Connecticut western news., 1873-08-01
Our Western Trip.
[Concluded.1


 Saw man approach the boss of peanut and cake shelf and innocently ask for Q glass of lager beer to quench his thirst, and which was used as 8 substitute for nauseous western water. Mr. Peanuts straightened up as crank as cockroach, and putting on ministerial countenance said promptly :: We neither buy, sell nor use the vile stuff l! It is the vllest stuff ever put into the stomach of a mani" We are pretty strong on the tenn perance question, ,butwhenwe hear such talk as the above proceeding from such a sanc- timonlous looking chap, we conclude at once that he is very dangerous man. We grasped our pocketbook with unusual care until we'll away from him. The nose he wore told us plainly, when out of sight he would drink mop pail full of the "vile stuff" if his credit was good enough to get it.
 The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy rail- 'road is very pretty road. The cars are comfortable, and travellers on long western journeys find this route very desira- ble one. We stopped at Mendota and took the Illinois Central to La Sale and Peru, where we find MT. T. D. Brewster at his home. MT. B. was formerly resident of Salisbury and is always glad to see anybody halling from our town. Here we found Mrs. Silas B. Moore. who is one of party of three ladies from this village, who start ed West few weeks previously. She has left the other members of her party in Chi cago, and is spending few days with MT. Brcwstcls people here in Peru. Mir. B. was one of the very earliest settlers in the town where he now resides, and coming into possession of a quite q tract of the country thereabouts, had free exercise in selecting the most desirable location for his residence. He has large, well appointed and finely built mansions his grounds are beautifully laid out and filled with shade trees, and he seems surrounded with every luxury the heart of man can wsb His family like himself are brim full of hospi- tality, and our short visit there was made so pleasant we were almost tempted to stay awhile; sixty or seventy years, for instance. Toward the evening of the day of our ar rival we visited his blow manufactory, which is built of brick. and is one of the largest establishments. of the kind in the West We cannot attempt description in detail of these vast blow works, because we cannot do them justice, but must be content to say that there is not manufac- tory in the country where better blows are turned out, or more of them. Mr. Brews- ter has grown up with the country and has brought this immense business up with him, and by It has grown very wealthy. He is the president of the First National bank of Peru, and is regarded as one of the most prominent men in the city. The next day after our visit to the p!ow works was the Sabbath, and we were summoned to divine service by the ringing of the large bell pre- sented to MT. Brewster in lS4O, by MT. Cofing, the father of the late Hon. George Cof1ng of this village. In the very early days of that country, MT. B. built church, which corresponded in size with the com munity at that time, and MT. Coffng sent him the bell for his church. This venera- ble structure still stands, ard is still owned by MT. Brewster. When the new and lar ger church was built, the ''little church around the corner" was compelled to give up its bell, which now continues in faithful service; in it's more elevated and dignified position.
 Monday party was made up to visit the coal mines of the Penn. Coal Go. Stepping on the elevator platform, we were let down the shaft distance of four hundred feet, and by the time we had reached the jumping off place, we might well imagine we could hear the gibberish accents of the Chinese worshippers at their Sunday .eyen- ing servlce, (Monday morning in Illinois is Sunday evening in China; ''they say" J and as we alighted from the platform, we found train of cars propelled by one don key horse power, with palace car at tached, into which our party of SIX were invited. This palace Car was grand af- fair, being about five feet long by four wide, and with its carpet of rye straw, formed one grand seat in it's bottom for its six occupants, all being snarled into one magnificent heap; and-take care there keep your head down as we go twisting through this serpentine route, or you'll get it bumped. After riding a long ways, (ex- actly how far we do not know, as we have entirely lost our reckoning, ) we came to the ends of the donkey jurisdiction, and were compelled to make the rest of the journey on foot, groping along through the low, narrow ''woodchuck hole," bent in the shape of an r, passing now and then a sturdy miner, who is hatless and shirtless ; hold on Garvey! don't go so fast, the la dies have not travelled this route so many times as you have, and can't get along so fast. The Doctor with mlner has dodged off on route leading to another section of the mine, but we are told he will intercept us ahead, so we'll keep on. Away out un- , der, and across the Illinois river, somebody says; and here we are at the place where the coal is mined. This vein of coal is about four feet thick, and each member ot the party seized pick axe and mined g lump directly from the face of the vein, , to take to our homes as souvenirs of oul visit. All the coal mined in this region is f Bituminous, or what is commonly known l as ''soft coal" It ignites readily and burni ? with cheerful blaze, but will do only about half the work Of the harder kinds obtained F in Pennsylvania.
 II Leaving MT. Brewster's we returned tc I Mendota and were soon gliding along agalr j. on the c. B. & Quincy road, crossing the 2 Mississippi just before dark and arrive ir f Burlington, where we remain over night