Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-09-30
Present Condition Of the Great Eastern.
From the Philadeiphia Ledger. September

lehandise as offers-wheat, flour, slaves
every thing. She lies at Flushing Bay
drawing twenty feet when empty to tven
ty-nine filed.
Her grand saloon has lost much of it
grandeur, the design and plan of it being
good enough, in fact very perfect, bu
the colors and decorations have all fad
ed, so that paintings and style Of fnisl
which would have given, and used t.
give, a sort of an air of Partisan elegance
to that room, now has the dead, faded
unpleasant effect Of all such fnery and
finish whose owner has ceased to live M
to the mark where such appearances were
well kept up. In fact the grand saloon,
as it now is, reminds one rather of a sort
or faded Chinese exhibition. The water
has triekled down the sides Of the walls,
The gliding is in parts turned black, and
the festOons Of curtain hang with a sort
.ef i'll grace and almost tawdry expression
from Che sides The noble mirrors will
always remain, while they do remain un-
broken, proofs Of a noble and correct
original taste, and the height of the room
and its thoroughly correct proportions,
no less than the recesses, arrangements
for fresh air and passage-ways leading to
the various private rooms, all give you
still the idea Of an immense frst-class pri-
Vate hotel afoat, though one whose own
er has more magnificent ideas than his
means enable him to keep up with in the
way Of fresh paint and finish, more like
what some of the Southern hotels used
to become after a few mouths Of negro
manipulation, than the more careful
cleanliness of a Boston, New York, or
even London house.
The seeond-class accommodations show
more of the results Of careless handling
and dirt than the first The Blankets
look terribly dirty and the rooms soiled !
in fact, there is a sort of greasy look
about the less refined passenger accom-
Of this ship that seemed lit
tie surprising for so new a vessel, and as
il some Of the hands and petty officers
we're in the habit Of sleeping in the births
when unOeeupied by the passengers. In
fact, this part Of the vessel showed the
folly of those distinctions which the En-
glish viii persevere everywhere with so
much rigidity. An American would have
arranged a much larger portion of the
vessel for first class passengers, and the
result would have been that much lar
ger proportion would have conducted
themselves as frst-class passengers, and
not have injured the boat and her furni-
ture and bedding as it has been injured /
1t is treating men as gentlemen that they
best and soonest learn how to act as
such.
In all the substantial matters Of ship, /
however, the Great Eastern is still above |
all praise. She still looms upon you in
The distenee with her forest of masts and
her abundance of smoke-stacks, the levi
lthan Of the ocean; and the iron plating
Fhich has cut down the ships Of war,
makes her loftiness out Of the water ap-
bear to grow more unique and magnif
fact, something like one of the
I'D fashioned steeple-crowned hats now
--days upon the head of dashi6g young
,eau. Her machinery is perfect and can
lot be improved. Her steering appera-
Us fills you with wonder, as you see how
asily and without a word, the viii of
be officer in command guides the men in
he engine room and those at the wheel, t
nd by what powerful machinery few
ouches Of their fingers can move, guide
nd curb this mighty child Of the ocean.
In these days every thing is looked at
this country with an eye alone to war;
nd in that respect ship of this sort
nd size would be almost perfectly use i,
sss. By cutting her down and iron
lating her, there would indeed be a no I,
lie base for some magnificent turrets;
nd the strength of her frame is such.
all apparent ightness,
hat with little strengthening she might
6 made invulnerable. As it is, above
7ater-mark her iron covering appears not
thick by any means as the peel of an
range to the orange itself, but more like
he shell Of an eggs and you wonder how
zen can venture by the thousand across ,
be broad Atlantil, protected from the
FLOWS but 10y so thin a skin, hardly
Kicker than the birch bark of the Indian
lnoe. 1t is only as a transport that Sic 5
ouid be usefnl, in her present eondition,
,r war purposes She could carry TN
se imenis Of 4 thousand each. with parks
f artillery, and horses for a thousand o.
sem Bqi then her dep'b issH, hat
lie cop.d enitr bur few ports, aud her
zs such that every hnt Of an euemy
Juld tell She Is there ore useless with i
ut a feet to protect her. Ii