The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1858-10-08
Eaitosiar correspondence.
lEoT TO BE READ UNTIL AFTER BREAKFAST. |
DgNSIsoN HOUSE,,
| .wf

CIsclsNATI, Sept. %, 1853.
Ibeli, ve shall have to give vnu a very
short letter from this place, whereat, per-
haps, you and Your readers will rejoice.
might, indeed, expatiate on the delights and
beautiful sights Of rail car ride o. nights
II had the genius CT our friend "Shortfel-
low might do you up something hand.
some, or at least amusing. But as my Pc
gasasis merely Of the prosy kind, my aspi.
rations are not lofty. Yet would not be-
grudgs something handsome for even the
brief possession of the Hudibras faculty Of
showing up the tobacco chewers according to
their deserts. just think Of this one ode.
Light in a rail-car. Say sixty people are
crowded into this narrow space, with just
ventilation enough provided TO carry off the
bad air generated naturally by such a crowd.
Perhaps thirty Of the crowd 60 to chewing
and squirting like mill-tnil, making ugly
puddles of that mcanest, flthiest, most nox-
ious weed that grows. The nasty fumes rise,
spread, permeate your nostrils and stile
your lungs, uuless you are as tough as a
seven-year old Rhinoceros. You gasp for
fresh air. You writhe your countenance,
stop up your probocs, and look round in
agony. Do the heashens regard your dis.
tress? Do the barbarians relent? Not a
bit Of it. On goes the everlasting squirt,
spatter, splash. The night air is too cold
Fnr ,pl A,1 dol, A.
tender children, and men with uncorrupted
breathing organs are forced to gasp through
the weary hours Of O long night.
To the keen sensiblites OF normal, un-
yitiased organization, the horrors Of this
s'middle passage" are cxcruciating. No
words can do the subject justice. Neither
does il seem possible, when you reflect upon
it in the light Of hygiene, reason, and chris
tianity, to depict the utter insepsibility and
awful deprsvity Of the barbarians who thus
ruthlessly invade the rights Of their neigh
bors. Not content with using up their own
portion of free air, they must also vitiate
the portion which belongs to others. They
steal my share of oxygen merely to crafty
morbid appetite for morsel 80 vile and
nasty that evn that omnivorous scavenger,
the hog, will not touch it. Verify, ought
not such violators OF the rules OF health, OF
the laws Of iod, and the duties Of charity,
to be dealt with rigidly. The suggestion is
good one that they should be required by
law or custom to practice their dizziness in
secret, out OF tho sight Of human beings, in
little apartments set apart for that purpose
in remote places.
But enough Of this-perhaps too much.-
Perhaps even a little Of so nasty a subject is
too much. But the nuisance is getting to be
gigantic, and it must be noticed. Until il is
atated, what hope lie there for any true re.
fnemens, any permanent cvilisalion? As
for genuine christian piety, that's out Of the
question.
was going to be brief but if ! speak Of
what have come through, what have come
over, and what am now in, how can be
BRIEF The Ohio and Mississippi road is
not brief, though it is the shortest road from
st. Louis TO Cincinnati. 1t is q long stretch
1889 miles) and broad gauge, and how am
to gauge such asuhject to your narrow col
nmnsp But must curtail, and let the road
run or roll, or let it slide, with tho remark
that it is good road, great road, an i'm
proving road, already carrying such piles
and piles Of freight as would astonish come
people, and that it is rapidly becoming the
favorite route from st. Louis to the East
An evidence of its growing popularity is
furnished by sundry signs, both in st. Louis
and Cincinnati, such as "Broad Gauge Oys-
ter saloon,' "Broad Gauge Lager BEER
believe in broad gauge railroads, especially
when 30 well conducted as the O. & NJ, but
when II comes to oysters and beer, | 70 in
for the narrow gauge all the time. Let the
oysters be narrow ard fat, and the beer ex-
ceedingly small.
was going to mention another topic. But
you have all seen rail-car at night. To
wide-awake eyes it presents funny scenc.--
OF course you have noticed how some heads
go nod-nod-nodjing, FIRST against the win
dow and then against neighbor, how some
rec.ine or try to recine one way and some
another, how some elevate their heads and
others cock up their heels, how confdine
persons of opposite sexes And friendly sup
port in each others arms, how some snore
and others grumble, some laugh and others
scold. What varied picture Of poor hui
manity, what pastures, what dignity, what
repose' Did you ever hear the squavk Of !
split reed on trombone? Somewhat like
that, only worse, WAS the detestable, coun-
terfeit laughter Of n grizzly fellow who sew
eral times made night hideons in our apart
ment. wouldn't like to meet him alone in
forest.
Lastly, coming now to "what am in" l
find this great city of Cincinnati too vast a
subject TO dispatch on page Of letter sheet.
was here twenty years ago. OF course l
was quite young then, and Cincinnati seemed
to my youthful fancy Immensely large. 1t is
something larger now. After m interval of
twenty years hardly expected to find any
landmark that could recognize. And, in
daed all Vas nav md sxrooDo ,,rk;y o..u