The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1857-01-08
Enttcr Etoin EoXyn.
OsKALoosA, Iowa, Dec. 90

FRIEND HrGGINs: took ride, few days
since, on the " Father of Waters" from Ke-
okuk to st. Souis-distance, 1870 miles. 1t
was my first ride on a steamboat, and OF course
| felt a little green " AMI kept my eyes skim
ned. We had pleasant trip going down, and
iewed the lanscape o'er,' but having been
reared in a rough country, and partaking
largely of the character of surrounding OBJ
ects, must leave the description to minds
of finer texture and you have often admon-
shed me not to read novels, therefore great
flow Of words" deep, awful, and sublime"
will be lost to the world.
Having read and heard much about the
Mississippi, felt anxious to see every inch Of
its banks and survey the numerous islands
which it embraces. 1t is great deal more
difficult to navigate than l had supposed. The
channel is quite crooked, and in many places
vc.y shallow. 1t frequently expands to
two and three miles in width, with very low
banks on the Missouri side. But there are
some beautiful town sites on the Missouri
shore, and some very neat looking towns.
Al Quincy, Illinois, we changed boats, and
the noise and confusion being great, and
bidding fair to continue few moments, took
a birds eye view of the place. Quincy is a
beautiful, in fact, magnificent city, where
everything appeared to be done up in good
style. The streets are wide AMI clean, AMI
evidenced the fact that the people had good
city fathers. Too many of our western owns
are laid out" by cose-fsted capitalists, who
are too niggardIy to care for the beauty of a
place or the heath of its inhabitants. The
streets in some Of our towns aie 60 to 100
feet wila-about half as wide as they should
be.
Alton, Ills, is quite brisk place, and you
will remember that it was once the residence
of the martyr LovEJoY. l stepped of the
boat here, but had not lime 10 see much. l
had strong desire to visit the tomb of the i'm =
mora'Lovcjoy. A large amount of money has
already been raised to place suitable monu
ment over his ashes. His murder is an ever
lasting monument of disgrace to Southern H.
linois. Oven Lovejoy, his brother, was cleo
ted to Congress from the Alton district by
about 1000 majority. Stephen A. Douglas
and his satellites raked the district vilifed,
cursed, and resorted to every species of damn
ing demagoyuisra to defeat him, but there was
a little too much intelligence in the Alton dis
trict for the little giant,
st. Louis is a large commercial city, embra-
cling population estimated at 1876 900, which
is rapidly increasing. put up" at the Bar
mum House, where found everything done
up in a style somewhat different from our ac-
customed scenes in the btckwoods, and they
charged accordingly. But who cares ?-I
saw the elephant St. Louis has the advan-
tages Of a northern and southern trade. Her
natural position, together with her liberal
minded and thoroughgolng business men,
has secured to her vast trade, which must
increase with the growth of the west. But
her business at home is meagre in comparison
~ llNi lbl'lH lldlts LihC ~ Oll ltl lOWd duu
Illinois aud sue is cr.ppled-swamped. Why
is it SO ? Bscause she has no back bone.
Her internal trade is comparatively nothing.
Back OF ST. Louis, in the interior, Missouri is
sparsely settled, the country looking like bar
ren waste in comparison to Iowa. But need
not tell you this The census of the two
states-Iowa aud Mssouri-tell the tale. And
then look at the age of the two. Missouri is
thriy-iiyo years old-of age fourteen years
ago, and now, 50 far as age is concerned is
IN the full vigor Of manhood But suppose
we lock at her " sister, we might say her
daughter, as she was a matronly lady nhen