Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-12-06

"Oh! beg pardon ; well, there is
another plan; suppose you fight a duel.
"Don't mention il, my dear fellow.
| have no nerve for that. Besides, |
might be killed, and then | should not
be a gentleman, but only an unhand-
some corpse No, can't go that"
You must travel, them"
"Travel I Ell where? 2"
"Any where you please !; to the
West, for instance"
West what, out Chestnut street,
over Schuylkill 2"
cay, v Schuylkill and over Sus.
q%uehanna, over the Ohio,Ioyer the Mis-
sissippI."
well, like that, agreed will you
you go? Come let's be off; | want to
be back by Monday 20 Cooper's bene-
fit"
His friend went off laughing !; our
hero was not 10 be baulked in his new.
ly awakened ambition, and having
made up his mind to travel West, and
learned that he could not possibly be
back by Monday hevery considerable
ly determined to wait till attertha day.
Having made all the necessary inqui-
rIes and preparations, he resolutely
took his seat in the stage, and common
ced his journey.
Had it been a dozen years ago, he
would have found few turnpikes, and
those wretchedly bad for nobody had
yet found out that it was unlawful 10
make them. Every rock in the Alle-
ghany ridge might have been broken
to atoms, and every prominent feature
IN the face OF The country amputated,
without the slightest injury to the con-
stitutlon. Indeed, most people would
have thought it a wholesome operation.
Be that as it may, the roads we're not
made, nor, until very recently, did any
body seem to care about them. The
politicians, after all, are the men TO do
business ; they are the 'greatmagicians'
who set every thing gong. No sooner
did they take the matter up, than not
only allthe land, and the rivers, but even
public sentiment was McAdamized-
and while n side denounced public
turnpikes as the roads TO national ruin,
and another extolled them as the grea.
test Of virtues, the people proceeded
vehementlv TO that roofofthe pudding
which the good old maxim pronouhces
the best. Notwithstanding all this, our
hero soon discovered, that even in these
days of Improvement, a journey from
the Atlantic to the Western country is
an adventure Of no small magnitude.
AS there is ever something IN the way
to retard our most innocent underta-
kings, so here are piles of hideous noun
tains heaped upon one another, until
the highest not only intercepts the poor
earthly traveller, but forces even the
clouds, as they roll through the air,
to turn aside, or crawl lazily up the
mountain to its summit. There is some-
thing sublime, and even consolipg, in
this idea ; and as the traveller winds
his toilsome way up the mountain path,
it is quito comfortable to reflect that
thunder-gusts as well as stage coaches
mast submit TO be impeded by those tre-
menduous barriers. AS for Jenny
Gossamer, he thought nothing about ii;
but drew his travelling cap over his
eyes, and slept the more soundly as
the carriage proceeded with less rapi-
dity. One fact, however, in natural
philosophy, he learned among the cliffs
ofthe Allegheny ridges, as it was too
obvious TO escape the notice Of IA gem
tleman, namely, that the world is not
round like an apple, as he had been
taught to believe, but as angular as a
brick.bat.
From Pittsburg our traveller procee.
ded very comfortably in the first steam
boat to St. Louis, meeting no adven.
lures worthy of particular notice. He
had previously sent to this place, by
way Of New Orleans, a very elegant
dearborn carriage, which he properly
imagined would carry his trunks, a
drobe &C., and enable him at all times
to appear like a gentleman. To this
he now preflXed a fine horse, by means
of a dashing set of plated harness, and
thus equipped, heset forth one fine sum.
morning, upon his travels in Iii.
nois. He preferred this State, because
he was told that the prairies were lev
ell, and destitute OF trees. 81 like that
said he,-" bad things, these trees
don't see them in Chestnut street-city
council had them all cut down on ac.
count ofthe OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Con.
gress don't have the whole concern ex.
terminated"
Our traveller was now riding over
beautiful plains, in a thinly settled coun
try, where his fine dearborn and dandy
coat be2at no small degree of wonder.
ment among the natives. To the latter,
he had resloved to be very civil and
understanding, because he had heard