The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-01-18
WheelIpg "reminiscences.

l
There are moments when the mind in
voluntarily turns to the past, and the pic
lures ofthe by.gone move in panoramic
way before the wondering mental vision
Is such an argument for future state
and are these moods, be they pleasant OF
horrifyiug, the heavenly state, or the hel.
lish existence Of dlsembodied spiritsP II
50, how necessaryit Is for us to cultivate
peace and not strife, the beautiful and not
the deformed, the enoblingand not the de.
grading, for that warning, "As ye sow, so
shall ye reap" Is then doubly suggestive
Of the hereafter as well as the here.
And again, II we by active or silent con.
sent in the body polite, assist or con.
nlve at the use oil delnOralizing institutions
which aim and assume 10 control public
sentiment, and then boldly aud Boosting.
" display their character for general OBJ.
servance and impression; In the here or
In some dread hereafter the unbidden and
would.be Stunned scenes will rush with
fury before the shrinking soul, and no
rocks. or mountains will be able to hide
one from his gnawing self. How then
will the protesting Christians, whose
names are .enrolledas "city fathers, iusti.
tythemselves in voting for or Withholding
their direct opposition TO the present
liquor license system, or endure the views
Of their acts us memory unrolls the hor-
rttying scenes which appear 10 be the
legitimate result Of the sale OF Intoxicating
drinks,
But as this was not intended for simple
moral dissertation, nor as q temperance
lecture; let us turn from the degrading
acts OF man 10 tho wonderful works Of
nature, and looking up to Natures God,
seek to understand, and be ready 10 adore.
How many Of us walk the streets OF this
city, and tread upon the effects OF wonder.
full revolutions, with scarce thought,
much less q wonder. Some Of US would
no doubt climb to the top Of the highest
peak In our own Alleghenies, or adjoin.
Ing Blue Ridge, observe with amazement
from some Ozark peak, like Pilot Knob, or
Shepherd mountain, gaze with delight
from some Rocky mountain height, or even
adore the beautiful amid tho Cascade
Range; and yet ut home, all seems SO tame
as 70 scarce deserve thought.
Does the difference lie in the sudden
transition? Are the mighty earthquakes,
whose sudden throes brought up those
mountain heights, with strata Of rocks, on
end as 1t were, the more astonishing? Are
they grander, or even more wonderful,
than the ebbing and flowing tide, the gen.
tie stream and the moving current, as thew
each in their own time have with compaf.
ative slOwness accomplished the tasks
assigned them in our midst? Who can
think OF the gravel beds in our upper
wards, the First, Second, Third and Fourth,
or OF the deposit In the Sixth ward, and
not stop to consider? These were not
made. IN the ordinary acceptation OF the
term; they were only accumulated, and
II times roll be called none may answer
to give the boulders or pebbles nativity.
And yet, the roll OF those years would
only make q speck in eternity, even as
our sand and gravel beds only make
handful in another mighty existence.
And as both may be beyond our Compre.
hension, let us turn from the unknown to
the known quantity and see in its com.
pretended yastness only drop in the
bucket, barely 1.-THE Of what il once was,
the fading remnant Of bygone. One
can see evidences Of the late extent Of the
grannd formation in the river bank from
9TH to nth sreet, by the Brockunier and
Glty buildings on Market street, at the
First Presbyterian Church, Messrs. Della
plains, Howell's, Graham's and the Sims
boarding house, on Chapline street (late
Fourthl, at ]. II. Goods and Alex. Rogers
on Eotf or 9th street, and at Forbes, Os-
terllngs Motiats and Bookings, on the
north side, and also at some property on
tho south side OF 10Th street.
In our boylsh days high gravel banks
were still seen and hauled from lust be-
low Union, or Eleventh street, and also
below Twelfth street. High banks were
also seen about the northeast corner OF
Market and Fourteenth streets; also where
st, Matthew's Church now stands, and
thence, with but narrow wagon roads cut
through, south and south.eastward 10
Zane, or Seventeenth street. The bank
appears TO have tended in south.easterly
direction after 1t left the river side at
Union, or Eleventh street. And then,
who has not seen the gravel bank in the
sixth ward, an apparent contemporary
formation with that Just described? And
no doubt many OF our citizens who were
militia musterers, or boyish spectators, OF
the forty or fifty years ago, can recall its
size and shape in connection with the blue
coats OF the Wheeling Blues, the grey of
the Greys-the brogue Of Capt. Reilly or
the German accent Of Capt. Snyder. At
any rate, 1t is not hard to call up the
mtmicked orders, as the urchins, with
their sticks for guns and swords, followed
the tin-pan music, In full view OF the often
much inCensed originals.
But this has grown like the sands, and
the reader Is left to consider his own gath
erlngs by the wav. n