five horsemen, well
mounted, who might be the principals of the party, for they were men
past the meridian of life; straggling in the rear, or scattered along
the edges of the forest, walked eight or nine younger men,
rough-and-ready-looking fellows, each with his rifle in his hand. Wild
pigeons abounded along the cover-edge, and the sharp crack which every
now and then rang through the thin air of morning told that the hunters
were dealing upon them.
From the construction of the waggons, as well as because their owners
evinced no inclination either to hold communion or exchange civilities
with a passing wayfarer, which no Southern ever fails to do, I concluded
this to be a party of New England men, who, abandoning their worn-out
native fields, were pushing on for the "far West" with the lightness of
heart consequent on the surety of reaping a brave harvest from a soil
which withholds abundance from none who possess hearts and arms to task
it.
With what apparent indifference, if not positive pleasure, do the people
of this country quit their ancient homes, and wander forth in search of
new ones, to be again, in turn, deserted, if not by themselves, by their
restless and enterprising children! The Tartar habit of movement and
frequent change, which is, I fancy, natural to man, finds in no country
at the present age such inviting facilities as are offered in this, nor
could a people be found who more fully enjoy them.
I looked upon this well-ordered, sober party with much pleasure; and as
I stood upon the mountain top, and thence watched their downward track,
I found my mind actively employed picturing their after progress and
accompanying the line of their long travel. First, came their repose and
rest, as in their plentifully-furnished flat they slowly drifted down
the smooth course of the near Ohio; then, their after-journeying through
the wilderness in search of a pleasant spot on which to rear their huts
and make to themselves a home; now followed their early and
long-enduring toil, accompanied perhaps by the sickness of their
children and the pining of their women, whose sensibilities, more acute
than those of men, ever revert in seasons of sadness to the far-off
places their young days made pleasant; and, lastly, when, after years
had passed away, and that their well-fenced fields were teeming with a
plenteous harvest, I beheld their sons gathering together their
inheritance and setting forth in search of another new country, within
which they might resume the toil of their fathers. Man may change the
scene of his labour, but the evil of his condition is not to be evaded;
and alike, from the most fertile as from the most barren soil, by the
sweat of his brow must his bread be won.
I here waited, sheltered by a rocky projection, until the stage came up.
The continuance of the rain effectually prevented me from indulging in
any more walks this day; the tedium of the journey however, whilst light
lasted, was greatly relieved by the constant changes of mountain
scenery, as viewed through an atmosphere now wildly clear and again
thick and gloomy.
I found considerable amusement also in calculating the fair odds against
our being pitched into some one of the many deep ravines along whose
edge we were, when going down hill, whirled with startling speed. It was
at these descents that the driver sought to pull up his lost time; and
this he did with a recklessness of consequences that led me, after
mature consideration, aided by the experience of much rough travel, to
come to the following conclusion,--that, in crossing the Alleghany
mountains, when the roads are rotten and slippery, the chances for and
against a broken neck are so nearly equal that no sporting man, of any
liberality, need desire to seek odds, should he feel inclined to make a
bet before commencing the journey.
We at times encountered a string of waggons at some narrow sharp turn of
the corkscrew path, and were whirled by them, with our off-wheels
curiously circling the unguarded ledge of a precipice some four or five
hundred feet deep, where a wheel-horse suddenly jibbing, or a leader
shying or falling, would, in all human probability, have provided the
wolves and bears with a banquet, and the journalists with a neat
paragraph, headed, "Melancholy result of fast driving, attended with
serious loss of valuable lives."
The practice is for the team to be put on a run the moment they gain the
summit of a hill; and, if all things hold out, this is kept up until the
bottom be reached: the horses are excellent, and rarely fail. On my
asking the coachman,--by whom I rode as much as possible,--what he did
in the event of a wheel-horse coming down in a steep pass, he replied,
"Why, I keep driving ahead, and drag him along;"--an accident which he
assured me had occurred more than once to himself when the roads were
encrusted with ice and snow: the passengers at such times are placed in
sleighs, which are perhaps less dangerous.
On the morning of Thursday we once more arrived at the frontier town of
the low-lands of Pennsylvania,--Chambersburg; and here I quitted the
"Good Intent" line, transferring myself, servant, and kit to the
Baltimore stage; and at three o'clock A.M. on Friday, I was set down,
cold and weary and wet, at the door of Barnum's hotel. A few thundering
knocks brought down the porter, and I was admitted within shelter of the
well-warmed hall, with
"Och murther alive! Mr. Power, is it yerself, sir? Why, thin, you're
welcome!"
