forenoon, the temptation to pick the red leaves and shake the trees for
hickory nuts being very great, and having greatly prolonged the time
which our walk occupied. But the village itself, for it is no more,
though, having a mayor, it calls itself a city, had great objects of
interest, and is a curious instance of what a railway will do in
America to _make_ a town; for it scarcely had any existence three years
ago, and is now full of artificers and others employed in the railway
works, all fully occupied, and earning excellent wages.
The people marry so early that the place was almost overflowing with
children, who certainly bore evidence in their looks to the healthiness
of the climate.
This being a slave state, there was a sprinkling of a black population;
and among the slaves we were shocked by observing a little girl, with
long red ringlets and a skin exquisitely fair, and yet of the proscribed
race, which made the institution appear more revolting in our eyes than
anything we have yet seen. The cook at the hotel was a noble-looking
black, tall and well-made, and so famous for his skill at omelettes,
that we begged him to give us a lesson on the subject, which he
willingly did. I asked him if he were a slave, and he replied, making me
a low bow, "No, ma'am, I belong to myself." The little red-haired girl
was a slave of the mistress of the hotel.
We again linked ourselves on to a train which came up at about one
o'clock, and at Benton's Ferry, about twenty miles from Grafton, we
crossed the Monongahela, over a viaduct 650 feet long; the iron bridge,
which consists of three arches of 200 feet span each, being the longest
iron bridge in America. Though the water was not very deep, owing to a
recent drought, it was curious to see the little stream of yesterday
changed into an already considerable river, almost beating any we can
boast of in England.
We now began to wind our way down the ravine called Buffalo Creek, which
we passed at Fairmont, over a suspension bridge 1000 feet long. The road
still continued very beautiful, and was so all the way to this place,
Wheeling, which we reached at about six o'clock. The last eleven miles
was up the banks of the _real_ Ohio, for the Monongahela, after we last
left it, takes a long course northward, and after being joined at
Pittsburg by the Alleghany, a river as large as itself, the two together
there, form the Ohio. From Pittsburg to where we first saw it, it had
come south more than 100 miles, and at Wheeling it is so broad and deep
as to be covered with magnificent steamers; there were five in front of
our hotel window, and most singular-looking they were, with their one
huge wheel behind, scarcely touching the water, and their two tall
funnels in front. They tower up to a great height, and are certainly
the most splendid-looking steamers we ever saw.
We here left our valued friend Mr. Tyson, who after calling on us at the
hotel in the evening, was to return at ten o'clock to Baltimore. We
certainly never enjoyed a journey more. He is the most entertaining man
you can imagine, full of anecdotes and good stories; and, as we have
said before, with such a marvellous memory, that he could repeat whole
passages of poetry by heart. His knowledge too of botany was delightful,
for there was not a plant or weed we passed of which he could not only
tell the botanical and common name, but its history and use. He has
travelled much, having been employed in mining business in the Brazils.
He has also been in the West Indies, in England, Scotland, and Ireland,
and on the Continent of Europe.
We had a pleasing variety in occasional visitors to the car; for not
only the work-people on the road, as I have said, got up behind to speak
to Mr. Tyson, and were always received by him in the most friendly
manner, being men of high calibre in point of intelligence, but we had
at different times a Dr. Orr, a physician and director of the railway,
who was on the engine with us to set our bones, if papa had capsized us
and the doctor had escaped; also a Dr. Gerbard, a German surgeon, with
a scar on his cheek from a duel at college in his youth. Dr. Orr was
accompanied by a lady, with whom I conversed a good deal, and found she
was the owner of many slaves; but I must write you a chapter on slavery
another time. All the last day of our journey from Grafton to Wheeling,
was through Virginia, and the rural population were chiefly slaves. The
two doctors I have mentioned were our visitors yesterday. To-day, we had
throughout with us Mr. Rennie (Mr. Tyson's assistant), and also Major
Barry, an agent of the Company, and an officer in the United States
service, who in the last Indian war captured with his own hand, Black
Hawk, the great Indian Chief, in Illinois. He is an Irishman by birth,
and had been in our service at the battle of Waterloo, but he left the
British army, and entered the United States service in 1818. He was very
intelligent and agreeable. Our last visitor was Colonel Moore, also an
agent of the company; a most gentleman-like man. This will show you what
a superior set of men are employed on American railways.
