The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1868-09-16
Letters from our Special. :
mo. q = V
STEAMER golden EHx,l
Sent. Bird 1855 Z

Sept. Bird, 1868
DEAR FIRGINIAN :--Squeezed up in a IL
tie state-room, on board the steamer "Gold m
Ere" bound for Cincinnati is all that IL iie5ss
Of your (once) promising correspondent,
Montana Over many miles have travelled
since last wrote you some of them pleasantly
more of them otherwise. Leaving White
Sulphur shortly after the Masque Ball had
broken up, again became protege of "Uncle
Jimmie Trotter," and after short but refresh.
| ing ride arrived at
\ LEWIsBURG,
where gladly availed myself Of "ThompsoH's
choice" and tumbled into bed at the only ho-
! tel in the place. The landlord failed toitsps.
der the courtesy usual to Bohemians Of the,
Press; | turn him over to some more venture
some correspondent than myself, upon whom,
as he did me, he mercilessly raids upon for
"three or four dollars" Ny first few hours
| spent in sleeping-and dreaming. Beast
Butler; Charles I; Paddy from Cork; VIM.
Penn the gentleman from Vermont and the
Duke of buckingham were dancing quadrillcs
on my pillow with the "Slave of the Pasha5"
the "Greek brides" Kate Kearney; Queen
Elizabeth Madame Demorest and Anna Dick
inson; while the person6cation Of the imruoftt
al ~. NJ" in company with Bob LipscombI;
and the editor of the .Quia .Nanc, laughed
Immediately and boisterously at the whole Of
them. My ideas being somewhat disturbed
on awakening your correspondent s'smiled'
("25 CENTS Sill" and proceeded on az tour
| through the village. My opinion is that
Lewisburg will never excel New York in size.
although its facilities for growing are unlimi J..
ted. 1t counts in the neighborhood Of seven
or eight hundred citizens-some twenty icfi
thirty of whom are voters, SO we'll is the pldco0
RECONSTRUCTED" Its finest private building
was burned during the war by some aspiraln.t;,
for an +. b. agency, and is yet a mass ofruips.
Lewisburg boasts Of two newspapers, both 'sfA
which are ably conducted in the cause. 80 Dds
mocracy. Quite an amusing ncideptseecurs
red while calling on Mr.. B. +. Howell, of the,
Independent, which think is worthy of,re-
cord. A gentleman came into the Office with
a copy Of the Philadelphia age, saying thatho'
wished to read paragraph aloud, and requests
ed Mr.. Howell to answer the question it con-
tanned. All was attention, the Ages question
was eff the expenses. Of the government,
under the radical regime are over forty nil
lions of dollars per month, and only thistyd
SIX millions of dollars can be raised monthly
by taxation. how long wiA ait;take a radical
administration to pay off the National Debt"
Nothing daunted by the magnitude Of the.
question friend Howell answered ia this wise:
"Once upon timc," said he, a particular
friend of mine, whose. son and heir was re-
markable for the oalibre of his head, deter
mined to try the young gent with what tltoS
Il ,,ol Il,
PARENT, suppose there was frog in that we'll
and suppose that every night for the past twa
years he jumped up two feet, but during the
the night fell back four feet !; where xouldha
be now Z" s- IN
'sWell sustaining his reputation, The young;
ster did not falten moment, butimiicdiatcfy
replied: Well, Pap, reckon that frog has
been in hell about ninety days' bsa.fa v,d.
The loud and prolonged guAaw which fol-
lowed this response was the heartiest your
corrcspondenthas heard for many day.asOu-
the whole like Lewisburg and its people, aud
wish them speedy deliverance from the hate
full tolls Of radicalism. e'"''' -'tRJ
Early on Saturday morning, Isagain drop
ped into my ;'cornea seat in the stage cn,,outc
for Charleston. The first twenty miles were
passed in the companylof Miss S., OF Cliht-
tonville, one of Virginia's fairest and most in
telligent daughters. Calamity throwing a
kiss at tho only good company had on thc
way, and munching quietly on some excellent
apples which she had given me, i abandoned
myself to thoughts of other days. and pictured
to myself the seems enacted in the then dreary
solitudes of the grand old mountains Of Virgil
mia. So occupied, the time passed along rap.
dly and during all my long ride, ennn failed
to trouble me- Nothing of special interest
occurred until my arrival on Sunday last at
CHARLESTON, gg gsl'aV
the whole distance was accomplished oih
less than two days travel. ! predict that when
the season again opens at the, Springs, the
Messrs. Trotter's will have more than their
"hands full'' in conveying passengers to The
mountains vta Charleston Lewisburg and ii,
White Sulphur. Charleston, think, bwill
improve faster than any other country toxin
in West Virginia, The county .Kanawha
voted $500 900 for the Chesapeake and Ohio
road, which, combined with the easy navaga-
ton of the river, and its central location will
make it the great business ccntre Of the State
ESQ called.) Much against the wishes Of many
lang-syne friends who met me at this placeA
one of whom was to be married in u few DAYS
and wanted me to ''stand up with; }hnnudan
Monday morning | embarked on board the
Kanawha Belle Democratic steamboat,
owned by a Democratic company, command
ed by Democratic officers, and loadsdsawhh
Democratic passengers. All went, smesHYs as
marriage bell" and before dark we gently
glided over the muddy bosom Of III Belle
Riuierc After short delay at .aei g
PoINr PLEASANT, p 6f-Se's
the very last place in all Virginia, our 1best's
head was turned down the river, and an hapr
brought us to f,.~si z.s.y. al
GALLIPoLIs, Ono; I'd
where I betook myself to hotel quietly and
patiently to await the arrival of q '''down the
river" boat. The unusually low stage OF wa
ter in the Ohio, renders steamboating almost
thing of the past. The 'oldest inhabitnht"
can tell Of no season when steamboat captaips
"cursed" more, or made less meney, than the
present one. The river is easily f'rdable but
short distance from here; while teams cross
without difficulty anywhere above WheeliRg,
A Wheeling paper says that Nottingham
minnows eau now navigate the stream at that
Il