The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-02

received letter from my better informed friend.
the Railway President from Massachusetts, in which
he thus recapitulates his impressions of our trip:
eve can Judge of road by its daily routine
and, II perfect care and comfort and the utmost
punctuallty and completeness in all its arrange
ments constitute good road, the Baltimore and
Ohio must assuredly stand in the first rank. .
inns was no show excursion. We had no special
trains. The regular business of the road was not
interrupted on our account. We were attached
now to passenger train, now to tonnage train,
and saw everything as it appears in the ordinary
course of business, We did not experience a
hindrance embarrassment or a Jolt in the FIVE
| days we were on the road. OF the multitude of
trains meeting and passing us, every one was trhere
it ought to be rhen it ought to be every man was
in his place and was evidently the right man for it
and every hour gave new evidence of the we'll
studied and systematic perfection of arrangements
through the whole Lime"
1t is interesting sometimes to know a particular
or two that is not in the way of business and |
may add to the Judges professional testimony my
own more private admiration of the lesser punctu-
alities of provender. Those who know Baltimore
know Henry Jakes," as those who know Fifth
Avenue know Brown" and it was this other
Brown" only more so, Tin complexion, who had
the charge of our rations and refrigerations Seat
ed around the table, in the restaurant car we dned
and drank our claret Sherbets, like Sybarites in
their palaces Of marble, with interruption on the
part of the unconscious miles slipping from under
us; and through the long forenoons and after
moons, came the iced Intermediates, each with its
| bright particular straw, (most tempting unpunctu-
alites of down with the dust!') and all of the
! rarest aroma and skilfulest subtety of mixture.
In the luxurious days that are coming, when any
individual (who can afford it) will be able to travel
with his private Jakes and locomotive this picture
upon which have fingered as the description of a
| thing unusual, will cause smile. Meantime, let
me be excused for thus dove-tailng my best adiec-
| tives in its remembrance!
And, by the way, there is another novelty of
| railway sustenance, which | learned upon this
| hyoh
viz the support of vast army of pigs, extending
! from the Chesapeake to the Ohio, by sucking the
greese from the wheels of cars and engines at the
different stations. The Irish laborers, who work
the road, have discovered that the four thousand
engines and cars, each with from four to eight
wheels well CREASED, bring daily along an amount
of dripping and licking, upon which the loose pig
will thrive remarkably. As there have been some
'strikes' among the pick-axes and the shovels and
the Directors would think twice before interfering
with Paddys long established privileges of pig and
COW, the free grazing of all unenclosed grease and
grass is tacity conceded. At every stopping place
on the route, accordingly the sound of the ap-
preaching whistle puts the surrounding swine into
a unanimous gallop for the station; and for the
three minutes that the long train is motionless the
pig tusse for the well-oiled hubs and axe-trees is
lively indeed The only part of it that Paddy does
not like, understand, is the keeping clean of 9TH
er-foks carriage-wheels by his family, for no pay
at all
AS my letter thus far has been rather picking
of striking coincidence with our visit to Harpers
Ferry on the 20th The following paragraph has
gone the rodnds of the papers
''THE HARPERs FERRY ToRNADo.-This awful
storm rushed up the valley of the Potomac, and,
turning little with its junction with the Shenan-
doah, struck the covered bridge across the stream
Strong though it was, that massive structure was
lifted from its piers like the ightest bubble raised
into the air and dashed into the water beyond leav-
ing not a splinter on the original foundations 1t
was the cleanest operation imaginable. Fortunate
| ly no one was killed."
| Our party, an hour before, stood on the famous
| "Jeferson's Rock" which commands this glorious
passage of scenery, and looked down on the two
bridges, the railroad bridge crossing the Potomac
and the covered bridge crossing the Shenandoah.
particularly noticed the latter, because it resem-
bled, Though twice as long) the covered bridge
crossing the moodna near its junction with the Hud
son, at my gate. As we looked upon it in the
breathless calm of sultry summer noon, we little
anticipated that, in one hour, it would be lifted
from its foundations and borne aloft into the air by
a whirlwndl
this same Railroad Route-(one in the April No OF
1857, by Brantz Mayer, the other in the June No. OF
1859, by Strother the artist you will find descrip-
tons of this romantic spot, of many others upon
which, but for such better anticipations, | should
lovingly have fingered. In my next letter. as in
this, shall simply run capricious accompaniment
to their fuller notes; and now begging YOU to turn
! to Strothers picture, faithful and funny of Wash.
ngton's portrait on the cliff opposite the Junction
| ARTISTS Railroad Excursion. page 9,) will recon-
mend you to read on leaving your attention for the
! present in his pleasanter hands.
Yours always, NP.W.