The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-04-01

iCoNeTcu Giie unique ldDeIlnG adopted on
9Th street. / found the house at last, and
the lad dy to whom her daughters name
was ready passport. Here again learn
ed more of the beauties of that delectable
, " crcumlocution Office" on 2nd St. This
: lady testified that not more than one let
ter in five which she had posted this win
ter had ever reached those to whom they
were directed, and as for those sent her
she could mt get them at all, and had been
for two months full of anxiety concerning
the daughter in Illinois, from whom she
had heard nothing until came. There
is model system for you. Others how
ever say that they have no trouble, but
another lady who had been absent six
weeks told me that not one of her letters
home during that period had ever reached
her family, though they inquired almost
daily. A member of my new friends fam
lily hunted up a Good Templar who put
me on the track to find my letters, as ]
pocketed my present disappointment and
with yel bal direction l started out to
call on eyerybody's AUNT FANNY.
I was told to take an omnibus, but
had no notion of entering that animated
coopers shop, to run the risk Of being
punched on both sides by the unmannerly
hoops Of the ladies, so [ used natures To-
comotive apparatus, and walked mile and
half up Broadway, as the north end of
3rd street is called. Here I followed the
untranslatable directions | had received
and found the home Of the transplanted
Beckeye poetcss, authoress, and oratress,
on a swell Of land overlooking the :" Mound
City" diligently inquired into the rea-
son of this pretty sobriquet which found
on various Bakeries, Breweries, Groceries
and Mechanics shops through the town.
The name was bestowed in honor of GER
tain slightly bluffs or eminences which
have been dug down to fill ponds and
Isink-holes with, so that the really pretty
natural advantages for beauty and health
are all sacrificed to the carrying out Of
the dead level, Philadelphia chequer-board
pattern, which is the plan of most western
cities. \ very convenient and economi-
cal plan too, but as there is needed in
every city, parks and open grounds for
breathing places, why didn't they leave
the ponds and mounds for a picturesque
" common" like that in Boston? A
"mound city without any mounds is
rather fat affair.
The town is not built up city-wise as
far as Mrs. CAGES yilIa-like residence,
but the houses are scattered about, village
fashion, here and there as it happens, on
ttrcets which are laid out, but not made
yet. \ drive to town takes one past null
titudes Of ' sink-holcs' which it was sug-
gested, were the places where the missing
mounds had been pulled up by the roots
| They bear an unromantic resemblance to
Old cellars partly filed up. Fissurcs thro'
the limestone foundations of the city and
country here, have allowed the water from
above through the course Of ages, to filter
through and carry the soil with it, leaving
hollow inverted cones to show the way to
the subterancan Water-drains through the
rock. \ little work would transform them
into capital cellars ready drained, but this
cannot be done unless they happen to
stand in the right place for following out
the arbitrary cheQuer- board pattern. They
are big enough sometimes for castle vaults.
and have the underground passages,
and secret chambers" and all that kind
Of medieval tiXin9s, ready done up. But
romantic arrangements take room, and
room takes time to 90 around it, and a
full-blooded wcsterner couldn't afford to
circumnavigatc anything which takes
room, even if he had nothing upon earth
to do with his time A lady left three
circular parks. like three chain links, as a
legacy to the city, and as they happened
to stand little above the territory around
them, the city is digging them down in
stead of doing the cheaper and prettier
job of walling them up.
But I'm a good while getting to AUNT
FANNY's. | did get there however and
spent day instead Of making a call, and
wished that every canting croaker about
the slovenly and shrewish propcnsities of
" strong minded women" could see and
appreciate that home, beautiful as only
great-hcarted and strong-minded woman
of good taste and fine feeling could make
any plsce, y writing table and its ap-
purtenanccs, piano, sewing machine
and a cage Of canaries, were some of the
features of the sitting-room. A middle
aged lady with soft curls threaded with
silver shading a pleasant face, talked
cheerily in an uncommon y agreeable voice
with old and young, at home alike with
either, and not seeming to feel older than
either of the six big men who call her
MOTHER" and | couldn't help thinking
that the fair, pale daughter though her
brown oarls showed not one faded thread,
felt older than the mother.
| had promised to visit St. Louis Lodge
of Good Templars that evening and start
ed in search Of it with a young Son of
Temperance who had to hunt up the Hall