And in five minutes after, I was in a comfortable chamber, and a blazing
fire of wood rising under the inspection of my Irish porter. Anxious to
conclude my journey, I desired him to rouse me in time for the eight
o'clock stage to Washington, though, Heaven knows, I could have slept
for twelve hours at the least; and so tumbled into bed whilst the man
was yet regretting the "mighty haste" I was in.
By nine A.M. I was once more rolling off the pavement of the monumental
city. But what a change was I experiencing! The sun shone cheerily, as
though rejoicing in his conquest over the cold mass which had so long
imprisoned him, and all around appeared to hail his presence with
gladness: the wind was light and mild, the road, which I had seen two
months before all but impassable, was now, by comparison, excellent, and
the surrounding country, then so bleak and bare, was now rejoicing in
the beauty of early spring. My fatigue was all forgotten, and I enjoyed
my present ride as though I had not before known what a bone-breaking
jolt was.
At two o'clock P.M. Washington once more lay beneath me, with the broad
Potomac beyond, looking like a currentless transparent lake, clipped
about by finely wooded irregular heights, and navigated by faery barks.
Such was the aspect this noble river presented, and just such the little
fleet of fishing-boats scattered over its bosom, busied in pursuit of
the shad and the herring, now coming into season.
To my great joy, I found my excellent friend, Captain B----n, was still
resident at Fuller's: my old rooms had that day been vacated for me, a
few hours beheld me comfortably installed, and the rough-work of the
past trip across the backbone of the continent only served to enhance
my present enjoyments.
The Impressions left by my present residence I have already given in an
embodied form to the reader. I shall therefore beg him to accompany me
back to Philadelphia, and thence _via_ Princeton to New York.
_May 26th._--A lovely morning: landed from the Delaware steamer at
Bordenton, and rode thence to Princeton on horseback, sixteen miles;
passing two royal residences by the way, first, that of Joseph
Buonaparte, and next a queer-looking, low, quadrangular building,
inhabited by one of the sons of Joachim Murat, ex-king of Naples. On
reaching the hospitable house to which I was bound at Princeton, I
encountered the prince, paying a visit to my friend Mr. T----n. He is a
tall, robust-looking personage, very fat, and fond of race-horses; but
has not, as I learn, been over-lucky on the turf.
One can never meet and contemplate any of these far-flung fragments of
Napoleon's mighty empire without reverting with renewed interest to the
founder of so much unlooked-for though brief greatness. Sheltered
beneath his Titan aegis these new-made monarchs flourished, and ruffled
it with the best of Europe's princes; until, grown vain of their fancied
power, they deserted their shield and shelter, leaving it to abide
unsustained the assault of an outraged world, and, whilst, forgetful of
their origin, seeking to stand alone, were shattered into atoms by its
fall!
What a capricious climate is this! On Tuesday the 27th of May, I rode
from Princeton to Brunswick, on a day as sultry as a July afternoon ever
is in England; the heavy showers of the 25th had so saturated the sandy
soil that no particle of dust could float, and the verdure of wood and
valley was bright and refreshing to look upon. Yet here we are in New
York, on the 28th, with large fires burning within, a north-east wind
blowing without, attended by alternate sleet and showers, with fog and
every other atmospheric misery most grievous to humanity. This sample of
"the spring-time of the year" continued tolerably regular until
_June 6th._--This day the sun is fairly on duty again. Rode to the
course on Long Island, the third day of the present meeting, to witness
a race which had called up North and South to arms. Trifle--a little
mare of Colonel Johnson's, the Nestor of the American turf--had come on
from Virginia to be entered against Shark, the property of Captain
Robert Stockton, about to run his first four-mile race, a horse much was
expected from. Alice Grey, the mare which I had seen beaten easily by
Trifle at the fall meeting, was the only other entry expected to be made
good; so that the thing was considered as a match between the two horses
first named. For the only time I saw ladies present in considerable
numbers, and was sorry that the gallantry of my sporting friends had not
provided them with a more becoming stand.
All was tiptoe expectation; but the anticipated sport fell through,
owing to the ill condition of Shark. He was, from some cause or other,
as completely out of order as an animal could well be, and ought
properly to have been drawn. His spirited owner was, however, absent in
Europe, and the friends who acted for him decided that he should do his
best. Two heats, run in very indifferent time, decided the affair; and
the little pet of the Southerners was once more hailed _victrix_.