Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-02-24

| red brllilancy OF the lamps that they appeared
to build walls Of fire on both sides Of the track,
between which we held our course at lightning
speed. while reverberating thunder filed the
Valley with its echoes. Had the engine run
off the track, IA catastrophy, it is whispered,
by no means unprecedented the bottomless
| pit, if there be any such place. would undoubt-
/ edly have received US. Just as some dismal
fooleries of this kind had made my heart quake,
| there came a tremendous shrek careering
| along the Valley, as if a thousand devils
had burst their lungs to utter it, but which
proved to be merely the whistle Of the engine
on arriving at stopping place.
| The spot where we have now paused is the
same that our friend BUNYAN-a truthful man,
but infected with many fantastic notions-has
designated, in terms palmer than 1 like to re
peat, as the mouth of the Internal region
This, however, must be a mistake. inasmuch as
| Mr.. Smooth-it-away, While we remained in the
smoky and lurid cavern, took occasion to prove
| that Tophet has not even a metaphorical eX
lstence. The place, he assured us, is no other
.Jhan the crater Of a half extinct volcano, in
which the directors had caused forges to be set
up for the manufacture of railroad IRON
Hence also is obtained a plentiful supply of
| fuel for the use of the engines. Whoever Lad
gazed into the dismal obscurity of the broad
catern mouth, whence ever and anon, there
darted huge tongues of dusky fame and had
seen the strange, halEshaped monsters and the
vision of faces horribly grotesque into which
the smoke seemed to wreath itself, and heard
! the awful murmurs, shricks, and deep shudder-
| ing whispers of the blast, sometimes forming
| itself into words almost articulate-wouid have
seized upon Mr.. Smooth-it-away's comfortable
/ explanation grcedily as we did
| The inhabitants of the cavern, moreover,
were unlovely personages, dark, smoke-bcgrim-
| ed, generally deformed, with mis-shapcn feet
and a glow Of dusky retness in their eyes, as
! if their hearts had caught fire and were blaz-
ing out of the upper windows. 1t struck me
as popularity that the laborers at the forge
and those who brought the fuel to the engine
when they began to draw short breath, posi-
| lively emitted smoke from their mouth and
nostrils.
aAmong the idlers about the train, most of
whom were putting cigars which they had
| lighted at the flame of the crater, | was per
picked to notice several who, to my certain
knowledge, had heretofore set forth bv rail-
road for the Celestial City. They looked dark
wild and smoky, with Il singular resemblance
indeed, to the native inhabitants, like whom
also, they had diSagreeable propensity to i'll
natured gibcs and sneerS, the habit Of which
had wrought Il settled contorti0n on their Wis
ages Having been on speaking terms with
one of thcm-an INDECENT. good-for-nothing icl-
low. who went by the name of Tal1c-it-casv-
| called to him, and cnquired what was his bu-
sincss there.
DID you not start for the Celestial City =
said !.
That's a fact, said Mr.. Takc-it-casy, care
| essly putting some saoke into nv eyes. Bat
[ heard such bad accounts that | never toJ,Il
pains to climb the hill on which the city stands
No business doing, no fun going on, nothing
to drink and no smoking allowed. and thum-
ming of church music from morning to night
[ wonid not stay in such piece, if they of1rr-
ed me house-room and living free"
"But, my good Mr.. Talc-it-casy,' cried I,
''why take up your resid,nce here OF al tie
places in the wOrld?
"Oh," said tie loafjr with a grin, at IS very
warm hcrcabuuts. and | meet With leHty of
Cd acquaintance, and altogether the place
suits me. | hope to see you back again some
day soon. y pleasant journey to you."
: While he was speaking the bell Of The engine
rang, and we d she'd away after dropping a
few passengers, but receiving nc new onls.-
: Rattlng onward through the valley, We Were
dazzled with the fierccy cleaning gas lamps,
as before, but sometimes, in the dark Of in
tense brightness. grim faces, that bore the :,s-
pect and expression of individual sins or evil
passions, seemed to thrust themselves through
, the veil af light, glaring upon us and stretch
ing forth great dusky hand, as if to impede
our progress. I almost thought they were
my own sins that appalled, me there. These
were freaks of Misunderstanding morc,-
! mere delusions, which / ought to be heartily
l ashamed of; but all through the dark valley
: | was tormentcd and pestered, and doleiully
| bcwdcred with the same kind Of waking
dreams. The mcphitic gases of that region
intoxicate the brain. AS the light of natural
= day, however began to struggle with the glow
:. of lanterns, these vain imaginations lost theil
r vividness, and finally vanished with the first
# ray of sunshine that greeted our escape from
d the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Ere WI
/ had gone a mile beyond it, could well nigl
e have taken my oath that this whole gloomy
passage was cream.
n At the end of the valley, as John Bunyal
/ mentions, is a cavern, where, in his days
dwelt two cruel giants, Pope and Pagan, wh
6 had strewn the ground about their residenc
S, with the bones of the slaughtered pilgrims
$ These vile old trogolytee are no longer there
q but into their deserted cave another terribl
/ giant has thrust himself, and makes it his bus
d ness to seize upon honest travellers, and fatte
C them for his table with plentiful meals c
h smoke, mist, moonshine, potatoes, an
d saw-dust. He is a German by birth, and
= called Giant Transcendentalist but as to HI
y features, his substance, and his nature genera
N ly, it is the chief popularity of this huge mi
E. creant, that neither he for himself nor anybod
I'd for him, has beer able to describe them. A
III we rushed by the cavcrn's month, We caught
a Ilasty glimpse of him. looking somewhat lii
G. an i'll proportioned figure, but considerab
ny more like heap of fog and duskiness II
shouted after us, but in so strange u phraseol
OF gy, that we knew not what he meant NJ
- whether to be encouraged or affrightcd.
a 1t was late in the day when the train thu
sh dercd into the ancient city of Vanity, whe
1t Vanity Fair is still at the height of prosperi
nj and exhibits an epitome of whatever is br
~ liant, gay, and fascinating, beneath the sum-
. AS purposed to make a considerable ST.
ch here it gratfed me to learn that there is
ng longer the want OF harmony between t
IN towns-people and pilgrims, which impell
ed the former to such lamentably mistak
,he measures as the persecution of Christi;
orn and the fiery martyrdom of Faithful. On t
mo contrary as the new railroad brings with
oW great trade and constant influx of strange
as the lord of Vanity Fair is its chief patron, a
zen the capitalists of the city are among the lal
nat est stockholders. Many passengers stop