Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-01-06
F.. Original 4apsfs,
For the YorkvnS Enquirrr.
JoTTINGs OF TRAVEL.

'-''s'. For the YorkvInS Enquirer ''' .* -.
- :JoFr1Nas OF TRAVEL.
Nh. Editor You did me the honor to
request q communication upon, my return
from short trip West. I comply, more With
the hope Of relieving you some, from the, use
Of the. scissors during Christmas holidays,
than the expectation of interesting yOer read.
efs' - .,,f z-r fI: - 81, ..-....- ':,e -.
Well sir, in the FIRST place, itwillb bea mat,
ter Of surprise, almost astouishment, to one
used to.staying at home, to find how little b
knows of the commotion and hustle of travel
on those great thoroughfares-railroads. =
Every cline and tongue, every shade of color,
from t'snowy white to sooty," are to be seen
crowding and jostling each other 10 the
throng of travel. When he sees, at those
functions and crossings, the living tide Of
human beings rolling on in every direction,
not imagining whence they came or where
going, he will be impressed with the conclu-
sion, that surely nobody is staying at that
best of places-home. There is certainly an
aptitude in the assertion of Sir Walter Scott,
that "railreads set the world gadding."
A man, in his first adventures Of travel,
may feel apprehensions also, lest rail roads
and public houses may get all the dimes
Ny late experience is, that if man has no
paying business abroad, and is not overly
public spirited, and is not overly burthened
with change, he will make money after DR..
Franklin's plainly staying at home and
saving it. If the inexperienced doubt: by
trying it, they will feel interested in seeing
how fast they may get clear Of the dimes
They need not tighten the strings of their
purse-all they have to do, is to hold it open
and see how, not exactly beautifully, but as
touishingly less it grows. L never knew a
time in travel, when more was exacted and
less given in return, than found the case in
some places. 1t used to be the highest aim of
extortion to guess at pile and size it.
Now, it is the aim to over size it and be
sure to leave none. But you aud your
readers may think this small matter, and
we'll enough at last, as these little dimes may
be running to. grand reservoirs, like little
rills to the ocean, to be again. rained back
upon US in golden showers. =.
If have to trayeL give me the iron track,
even with its expense and its hazards. We
seem to change places as if by magio-a
days run may whirl You from dreary winter
to verdant spring. In the language of MIR.
Oats, railroads annihilate both time. and
space. The trip to Memphis, which used
to occupy three weeks, is now made in two
and one half days! Aud yet strange to see
how hard We are to satisfy! When travel
ing at the rate Of twenty FIVE miles an hour,
if the cars only stopped few moments to
wood or water, you may see one of these
slick cap men of business and haste, the
Yankee, jump up and impatieutly pace to
and fro, swearing it is horrible delay-a
Massachusetts or Connecticut ox-cart could
beat it, and if it could not do better, they
would take their carpet saaks and travel on.
Even the sedate, phlegmatic man, Of Knick.
erbocker renown, will draw a sigh, light his
pipe, and smoke off the tedium, drawing
out, 81 Wonder vat ish dc mattef-nake him
stop so, aud nd 60 on, h-e-y?".
It may be Of some interest to those not
posted, to say something of the health of the
country the past season. As Mississippi was
my destination and Ultima Thule Of my
trip, speak more knowingly and more par
ticularly of it, In pine and broken sections,
away from large water courses, the health
was good. But it will be recollected, that
most of the low lands in the South West,
were submerged almost to early summer,
and'consequently there has been great deal
of sickness, on the larger water courses and
low lands. But the people characterize it as
Of the milder form-chill and fever, of which
they make light. They seem to be imbued
with the spirit of the patient, philosophic
Dutchuan, who, upon getting his leg broke,
thanked God it was not his neck. They
thank God they, though sick, don't die; and
say it pays to be sick little, just to know
how good it feels to get well. But they are
a little too long getting we'll to suit my fancy,
as many are yet alternately freezing and
burning with chill and fever. This is the
condition of the Western Mississippi, and
from accounts, Of all the submerged counties
west.
The crop, ae far as I went, from what l
heard and saw, falls far short of an average,
both of corn and cotton. AS seen by me in
Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Missis-
sippi, with some few exceptions, it will scarce
ly average with the crop of York District.
am free to admit, that it is not fair to base
an estimate of country, upon observation
by railroad travel alone; but l rely also upon
enquiry and travel, through and across by
private conveyance. could but notice with
surprise, the vast difference in the appear
ance of that beautiful and once rich country
of the Tennessee valley, in the several vicini-
ties, of Huntsville, Decatur, and Tuscumbia,
as seen twenty years ago and now. Twenty
years ago, took it as my model of perfec-
tion for pretty and rich country, though
the health was doubted. Now, stalks of COT
ton stand much lower on those same fields
than on the old fields of York that were then