Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-01-15
CORRESPONDENTS.
GILMORE, Ills, Jan. I, 1

0lLMOhE, Ills, jan. &, 1oft.
Dear Chronicle Il wonder if you
readers are not tired of my scribbline
by this time. Well, as the above date
shows my quarters are slowly moving
homeward, and fms will shortly sigT
his name, which he marks upon every
thing, soon or late.
Our craft reached Cairo late last Sat
urday evening, but as there would be
no train till the next evening, we staiG
aboard and in due time, tied up to the
wharf at st. Louis. One remark iH
taking leave of the Colorado, is thai
her "roysters," or fellows who take on
and put off freight, and do the heavy
work generally, can Outswear all crea.
tion. Though not by any means an
accomplishments; swearing may be
treated scientifically. There is the
oath ornamental, the oath emphatic,
the oath reflex and the oath satanic.
The first two kinds are sometimes used
by men who know what they are do
ing; the third is the kind that ''swears
ITSELF" the last is the mere blowing of
in articulate sounds of the escape pipes
of set of engines which the Devil is
sending forth to traverse the fair face
of the earth. While listening to them,
one morning, or rather while trying in
vain to sleep and not to hear, for their
quarters were right under the ladies'
cabin, the story of the old Dutchman
came into my mind. While driving
through Arkansas with his son, they
stopped to drink at spring. But ia
stead of a cooling draught the water
was very hot and burnt the old mans
mouth. Dropping the cup he called
out: ''Trive on, Shake, trive on, Hell
ish not var vrom here"
This tOwn-Gilman-is in the north
ern part of the State, right in the broad
prairie. Seems pleasant little place.
One novelty is its Artesian wells; in
some places if you put down a pipe a
short distance, the water comes up and
flows therefrom in a perennial stream.
There is no timber in sight; not
enough for switches. The children,
consequently, are very naughty. The
mud is the stickiest stuff YOU ever saw;
it climbs up your heels and insinuates
itself under the spring bottom of your
pantaloons; then you stop and stamp
your feet as if you wanted to drive a
vertical hole through the State OF
Illinois.
The ride north from st. Louis, last
Monday, over the prairie through the
crisp air, under the bright sky was de-
lightful indeed.
I've not bored you often talking
about stars, and must say that on the
night we left Natchez spent a while
on the hurricane roof, looking heaven
ward; the scene was one of natures
loveliest. Beside all the lesser host of
lights, old Jupiter was glowing in the
east; the bright star Sirius nearing the
meridian, while low down near the
southern horizon, twinkling and flash
ing and burning with alternate red and
violet beams, was star which I'd not
seen before for ten years-Canopus of
the Southern ship. Humboldt says,
that within the tropics the stars do not
twinkle when over fifteen degrees from
the horizon. This seemed probable to
me when comparing the flash of Cano-
pus to the steady shine of Sirius.
Many pleasant things have attended
our travel; these / will not now emu
We are glad we came away
from home and will be glad to get back.
To those who have followed me-
this half dozen letters, I'llI
say by way of goodbye adviee-if you
are thinking of making a three.thou-
sand mile tour, in winter or summer,
and are blessed with wife and three
and o place to stay and call
ihome,p and if you hayn'tyet bought
your ticket, let nae give you Punch's
advice tc' those about to marry
don't" J. j.. BURNS.