The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-11-19
THURLOw WEED.
xlts TRIP the First stsamb00s WIFI
Lafayette

Lafayette
New York Correspondence indianapolis JOurnai.l
80 You knew Lafayette?" asked Of
Mr.. Weed.
"Oh, yes" the old gentleman said,
his face lighting up, 81 knew him
well-intimately, in fact travelled con-
siderably with him while he was here.
That was in--in what year was it, for
get"
"In 1924" suggested.
YES" he went on, "he was sixty
five, / should think, and 1 was about
twenty seven. i was invited down here
and accompanied the General and his
suite to Albany. We went on the steam
boat Chancellor Kent 1t was summer
time, and we were three days going to
Albany. The boat stopped at all the
villages along the river, and everywhere
an ovation awaited the great deliverer.
There were flags, and speeches, and din
ners, and every expression OF Joy. An
event of lifetfme-that was. AS we
moved quietly along from point to point.
Lafayette sat upon the promenade deck
viewing the beautiful scenery and re-
spending to the welcoming shouts of
crowds along the shore. Lafayette was
q very large man, O man of colossal pro-
portions and of majestic demeanor. He
was larger than / am, and am over six
feet, even now, in my old age"
=" How did the company amuse them
selves during the three days?"
Most of the time was spent by the
veterans In telling stories of the revolu-
ton. There were more than dozen
revolutionary officers there; and they
have all been dead these forty years
One Of these was, I remember,
Colonel Nick Fish, father Of Governor
Fish. He had served near the person of
Washington, and he was good story
teller. He told O great many amusing
anecdotes, showing that all hands had
| good deal of fun even when the army
was ragged and barefoot in the Jerseys,
and it wasn't certain where they were
going to get their next dinner.
"And here is q picture" said Mr.
Weed, rising and feeling along the wall
for it, "that interests one about as much
as that of Lafayette.
He laid his hand on framed copy of
the familiar silhouette of the first rail
/ road train that ever ran in this country
from Albany to Schenectady in 1881.
Then he carefully measured off distance
from one end, and pointing with his fin
ger, said, Il am right there-do you
see me in that car? L was greatly inter-
! ested in the experiment, and when / sat
there foresaw some of the greatness to
which the railroad system has since
grown in this land. The train made very
good time that day, too, surprising
everybody"
Mr.. Weed resumed his easy chair and
said: 1.-THE first steamboat, too. /
reckon L may be the only man living that
saw Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont,
make its first trip in 1907. I was boy
of ten, and lived ut Catskill. Suddenly
everybody heard that the very next day
boat was coming up the river from
New York against wind and tide. All
were incredulous, but l determined to
see what it amounted to, and early in the
morning L started off, with two other
youngsters, for Catskill landing Arrived
there we thought we could get better
view from an island in the river; so hid
ing in the bushes, we took off our clothes
! (boy's clothes didn't amount to much in
those days., tied them on a plank, and
swan over to the island, pushing it ahead
of us. / don't know when have talked
or thought of this before. Once on the
island we put on our clothes again and
waited, fishing with pinhooks from log
with not very much success. BY and by
we saw strange smoke down the river,
and presently up it came, wheeling and
putting and splashing along like some
wild animal. There were no paddle
boxes, and the wheels were visible, and
the engine and boiler set up on deck, ex-
posed to the elements. 1t went about
four or five miles to the hour, and passed
within twenty rods of us on the island
1t was well calculated to inspire awe, for
it burnt pine wood, and poured fire from
its smoke-stack like an active volcano.
1.-The progress of this country must
! be astonishing to you, Mr.. Weed?
more than can tell you. l passed
through the site of the present city of
Syracuse when it was an impenetrable
swamp-not house or % vestige of a
house-its only inhabitants snakes and
owls and toads. 1 first came TO New
York in 1908, as a cabin-boy on a sloop.
Between the City Hall and Broadway
was the Bridewell-th the city jail. There
were some crooked roads in the suburbs,
between Chambers and Canal streets,
but above that were only farms and pas
lures, with an occasional garden. Where
Canal street is stream flowed down to
the North River, and Broadway crossed
it by rude wooden bridge This city
to-day seems TO me like another world.