The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-08-29
ADAY ON LAKE ERIE.

= 4 descended to the engine deck. A small
circle Of listeners had gathered round tall old
gentleman, in whom Immediately recognised
fellow-sufferer during long days travel
over corduroy roads, in one Of the abomina-
tons called Kalamazoo stages. He signed
himself Colonel in the hotel registers, and
had been politically conspicuous for several
years. Taking my arm he proposed stroll
about the boat. He seemed to be acquainted
with the majority Of our fellow-passengers,
their occupations and pursuits; and ne de-
picted their peculiarities with graphic brevity
and force.
".That pale, thin young man, is Phila-
delphian. He was well educated, and the
blossom OF his life promised golden fruits
Misfortunes, partly the effects Of his own i'm.
prudence, reduced him to poverty he went
to the far west, and passed two miserable
years in the district of the mines. He work
cd on the soil with his own hands, like the
commonest laborer; and after many fruitless
diggings,he had tlast the fortune to strike upon
lode of metal, as It is called, of considerable
value. He will be very rich. He is now
iourneying to reclaim his aged mother from in
digence, and see il the girl Of his affections
had preserved his remembrance. His patient
labor al Gaena has obliterated the faults Of his
former life, and he deserves to be happy-but
his hectic cheek, and attenuated form, tell of
consumption, and fear me he will never re-
turn.
"sThat forid-faced man, in the Boston
wrapper, who paid double fare for the luxury
of state room, for himself alone, and insisted
upon retaining it, maugre the circumstances
Of several unaccommodated married men and
their ladies--that man embarked to cross this
lake, six years ago, without the price Of his
passage in his pocket. The captain put him
ashore at Cleveland; he worked on the canal
as day-laborer, and afterward opened log
house for the sale of rum, and made several
hundred dollars in short time. He then
progressed across the Peninsula to the shores
Of Lake Michigan, and fixed his grog shanty
in swamp at the mouth Of one Of the rivers.
An appropriation was made by Congress to
form harbor there--the rum-seller walked
to the land Office, and entered fifteen hundred
acres Of the locality at the Government price.
He is now worth half million Of money.
%. That is an English farmer. ! saw him
yesterday at the window of the land Office,
securing portion of the public domain which
had pleased his fancy. His wife and chill
dren, and two brothers, were left at New
York; he has been on short tour Of obser-
walton, and now returns to fetch them to his
location in few weeks they will be settled
in the bosom Of the wilderness. | saw him
jump aboard the boat this morning, with the
elastic spring of hope and Joy. He came forth
dove-like messenger in search OF land, and
now returns with glad tidings and ardent hopes
Of rich success. One such emigrant is worth
dozen Of the idle skulking knayes who crowd
our seaboard, and rot in lnziness and rags.
That good-looking man, with large
breast-pin, and chain of gold conspicuously
displayed across his breast, is blackleg Of
the viest class. He is insinuating himself
into the society Of those young men, for the
purpose Of making up card party, when the
work Of plumber will commence. lie