The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1868-03-29
TO ST. LOUIS AND BACK.

A1OhhA1S AA@A vas A0S
when we vent. It was only for . short trip
to st. Louis, to be sure, and that is . so COM
mon, speedy, and ~unimportant affair that we
can't possibly make it very pretenticus. One
can't invest it with much interest unless one
would generously consent to be blown up,
then be drowned or be blown into atoms at
once and so create q demand for newspaper
exclamation | ! and cause old ladies' to won,
der g whether he was killed or not The
trip might interest the general public did it
involve such a bill of horrors as that. But
explosions are extravagancies that the keo-
kuk and st. Louis Packet Company line
never perpetrate. The officers are too care
full; boat and machinery too staunch and Sc
cure. Yet there was o French author that
wrote a boob of what he saw from his win
dow. And another that got an octave out of
a trip about his room. And a Flo yer Gar
den furnished Hervey with whole volume
of g Meditations," any Eve consecutive pages
of which Will intellectually reduce the brain
of any reader to the consistency of water
Cruel. There are more than one Peter Pill
garliques who get two full volumes, hot
pressed aud bound in calf out Of a seven
miles tour. Why shouldn't we get from
"sTo st. Louis and back = q column Of mat
ter, to save us and you from the heavier mat
ter Of a leader on the Political Situation, or
kindred topics
Yes, yes, you say, of two evils we choose
the least quit your circumlocution and pre-
liminaries and say what you've got to say
about your trip. Easy, in time, Oh! friend
Of ours, it provokes you. does it? Well, it
proyokes us. The fact is, We must get a col
umn out of this subject, and it requires care
full handling and much circumlocution to do
it. As we have said, the boat wouldn't blow
up, and when one gets to st. Louis -
Now, let us m at the beginning.
We went down upon the HAIRY Johnson
One of the handsomest and best of the Com
pany's excellent line of steamers. i've will
say the same thing Of the boat We came back
on, when we reach the proper place. Capt.
Lee commands the Harry and he does it
we'll. Mr.. Geo. Walton presides at the desk
and he does that gracefully and well, as all
who have travelled with him know. The
steamer has been painted and refurnished
and handsomely fitted up for the season
trade, and it offers the very finest accomm
dations to the travelling public. We had ex'
cellent company too. There were our friends
Judge j. W. Rankin, and Col. C. K. Peck
and Mine Host" Tepfer, of the TepfeI
House, Keokukians all. And our goot
friend Moore, of Eddyvills. And Mr.. Hen
derson, of Louisiana, Missouri. now actively
at work getting ready the large tobacco fac.
tory which he has under way in Keokuk.
And Mr.. Aft. Howard, the celebrated violin
list, who will shortly give a concert in Keo-
kuk, and who is as genial socially as he is
accomplished as a musician. 1t was pleasan
enough. And Monday, you will remember
was oneof those regal days that stand above
and apart from and marshall the multitude,
of the years common duller days, GROWING
them with q glory all its osa, shedding a
splendor on sky and field, and wood and wa
ter, and a light in the soul that is not else on
land or sea.
Warsaw, Alexandria, Canton, La Grange
through the bridge at Quincy, which is being
rapidly pushed to completion. The draw
is only twice the width Of q steamer, and, as
a result Of it, hasn't a tendency to diminish
the amount of profane swearing to which
steamboat men may be ~unhappily addicted.
Long enough at Quincy for a stroll through
that handsome city, and o call at the sauctum
of our friend Langdon, of the Hhig & Re
publican, drop that Wing please, and
make the name manageable whom we greet
with a fervor inspired by memories of much
pleasant association aforetime. We meet
the 'up'l packet at Quincy. Wait for the
two o'clock Chicago train and then 60. Its
nearly sunset when we leave Hannibal the
evening falls. and the far shadows that the
tall cliffs and trees were throwing out across
the river, change to . thick band Of muurky
shade close along shore. The breeze was
soft as summer. There had been all day
resting up river and down river a veil of silver
mist and the evening did not rend it.
From mountains Of clouds near the horizon
lightning cleaned and PLAYED upon the water.
That was the Esthetic part Of the proceed
ings. Tn dashing rain in which we landed
at st. Louis next morning was the practical
part, without the least element of poetry in
it. But we mustn't anticipate. So we 90
out upon the guards in the evening, and add
another to the line of illuminated points
lighted cigars-that are ranged along, and
add our boot-heels to the array of boot-heels
that mount the baiuatrades. And everybody
smokes, keeps silent, and is happy Talk Of
enjoyable travelling Steamboats, are With
out rivals. Your cars are but mild forms Of
torture in comparison. When the Lord sub
1ected Noah to forty days and nights Of bad
weather, He, in mercy, put him aboard q
boat, and set him anoat, That was the very
best thing that..could be done for Noah. nm.
der the circumstances. Had he been mt. In
stead, into : high house or atraveling car, the
old patriarch would have scolded his wife.
whipped his family, abused the animals and
ent bus own throat, inside the first ten days.
~ boat vas the most enjoyable place that
oisine foodness could invent for bad wealth.
., What shall We say of it in pleasant wealth
~ nH the paesenQera don't
think something Of this kind AZ thew watch on,
over The river, and the steamer pants ON. and
the water rdshea and ripples from the non.
derons wheels, and rolls away in great white
waves?
Mountains make their impress upon the
character Of the people that dwell among
Them. Whether and to what extent treat
rivers give character TO those dwellins mon
tnsif banhs may not here be said. Bat the,
should 1ake men noble. For look ont FINN
the boat. and watch the stars .p.riI;ne i sbs
writer. and reflect iha. we're Their, opl, l.ns
and wood and 6elds the heaven. would n.-.r
BE- ~ssAferADsfsrs would have mo ina. -
ihs skies. When The earth would bri.s II.
hsAveas down nigh herself, she haat 10 M.
tSs bosom Of hsr waters, and the glory Of h.
~ = pictured fbers. And IL il very certain
tAas ne hearts Of the people Of the NORTH
- 1upng the late great var vers moved "a
atiahse patriotism By this ersat river, Who's,
vatsssa = they flowed % tie Gull, saps 8
UN's ~ - nsas u psspssssl Usiea.