The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-05-29
Smiling and Feasting While Fortune
Frowns.


Smiling and Feasting While Fortune
l Frowns.
Editors OF the 1ntellIgenees:
/ venture 10 say that whoever would
propose pleasure trip 10 Cincinnati and
return on one Of our regular packet boats
would be regarded as possessing in an
eminent degree the qualifications neces
sary TO secure permanent residence at
the spacious institution over which our
neighbors at Weston have always exer-
erctsed deep and peculiar concern.
Even the commercial traveller unhesi.
tatingly pronounces a trip down the river
TO be On insuferable and unmltigated
bore. He declRims In language more ex.
preasive than polite, against the slow rate
otspeed, and promptly stops his ears with
corks, nicely carved to flt, when
the prolonged and piercing whistle
threatens destruction to his tym-
panum. He complains that the
boat Is hot, the whisky bad, and the SER
wants insolent and inattentive, and when
we see him standing on the guards In an
attitude Of deep reflection, surrounded by
clouds Of stogie smoke, we intuitively un.
derstand that he Is straining his mental
faculties to invent new and original i'm
precautions to hurl at tho heads Of the
luckless captain, mate, and crew. But
we are not all so hard to please as those
irsscible melcantile drummcrs, and to
the ordinary tourist there Is much gen.
uine enjoyment TO be extracted from q
"round trip" on the Andes or Hudson.
We made our journey with Captain
Muhleman, and are bound to admit that
he and his courteous aids leave nothing
undone 10 promote the comfort and pleas.
ure Of their passengers. They exert
themselves to be affA6le and polite to all
But we cannot expect to find the sumptu.
Gus accommodations that were provided
20 years ago on the magnificent steamers
oil the Union Line An those were the
days when steamboat men were in their
pride and glory. A Commander ot one
Of those boats lelt that he trod the deck OF
floating palace, and the saloons ot the
steamers were often filled with the elite OF
the land travelling to and from the fash.
lonable resorts OF the East and Europe
Who Of our older citizens does not re-.
member Capt. Sam Mason and Captains
Mclean, Mcclure and Norton and their
superb steamers, the Falls City, the grace.
lul Thomas Swami, the elegant B Iltimore,
the swift running Alvan Adams, that
glided over the water like thing Of life,
and all the other steamers OF that unsur.
passed but unfortunate feet comprising
the Union Line. They were Peerless
steamers, and We shall never see their
like again on the waters of the Ohio.
Still as l have already intimated, a re.
markable degree Of comfort may bs ex.
perienced on the boats OF the present day,
and at this season Of the year the scenery
along the river Is picturesque and
attractive in the highest degree.
AS our steamer was passing the Kan.
awha river on the downward trip
I was greatly amused at an anecdote re-
lated BY one Of our fellow passengers. It
appears that after the adjournment Of the
State Legislature at Charleston one Of the
SolonS shouldered his double. .barrelled
breech loader. and. started on q hunting
expedition. He arrived OF point on the
Kapawha River, and falling in With one
OF the natives the following conversation
occurred: a+
solon-Any ducks about this neghbor-
hood2 ..I..
Natiye-Yes; whole focks. went
out the other morning and killed ninety
nine before breakfast.
Solon-(doubtingly)-Why don't you
make II round hundred.
Natlve-( (indlgnantly)-pm nota mem.
ber OF the Legislature. I am an honest
and truthful man. Doyouthink / would
tell a IL. for one duck.
They are unquestionably q highly
moral people down In that region. They
advance q very strong moral argument In
fovor Of retaining the capital at Charles
ton. They allege the difficulty Of trans
portation compels the Charleston liquor
dealers 10 keep only q minimum
supply Of old Rye and Bourbon on hand
and sell 1t solely for medicinal purposes
on the prescriptions Of reliable physicians.
No better evidence Of the truthiulness Of
this observation 10 needed than the health.
tul and roseate complexion Of some Sot
our representatives Just alter o return
from the capital. They look as though
their physictaDs have prescribed for them
with due regularity and care.
Alter passing the new and pretentious
city Of Huntington, the present terminus
Of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, we
Werelanded safely on the wharf at Ashland
at the hour when "chnrchyards yawn."
Thisiwa our first visit 10 Ashland and
we shonld have preferred TO arrive In
daytime, but even in the darkness and
gloom OH midsummer night we expert,
snced no difficulty in finding Col. Bells
mammoth hotel. Il was Mrs. Toodles,
believe, who used TO buy No. 10 shoes
Tor the babies in tho confident expeo
tation that they would grow up to
| ali them. The hotel at Ashland waI
evidently constructed on tho same princi
pie, and although the hope has been long
deferred there now seems some proba6llt
ty ot harmonizing the proportions OF the
hotel and city by the rapid growth Of The
latter. Our former townsman, Col. Z. 81
Norton, has Infused new lie into the
veins OF Ashland enterprise by construct
Ing there the most costly and magnificent
Furnace and Rolling MIL on the Ohio
river. he is the President oil q company
employing o capital Of over one millior