Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-01-08
american Uotes-Is42-Is67.

/ Jeu states, says the P1llaQeipnlh LcuqcF,
has renewed the reference to his former
visit, which were so frequent IN the Amer
lean newspapers few months ago. Since
1t was suthoritstiyely announced that he
would make this visit, a great many Of
the people of this country have probably
re read his famous American Notes, /"
and, doubtless, quite q number Of them
have wondered why there should have
been 50 much irritation on that score when
they were FIST published. Having looked
over them recently, in several Of the ,re-
publications Of Dickens now being laid
before the American public, we find that
the three subjects ne was hardest upon,
were tobacco splitting" slavery" and
the "badness of our roads" Of his de-
nuncistion of the first, no one shoulC ever
have complained. It is a most filthy and
/ disgusting habit, deserving of castigation
everywhere, and at all times. Itstill pre-
walls, though perhaps not so extensively
as at the time Of Mr.. Dickens first visit.
There is scarcely a woman in the land
now but will thank him If he does it again,
and we think majority of the men will
indOrse him, too. Notices have to be post
ed in the street railway cars soliciting
"gentlemen not to indulge in splitting
on the floors or mating but on the steam
roads there Is nothing to check it. livery
frequently happens that both men and
women entering the cars on steam trains
ind that the only available seats are those
just vacated by tobacco che Rers, who have
covered the floors between the seats, and
very frequently the passage way also, with
their slckening expectorations. So, too,
IN the theaters, concert halls, and other
! places of amusement, and occasionally,
We are sorry to say, In the sisles of the
churches. Hotels and public Offices we
say nothing aboat-
As to slavery" that is 3 "lost cause" ("
and there is no longer any room for hos
tilities on that score. The third point
above named is the only one on which
Mr.. Dickens is fairly open to retaliatory
criticism. He found the roads bad, un-
dOubtedly, but what else could have been
expected in so new a country2 Still in
our early youth, as q nation, we we're then
in our infancy, and our people were spread
over breadth of country (half Of it a
wildsrnessj 70 which the whole of Eng
land is q mere patch. He might have
shown more charity for cur miserable
roads had he remembered that it Is only
within the present century that even those
around London have been any thing to
boast of, although London had many cen
turies the start Of US IN that or any other
particular. When Mr.. Dickens was here
on his first visit, he went South as far as
Richmond, Virginia, and West as far as
ST. Louis. There were then q few miles
of railway between Fredericksburg and
Richmond, and few more between Bal.
timore and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
All the rest Of his travelling South and
West was done by stage, canal boat or
steamboat Leaving Pittsburgh he went
by canal to the foot of the Alleghenies,
thence over the mountains by the Portage
road, and thence by canal again to Pitts
burgh. From the last-named place all mis-
journey TO Cincinnati, Louisville and St.
Louis, and from st. Louis back to Cincin-
natl, was oy steamboat on the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers. He was compelled to
adopt this route and this mode Of travel
because there was no other except by stage.
Now, after but twenty-five years Of inter
val, he will find that vast tract of coun-
try, along the borders of which he mersly
skirted then, inCerlaced with railroads in
every direction, so taat he can be carried
anywhere and everywhere by the iron
horse on the iron track. Not only this,
but he may traverse by rail, il two days,
seven hundred miles of country beyond
the Mississippi, which was an almost IN
broken wilderness then, and large part
Of which was without a white inhabltant.
He will find that the swamps which gave
him such shiyer in the West, have dis
appeared before the Industrious hands of
American energy and enterprise. and that
even the miasma, which was such phan-
tom before him in the future of that region,
has nearly all cleared away. His new
" American Notes should contain far diff
ferent views on all these subjects, uuless
he does what he is not apt to do, and that
Is, close his eyes on the objects around
him.