The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-02
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD.
Mr.. N. P. Willis, in company with a select party,
has been doing our great western line the honor of
aIording him the materials for some of his Idlewild
letters. We give the following one at length, with
protest against his lcentious composition of ad-
jectives and nouns.
IDLEwILD, July A. 1859.
Dear Norris Look at the date, and then please
take notice that it is cool clear sunrise, after
night of thunder-showers-the leaves all washed
and the dust all laid Remember, also, that our
shady brook-lanes in the Highlands, on such a
morning this, are as tempting as a yelled Hours
after bath and prayers, and that my mare Kitty
stands impatient in the STALL Picturing to yourself
an indoors melancholy inkstand, in contrast with
this outdoor Paradise you will easier take interest
in new mechanical helping of uphill work, to
which want the intellectual counterpart Letm
| explain to you.
| The most celebrated railroad engineer of Eng
land came over to America, not long since, to see
| with his own eyes what he had heard of, but did
not believe-the ascent of train, by locomotive
| power, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad of one
hundred and sixteen feet to the mile With the
law of science as to the slipping back of smooth
iron on an inclined plane of the same metal, he did
not believe such uphill travel on railway, prac-
| tically possible
To the " eight-wheeed locomotive of Ross
| Winans," the British unbeliever was Immediately
| and conyincingly introduced; and for technical
description of this must refer you to the Journal
Of Seence-but let me tell you of one of its little
secrets which you will not find among the items of
! force and friction.
Walking around the mammoth engine that had
drawn us to the top of the Aeghanies, and listen
| ing to the clear-headed Prescott Smith, who was
giving me technical analysis of its force and struc-
ture, observed little coffee pot-ooking attach
ment, with projecting nose, the forw ard Wheel
Waiting in vain for this little vessel to be referred
to- in the description, |, at last, ventured to in
quire of the machinist, who had kindly joined
| n.Ip SnruaX TrO hot TU1 nj hroc
particular function. He did not seem to think my
question of much Importance, but replied, in quite
| hurried and parenthetical cadence:-
"0h, that's the sand-sDter. 1t helps the adhe-
sion at the seepest places by sitting sand on the
rail Just before the wheel"
A trife to locomotive-maker, perhaps-but, to
me, revelation from the laws of Nature. Why,
this same little coffee pot of sand-sfter was what
l have been wanting all my life. Just to think of
the difference in Editors daily uphill if he had
but little well placed vessel to sprinkle sand in
front of his no. go motive! Blessed be the analogy
between mind and matter-there is, of course,
some sand-sfter, also, for the rails of intellectual
steep climbing, undiscovered attention ICON
peer, some helper of the minds adhesion, which
is only to be named to be seized upon with won
der that we never thought of it before. fear, my
dear Morris that we have lived an age too early,
you and up hill topics slipping from under us,
the way they do! What Moral Philosopher will
aflix the sand-tube to the fret grateful Editor?
| But you have not yet been introduced fairly
to our party for this charming trip over the Ale
| ghanies.
They all happened to be men whose ater-risen
! full moon has paled the fixed star of their earlier
destiny. There was the novelist Kennedy, whose
| graphic ''Horse-Shoe Robinson and iSwallow
Barn." are scarce heard of, alongside of his fur
therances of Science while member of Congress and
Secretary of the Navy. There was Judge Warren,
who, as President of the Boston and Providence
Railroad forgets "The Bench" where the lawyers
] all thought him godsend of legal acumen and
courteous fairness. There was Commander Maury,
who scarce thinks of his bright Navy buttons while
enlightening the world by taking the nonsense out
| of the almanacs and making census of the clouds
and sea-bottoms There was Bayard Taylor, whom
sat upon as poet in the egg, but who has feath-
| cred and crowed famous traveller and lecturer
till scarce recognize the bird in his gay plumage.
There was Thompson, of the "Southern Literary
who dresses so exquisitely Ito keep pace with bis
most beautiful of Boards that he daZZes you into an
undergraduates for his keen wit and capital CONVEX
sation And there was your humble servant, whose
most exemplary professional industry gives CEN
triugally "large circulation" to the focus tomary
| ntensties of his otherwise more hole-burning few
and far-b etweenities. "a brief spell for refresh
ments.
For our party of eight the six just named being
under the charge of the most winning OF men, Pres
colt Smith, "Master of Transportation" with his
courteous assistant, Charles Waters, engineer we
were provided with three cars, most comfortably
arranged as asute of apartments; the last being
the orawlng-room, and its rear windows and plat
| form commanding, of course, an unobstructed and
most desirable right and left view of the track and
landscape. We travelled by hitching on to any
passing train, for what distance we pleased. and
Ooh, blessed novelty un-hitching when the scenery
became so beautiful that wished to stop or when
the spot became historically interesting. I was
about trying to record with what magic leisure
party, for short distances, was managed, when ]