Latest / Around the Clock in Europe : A Travel Sequence / Three Days On The Ohio River-William A. Alcott

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Three Days On The Ohio River-William A. Alcott · Around the Clock in Europe : A Travel Sequence

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  Speaker 1: Part one of Three Days on the Ohio River. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by David Wales. Three Days on
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  Speaker 1: the Ohio River by William Andres Alcott, Part one, Chapter
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  Speaker 1: one preliminary remarks. I was once in the city of
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  Speaker 1: Cincinnati and wished to go to Pittsburgh by way of
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  Speaker 1: the river. Not that this was the nearest way, or
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  Speaker 1: the swiftest, or the cheapest, but I desired very much
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  Speaker 1: to see the country through which the river runs. For
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  Speaker 1: as I had read in the histories of the United States,
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  Speaker 1: and particularly in the accounts of our wars with the Indians,
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  Speaker 1: much about the Ohio River, with many of its towns
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  Speaker 1: and villages. My curiosity was very active, and I was
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  Speaker 1: determined to behold it. It was Monday, the twenty ninth
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  Speaker 1: of March, and a most lovely morning too, when I
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  Speaker 1: went on board the steamboat Pittsburgh found for the city
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  Speaker 1: of the same name. I was careful to set out
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  Speaker 1: early in the week, so as if possible, to reach
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  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh before Sunday. Chapter two. The steamboat. Were you ever
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  Speaker 1: on board a Western river steamboat, as some of you
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  Speaker 1: may not have had the opportunity, I will give you
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  Speaker 1: a short account of one. Some of these boats are
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  Speaker 1: very large. Indeed, they would seem to you like a
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  Speaker 1: little world of themselves. The Pittsburgh is about two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and eighty feet in length by sixty in breadth. This boat,
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  Speaker 1: if placed in a field, would cover nearly half an
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  Speaker 1: acre of land. These boats are high as well as long.
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  Speaker 1: Besides the hold, as they call it, a kind of
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  Speaker 1: cellar into which they stow away much of their heavy freight,
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  Speaker 1: they have two or three other stories or decks for
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  Speaker 1: freight and passengers. The one next above the hold is
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  Speaker 1: where they keep their cattle and horses and hawks, if
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  Speaker 1: they have any on board. Also, they're freight here too.
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  Speaker 1: In some instances they have at one end a clumsy
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  Speaker 1: kind of a cabin called the forecastle or steerage. This
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  Speaker 1: forecastle is occupied for the most part by the poorer passengers,
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  Speaker 1: especially immigrants. They have berths or shells to recline on,
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  Speaker 1: but no bed clothing, and their accommodations are generally very inferior.
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  Speaker 1: On the next floor above are the cabins for the passengers.
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  Speaker 1: In general, they are usually in two great, rather long rooms,
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  Speaker 1: one at each end. One of them is used at
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  Speaker 1: meals as the dining room. The berths or sleeping places
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  Speaker 1: are at their sides. They too are mere broad shells,
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  Speaker 1: but they have bed clothing and curtains. On the upper
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  Speaker 1: deck the cabins are still more ample, as well as
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  Speaker 1: better furnished. There, instead of shells at the sides, there
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  Speaker 1: are small rooms connected with the shells, called state rooms.
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  Speaker 1: Not that the cabins on those upper decks are unusually
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  Speaker 1: long in proportion to their breadth, and did you not
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  Speaker 1: feel the motion of the boat while occupying them, the
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  Speaker 1: traveler would hardly know that he is not in a
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  Speaker 1: large and comfortable hotel or dwelling house. There is still
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  Speaker 1: another deck or promenade above all these, but passengers are
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  Speaker 1: not usually allowed to occupy it. The helmsman of the
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  Speaker 1: boat is stationed here, and a crowd of people around
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  Speaker 1: him might obstruct his view. I have thus described five
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  Speaker 1: stories or rows, but there is a difference in boats,
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  Speaker 1: and this particular even in the large ones. Some have
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  Speaker 1: only four stories, that is three besides the hold. In
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  Speaker 1: the latter case, the lower or freight deck is at
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  Speaker 1: one end of the boat, formed into a cabin, which
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  Speaker 1: communicates only by means of a stairway with the next
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  Speaker 1: deck above it. The best cabins are carpeted as nicely
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  Speaker 1: as are best parlors, and the furniture is often as costly.
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  Speaker 1: The state rooms are also well furnished and sometimes well ventilated.
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  Speaker 1: The beds are narrow, but the beds on board the Pittsburgh,
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  Speaker 1: though narrow, were quite comfortable. The passengers recline on a
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  Speaker 1: mattress which rests on coils of elastic wire like some
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  Speaker 1: of our sofas and carriage seats, and the beds are
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  Speaker 1: almost as soft as feather beds. The rules and regulations
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  Speaker 1: in many steamboats are exceedingly strict. In some instances they
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  Speaker 1: are printed and hung up at the sides of the
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  Speaker 1: cabins and elsewhere in conspicuous places. They relate to the
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  Speaker 1: treatment of furniture, the hours of rising, meals, retiring to rest,
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  Speaker 1: and so forth. No person, for example, is allowed to
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  Speaker 1: let his chair while sitting rest against the wall, or
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  Speaker 1: to put his feet on the cushions of the chairs
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  Speaker 1: or sofas. No lights are permitted in the state rooms
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  Speaker 1: cases of severe sickness or other extremity alone, excepted, the
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  Speaker 1: female passengers have every reasonable convenience for washing, dressing, and
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  Speaker 1: so forth in their state rooms. For the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the passengers there is a common watch room, with which
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  Speaker 1: the barber's room is also sometimes connected. Thus you see
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  Speaker 1: that the art and ingenuity of man have converted these
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  Speaker 1: great prisons on the water into so many magnificent hotels.