Among the men who spoke to us as we stood on our balcony, was a
delightful character, a nigger. I heard Mr. Tyson look over and say,
"Jerry, why did you not tell me you were going to get married?" Up came
Jerry, looking the very picture of a happy bridegroom, having been
married the evening before to a dark widow considerably older than
himself. He was quite a "get up" in his dress, with boots of a
glistening blackness. He answered, "I sent you an invitation, Mr. Tyson,
and left it at your office." He was nothing daunted by his interesting
position in life, and had a week's holiday in honour of the event. He
was, to use his own expression, a "'sponsible nigger," though he was
actually only cleaner up, and carpet sweeper in the office, negroes
never being allowed to have any charge in the working of the line, or a
more "'sponsible" station than that connected with the office work,
though in that they are often confidentially employed in carrying money
to the bank, &c.
_Columbus, Friday 22nd._--It began to rain last night, and continued to
pour to-day till ten o'clock, so that we had no opportunity of seeing
much of the town of Wheeling, but our rooms looked on to the Ohio, and
were within a stone's throw of it. Another great steamer had come up in
the night, so there were _six_ now lying in front of the windows,
looking like so many line-of-battle ships.
We found that Jerry and his lady slept at our hotel, and I sent for them
next morning to speak to us. She was smartly dressed in a dark silk,
with a richly embroidered collar and pocket handkerchief, which she
carefully displayed, and a large brooch. He wore a turn-down collar to
his shirt, of the most fashionable cut; the shirt itself had a pale blue
pattern on it, and a diamond (?) shirt pin, the shirt having a frill _en
jabot_. His face was shining and glistening with cleanliness and
happiness, and she looked up to him as if she were very proud of her
young husband. He said he was very happy, and I complimented her on her
dress, and asked her if she had bought much for the occasion, and she
admitted that she had. I asked her where they went to church (all
niggers are great worshippers somewhere, and generally are Methodists);
and he said he went to the "Methodist Church," that his wife was a
member, and I encouraged him to continue going regularly. He said he had
married her for the purpose of doing so, and evidently looked up to her
as a teacher in these matters. They said they could both read printed
characters, but not writing, and that they read their Bibles. I asked
him if there were any other cars on the line like Mr. Tyson's, and he
said, "Yes, several, miss." "Are they handsomer than his?" "Some are,
they are all different in their fancy principle." He told us, of his own
accord, that they had both been slaves. He bought his freedom for five
hundred dollars. They both had been kindly treated as slaves, but he
said, not only the hickory stick, but the "raw hide," was frequently
used by unkind masters and mistresses; and, on my asking him whether
slaves had any redress in such cases, he said their free friends may try
to get some redress for them, but it does no good. This was _his_
testimony on the subject, and I shall give you the testimony of every
one as I gather it for you to put together, that you may be able to form
your own deductions. Mr. Tyson had told us they _had_ redress, though he
is an enemy to the "institution" of slavery, as it is here called, but
still maintains, what is no doubt the case, that they are oftener much
happier in America than the free negro. Indeed he told us a well-treated
slave will look down on a freeman, and say, "_Ah! yes, he's only some
poor free trash. He's a poor white free trash._" It was curious to
notice Jerry's sayings, only some of which I can remember. Mr. Tyson
looked down the line from the balcony yesterday, and said, to Jerry, who
had got out of a passenger car for a minute, "Jerry, do you see the
train coming?" "Yes, sir; it blowed right up there;" meaning it had
whistled. I will write to you more at large ere long about slavery, when
I have not topics pressing on time and pen.
We left our hotel this morning at eight o'clock, and even in the omnibus
noticed the improved and very intelligent appearance of the men. They
answered us quickly, cheerfully, and to the purpose; many wore large
picturesque felt hats of various forms. It is true that, on starting, we
were still in Virginia, of which Wheeling is one of the largest towns;
but the bulk of our fellow-passengers were evidently from the West; they
are chiefly descendants of the New Englanders, and partake of their
character, with the exception of the nasal twang, which is worse in New
England than anywhere else in America, and we are now losing the sound
of it. The omnibus made a grand circuit of the town to pick up
passengers, and thus gave us the only opportunity we had of seeing
something of it. It rained in torrents, and this probably made it look
more dismal than usual, but it certainly is much less picturesque and
more English-looking than any town we have yet seen. The coal and iron,
which constitute its chief trade, give it a very dirty appearance; but
its natural situation, stretching along the banks of the Ohio, which are
here very high on both sides, is very beautiful. The omnibus at last
crossed the river by a very fine suspension bridge, and, having left the
slave states behind us, we found ourselves in the free State of Ohio.
