Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-04-24
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE,
BY LEMON L uHL.


| By LEMON L. uHL.
i NEAR MADRAS, March 7th, 1873.
1 EDIroRs REPUBLIcAN: As / COM
menee writing and remember the point
from whence sent you my last letter,
muddy Mersey, l cannot but recall again
the beautiful harbor Of Cork, at Queens
town, Ireland. 1t was after we had
been at sea nine days and half, that
we entered this bay. From New York,
we had sailed all this time, and had met
No ship or steamer, had seen no land !;
and while felt half prison bound by
our cabin walls and the railings of the
deck, felt more so by the horizon of
sky that clipped off the distant sea
and circled round the edge, shutting ont
the world and shutting in my sight.
Seeing only the sea over which We rode,
looking upon the waves, only, which
washed our steamer, We knew nothing
of other seas, of other ships, or of the
world besides, and wondered what was
going on. Twas hungry for both land
and news. When, on the evening Of
Dec. 18th, we neared Ireland, this first
desire was gratified by distant sight,
and as we entered the harbor of Cork,
at midnight, ande lay between high
banks OF land, I seemed to be entering
new existence. With joy 1 hailed the
rows of fence that enclosed small plots
near by, and with joy 1 hailed the lights
of the city, as they beamed upon US
from the shore. Here, too, my desire
for news was gfatified. We did not re-
main long, and the steamer was met by
a little propeller that made fast to its
side. There was hurry on all sides
We watched all we could from the up
per decks. A newsboy came along, and
1 purchased Cork daily, putting it in
my pocket until I should see an end of
the busted movements about. The mail
bags were being carried into the pro-
peller to be sent overland 70 london
and the continent. Great, large sacks
they were, too, something like three,
bushel coffee sack 1>stood to see the
amount of transatlantic correspond
ence. Sailor after sailor passed by with
sack on his shoulder, until dove sixty
mail bags were carried out. The mail
crosses the Atlantic twice aweek, and
this gave some idea of the pens and ink
bottles and minds that move continual
ly. in one continent, for the pleasure or
the good of the people of another. But,
while in London, I noticed the arrival
Of mail steamer at Cork, with one
hundred and seventeen sacks; and,
while we were detained at Falmouth, q
mail steamer, of the German line of
ships, arrived at Southampton, with two
hundred and twenty sacks, and so the
mail which saw unloaded, was a small
one. ~ rz.i -i-
After the propeller had steamed
jauntily away from our side, and the
mock farewells Of tlne remaining steer
age passengers had been answered
across the inte rval of waters by joking
responses from those who were landing
in Ireland, and after our faces had been
turned from Cork to the sea again, i
went below to read my paper. Not a
word of news from America! ! read
all the contents, and these but little,
and laid down the paper, feeling that
my hunger for news was quite an ad-
vantage to the newsboy's hunger for
money. l had paid twelve cents for
my information. The Times, the lar
gest and leading daily Of London, costs
just six cents. Late in the night, we
anchored in the Mersey, in sight OF
Liverpool, and late in the next morn
ing I was up. To-day" though
'sths passengers will separate, and
shall bid the Atlantic good bye" Two
steam tugs were at out side, load
ing ON the hundreds of trunks. We
must also go upon these, to land ON the
pier. There is tumbling Of trunks.
There is hustle among the officers,
among the passengers and the crew.
Stray articles of the weeks voyage are
packed again, and ladies breakfast with
bonnets ON, while the hats and valises
of the men are at their, side, near the
table. The gangway plank is laid, and
each passenger carefully crosses to the
tugs. For who knows what thousandth
time, q landing scene is re-enacted, but
new to many, as If no other had ever
been! As l set my foot on the plank
and leave the half deserted decks, the +
occasion suggests New York gangway
and my first step on board, and, among
there is one at leaving a well
known place for an unknown and at
entering upon an untried experience,
a landing upon the Old World. l am
eager to go on, vet old fellewships and
sympathies shrinka ind reach backwards.
The plank is crossed and we huddle to-
gether upon the seatless, little tug. Thus
all travellers are landed. The river is
muddy and swollen. We hear there
have been great rains. Far as We can
see up and down the stream, the solid.
stone buildings of Birkenhead rise on
the Mersey's north bank, while Liver
POOLS more packed buildings line the
bank on the south. The river seemed
to have made its bed through stony
plain of human habitations. Towards
the Inasts of many steam
ers can be seen; but, as we near the
south bank, the Liverpool side grows
i'm interest. This is the city of the lar
gest commerce in the world. All lands
pour in their treasures here, so what of
the vessels that are the treasure bearers
Yonder they are. On the rivers edge
and inside of massive stone walls that
reach above the highest decks, they are
housed in the docks, going forth at high
tides and resting several feet above the
river at others hours. Far up and down
the stream the array of masts, looking
over the dock walls, is seen, like an
l