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  Speaker 1: Some inconveniences and even privations there are, and must be
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  Speaker 1: as a general rule, the traveler may be very comfortable
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  Speaker 1: in them, and if he chooses quite self indulgent. This
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  Speaker 1: word self indulgent refers to the articles of food on
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  Speaker 1: the tables. These are just what is to be expected
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  Speaker 1: when it is considered what the far greater part of
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  Speaker 1: our travelers place their chief happiness in what they most
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  Speaker 1: think of and talk of, at least when they have
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  Speaker 1: little else to do. In this respect, the steamboat is
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  Speaker 1: about on a par with a hotel. If there be
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  Speaker 1: an difference, it seems to me to consist in this
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  Speaker 1: that the dishes at the table on board the steamboat
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  Speaker 1: are more complicated and more costly, and at the same
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  Speaker 1: time more unhealthy than those of the hotel. But enough
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  Speaker 1: of description for the present. We will now return to
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  Speaker 1: the narration of my adventures, chapter three. Beginning the voyage,
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  Speaker 1: the distance from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, following the course of
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  Speaker 1: the river, is four hundred and seventy seven miles, the
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  Speaker 1: distance by land being as I suppose, on the shortest road,
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  Speaker 1: about three hundred and fifty. The Ohio River is very crooked.
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  Speaker 1: It turns to nearly every point of the compass. In
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  Speaker 1: one instance, in going up it, for example, I well
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  Speaker 1: remember that after going for some time in a northerly
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  Speaker 1: and then in a northwesterly direction, we suddenly turned to
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  Speaker 1: the west, as if we were going back again to Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: The hour at which the steamer was to say, according
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  Speaker 1: to the advertisement in the papers, was ten o'clock. Most
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  Speaker 1: of the passengers were on board before this time. There was, however,
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  Speaker 1: a large amount of freight to come on board afterward.
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  Speaker 1: There was also delay from another and very different cause.
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  Speaker 1: Just opposite to Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side are the
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  Speaker 1: villages of Newport and Covington. In one of the houses
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  Speaker 1: in one of these places, a thief had entered during
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  Speaker 1: the night and taken away considerable money and other property.
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  Speaker 1: The officers of Justice were in pursuit of him. They
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  Speaker 1: came to the Pittsburgh and asked permission to search. That
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  Speaker 1: this being granted, they went in company with one of
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  Speaker 1: the officers and made diligent search everywhere, especially among the immigrants.
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  Speaker 1: The thief, however, was not found, and the search was discontinued.
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  Speaker 1: At about twelve o'clock we were under way and slowly
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  Speaker 1: proceeding up the river, which is here, as I judged,
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  Speaker 1: about a quarter of a mile wide and prittle deep.
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  Speaker 1: Every passenger, or nearly everyone, was now on deck, enjoying
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  Speaker 1: the prospect. The Pittsburgh sailed about eight or ten miles
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  Speaker 1: an hour. We were soon out of sight of Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: The last portion of it which we saw was Fulton,
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  Speaker 1: which is the name given to a long arm of
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  Speaker 1: the city extending several miles along in a northeasterly direction.
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  Speaker 1: I was almost sorry to leave Cincinnati, for it is
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  Speaker 1: in many respects a beautiful place. The central or business
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  Speaker 1: part is not peculiarly handsome, I admit, but the Walnut Hills,
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  Speaker 1: Mount Auburn, and other places forming a semicircle and enclosing
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  Speaker 1: it on all sides except on the southeast and south
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  Speaker 1: are for the beauties of nature and art almost unrivaled.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, Sailing up the river. As you proceed up
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  Speaker 1: the river, your attention is arrested from time to time
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  Speaker 1: by small villages. These are more numerous on the Ohio
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  Speaker 1: side than on that of Kentucky. Whether this is owing
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  Speaker 1: to the effects of slavery or to other reasons, I
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  Speaker 1: am not informed. One thing is certain that nature is
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  Speaker 1: not at fault in the construction of the country. For
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  Speaker 1: never in my life have I seen a prettier variety
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  Speaker 1: of hills and dales than on the Kentucky side of
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  Speaker 1: the Ohio River. The water of the river was high,
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  Speaker 1: and the boat could stop at nearly every considerable village.
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  Speaker 1: The principal places we passed for the first sixty miles
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  Speaker 1: were Columbia Point, pleasant Neville, Higginsport, Ripley, and Aberdeen in Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: and Mechanicsburg, Belmont, Augusta, and Charleston in Kentucky. Augusta in
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky is a considerable village and has one or two
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  Speaker 1: important schools. It has also a few antiquities. So full
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  Speaker 1: is the earth of decaying human bones that they can
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  Speaker 1: hardly dig a hole for a post without finding some
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  Speaker 1: of them. The Ohio at this season has a turbid
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  Speaker 1: or milky appearance. It is used on board the steamboats
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  Speaker 1: for all purposes, even for drinking. To me it was disagreeable,
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  Speaker 1: But to some of the passengers it was more than
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  Speaker 1: disagreeable to their taste, for it deranged their stomachs. This
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  Speaker 1: result is probably owing to the lime it contains. Most
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  Speaker 1: of the passengers were on deck during the greater part
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  Speaker 1: of the day, viewing the country, which I have already
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  Speaker 1: told you was beautiful. The village in general had a
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  Speaker 1: sooty appearance, caused by coal smoke. Chapter five Maysville. Before
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  Speaker 1: night we came to Maysville in Kentucky. This is quite
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  Speaker 1: a large village with some appearance of thrift and prosperity.