On the opposite side of the river we entered the cars of the Ohio
Central Railroad, but alas! we had no Mr. Tyson, and no sofas or tables
or balconies, and were again simple members of the public, destined to
enjoy all the tortures of the common cars. These however were in
first-rate style, with velvet seats, and prettily painted, with
brilliant white panelled ceilings; and we here fell in again, to my no
small comfort, with the venders of fruit and literature, or "pedlaring,"
as it is called, which forms a pleasant break in the tedium of a long
journey. I have been often told the reverse, but the literature sold in
this way is, as far as we have seen, rather creditable than otherwise to
the country, being generally of an instructive and useful character.
Many works published quite recently in England, could be bought either
in the cars or at the stores; and some of the better class of English
novels are reprinted in America, and sold at the rate of two or three
shillings a volume. The daily newspapers, sold on the railways, are
numerous; but these, with very few exceptions, are quite unworthy of the
country. In general there are no articles worth reading, for they are
filled with foolish and trashy anecdotes, written, apparently, by
penny-a-liners of the lowest order of ability. The magazines, and some
of the weekly illustrated papers, are a degree better, but a great deal
of the wit in these is reproduced from "Punch."
The first eighty-two miles to Zanesville were through a pretty and hilly
country. The hills were as usual covered with woods of every hue, so
that though the scenery was inferior to what we had been passing through
for the last few days, it was still very beautiful. Zanesville, which is
a considerable town, is situated on the Muskingham river. This fine
broad stream must add considerably to the waters of the Ohio, into which
it falls soon after leaving Zanesville.
At Zanesville, after partaking of an excellent dinner, we were joined by
an intelligent woman, returning home, with her little baby of ten weeks
old, from a visit she had just been making to her mother. Her own home
is in Missouri, and her husband being the owner of a farm of 500 acres,
she was able to give us a good deal of information about the state of
agriculture in the Far West. I learnt much from her on various subjects,
and was much surprised at the quick sharp answers she gave to all my
questions. She was well dressed, something in the style of the English
lady's maid, was evidently well to do, and was travelling night and day
with her merry little baby. She possesses one slave of fourteen, for
whom she gave four hundred dollars, whom she has had from infancy; she
brings her up as her own, and this black girl is now taking care of her
other children in her absence. I asked, "What do the slaves eat?"
"Everything: corn-bread, that's the most." Papa said, "It is a great
shame making Missouri a slave state."
_Woman._ "Ah yes; keeps it back."
_Self._ "Have you good health?"--many parts being said to be unhealthy.
_Woman._ A quick nod. "First-rate."
_Self._ "Did your mother give you the hickory stick?"
_Woman._ "No: the switch:--raised me on the rod of correction."
_Self._ "Had your husband the farm before you married?"
_Woman._ "His father had 'entered it,' and he gave my husband money, and
my mother gave me money, and then we married and 'entered it'
ourselves."
All these answers came out with the utmost quickness and intelligence.
She is an Irish Roman Catholic, her mother having brought her as a baby
from Ireland, her husband is also Irish; but they are now Americans of
the Far West in their manner and singular intelligence, beating even the
clever Irish in this respect.
I said: "Do you pray much to the Virgin Mary in your part of America?"
_Woman._ "No: don't notice her much."
_Self._ "I am glad of that."
_Woman._ "We respect her as the mother of God."
She said the corn on the road-side we were then passing was far inferior
to western produce, that it ought to be much taller, and that if it were
so, the ear would be much larger and fuller. Our English wheat is never
called corn, but simply wheat; and the other varieties oats, rye, &c.,
are called by their different names, but the generic term _corn_, in
America, always means Indian corn. It is necessary to know this in order
to prevent confusion in conversation. This woman's name was Margaret
M.; she was twenty-seven years of age, but looked younger; her husband,
James M., was thirty-six.
