The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-02


"Tea or coffee, sir p cries the maiden Of
fifty summers.
Coffee, Miss, if you please
Oh shades of Kingsley and the Continen-
tai cafe! Did / say coffee? All, yes Nothing
but the aching void within reconciled me to
the base falsehood of the old traveller who
told me we could get nice cup of coffee at
Derry. FAREWELL Derry farewell! may I
never look upon your like again. The pas
sengers who did not get ont seemed q fancied)
to give us a quizzical look as we sheepshly
returned TO our seats. But the muddy coffee
and slippery-elm ham of Derry are also for
gotten as the train shoots into the splendid
Union Depot at Pittsburg.
A Few Words About Pittsburg.
This, the second city of Pennsylvania, does
not increase as rapidly in area and population
as other cities west of it, but its progress is
substantial, as it's kissing furnaces, belch-
ing chimneys, and brawny, grimy toiiers in
dicate. Environed on every side by lofty
hills, and divided by the waters of the Monon-
gahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio rivers, it
cannot expand like the cities of the plains
beyond, but necessity is already climbing its
hills, and their terraced sides are giving the
most substantial evidence of the material
progress of the Iron City. II supports one
good legitimate temple of the drama--the
Opera House-which, by-the-way, is under
the management of a young Philadelphian,
whom many of your readers will remember
as a young lawyer Of great promise before
the war-Matthew W. Canning. He has
made an active, enterprising, and successful
manager, and among his announcements for
the winter season are Edwin Forrest, John
Brougham, Edwin Booth, Barney Williams,
Maggie Mitchell, Mrs. ID. z. Bowers, Mr..
Chanfrau, and the Rchings opera troupe. The
railroads entering and diverging from Pitts
burg extend in every direction. Besides the
Pennsylvania Central there are the Allegheny
Valley to the oil regions; the Western Penn
sylvania to Blairsville, on the Pennsylvania
Railroad, the Pittsburg and Erie; the Pitts
burg, Fort Wayne and Chicago; the Cleveland
and Pittsburg: the Pittsburg and Steubenville
and Cincinnati; the CHARTERS Valley, and the
| Pittsburg and Connellsville, which will soon
give Pittsburg railroad connection with
Baltimore.
Western Officials.
One cannot help observing here the differ
east of the Hudson. Here every stranger is
treated with courtesy, even if the favor he
seeks cannot be granted Your correspondent
feels indebted to the courtesy of Mr.. Mullins,
of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago
Railway, and Mr.. James Stephenson, Assist
ant Superintendent Central transportation
Company, at Pittsburg. Whilst speaking Of
the latter, I may as well give your readers
some idea of the cars of this company and
their expense. The elegant silver palace
cars used to convey travellers from New York
to Chicago via Philadelphia, over sthe Penn
sylvania and Fort Wayne roads, do not be-
long to either of these corporations, but to the
Central Transportation Company, who pay
for the privilege Of running them over the
road. The cars are about 5S feet in length.
and contain only "A bertLs. They are fitted
up and furnished in the most luxurious man
ner, at o cost Of over ST., 900 each Itcosts
about $1,000 per year to keep them in repair
and the ordinary lifetime of such car is not
over eight years. 1t takes six days to make a
round trip. So the reader will perceive that
five dollars from New York to Chicago is
a moderate compensation for the outlay.
The company are building two cars now
which, it is said, will surpass anything ever
seen either in this country or abroad, the cost
of each being about $4,000.
Pittsburg to Chicago.
The ride from the city of smoke to the city
of the plain is somewhat different to the
tourist than that from Philadelphia to Pitts
burg, though it is all one to the sleeper in the
palace car. Leaving Pittsburg at 2'15 P. NJ.
columbus time, which means 2'27 P. NJ.
Pittsburg time), one takes supper at Altoona,
Ohio, 81 miles distant, and good square
meal for 75 cents, with twenty minutes to
masticate your food; and at Plymouth,
Indiana, 3S4 miles, for breakfast at the same
price, with same time to eat in. The old
traveller gave me hint not to be alarmed at
the pretended starting shrieks of the locomo-
tive, but to keep one eye on the conductor.
Between keeping one eye on the conductor
and the other on the surrounding grub came
very near getting cross-eyed, losing a square
meal and more too! But I've got used to it
now and more too! Entering Chicago by rail,
prairie as level as billiard table and extend
ing as far as the eye can see down toward st.
Louis, and next the immense quantities of
lumber piled up in the yards lining the banks
of the Chicago river, and the route through
which the railroad enters the city. The same
crowd of vociferous hackmen one meets in
New York and Philadelphia also greets your