Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1878-07-23
MARIETTA, Ohio, July II, 1878.

secondly, L GU never KNOW Hnen you get
there. For instance, your boat is advertised
to start at So eight O'clock, A. NJ, sharp"
you bolt down hot breakfast, rush mady to
the wharf, board the boat, wipe your heated
brow and congratulate yourself that you are
in time, and then that boat swings lazily out
from shore about twelve o'clock, and once
more you congratulate yourself, saying, "Now
we are off at last" but your boat bounds
from one landing to another like rubber
ball. You get tired of this and seek your
state room for nap " tired natures sweet
restorer" battles manfully with the groaniDg
of the engine and tho wall of the whistle,
until at last you glide off into the pleasant land
of dreams, only to hear the Steward calling,
Hero we arc, boss, )" and hot and sleepy and
tired you are pushed down a gang>plank at
an angle of at least forty-iivo degrees, for at
last the boat is in hurry. Stopping at all
towns on both sides of the river, We have
worked our passage along slowy and very
pleasantly this far.
New Martinsvllc, the county>seat of Wet
eel, is of some interest now, as il is to be the
arena where the Congressional combatants are
to meet in convention. 1t is quiet little
river town, just on the outskirts of the jun
giles of Wetzel-population about seven hun
dred. Tho Pittsburg Stove Company have
an establishment here, employing about
eighty hands. We found the natives not
near SO black as they are painted. They are
rather outspoken and candid. Justice never
hangs fire here, and generally hangs the right
man.
St. Marys is pleasant village, pleasantly
situated, and is the cOunty>seat of Pleasants
county-the champion town for health Of
West Virginia. Population, four hundred
and thirteen adults, one hundred small boys,
and eighty-se babies. Average death for
the last fifteen years-men, women and chill
dren-one a year. No deaths for the last
eighteen months. At least one hundred old
ladies in the town who might have nursed
George Washington, and as many old genle>
men who might have played marbles upon
the village green one hundred years ago.
Our landlord was a gentleman of about
eighty>six; his mother, who was older, lived
with him, and his grandmother, still older.
skipped around tho house like girl of six
teen. They don't die, but they get married
occasionally. For instance, on the fourth of
July four young ladies declared their indie
pendence by taking unto themselves one
husband apiece, to love. honor, and mako
him obcy' Rev. T. NJ. Yates, editor of the
ST. Marys WatcApora, had the pleasure and
the fees for marrying this quarteste. 1t was
strange that the ladies' names all began with
the letter H-IIollins, Higgins, Harris and
Hess. On the fifth, by the same Pastor,
Mr. Prettyman was bound to Miss Bookman,
the Pastor serving in this instance as book
agent for a pretty msn; VIC suppose the
groom was told to keep his book man and she
was told to be pretty man.
Down the Ohio by moonlight to Psrkcrs-
burg and returning next morning at sunrise
to Marietta, was the most delightful travelling
exDerieucc we have ever cnjOYei.
We left St. Marys at half past ten, p. NJ,
on our favorite boat The Courier" Light,
fleecy clouds velcd the face of the si!vcry
moon, or dropping off sent her laughing face
way down into the depths Of the water where,
breaking into thousand silver discs, it
floated on before us. One moon above a
thousand down below, and tho pale stars
floated like lilies broken frcm the stems and
drifting with the tide. and so we glide almost
noiselcssly over golden river dotted with
silver lilies. 1t is dream OF beauty, q
vision unreal, nnsubstantial and f"eting.-
From out of the dim distance great red eye
peers out into the light above it, two stars,
a blue and crimson, culver and dance in
the air, and as the wniIing whistle stattes
the silence. a passing boat approaches. passes
and is lost in the night But sleep falls on
US like a mantle, and regretfuly we leave
the deck and pat ourself upon our little shelf,
misnamed "a birth" surely "a death" would
be more appropriate. The next morning we
arc up and astir early to SEQ the sunrise on
the water, but owing to the fog the sunrise
was mist, and about the time we are ready to
eat cur break fast our colored steward cries
out Mary eat-nh!
Marietta is a Connecticut City situated in
the State OF Ohio, at the point where the
Ohio river takes in the NJ skingum.-
The beautiful city, whose wide avenues are
shaded by naples and whose homes arc as
comfortable looking as their owners Facing
the Ohio river is street OF saloons but step
beyond this boundary line and an air of re-
spectability, wealth. culture, refinement and
puritanism covers tho city. Dickens called
Washington city of Magnificent Distances,
but Marietta is city of beautiful distances.
The residences are large and fine and sur
rounded by beautiful grounds, where art and
nature vie with each other to beautfy and
adorn. 1t is n city of Homes. But its young
ladies wear spcctacles. The faces of its
Young men are overcast with an intellectual
paeness and they spell COW k-e-o-w. Settled
by the Pilgrim fathers land mothers) from
Connecticut. it is the oldest place in the Ohio
Valley, and having been well trained in its
youth, in its old age it still steps in the foot
prints of the early settlers. A beautiful park
stretches along the bank OF the Musklngum,
and on these moonlight nights the young
men and madens take long boat rides, row.
ing miles up the river and slowly drifting
back in tho pale moonlight; they don't seem
to Es in much of hurry and are perfectly
obvious to all things save the moonlight, the
ripping waves snd the low whsperings tina.
break in upon the sweet silence. Bright
young hearts, eloquent young tongues, no
sins in the past no pes cleaning through the
future. In all the years Cf the rivers life,
ns IL has wound its Eau thrnn-h reeds over