Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-06-11
NOTES BY THE WAY.

lEohOTtd1 L correspondence Of The Star
sTEANISG ON THE RoAD-PENNED BY STEAM
JUNE 6, 1857.
found large number of those whose &C.
quaintance / had made on 50 the excursion -
upon the train of the ST. Louis, Alton and Chi
eago Railroad, the cars of which entered few
moments ago-at 8 a. Inbound for Niagara
Falls, via Chicago Detroit and Canada They
were still well pleased with every incident of
the 50 far delightful trip, and all of them were
as loud in praise of St Louis, as two days ago
Of Chillicothe. Really, can conceive no more
shrewd expedient than the entertainment of tie
vast company, almost entirely of intelligent,
active and leading business men, as she did en-
terrain them, to which St Louis could have
resOrted by way of fixing the attention of the
whole country upon her remarkable advantages
and unexampled, rapid and substantial i'm
provement and prosperity.
None OF as can ever forget the impressions
thus received, nor can any of us avoid, if we
would. the conviction that in all the essentials
Of great city-capital, accommodations. bust
ness connections and facilities, population, en-
terprise, 6c.-she immeasurably SURPRISES any
OF her rivals west of the Alleghanies. The
influence OF such a conviction on the minds of
the particular class of persons who were her
guests yesterday will make its mark on her fu-
ture-for she is not altogether independent lin
commercial affairs of the great cities and the
travellers from the East aiming to reach points
which there are facilities for reaching from
other Western capitals (as well as st. Louis)
without paying her visit.
We are now again coursing over the prairies
OF Illinois behind the locomotive, which though
carrying double load-for there are some four
hundred souls on the train-is doing its duty
up to time
Our route lays east of North On the day
before yesterday, it will be remembered. we
crossed the State from east to west; whereas
now, we are now biseeting it from south to
north. thus L am enjoying the opportunity of
seeing more OF Illinois in few brief hours than
could possibly obtain by any other route.
After leaving the environs of East ST. Louis-
marshy, and therefore uncultivable at present.
We encountered large gang of Gipsies camped
upon hiilock Oyergrown with scrub oak. The
cry-"See the Gypsies drought nearly
all 10 the car windows, with a rush; and
they were seen, only to be forgotten in q mo-
ment by most Of my so curious companions
Their origin is involved in nearly as much mys
terry as the Indian mounds on which L have
already commented Certain it is. that while
living and wandering perpetually among the
most cultivated races Of the civilized world
almost ever since the light of Rome's great
ness rs q power Of the earth went out they
nave been the same wandering, nomadiac.
thleylng, uneducated and treacherous demi-
saVages they are at this moment; rejecting all
the advantages and habits of fixed society every
where, and changing in nothing at any time,
even for brief period. That such has been
their history for many centuries, impresses my
mind with the belief that they are as distinct a
race as the negro, whose skin so long as he car
ries but negro blood in his veins, remains the
same, whether born in Siberia or Boston, or on
"Afric's dusky Shores
The United States appear to be becoming ex-
eeedingly popular with them-too much so for
the patience Of those Of our rural fellow-cit
zens, the locks on whose hen-roosts are not alb
solutely burglar proof. find, on inquiry, that
they are as numerous here, out West, as in
Virginia and New York, where they are to be
met IN all directions Yet no one can give even
ashrewd guess as to their number in the United
states or, indeed, with reference TO anything
whatever connected with them.
The prsiries Of Illinois, on the Alton and
Chieago Railroad, within fifty miles of ST. Louis
have been settled for twenty-five or thirty
years, and are therefore regarded in this fast
region as ian old country" The farm build
lngs upon them and the comfort surrounding
nose buildings are, therefore, much more sub
stannai than elsewhere on our road in this
State. There was nothing in and about these
farms IN sight from the car of a rail train going
At speed, worthy of note, except the remarkable
fecundity Of the soil, and the care shown IN
breeding their cattle.
The mass of the farmers of Virginia and Ma.
ryland are far behind them in the selection If
thei-stock, Iregret to have to write. Twenty-six
miles out from St Louis We passed through AL