Maumee City express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1838-184?, 1839-09-07
MAUMEE CITY EXPRESS.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER, Z, 1889.
LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR.
Lake Erie, Aug. %.

safety valve tells that the process Of firing
has commenced, and that the engineer is
feeding up the water-spirit and stirring its
courage for action. The wharf is becom-
Ing the centre of attraction, and carriages
with passengers are vending their way
thither, while the walks are lined with ira
velers with carpet bags and porters with
trunks all hurrying in the same direction.
On the wharf busy scene is going on.
Hotter and louder hiss the fues at every tr-
al by the careful engine man-the for'ard
hands quicken their steps, as they push on
board heavily laden with the fuel--the bur-
then of the last niger song comes roaring
from dozen jolly voices in the fire room
below the deck-the captain, busy as short
legged man In deep mud, is growing hotter
and hotteras he elbows away dozen i'm
pertinent lnqurers, who think, because he
is the captain, he has nothing to do but
stand and be bored-the passengers are
crowding on board, and then crowding off
again with laudable determination to see
every thing that is going on, and accelerate
business all they can by clogging the gang
ways with compact mass of human flesh
trunks, bags, baggage, long baskets of
meat, longer baskets Of bread, vegetables,
fruit and miscellaneous representation of
every thing in heaven, earth and sea is find
ing its place in promiscuous jumble of un-
assorted oddities, thut truth--stranger than
ficton--could only inventory, and all going
on board with astonishing rapidity.
Cling, ding ding, goes the second bell.
The captain grows redder in the face and
steps quicker--the last load of wood is
tumbled down with jerk--belated carria-
ges drive with a quicker pace, and pedes-
trians turn their swift walk to run. The
groceries along the wharf throw open their
doors, and the rabble rout who have been
regaling themselves in their precincts rush
out over eachother, and throw away their
half munched sweets, by way of lighten-
ing themselves for a race--the flues now
below forth deafening roar the captains
voice IS turned to screech-the boat
springs and foams like courser impatient of
restraint-'trm shlp,' shouts the engineer,
all aboard, cries the captain-,he lines are
cast off, long poles are thrust out, the sound
of little bell is heard, the huge wheels be-
gin slowly to revolve, the roar of the safety
valve dies away by degrees and we are off
upon the waters.
There is always striking contrast be-
tween the hustle and hurry of getting un-
der way, and the calm that succeeds, so soon
as the thing is fairly done. The first i'm
pulse among passengers always appears to
be to settle themselves in their new home,
the second to feel very uneasy and unset
tied; and here comes the secret of their
discomfort. Ding-a-ding, ding, aiding
call you that hav'nt paid your fare will Tor
nust) step (go, walk) to the cap'en's office
and settle.' Now, no man is fairly settled
on board steamboat until he has settled
his fare, and in casting your eyes around it
Is perfectly easy to tell who has done it and
who has not. Tne man who has been to
the captains office looks around with a self
satisfied air, as much as to say: "shall /
not take mine ease in mine own inn" and
throws himself upon the cushions and set
tees, like one born to command, while the
poor wight who hasn't paid, looks uneasy,
suspicious and terrified, and steals glances
under his eyebrows, as he expected, eve
ry moment to be charged with something
he is ashamed Of.
Leaving the port of Cleveland, with its
costly and substantial piers. fifteen hundred
feet in length, and two hundred feet apal
forming safe and convenient artificial har-
Dor, which is almost always crowded with
vessels of all denominations, from the stat e.
ly and gigantic floating palace that drives
like blooded courser over the seas, to the
small coaster that raises its white sails to
the wind, and trades from port to port, one
cannot refrain fr ON comparing the life
and stir upon the one side of the lake, with
the stiffness and stagnaton that reigns
upon the other, and the following will con-
vey faint idea of the difference.
AT Port Stanley, was told that the de-
tachment of soldiers of the S5th, which was
there in charge of field piece, had been
waiting four weeks for an opportunity tc
ship the same to Maiden, by steamboat
without success; the business along the Ca
NADIA shore, not being sufficient to Justify
the employment of single boat along the
the lake.
The steamboats, on Lake Erie, what car
compare with them, in point of urchitectu.
raj beauty, and adaptation to the business
in which they are engaged. Precluded
from the nature of the navigation, from at
tanning the highest limit Of speed, they
may safely challenge the world to produce
their superors in model, in safety and IN the
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