The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1875-12-18

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gts pieasanf hspsi9esy ekough. ~ her
go lrss ffiifoad.ag ~ ~ d1oe ihe'
thfN saew, tud faFga stsginK snd vi
~anffeaaenaly lsug rides - eanal Aafaa
ln fbe summer flms naf NJ pfs'
hsfiei ~ nv trips. ssd tYek ~ gsl
fime NJ Npt business ~ The tuuni
aelfs sgnalsfei N hunting w iitles q
~ohsfare. eid iania, paying tsssa Hpol
there. and vstiina fhsm IN good e0adi
elm ~ Immediate tale.
~ consequence ~ be- nature N thA
business. I knew a good deal about thi
topography ~ Pennsylvania, and Roo'
deal that, VI the time, was worth know
Ing about Ne roads and IL inns. Al .
the lister we're bad. but some were bet
ter than others. One ~ the worst y
them we're NJ Tamaqua, and possibly J
u there yet, though when ! Last siep.
under IT, roof, Il wa in altogether suel
q ~ianentable condition ~ decay, and "
roof was such y very leaky roof indeed,
that doubt not Il long ago disappeared
out ~ the sight N men and possibly on
Of their memories also-Tamaqua hay.
ing achieved u railroad since, and, 81
course, grown as only railroad towns
do grow.
| arrived there in that December OF
| 1856, on a Monday afternoon, which
was quite rs cold and disagreeable a
Monday afternoon as | remember ever
TO have known, though, when compar-
ed with the Tuesday that followed, it
might be considered rather warm than
otherwise. | was half frozen when !
got there, and | was not quite thawed
out when ] left, for | had yielded to a
burning curiosity TO visit a coal mine,
and fancy that Tamaqua is nothing
but a coal mine, with a thousand mouths
that every morning swallow so many
thousand miners and disgorge them
every night. 1t was then,
and | think it is now,
a very black and sooty place, with a
canal in front of it, a hill behind it, and
the huge mine | have spoken of under
it. 1t was not only black and sooty it
self, but its people were similarly black
and sooty; and so were its horses, or
rather its mules, for it seemed to have
few of the former and a great many of
the latter. Even its dogs and cats par
took of the general sootiness, and were
evidently greatly depressed by it. l
was very cold when | went down into
the mine-which had its shaft just be-
hind the hotel-and | wa colder still
when | came out of it. went to bed
cold, and got up cold, so cold indeed
that | thought | would never be warm
any more. When | went down into the
frozen breakfast-room, | looked out of
the window, and saw that the ground
was covered deep with snow, and that
it was still showing as if it means to ex
haust the whole. winters supply in five
minutes or so, being very greatly press
ed to do it Immediately. | drank my
cold, black coffee and ate my cold,tough
beefsteak in gloomy silence, thinking
more than | had done for a long time
before of home, of its pleasant cheer
and warmth, and of the loving boys and
girls in it who were even then, no doubt,
expecting my speedy coming, for this
was already the morning of Tuesday,
aud Thursday would be Christmas day.
In that home / was St. Nicholas HIM
self, for it was | that brought home in
the night the brave tree with its spread
ing green branches; it was | that planted
it firmly in the middle of the wide par
Tor; it was | that found the infinite va
of toys, cakes, bon-bons, and gilt
tering baubles which covered it; it was
[ that placed the ever-beautifuA image
Of the Christ Child on the topmost
l that lighted the ~many-colored
and THAT, at the suspicious mo-
.ent, suddenly threw open the folding
doors and let in the children to behold
the glory of that wondrous Christmas
miracle.
In my frequent journeys through the
State, | had seen many places which |
wanted to get away from quickly, but |
never saw another that | wanted to turn
my back upon so much as Tamaqua. 1t
was not in any manner o pleasant place,
and besides, if these nephews and nieces
Of mine were to have a Christmas tree
at all in this year, 1856, | thought, |
go home as fast as l could travel.
[ had come to Tamaqua in a stage, and
[ must go away FROM it in a stage-not
TO Philadelphia, exactly, but to the next
town, and that was distant, |
knew not how far.
/ shivering from the dreary
breakfast, and hunted up the landlord
Of the inn. He was easily found, and
was no better or warmer looking a man
than his accommodations promised him
to be. i paid his e%xtravagant charges,
and then informed him that l wished to
reach as quickly as possible the nearest
railroad station, and to take the first
train for the east.
"The nearest station is at Iium
Ilium is 22 miles distant; you cannot
get there before night, if at tall. | think
you won't get there at ALL"
All this was spoken reflectively, and
with elaboration.
elf | can get there by 10 o'clock to-
can | make the eastern express P"
"You can, but l { doubt if you can get
there at all.n
"Whye" | asked.
He was not a man to waste words.
He only said:
"The stage won't go-on account of
the storm"
"Are you sure of thatP" l yentured
to ask.
"Quite sure," and he closed his lips
with a snap, as if he knew all about it.
"Who owns the stagep"
al do" he replied. Sand l won't
let it 60, because the road lies over that
mountain yonder; it runs close to the
edges of precipices several hundred feet
nigh, it is rough and slippery, the snow
5 deep now, and getting deeper every
and l don't believe any horse
Gould pull through it,"
| thought of the little children wait
for me yonder; of their bitter dis
appointment if l did not come. Then
said: 81 am very anxious to go, and
am willing to pay well for being
The landlord leaning over the bar