I asked her whether he was tall or short. "Oh tall, of course. I
wouldn't have had a poor short man." So we looked at papa, and laughed,
and said our tastes were the same. She was a most agreeable companion.
She noticed that I was reading a novel by the author of "John Halifax,"
which I had bought, the whole three volumes, for 1_s._ 6_d._, and said,
"Ah! that's the sort of reading I like. That's a novel; but my priest
tells me not to read that kind, that it fills me with silly thoughts;
but to read something to make me more intelligent." I thought there
seemed no deficiency in this respect, but agreed that the advice was
good, and said that I had bought this for cheapness, and for being
portable, it being in the pamphlet form; and that I was so interrupted
with looking at the lovely scenery when travelling, that I could not
take in anything deeper.
We wished each other good bye, and she wished me a happy meeting again
with our children. And now papa says this must be closed, and it
certainly has attained to no mean length, so I will not begin another
sheet, and hope you will not be wearied with this long chapter.
FOOTNOTE:
[7] These photographs cannot be reproduced here, which I regret, as they
were very well done.
LETTER IX.
JOURNEY FROM WHEELING TO COLUMBUS.--FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS.--MR.
TYSON'S STORIES.--COLUMBUS.--PENITENTIARY.--CAPITOL.--GOVERNOR
CHASE.--CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.--ARRIVAL AT CINCINNATI.
Columbus, Oct. 23rd, 1858.
The letter which I sent you from this place this morning will have told
you of our arrival here, but it was closed in such haste that I omitted
many things which I ought to have mentioned. It, moreover, carried us
only to Zanesville, and I ought to have told you that the view continued
very pretty all the way to this place, and the day having cleared up at
noon, we had a brilliant evening to explore this town.
Before describing Columbus, however, I shall go back to some omissions
of a still older date; for I ought to have told you of a grand sight we
saw the day we passed the Alleghany Ridge. On the preceding evening Mr.
Tyson received a telegraphic message to say that an extensive fire was
raging in the forest; it is supposed to have been caused by some people
shooting in the woods. It must have been a grand sight to the
passengers by the train from which we had separated, and which went on
during the night through the scene of the conflagration, for the fire
was much more extensive than those which are constantly taking place,
and which are passed by unheeded,--unhonoured with a telegraphic notice.
When we passed by the place next morning it was still burning
vigorously, but the daylight rendered the flames almost imperceptible.
It was curious, however, to see the volumes of smoke, which we first
perceived in a hollow. The fire was then travelling down the side of the
mountain; and long after we passed the immediate spot we saw the fire
winding about the mountains, spreading greatly, in the direction of the
wind and making its way even against it, though it was blowing with
considerable violence. The people in the neighbourhood were busily
employed in trying to save their hayricks from destruction. Mr. Tyson
said they would probably succeed in this, though the whole of the forest
was likely to be burnt, as the fire would wind about among the mountains
and pass from one to another for perhaps two months, unless a heavy rain
put it out. This we hope has been the case, as it poured in torrents all
the following night when we were at Wheeling.
Another circumstance we ought to have mentioned was our passing through
a very long tunnel, called the Board Tree Tunnel, about 340 miles from
Baltimore. This tunnel, after having fallen in, has only been repaired
within the last two months. The history of this catastrophe, and of the
mode of remedying it, forms quite an incident in the history of the
railway, and shows with what resolution difficulties in this country are
overcome. To reopen the tunnel it was clear would be a work of time, so
Mr. Tyson resolved to run a new temporary railway for three miles over
the mountain which had been tunnelled, and this was accomplished by 3000
men in ten days. We saw the place where this road had passed, and the
zig-zag line by which the mountain was crossed. The road seems
positively to overhang the precipice, and reminded me of a mountain pass
in Switzerland--as, indeed, the whole of the road here does. Mr. Tyson
himself drove the first train over, and he said his heart was in his
mouth when, having got to the top, he saw the descent before him, and
the engine and train on a precipice where the least _contretemps_ would
have plunged the whole into the abyss below; but happily all went right,
and till within the last two months this temporary road has been used.
