Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-05-05
A TRAVELLING wAsHINGTONIAN.

A talented and clever, but essentially
kinky' citizen of Washington who is ''out
west, has favored us recently with one or two
letters descriptive of bis travels and adven-
lures he writes with a nervous pen and OBJ
serves with keen eye. though he is evidently
given to making up SNAP judgments of men
and things. day or two since We received
from him the following amusing letter, which
We insert in the Star on account of its pith;
not because we endorse the writer's, in many
respects quizzical views:
BONNEVILLE, Mo, April Is, 1858
would not have you infer that the time L
spent IN ST. Louis was prOpOrtioned to the in
terval between my last letter and this. [
stopped at the Planters House, where | had
the option either Of sitting up the balance of
the night, or of sleeping in a room with four
men. was weary enough to have risked even
that many room mates, (WHt0.fS mHtandis (,
butwith four ''man passengers, - as YOU absurd
ly made me say in my last, feared for ny o,fac-
tories, and sat up till daylight did appear"
left at o'clock, partly moved by this, and
partly by a flaming advertisement Of the Pa
cifc X: X. and 5. Il. Company, (which, to their
confusion, l have yet in my pocket setting
forth that their daily train connected with
SercH steamboats, at Jefferson, which to my
unInitiated eye, promised a daily line through
But, arrived at the latter point like Goldsmith's s
maid, 81 found too late that (raiirOad) men be-
tray, the seventh boat like the fifth wheel of
an artillery wagon, being reserved for accidents
and had to lie over until Monday night This
gave me more leisure than desired, to examine
the capital OF Missouri, on which made sundry
Geographical, moral, and other remarks.
The place itself is a monument of mans
ability TO reverse, in a degree, the DEGREES OF
Providence, which had resolved there should
never even be town there; but the LIE ,isIa-
ture stepped boldly into the breach and made
it n city by enactment 1t is built on a sue-
cession Of knOles and gullies, surmouuted, how
ever, by beautiful eminence, on which stands
the Capitol, building fair to view in the in
terror, and on the outside supplied with win
dows enough to give its Solons that light for
which they So clamor, and OF which they make
so light when found
In three squares counted IL tippling houses
how many more there were cannot coniec-
ture; the committee of investigation raised
Tor the occasion, decided that they were all
supplied from one barrel of whisky and that
as odlOus as a comparison.
The Legislature meets biennially and il paid
by sliding scale which, after certain time,
subsidies into one dollar per diem for Won will
observe that wherever State rights are most
loudly vaunted, State officers are rendered as
contemplate as possible and the talents and
energy Of the community driven ints the ser
vice Of the Federal Government. This is n
suggestive text; but must leave il to the wiser
censure OF your readers.
Ihe Penltentlary system is the worst Of the
kind L have ever seen, and they are all bad, az
L may take some ether occasion to prove The
eOnyicts are hired out in gangs guarded by an
Omclal With muSket, but permitted unre-
stralnedly to converse with each other so that
tue younger members 90 forth into the world
well instructed in the arts that lead to glory or
the gall0ws. Beyond the Penetentiary the
restaurant, and the CapitOl-a noble trio of
semlnarles as we know in WashingtOn-I heard
OF no eminent schools there
On the boat, L had the honor to meet n dis
tinguished lord of cotton and caIOmeI-a me,l;co-
planter; that Is, II he was not mistakcn-who
entertained an admiTing thrOng with disuuisi-
tons on ankee meanness and Southern gene
rosity, which latter ira t he illustrated by
sPongeng on his credulOus listeners to an
amount which Indicated that be was composed of
sand, instead u orthodox sJil for like Bennett's
boarder, (as they say hcTe,l - he never missed
meal nor Pald 4 cent Such, he atfi irmed, il
Northern hostility to our Institutions. that he
had often been refused nights entertainment
by Indiana and Illinois farmers; a fact which I
attributed 10 their dislike Of lew pedilers rather
than Of Southern gentlemen 1 made n bet
with q friend, whom have not seen since. that
before they reached ST Joseph this representa-
1--WE of the chlvalry would strap his kit on his
back and wander forth To dispose of his venture
OF brass jowclry and red ribbons.
''I rhyme not for so dull a wight,
as cannot see how it is that sgch base counter.
feits bring into suspicion the genuine ore Of our
society among strangers.
lest ut last for RochcpOrt. a pleasant. pretty
little town, 45 miles distant situated on the
Missouri river, except about II hundred and
. hfty yards OF IL that are az the Missouri which
has made a levy on that much the town having
ho leVee or other means Of resisting the atfocL1
0seIIt For this stream has a. fond An eve for
rich, alluvidl Soil as any Western spe:uIator
aud changes his bed rs often as Brigham
lOung, though, unlike Brigham, he is
on vita the old love,
Before LIE Is on with the new"
and you may tell the widowed soil, deserted of
his embraces, by an appropriate clothing of
ireras, soon succeeded by vigorous grow th of
.oOItOn wood.
In my next letter / shall take you down the
Eiyer again and back 20 this point. whence |
expect soon to leave for Laavenworth p scene
Cf special interest al this time
And EOw word Of adm lnition Ho;y such a
hand write as mine, plain and legibIe
can be tortured. as in many words IL wa. in
your proof. L can't conceive And where did
your eoInpOsitOr learn to spell traveller with
one / can tell him that. rs II cOckney would
say. il Is al I'll of 4 mistake and almost as bad
IS au Illinois candidates = who commenced (iod
with Il small J. Webster may give il So but as
Dickens plAy-wrighter said Of Shakespeare that
Ball was 4 pretty enough writer, but no
Bdapter. So 1 contend that Noah IL a good
defner bU, not 10 be followed any further
Let barn-burners, blue lights, black rspubli-
cans and Banks!tes steal niggerS, spell words
and save paper after the Yankee fashion. but
Get Us cOnservatOrs stand by old rules, scorniug
10 ecOnOmize too much the alphabet, and Civ.
ing every word its due. NIAroR
+''O'er the left, ," remarked our d,rT, whilst
tortGTing his brain to decipher your Ms