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  Speaker 1: Here we stopped for two hours or more, partly to
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  Speaker 1: take in one hundred and twenty head of cattle. Our
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  Speaker 1: number of passengers was not large, less I believe than
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  Speaker 1: one hundred, and probably did not much more than pay expenses,
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  Speaker 1: especially when they kept so extravagant a table. The fare
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  Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh was seven dollars. True, there was on board
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  Speaker 1: a large amount of freight of various kinds, which perhaps
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  Speaker 1: made up the deficiency. But as the grave, according to Solomon,
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  Speaker 1: is never satisfied, never says enough, so the men who
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  Speaker 1: are engaged in carrying passengers and freight seem never satisfied
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  Speaker 1: as long as they can carry any more. Those who
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  Speaker 1: drive large numbers of cattle from Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and
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  Speaker 1: so forth to New York and the Eastern States find
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  Speaker 1: it very tedious to drive them all the way by land,
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  Speaker 1: as well as very expensive, so they sometimes make a
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  Speaker 1: bargain with the superintendence of railroads and the captains of
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  Speaker 1: steamboats to have them transported. The price paid for carrying
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty cattle from Maysville to Pittsburgh above
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  Speaker 1: four hundred miles by water was four dollars in f
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  Speaker 1: fifty cents each, or in the hole five hundred forty dollars.
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  Speaker 1: The cattle were to be brought upon the lower deck
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  Speaker 1: next to the hold, and tied with short ropes to
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  Speaker 1: the posts and other timbers of the boat. But how
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  Speaker 1: were they to be got on board? I will describe
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  Speaker 1: the method. The steamboat was brought close to the wharf,
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  Speaker 1: from which a broad platform made of strong planks was
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  Speaker 1: thrown across to the deck of the boat, forming a bridge. Still, however,
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  Speaker 1: the animals were afraid. The difficulty was surmounted in the
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  Speaker 1: following manner. One old ox was procured, who had been
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  Speaker 1: trained for the purpose and was not at all afraid.
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  Speaker 1: A rope was attached to his horns, and he was
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  Speaker 1: slowly led on board, while the others, with a little urging,
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  Speaker 1: followed him. But as they could not manage more than
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  Speaker 1: six or eight at a time, the trained ox had
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  Speaker 1: to be led on board and brought back again a
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  Speaker 1: great many times. Before the drove were fairly in their places.
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  Speaker 1: One poor bullock made them a deal of trouble. After
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  Speaker 1: he was taken on board. Uneasy and restless, he somehow
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  Speaker 1: or other got loose, leaped overboard, and swam down the
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  Speaker 1: river about a mile before a company in the longboat
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  Speaker 1: could reach and secure him and drive him back. While
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  Speaker 1: this embarkation of the cattle was going on, I went
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  Speaker 1: on shore and made a survey of the village. It
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  Speaker 1: is the most important place in this part of Kentucky,
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  Speaker 1: containing as I judged, some four or five thousand inhabitants,
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  Speaker 1: and having considerable trade with some manufactures. This place was
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  Speaker 1: formerly called by the characteristic name of Limestone, and was
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  Speaker 1: one of the first settled places in the state. The
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  Speaker 1: famous Daniel Boone at one time resided here, and an
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  Speaker 1: old shattered warehouse is shown to travelers, which it is
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  Speaker 1: said he built Chapter six in the cabin. It was
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  Speaker 1: nearly night when we left Maysville, and most of the
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  Speaker 1: passengers were glad to go below and remain there. The
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  Speaker 1: hour for rest was also approaching. Of this also we
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  Speaker 1: were glad, for to most of us it had been
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  Speaker 1: a very fatiguing day. There was, however, an interval of
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  Speaker 1: two or three hours between tea and bedtime, and the
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  Speaker 1: question was how this time should be employed. I say
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  Speaker 1: this was the question, but I mean rather that it
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  Speaker 1: should have been for I do not suppose, on further reflection,
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  Speaker 1: that one person and ten of those who were on
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  Speaker 1: board was in the habit of asking himself any such question,
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  Speaker 1: whether on land or on water, at home or abroad.
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  Speaker 1: They took no note of time but by its loss,
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  Speaker 1: And they who do not live by system or rule
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  Speaker 1: elsewhere will not be likely to do so while on
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  Speaker 1: board a steamboat. In truth, it is very difficult for
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  Speaker 1: those who are the most careful, economical, and systematic in
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  Speaker 1: regard to their time to to keep everything straight while traveling,
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  Speaker 1: especially while traveling at the rapid rate of modern times
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  Speaker 1: and with such crowds, it costs even the most conscientious,
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  Speaker 1: those who fear God the most, quite a struggle. Do
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  Speaker 1: you ask what the fear of God has to do
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  Speaker 1: with matters of this kind, and whether we have time
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  Speaker 1: to think closely and continuously about the right and wrong
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  Speaker 1: of everything on board a steamboat. My reply is that
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  Speaker 1: some persons do it in spite of the difficulties. There
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  Speaker 1: were a few on board the Pittsburgh who did it,
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  Speaker 1: although their number, as I have already intimated, was very few.
