New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-02
FROM COURTLANDT.St. TO CHICAGO.
Vpesing or the Southern Michigan and North
ern Indiana Railroad.

Aoh' nunuieu or more OF very agreea-
Die people, politicians, parsons, artists, lawyers,
bankers, literary men, railroad directors-witb n
rather greater number Of charming women ma.
irons all grace and elegance, and maidens all wit
snd loneliness entertain them for a week with
sumptuous hospitality, while in magnificent steam
boats and ral-cars you transport them half across
the Continents travelling festival with music
and dancing till midnight on the waters of Lake
Erie,-and wreaths and heaps offragrant roses flung
by shouting children to salute your early landing
and then let the shades of prmeval woods, and
the wealth of cultivated farms, and the boundless
smile of praires be panorama for your guests
delight through long, cool summer day, with the
cheers of whole villages for chorus, and the cang-
ing locomotive for scene. shifter; and with clear
skies to favor and good fortune to add the charm OF
piquant unexp ectedRess to the universal galety,-
YOU may expect to Guido all former festivals not
only in the magnitude Of your plan but with sue
cess as true and brilliant as that which crowns the
excursion given by the directors of the Southern
Michigan and Northern Indiana Railroad to inau
gurate the opening to public use of that important
channel of travel and traffic.
And all this came near losing, losing
through Perrine name more hateful to all hon.
est NEWCOMERS than that Of Jehosaphat to
Sennacherib. The excursion party left Newly ork
| by the Erie Railroad on Monday morning. but |,
as a sort of volunteer rear-guard, did my days
work in town on that day, meaning to leave in the
evening train. aud by riding all night overtaks
them at Dunkirk. Finally, the hour arrived, and
with valse snugly packed and my note book in
| ,I.ok / (Durtlandf. ar.
the starting point of the expedition. A person of
method, trained thoroughly in that economical
distribution of time which is recommended to
Young men in all guide books to morals and man
ners. had just many minutes lett as were sui
fcient, with reasonable driving to reach the ferry
in season. We went down Broadway with tOera-
BILE luck till we came to the place where Perrine,
the direful and the dreary, is encamped. There
was no driving over his hobble-dehOy pavement
and solemDly ask, Who knows when there ever
will be So we turned of into Church-st., and
there. locked and lost in crowd and crush oil ON
nibuses and other vehicles, the precious moments
escaped, and when at last we gained the ferry we
were as much out as Louis Phlllippe's abdcation,
-c'etdit trop tard!
expressed my opinion of Mr. Perrine, not
loudly but deeply, and resigned the thought OF
making the trip to Chicago with the excursion
party. Next morning, however, at halfpast six
lhorrd hour y sheepishly and sleepisaiy went
down to the ferry in season. AMI safely set sail on
the journey to Chicago. Il no longer possible to
enjoy the ProGeTed hOsptalties, might at least
follow after them and CLEAN here and there lit
tie satisfaction where the lucker frstcomcrs had
reaped full harvest of pleasure. In this mood OF
AFFECT resignation. surveyed the crowd of my
fellow passengers at Jersey City, and seeing no
acquaintance among them all, sat down III q cor
nor and while the train glded out into the meyl-
table morning" took a nap
Fer sleeping, q bed is decidedly preferable to
most other arrangements, but there is something
Grand in snooze in Railroad-car. Ii is an as
sertion of your own individuality against the
spirit ofthe age. With very grateful compacency
YOU close your eyes, fold your hands and droop
your head, while the train roars away at thirty
miles an hour, the very incarnation OF modern pro-
gress and hustle, and you, for little while, the
type of ancient repOse and conservatism. The
New and the Old, Egypt and America, Pharaoh
and Fulton, are all symbolized, as you sit in that
corner, ulled by the perpetual growl of our rush
ING earthquake as it fits from station to station
waking you as it stops putting YOU asleep as it
dases on again. till at last there is a final pause,
and great stir among your companions, with the
clatter of hasty feet and the rustling of robes.
You are broad awake in moment the train is at
Sulern's and they are changing cars.
If any man does not believe in the Erie Railroad
let him step into its cars at Suffern's. Coming
from the narrow Paterson road the excellence OF a
six. foot guage at once becomes apparent These
roomy, airy cars, these broad, spacious seats make
all other railway vehicles seem very poor to your
Imagination. Certainly nothing can be more COM
Portable and convenient, nay, nothing can be more
luxurious and perfect in its kind. Of the merits
of the wide guage with reference to speed and
economy of running, | know nothing, but with
reference to the satisfac ton of passengers there
can be no dispute, and the wonder is that in these
DAYS when luxury in travelling conveyances is
pushed to its extreme, this consideration alone
does not insure its more general adoption. Nor is
your admiration for the Erie Railroad diminished,
when having taken your place, the train is put In
motion, and gaining speed with shreks and pants
from the engine slides the rails at from thirty
to forty miles an hour. From the breadth of the
guage and the business with which the rails are
put down, the cars have surprising steadiness,
not surpassed even upon the English railways
You can read without yeur book being kept in an
aguish tremor and write so that your signature
might be recognized at your bankers, provided
YOU have one. Or if you fall back on fyst prnci-
pies and go to sleep, you need not fear that your
Joints will be dislocated by some sudden jerk OF
the car taking you at such disadyantag:,-un So,
indeed. BY one of those accidents which happen
on the best regulated railroads of this country, you
find Yourself dashed against an opposing train OIL
tumbled heels over head down an embankment