It was really quite frightful to look up and think a train could pass
over such a place, the grade being 420 feet in a mile, or 1 in 121/2; but
you will one day be able to form some idea of it, as a photograph was
taken, and Mr. Tyson will give us a copy of it. This is certainly a
wonderful country for great enterprises, and the Pennsylvania Central
Railway, by which we contemplate recrossing the Alleghanies, is in some
respects a still more remarkable undertaking, though the height at which
the mountains are crossed on that line is not so great as that on the
Baltimore and Ohio line, which, as I told you in my last, is at an
elevation of 2700 feet. It was long supposed that such a feat could not
be surpassed, but Mr. Tyson says that, encouraged by this, a railway now
crosses the Tyrolean Alps at a somewhat higher level.
To return, however, to the Board Tree Tunnel: Mr. Tyson told us that the
difficulty of restoring it to a safe condition was so great as almost to
dishearten him till he had arched it completely over from one end to the
other with solid stone masonry, which has rendered the recurrence of the
accident impossible; but the disheartening circumstance, while the work
was in progress, was the danger to which the men employed in the work
were exposed, from the constant falling in of the roof. During its
progress no less than forty-five men were killed, and about 400 severely
wounded. They were chiefly Roman Catholics, and were it not for the
encouragement given by an energetic Roman Catholic priest, he hardly
thinks the men would have continued the work. The doctor, too, who
attended the wounded, and whom we saw at breakfast at Grafton, was also
most devoted to them. It was quite touching to hear the tender-hearted
way in which Mr. Tyson spoke of the poor sufferers, for he was
constantly there, and often saw them go in to almost certain death. He
mentioned one poor widow to whom he had just sent three hundred dollars
as a gift from the railway.
Before leaving the subject of Mr. Tyson, I must tell you one or two of
his good stories. I had been telling him of the negro meeting, which I
described to you in my last. In it I told you how the negroes had cried
out "glory! glory!" from which it appears it is almost impossible that
they can refrain. In corroboration of this he told us of a nigger woman
who was sold from a Baptist to a Presbyterian family. In general slaves
adopt, at once, the habits and doctrines of their new owners; but this
poor woman could not restrain herself, and greatly disturbed the
Presbyterian congregation, by shouting out "glory! glory!" in the
middle of the service. Next morning the minister sent for her and
rebuked her for this unseemly interruption of his sermon; but she said
doggedly, "Can't help it, sir; I'm all full of glory; must shout it
out." Many of his amusing stories were about Irish labourers employed on
the road. One of these, whose duty it was to show a light at the station
as the train passed, failed one night to do so, and was seen asleep. The
man who drove the engine threw a cinder at him as he passed, to awake
him; but, instead of hitting him, the cinder broke his lamp glass. All
this was told to Mr. Tyson, and also that the man was very angry at his
lamp being broken. When Mr. T. went down the line next day, he stopped
to lecture him, and the following colloquy ensued:--
_Mr. Tyson._ "Well, your lamp was broke, I hear, yesterday."
_Irishman._ "O, yes sir;" (terrified out of his life at the scolding he
feared was coming, for he saw that Mr. Tyson knew all about it;) "but I
forgive the blackguards intirely, sir, I _quite_ forgive them."
Mr. T. kept his counsel, said nothing more, and the lamp has never
failed since; but half the merit of this story depended on Mr. Tyson's
way of telling it. He was deliciously graphic also, and full of witty
sayings of his own. When, for example, I showed him my photograph of
your little brother, he exclaimed, "Well, he _is_ a fine fellow; HE
don't mind if corn is five dollars a bushel." I think you will all
appreciate this as a perfect description of the unconcern of a healthy
intelligent-looking child, unconscious of the anxieties of those about
him; but I must reserve his other good sayings and stories till we meet.
To-day we have been most busily employed, for Mr. Garrett, our railway
friend at Baltimore, not only did us the good service of sending us by
the car under Mr. Tyson's auspices, but gave us letters of introduction
both to this place and to Cincinnati; and his letters here to Mr. Neil
and Mr. Dennison have been of great use to us, as one or the other of
them has been in attendance upon us since 11 o'clock this morning,
together with a very pleasing person, a widow, niece of Mr. Neil, and
they have shown us the town in first-rate style.