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  Speaker 1: I have said that some persons try to have a
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  Speaker 1: conscience void of offense toward God and Man, not only
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  Speaker 1: while at home, but while they travel abroad, whether in
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  Speaker 1: the steamboat or in the railroad car. They believe that
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  Speaker 1: God sees them there as well as elsewhere. They believe
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  Speaker 1: that for every thought, word, indeed alone or in company,
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  Speaker 1: at home or abroad, they must give account in the
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  Speaker 1: day of judgment. They believe that whether they eat or drink,
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  Speaker 1: or whatsoever they do, and whenever they do it, they
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  Speaker 1: are required to do all to the glory of God.
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  Speaker 1: I saw one or two groups of passengers on board
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  Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh, in one of the cabins, where there was
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  Speaker 1: the most merriment of all kinds, as well as the
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  Speaker 1: most thoughtlessness on the part of many who had their
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  Speaker 1: Bibles in their hands for a long time during the
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  Speaker 1: progress of the evening, and who appeared to be reading
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  Speaker 1: and studying. I know full well that all this may
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  Speaker 1: be done sometimes is done for mere effect. Some read
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  Speaker 1: the Bible that they may appear to be good. Some
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  Speaker 1: read it to keep down the upbraiding of their consciences.
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  Speaker 1: Some do it from mere habit, and some do it
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  Speaker 1: in the vain hope that somehow or other they know
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  Speaker 1: not when or how, but at some time or other,
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  Speaker 1: a blessing will come out of it. When I saw
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  Speaker 1: those persons reading the Bible on board the Pittsburgh, I
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  Speaker 1: did not at once set them down as certainly and
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  Speaker 1: always religious. I did not set them down as persons who,
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  Speaker 1: if they were religious, on occasions or at stated times,
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  Speaker 1: carried out their religion into daily and hourly practice. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I did not set them down as necessarily so or
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  Speaker 1: such merely because they read the Bible. But I will
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  Speaker 1: tell you what I did think of them then, and
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  Speaker 1: what I think of them still. I have no doubt
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  Speaker 1: that they were people who had good purposes, and who
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  Speaker 1: lived by system and not at random or mere haphazard.
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  Speaker 1: I have no doubt that they were church going people.
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  Speaker 1: When at home, I doubt not at all that they
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  Speaker 1: were Sabbath keeping people. And I have very little doubt
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  Speaker 1: that they prayed at least sometimes. Chapter seven the Four Indians.
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  Speaker 1: During the progress of the evening, and while at the
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  Speaker 1: dinner and supper table, I had opportunity to survey the
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  Speaker 1: crowd and to recognize in it the representatives of many
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  Speaker 1: distinct and different nations. Americans, the lineal descendants of the
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: true European race, of course, predominated. Among the subdivisions of
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  Speaker 1: this race were English, Scots, Irish and German. Africans, too,
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  Speaker 1: were numerous, but were found chiefly among the hands employed
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  Speaker 1: on board the steamboat, the waiters at table, the two stewards,
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  Speaker 1: the barber, the cooks. From first to last, for there
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  Speaker 1: was almost an army of them, were more or less
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  Speaker 1: of African origin. Some of them were jet black, but
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  Speaker 1: the far greater part were of commingled blood. Some were
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  Speaker 1: so light colored that at first sight one would hardly
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  Speaker 1: recognize them as having ever belonged to the race of
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  Speaker 1: Uncle Tom or Aunt Chloe. Besides, there were with us
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  Speaker 1: for American Indians of the Shawnee tribe. They were just
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  Speaker 1: from their home among the upper branches of the Arkansas River,
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  Speaker 1: and were on their way to Washington on business in
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  Speaker 1: behalf of their nation. They were dressed in a full
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  Speaker 1: American costume, and two of them could converse in English
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  Speaker 1: very well. One of them, a young man, appeared to
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  Speaker 1: have no knowledge of any but his native dialect. With
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  Speaker 1: one of the elder of these men, I had some
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  Speaker 1: conversation myself. He answered my questions very readily and frankly,
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  Speaker 1: but seldom in return, made any inquiries of me. Yet
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  Speaker 1: he was not destitute of curiosity. On several occasions I
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  Speaker 1: saw him looking with interest while mechanical and manufacturing operations
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  Speaker 1: were going on, both on board and on shore. I found,
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  Speaker 1: to my surprise that these Indians were, not, even when
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  Speaker 1: at home, naked or half naked, savages, ignorant of the
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  Speaker 1: arts and decencies of life, but respectable farmers, more than
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  Speaker 1: half civil, and some of them Christianized. They had cultivated
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  Speaker 1: fields and frame houses, with great numbers of horses, cattle, sheep,
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  Speaker 1: and hogs. The younger of them even expressed a good
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  Speaker 1: deal of religious feeling, and said by an interpreter that
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  Speaker 1: he wished his nation read more in the New Testament
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: and religious books. Another, who was a half breed and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: was older, appeared to be a professor of religion. One
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: bad habit so common among the whites they had caught
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: by contact. I mean that of smoking tobacco. And it
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: is fortunate if they have been contaminated by us in
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: nothing else. But ten o'clock came the hour when we
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: were expected to retire to our berths, and it was
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: not long before silence and darkness reigned, except where it
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: was needful for men to watch and labor to see
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: that the boat pursued her onward ascending course. Some of us,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: before retiring, took a short walk upon deck. The moon
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: had not yet risen, but it was starlight. The surface
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: of the river and the moving outline of the adjacent
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: shores and hills, with here and there a house and
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: one or two small villages were all that we could see.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: After taking proper care of my little stateroom, to see
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: that the ventilators were so arranged as to give, on
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the one hand, a free circulation, and on the other
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: to prevent a current of damp night air from falling
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: directly upon me. And after remembering too that there was
