Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-11-03
The Centennial.
Correspondence of Stanton VINDlcAToR.l
STAUNTON, VA,
no+ o0fb

STAUNTON, VA,
Oct, 30th.
eff ever 1 start anywhere again when
there is more than one train I'll know it,
said young mau who left the Harrison
burg depot Monday morning, "and," he
added, as lie gazed anxiously after the
other section of the train gliding out OF
sight, Everybody else will know it." AS
it was ''everybody else" came very near
knowing it, for before the excursion got as
far as Baltimore we all knew that on the
train ahead of us was this young mans
clothes, his girl, his book, his lunch, and his
memorandum where to stop in Philadel-
phia He WAS desoated. saw many more
like him before got home.
Many excursion trains have left Staun-
ton for Philadelphia but. [ think Isay with
out vanity that ours had the GRE am of the
population. Nearly all the men had from
one to three of the gentler II always say
gentler, because l know what is good fol-
me) sex under his care. One man had
seven girls to take care of, and when | tell
you that he undertook the fearful job of his
own free will you may understand why ]
say we had the cream of the population.
There is such thing as the milk of hu.
man Kindness" but this is the genuine
article of the cream of it. Speaking of
cream reminds me Of tea. [ suppose no
railway train ever ran fifty miles without
Inor6 q hn y,f cd tno
for headache. At Harris0nburg q ca
daverous looking MAN was sent out armed
with pint tumbler, having been spurred
on by the announcement that her 'head
was aching wretchedly." just as he got
to the car door the whistle blew, and he
rushed back with empty tumbler. A few
stations below he was sent out with his
tumbler again into a bowling wilderness,
where there was nothing but a water-tank
and d wood-shed, and came back without
any result.
Couldn't they have made a cup?" sug-
eested the sharp-looking little woman.
Il didn't ask the man, my DEAR" said
the man meekly, "but 1 don't think he
could, unless he had built a fire under the
water tank.'
At the Relay House dinner was pro-
missed, but the passengers had hardly got
ten Oh the platform when it was counter
manded. as we were behind time, and the
man with the tumbler came hopping
back into the Car with nothing in it, At
Baltimore he made an excursion out into
the rain, with his tumbler well to the front,
lighted up, as the place where he could get
it. He came back empty again, and in
reply to some reproac!les said they didn't
have anything but kerosene Oil there, and
he didn't think it was any use to buy d
tumblel full of that. At several other sta
lions he stepped out with his tumbler, and
hoped back in a hurry as the train moved
Off, and his last Eruption upon the sleeping
inha bltants Of the town was made at Will
mington, Del, from which he did not re-
turn. suppose he sneaked on at the rear
Of the train, for on going back found him
quietly smoking cigar on the rear plat
form. sShe amt worse, is she," he asked
between the puffs, and being told that no
deathlike change had come over her out
war appearance, he remarked that, ''They
ask for tea just to be asking for some
thing. They ain t sick"
At Philadelphia at l O'Clock in the
mornin G. We all lad the honor of making
a first appearance in driving rain, which
had first saluted US at the Relay House
One Of our parties Was put out of the
street. cars right at the door of the house
they intended to stop at, but it being too
dark to see the number Wandered up and
down the pavement an hour before finding
the place. Some had TO walk several miles
to their destination in the driving rain.
and here just let NE say this: the man who
walks three miles in a driving rain with a
woman Whose manners are too good to
complain, but who in her heart is cursi ne
the Centennial, the rain and him, has
learned what standing on volcano is.
At dawn next morning those of us who
stopped in the vicinity Of the exhibition
grounds could see the street cars coming
from down town literally jammed. Men
and women standing up in the aisles, and
being released at the grounds perfect
wrecks in the matter Of apparel: This
goes Oh all morning from dozen different
lines of street cars and line Of steam cars
as well. Inside the grounds there were
one hundred and ninety-slx thousand peo-
pie. Just three of Gen. Lees armies put
together. OF the crowd you may judge
when | tell you that when Gov. Hayes
spoke at the Ohio building there were
thirty thousand people gathered and yet
the people a short distance off didn't no.
tice that ''there were anything particular
going on" and the writer passed along the
edge of the assembly-if there was any
edge to it, without knowing that it had
come together for any particular purpose,
Or that Hayes was speaking.
The exhibition of which will give you
a full and particular account further on in
this letter is simply astounding in its ex-
extent, variety and magnificence. One
may spend month On the bronzes alone,
and another on the porcelains. In the
heather department I was much astonish-
ed. A Chinaman had enough Of that cos
mopolitan article known as cheek to say
to me "You puttee dat down, no han
mel, breakey de rule.' And that from
heather for whose conversion [ had con-
tributed every Sabbath from childhood
How many five cents furnished by a pious
mother had I not contributed to save this
mans soul, barring a slight per cent de-
Quoted on account of the high rate Of ex-
change with China and spent at candy
shop near the Sunday school! And still