The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1877-12-05
ACROSS THE CONTINENT.
By EVA WILLIAMS.


row of hard benches do duty as seats
and these are firmly fastened against
the wall, whilst his stoveship occu
pies the centre of the room, so thai
one must choose between freezing
toes, and aching limbs.
Thank fortune, here is my ''gooo
Samaritan" with some of my pretty
little Italian girls oranges. With
shawls, traveling-bags, ETC., we have
improvised comfortable seats upon
the floor. and perhaps we can .Fir1
the time away.
Wicked '-''imprudent" t"-yes-I
know, but remember the extenuating
circumstances. A gloomy railroad
depot-the rest of my party asleep
or immersed in a novel; a pair OF
handsome black eyes, whose owner
sits peeling oranges for one. Bah
a saint would fiirt under such cir
cumstances, and 1 don't pretend to
be saint--yet! Away with shallow
eonventionalities they do not suffice
for such cases as this!
What is it you were saying, Mr..
B? something about kindred "spir-
its'' 1 believe
In pleasant converse the hours
slip by, until the whistle of an en-
gine is heard, then there is rush
into the biting air, short walk upon
the crisp white snow which is stead
lily falling. and we are on our way to
st. Louis.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Wednesday morn
ing Jan. 14.-With the air so cold
that it seems to freeze the very
words as they issue from our lips,
we are now crossing the Mississippi
river, which. to my mind, is far sur
passed in beauty by the Ohio at
Louisville, KY. There is an elegant
bridge being built across the river
here, but as it is not completed we
have to cross in a steam ferry-boat,
something which L never saw before
We leave the cars, and get into
an omnibus, which, contrary to all
experience, is slightly p crowded !
How the people swarm and push like
tribe of uncomfortable bees tread
ing on ones toes with merciless te-
merity, while we bear our martyrdom
as best we may.
don't like them, these people in
the omnibuses, who sit staring at
each other so. They are SO misera-
bly,, so unpardonabIy ugly-men. wo-
men and children. just opposite to
me sits female, who doubtless, in
the roll-call of a place would answer
to the call of young" yet by my
life it were shame to youth that
such as she should lay claim to its
charms. Her hair can only be de-
scribed as "ashy'-while it cannot
be denied that her "maiden orbs"
are undeniably, and hopelessly yel-
low complexion ditto. wonder If,
Narcissus-like, she is not enamoured
OF her own loveliness. If, like Mar
cissus she should turn TO a flower,
each dewy leaf and bud in flower
land would wither in disgust.
After brisk drive across the city
we reach the rivers edge-the omni-
bus is driven into the boat, and,
without leaving our seats, we are
taken across the river, which is filed
with sluices of ice. 1 hear the peo-
pie saying that it will be frozen from
bank to bank by the morrow, for the
air is growing colder.
AS it wakes colder I am thankful
that depart, for already my life
blood seems chilled. / trust the
hearts of these people are not so
cold as their climate, but it does
seem to me that one would be fro.
zen, soul and body, by these chilling
blasts.
At the "North Missouri Depot"
as it is called we wait only few
moments, and as my "good Sama-
ritan" parted company with US last
night, must bring my batteries to
bear upon some gallant masculine,
in order to procure his aid in get~
ting aboard the cars.
M is in a hopeless state of pet
rifaction, and declares that these
multitudinous budgets of ours will
remain here before she lifts them
with her benumbed fingers; F. is
TOO sick 70 carry herself, so the
budgets must look to me as a last
resort. I have never so fully be-
lieved in protection" as upon this
eYentful journey, and find myself
saying, "a man, a man, a kingdom
for a man."
NJ declares that she will never.
no never depart from under the pro-
tccting wings of her "leige Ierd =
but as that interesting appendage
has not yet been added to my por.
ton here below, / must flight it out
on this line" until he appears.
And. to the honor of our gentle
men be it said, we have never found
them wanting in courtesy. nor IN.