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: a God in the heavens, in whom as the supreme
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: director on the water as well as on the land,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I could trust, I resigned myself to sleep and did
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: not rise till the day had dawned and the moon
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: had reached the middle of the heavens. And of Part one,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Part two of Three Days on the Ohio River by
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: William Andrius Alcott. This Librovoktu Corps is in the public domain.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter eight The Coal Country. During the night
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: we had passed by several important villages Manchester, Rome, Rockville, Portsmouth, Wheelersburg,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Hanging Rock, Burlington, and Proctorsville in Ohio, and Concord, Vansburg,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Greenupsburg and Catletsburg in Kentucky. The face of the country
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: was still interesting, but that of the Kentucky and Virginia
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: side had become less so than the other. We had
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: lost the opportunity of seeing the mouths of the Scioto
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and the Big Sandy Rivers as well as many other
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: curious and interesting objects. But what we regretted most was
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the loss of Portsmouth, this fine place at the mouth
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: of the Sciota River. We had hoped to pass by daylight. However,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: we could not expect to see every place we passed.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: We were now approaching the coal country, and this morning
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: we had a fine opportunity of observing the method by
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: which these huge steamboats provide themselves with this important article.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Some of them, I believe, use wood for fuel, but
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: not all by any means. They do not go to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the wars of the villages they pass and wait to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: have some twenty or thirty or fifty tons of coal
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: shoveled into the boat. They have another and much simpler way,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and one which does not hinder them a moment. Long
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: flats or scows, deeply laden with this necessary article, proceeding
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: from the shore, meet the steamer in the middle of
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the river, and by means of chains or ropes, are
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: immediately lashed to her sides, usually two of them, one
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: on each side. The men on board the flats, aided
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: perhaps by the crew of the steamer, immediately fall to
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: work with their shovels and throw the coal on board
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: when it is wanted. When the flats are emptied, the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: ropes are loosened, and they are set free to return
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to their place, now several miles down the river. The
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: steamer is thus supplied for twelve eighteen or it may
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: be twenty four hours. But what most struck me was
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the facilities which the miners possess for procuring this coal
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: from the hills. For the reader should know that the
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: hills between which we were now passing all contain this
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: useful mineral. This coal is in a layer somewhat different
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: in thickness in different places, but varying from four to
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: five feet. In the hills which the Pittsburgh was now passing,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the layer, as I was informed, is about four feet thick.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: This layer in countries west of the Allegheny is horizontal,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: or nearly so, and this without reference to the shape
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: of the hill that covers it. At the base of
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the hills, it is usually found pretty near the surface,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: but as you proceed inward, its distance from the surface
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: increases with the ascent of the hill. In Talmajeo, h Io,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: last winter, I penetrated one of these coal mines, accompanied
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: by the workmen nearly one thousand feet. I found the
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: stratum of coal at that place not far from four
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: feet thick. This coal is split out by means of
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: drilling and blasting, as in the case of removing any
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: other rock. They usually proceed in a narrow way at first,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: perhaps eight or ten feet broad, and as many high.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: As they go on, they place props under the incumbent hill,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: or what is more common, they place at suitable distances
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: a framework around the sides to prevent its falling in.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: When they have penetrated several hundred feet into these coal hills,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and the air does not circulate freely enough, and especially
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: does not carry away the smoke of their powder far enough,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: they sometimes dig a well or hole from the top
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: of the hill directly over the line of the excavation
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: till it meets it. This serves as a chimney and
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: ventil later, and is of great and lasting service. To
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: carry the coal, they have in general small cars drawn
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: by one horse each. For this purpose, a railroad is
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: made as far as the excavation extends. When the coal
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: is brought out of the excavation, there are many curious
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: ways of unloading it, but I have not time to
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: describe them all. In some instances, the coal is slid
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: down an inclined plane a long distance by means of
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: ropes and pulleys, and the emptied cars brought back by
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the same means. I found the bases of the hills
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: on the banks of the Ohio, especially on the northern side,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: full of these excavations. The amount of coal which is
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: dug here yearly must be immense. For myself, I can
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: never think of this wonderful provision of God for human
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: wants without feelings of gratitude. In a few years, only
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the native wood in many of these regions would in
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a natural course be used up in houses, factories, steamboats,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: and so forth. And what would the people do then
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: for fuel, had not the Great Eternal filled the hills
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: with this never failing substitute. One region in particular attracted
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: my attention. The villages of Pomeroy, Coalport, and Sheffield were
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: so near each other as to seem to form one
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: continuous village about three miles in length. And here a
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: stranger would be apt to think the people do little
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: else but dig coal and burn it. The houses were
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: almost as black with soot as the hillsides themselves. Chapter nine,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: The variety of faces. I was much interested while on
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: board the Pittsburgh, as I have often been before, in
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: noticing the vast variety in human faces and figures. Go
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: where you will, on board steamboats, into railroad cars, public meetings,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and so forth, where are found assemblages of from one
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: hundred to one thousand, or even several thousand persons, And
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: survey narrowly every face, And will you find any two alike?
