Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-02-21
A TRIP TO ALEXANDRIA.

A TRIP TO ALEXANDRIA
The Annual Meeting of the \. l. L. H.
Railroad Company last week, suggested the
iiea of trip to Alexandria, aud we went
On Thursday morning, seated beside q friend
in one of the most aristocratic modes Of con
veyance known 10 this county since the war--a
two horse spring wagon, We IN good lime
oYercame the difficulties of plcasaot travel so
laviShly wrought by war, weather and hard
usage and were landed on the platform of the
Farnwell depot, station on the railroad,
almost surrounded by woods and completely so
by mad. The train was already there, but
the stage from Lees burg not having arrived,
we whed away the tedum of the hour by
seating ourselves on the painted head OF forty
gallons of bald-face, andindulged In the highly
cultivated and divinely luxurious art of sucking
smoke through reed-a la Turk. We were
at length aroused from our revery by the shrlll
notes of Bird in the woods-and simu'tane-
o,sly there arose from The half dozen anxious
passengers that manned the PLATFORM cry OF
stage" after the fashion of those early mari
ners who cried 'sland,' 'land," and then fell
down and kissed it. We felt very much like
kissing something ourselves, but the sight of
about two dozen black boards, and grey, plung-
ing through mud and water with all the fawn-
like grace of so many turtles-Without band
boxes or babies-our' sentiment vanished as
rapidly as the spirits of our aforesaid blue
headed companion would have done-could
the thirsty looking crowd have gotten to them.
i Very soon we were all seated in the cars, and
the train put in motion. We missed the IA
mil:ar face, and cheerful voice of that most ex
c. lieut. captain of ante belIum days, VIM. II.
Calm who is still suffering from injuries re-
ceived some days ago. but who we were glad to
learn is rapidly improving. His place was
well supplied on this occasion, by Mr.: Hays,
an old attache OF the road, who can crack a
joke, indulge a smile, and take your money IN
such winning way, that majority OF the
gentlemen stockholders looked as though they'd
rather pay the fare than show their certificates
but they beled their looks most awful!y.
We found the track in toerabe condition,
and the business of the road evidently on the
Increase At Guilford we we're detained tor
nearly an hour-scme one lnhumanly suggest
ed for the purpose Of allowing a passenger time
to write a letter-but really for the purpose of
connecting with the Middleburg Stage, which
hadn't arrived on Saturday as we returned
Once more in motion We soon passed Herndon,
Ihornton's, Hunter Mill, Falls Church-the
scenes of many wild exploits and daring adven-
tures, and arrived in Alexandria about3 clock
and found excellent quarters at the Mansion
House, kept by Martin Maddux, Esq. 1t is
a capital House, and we commend it to those
of our friends visiting that city, assuring them
OF goul rooms, none OF your fourteen by twos,
good fare, and good accommodations generally.
Friday was rainy day, and business III the
city generally dull The bridges having been
washed away, and the river frozen up since the
9th of December was perhaps one cause OF
the stsguatiou of trade The ice however,
broke up on Thursday and navigation was re-
mimed on the river route regularly on Friday.
We found the business men of Alexandra anx'
iouSy awaiting the completion OF the A, l.. &
r. Road to Lecsburg.
The meeting of the Railroad Company was
harmonious one Lewis Mckenzie, the former
faithful and efficient officer was e-elected Pre-
sident, unanimously. 4 very fair exhibit
was made of the condition of the road, and the
hope expressed that the cars would be running
10 Leesburg within sixty days, and to Mercler's
during the present year.
The morning after our arrival IN the city we
found considerable comn,otion at the Clty Ho,
tel. Il seemed that about five o'clock several
guests appeared at the door of the dining room
in search of breakfast The waiter told them
the meal was not ready--that the gong hadn't
sounded-when one Of the party, In languague
more tOrclble than polite, SWore ne hao ilealu
the id thing for the last two hours. lives
tsatiou proved that they had been deceived by
the snoring of one of the Loudoun delegation
The biggest thing we saw was dressed hog.
hanging up in the market house, which netted
eight hundred and fifty pounds. He was raised
and slaughtered by a Fenian of Fairfax. and
yielded his owner SO per hundred, or $500.
On Saturday we returned. There was a
merry party aboard, and when we again reach :
ed edFarmwell were transferred, to the number OF
IS or 90, to six-horse coach and dragged over
a road without any apparent bottom, to the
turnpike, from which point we had pleasant
ride home.
All along the road we were glad to see the
wheat crop looking so we'll, promising, at this
time an abundant harvest. We passed one or
two fields where one of our companions thought
the grain must have been put in wrong end
foremost, and grown downward, there was no
visible sign of it where the green blades ought
to have been-Loudoaue Mirror.
MEDICINAL QUALITIES OF PUMPKINS
IL NJ,