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Examine if you please, the faces of nearest relatives, brothers, sisters, parents, children,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and even twins themselves. And though you may, and sometimes
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: will find a very striking similarity, yet you will, after
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: all find a difference in someone or more particulars. No
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: two in any assembly or company look exactly alike. Nay
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: more than all this. If you were to travel the
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: world as much as I have done, and to see
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: in the course of half a century several millions of people,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you would find no two anywhere with features exactly alike.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: In the eight hundred millions which now inhabit our globe,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: there is a shade of difference such as would enable
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: a careful eye to distinguish everyone from all others. And
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: how is it with the mind that shines out in
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: these varied faces. Is that as distinguishable on the close
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: acquaintance as the exterior the features. Is there any reason
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: why it should not be? I am not quite certain
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: it is so, but did not the great creator intend
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: it should be? I do not mean to say, of course,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: that there are not some things alike in every face.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: So there are some things which must be expected to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: be alike in our mental formation. Everyone on board this steamboat,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: everyone in the world, resembles his fellows in the general
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: structure and aspect of his features. Everyone looks forward and upward,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and not downward like the beasts with that perish. Everyone
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: has the projecting brow, with a well defended eye under it,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the more prominent nose and chin, and so forth. So
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: everyone thinks highly of himself, his friends, possessions, home, and
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: so forth. Everyone, unless by divine grace made a true Christian,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: is more or less selfish. Everyone loves and in his
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: way seeks happiness and hates misery. Who will show us
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: any good? Is the most universal cry. If people do
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: not say it in so many words, they do so
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: by their actions. It is an old maxim that actions
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: speak louder than words. And it is of high, very
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: high authority, that out of the abundance of the heart
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: or mind, the mouth speaketh. It is not very difficult, therefore,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to guess how the various minds on board this steamer
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: are occupied. No one is talking about the wants, the ignorance,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: or the means of improving the conditions of his neighbor.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: No one is talking unless the thought is suggested by
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: another about the welfare of the Great Jehovah's kingdom. But
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I mean not quite so much. There are a few
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: blessed exceptions to the apparent severity of this remark. For
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: here just by my side sits a woman, some fifty
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: years of age or more, who has for more than
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: thirty years cared for and thought of people as well
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: as herself. She is the wife of mister Byington, a
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: famous missionary to the Choctaw Indians. It is, I believe,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: nearly thirty years since she and her husband devoted themselves
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to the great work of trying to instruct and improve
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: these poor people and make Christians of them. Such a
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: person will care for the good of others and the
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: honor of God, even on board a steamboat. Those who
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: have been philanthropists and Christians, as long as mister and
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Missus Byington will not soon or easily forget their former
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: habits and become selfish like the rest of the world.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I am greatly afraid that most persons who seem to
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: be religious at home forget their religion when they go abroad. Indeed,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I have known many who were given to prayer, watchful
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: over their tongues, mindful of the Sabbath, and self denying
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: at home, who were none of these when a thousand
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: miles from home, or even half that distance. True, we
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: cannot always know whether people pray or not when they
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: are abroad, because most of what deserves the name of
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: prayer is offered when no eye can reach but that
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: of God. There is an opportunity for closet prayer everywhere,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: and it is quite possible that they who break the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Sabbath indulge their appetites and do not bridle their tongues
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: sometimes pray. Still, I must say that, judging as well
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: as I can, the fear already expressed is but too
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: well grounded. Chapter ten, Blennerhassett's Island. Nearly every person who
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: knows anything at all about the history of the United
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: States has heard of Blenner Hasset's Island. This island is
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety miles from Pittsburgh and two hundred
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and eighty seven from Cincinnati. It is a beautiful island,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: but has at present an appearance of desolation that forcibly
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: reminds the traveler what it once was. Blennerhassett, the owner,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: was a man of great taste and willis connection with Burr,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: quite an inoffensive man and a good citizen. But no
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: one could be long in peace and quiet who had
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: anything to do with the seditious, ambitious, and treasonable erin Burr.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: It is true he was not legally convicted of treason,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: but he was finally ruined in character and property as
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: a cause of his evident wrongdoing. Instead of a beautiful
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: mansion fifty four feet square, two stories high, and well proportioned,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: with two wings, and a charming little garden with every
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: delicacy of fruit, vegetable and flowers which could be made
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: to grow in that climate, with the most beautiful walks
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and shrubbery, nothing now is seen but a heap of ruins.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: All day long, this second of our days on the river,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: we were hoping the boat would reach Blennerhasset's Island before night,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: or at least before bedtime, but we were doomed to disappointment.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: At the latest hour which it was proper for us
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to be awake, the boat was some thirty to fifty
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: miles below. We passed the next day the mouths of
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: two beautiful rivers on the Virginia side, the Big Sandy
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: and the Great Canawa. It was curious to see the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: line formed by the junction or union of the two rivers,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the one with its blue clear waters, the other with
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: its turbid, milky current. They seem as if made of
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: entirely different materials. We also passed besides the coaling places
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: I have named, several considerable villages, among which were Point Pleasant, Murraysville,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: and Bellsville, Virginia, and the Gallipolis and Millersburg in Ohio.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: We also lost sight during the night of Marietta at
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: the mouth of the Muskingham River, now quite a large
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and pleasant village, near which are several very remarkable ancient
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: fortifications and mounds of earth supposed to have been the
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: depositories of the dead by some now unknown people. After
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: eleven the ancient mounds. The morning of the third day
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: found us passing Sisterville in Virginia. Soon afterward we passed
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: New Martinsville. We saw several mounds. One was very small,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: another was large, but somewhat disfigured by having been excavated.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: We were now approaching a village on the Virginia side
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: called Elizabethtown, near which a small stream joins the Ohio
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: known by the name of Big Grave Creek. In this
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: village of Elizabethtown is one of the largest, most perfect,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: and most beautiful mounds to be found in the whole
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Ohio country. We were told of this curiosity before we
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: reached the place, so that we were not taken by surprise. Besides,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: the boat stopped a few moments at the wharf in
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: full side of it, not a quarter of a mile distant.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: This mound is about one hundred and eighty feet in
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: diameter at its base and some seventy or seventy five
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: feet high. On its top is an old tower or observatory,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: around which are several trees, some of them of considerable age. One,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: a venerable oak, is four feet in diameter. The center
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: of its top is a kind of crater or basin
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: four feet deep and eight or ten across it. Elsewhere
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: the top of the mound is perfectly flat. One puzzler
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: to the traveler is where the earth was obtained for
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: building such a huge pile, For it is situated almost
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: in the middle of a large plain, on and near
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: which is no appearance of any former excavation for this purpose.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: There are, however, several smaller mounds a little east of it.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: The country near the Ohio abounds with these mounds. What
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: they were and by whom they were formed is quite uncertain.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: The general opinion that they are the graves of some
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: ancient people is sustained by the fact that they contain
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: human bones, sometimes in considerable numbers. A gentleman on board
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: the boat, a man of intelligence, informed me that he
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: had seen in eastern Tennessee or western North Carolina a
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: species of mounds of a very different description. They were
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: composed essentially of small stones, between which were layers of bones,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: and what made the case very remarkable. Indeed, there are
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: no stones of the kind found in these mounds within
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: many miles of them, and there is no appearance of
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: their ever having been any Chapter twelve. A suspension bridge
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: about noon the third day, we came in sight of
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Wheeling in Virginia. This is a considerable place. It contains
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: about ten thousand inhabitants. The boat stopped at Wheeling an
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: hour or more to unload a part of her freight.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: This gave us a fine opportunity to go on shore
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: and view the town. It is well built, but like
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: most of the places all the way from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: has quite a sooty appearance, caused by the dust of
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: the coal which they burn here in large quantities, is
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: moreover a place of considerable manufacture. But the greatest curiosity
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: at this place, and one of the greatest I have
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: ever seen, is the suspension bridge thrown over the Ohio.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: It must be something like one thousand feet in length,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: as broad as most bridges are, and not far from
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: ninety feet above the surface of the river when the
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: water is low, though much less, of course, at times
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: when the river rises. The bridge is much more remarkable
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: than the suspension bridge first built over Niagara River, for
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: while that is much higher above the water than this,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: it is in comparison very narrow. Indeed, the suspension bridge
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: at Wheeling is broad enough for several carriages to go
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: side by side on it, but that below Niagara Falls
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: is only just broad enough for one. I would have
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: visited it, but I was afraid the boat in which
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I was traveling would leave the wharf by some means
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: sooner than was expected, and it would be a sad
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: thing to be left in port with our trunks all
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: on board. Many of the company did venture, however, and
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: they returned to in good time. Bridgeport, a small but
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: flourishing village, is on the Ohio side of the river,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: just opposite Wheeling. The whole region is noted for burnings
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: and massacres during the wars of our country with the
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Indians a little more than fifty years ago. One anecdote
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I will relate very briefly in March seventeen ninety three,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: about fifty nine years ago, as two brothers by the
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: name of Johnson, one of them twelve, the other nine
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: years of age, were playing by the side of the river,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: some ten or twelve miles above Wheeling. They were suddenly
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: seized by two Indians and carried about six miles into
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: the woods. Here the savages built a fire and halted
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: for the night. When they lay down to rest. Each
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Indian took a boy on his arm. As may easily
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: be conjectured, However, the boys did not sleep. Finding the
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Indians to be very sound asleep, they concerted a plan,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: young as they were, for destroying them and effecting their escape.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: The plan succeeded. One of the Indians was shot with
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: his own rifle, the other was killed with a tomahawk.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: The boys returned to their own homes the next day.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: In Safety, Chapter thirteen, Logan the Mingo chief on board
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: our steamboat was one man, a citizen of Cincinnati, whose
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: extensive and intimate acquaintance with the country through which we
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: were traveling made his society both interesting and valuable. As
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: we were passing between some very abrupt hills, he took
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: occasion to remark that all this was once the hunting
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: ground of Logan, the celebrated Mingo chief, whose sad story
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: is familiar, as I suppose to every schoolboy in the country.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Logan was a savage, but he was at the same
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: time a man and had a man's heart. Indians are
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: men and have the feelings of men, and one cannot
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: help pity them, how greatly to be regretted that they
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: were not treated by everybody as William Penn treated them
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: in and about Pennsylvania. The books we had on board,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: purporting to be traveler's guides, most of which were doubtless correct,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: pointed out to us, as did also our Cincinnati friend,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the plain on which Logan resided, as well as the
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: place where his family was so wickedly murdered. We would
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: have lingered at the last mentioned spot, but had only
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: time to drop a tier and hasten on Chapter fourteen.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Third night on the river. Night was once more approaching,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: and we were as yet some sixty five or seventy
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: miles from Pittsburgh. The last place we saw by daylight
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: was Steubenville on the Ohio side, a large and flourishing village.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: We were anxious to see Wellsville, Ohio, and Beaver and
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Economy in Pennsylvania, but it was late at night when
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: we passed the latter two and two dark to see much.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: When we passed the former Economy is a neat little place,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: first settled by the celebrated German named rap It still
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: bears the marks he made on it in the appearance
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: of neatness and thrift, which are everywhere visible. We were
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: much annoyed during the last two days and nights, especially
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: the very last, by the cattle on board. Had there
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: been a cow yard with contiguous stables that were seldom,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: if ever cleansed, the air from the lower deck could
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: hardly have been more offensive. I often wondered why the
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: owners of the boat should dare to go in the
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: face of public sentiment to an extent like this. Would
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: it not be reported by the passengers that we suffered
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: from this annoyance, and would not travelers shun the boat
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: in time to come? However, we slept well for the
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: most part during the night, and it was well for
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: those of us who were going further than Pittsburgh that
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: we did. A few were distressed with the effects of
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: drinking so much lime water during the voyage, but the
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: far greater part of us rose in the morning, refreshed
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: and in fine health and spirits. Chapter fifteen. Arrival at
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh with reflections. The morning had come and we were
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: now approaching Pittsburgh. It was just about sunrise when we
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: came in view of its spires and buildings. The passengers
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: were scrambling up now in every direction. Some of the
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: passengers were now at the end of their journey. Others
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: had to go further, and some of us many hundred
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: miles further. However, we were all alike glad to get
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: on shore. But our trunks, where were they? They had,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: for the greater part been piled together in a certain
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: place on the deck of the boat, under the care
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: of the steward. They were safe, only it was difficult
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: at first to find them. Here is mine. It must
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: be marked for the railroad across the Allegheny Mountains to Philadelphia.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: All this was easily disposed of, and now it is
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: to go with a baggage wagon and to be taken
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: to the railroad depot. On removing the trunk to the
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: baggage wagon, the steward reminded me that it was his
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: custom to receive a small sum of each traveler for
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: taking care of his trunk while on board. I ask
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: him how much anything, He said, you please to give.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: I was not satisfied with the charge, for I supposed
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: he had his pay by the month or in some
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: such way, and his regular compensation was sufficient for every purpose.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: But though a colored man, he was quite a gentleman,
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: and I could not well refuse him. How many little
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: taxes one must pay in a busy world like this, Well,
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: an honest Christian man has no very strong objection to
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: paying them, whenever in so doing he does not go
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: contrary to the principles of right. And these little taxations
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: as you travel along by servants and porters and stewards,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: though they are annoyances, seem to me to be of
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: this description. I was at length in Pittsburgh. I had
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: always heard that it was a smoky city, and was
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: not therefore at all disappointed. In truth, I did not
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: see it to be more sooty than several other places
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: below it on the river. Pittsburgh is about half as
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: large as Cincinnati, and is pleasantly situated at the junction
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: of two large rivers. It seems to be a very busy,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: bustling place, for though it was yet early in the morning,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: quite early the streets were pretty well filled with travelers
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: and carriages. Opposite Pittsburgh, that is, across the Allegheny River,
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: is Allegheny, which of itself would make quite a large city.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: It is at least as large as New Haven or Salem,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: or perhaps Troy. And now, though I am soon to
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: proceed yet, as the cars are not yet ready, I
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: have a little time for reflection, and I avail myself
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: of it. The world itself seems to me like a
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: great steamboat, larger indeed than the Pittsburgh, and yet a
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: huge passenger boat. People are continually coming on board and
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: continually leaving it. Today we form an acquaintance with a
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: few of the vast variety of faces we see tomorrow,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: Perhaps they are separated from us to go. We know
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: not whither one striking difference there is in the two cases.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: When the passengers separated at Pittsburgh, and so also of
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: other separations at Wheeling and other places below, it was
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: not with a certainty that the separation was final for
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: this world. There was at the least a possibility of
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: meeting again somewhere and at some time. But when we
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: separate in the great steamboat of the world, at the
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: verge of eternity, when we step forth upon its immeasurable shore,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: it is with positive certainty of meeting no more in
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: this world. We may meet again. We shall, most undoubtedly
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: we shall meet at the sound not of the little
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: bell to which we are accustomed on board the boats
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: of western rivers, but of the trump of God. We
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: shall meet, But it will be at the general judgment.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: We shall meet, but it will be in the immediate
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: presence of God. Will our meeting be a pleasant one?
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Will it be pleasant to all? Or only to a part?
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: And who will be the happy ones? And who the unhappy?
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: Shall you, reader, or I be of the former number?
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: Or shall it be our lot to be of the latter? God,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: in his mercy in Christ, has left the matter to
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: our own choice. This is right, is it not? He
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: has made us free to choose about other matters, Why
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: not about this? He certainly would not compel us to
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: a joyful meeting? Be it our first business, then our
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: great business, our only business? So to conduct while on
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: the passage boat of life, that whether we are sailing
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: on the Ohio River or traveling elsewhere, we may always
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: be found in the path of duty, and always ready
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: for anything whatever to which we may be called here
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: or hereafter. End of Part two, End of Three Days
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: on the Ohio River by William Andres Alcott.