Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-24
CORRESPONDENCE.
the Hudson from AlbRny-Ice-JOur- neylnE i'm Pcnnsylvania-gtrike
 ON THE Cans. March 20,

Through tho HOOsac Tunnel-DOwn the Hudson from AlbAny-Ice-Jour- neyIng i'm Pcnnsylvania-gtrik ON THE CARS, March 20. | To tAs Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 When I last wrote you I was just about to
 pass through the Hoosac Tunnel in MassA- | chusstts. In fact I was prevented finishing my letter by the darkness while inside of that place, for although the lamps were lighted in- ! side the car it was darker than midnight out | side. think no traveller ever goes through ] there without a feeling of dread. The air within is always damp and cold, and the five I miles' ride is always finished with long drawn breath of satisfaction by mo when I am once in daylight again. From North Adams I went to Troy, and af- ter 8 couple of hours in Albany took the night boat for New York, most remarkable thing | to be able to do at this season of the year, when navigation seldom opens before the mid dle of April. By the way, did you ever guess how much fall there is to the Hudson river from Albany to New York-something over 150 miles ? fellow passenger set me to guessing (knowing was from Connecticut and I honestly put it at two hundred feet. You can imagine my surprise when tell you upon his authority that it is less than sixty inches. That accounts for there being so few ice houses along it's banks down near it's mouth. The icemen have to get their crop further north than tide water, or it would be
 brackish from the salt of New York bay. Think of it, my New Haven friends, when you could buy coal at half the price you had to pay for your ice per ton last year, what you may reasonably expect to pay forit the coming season.
 After spending day in the greatest city of our land took the cars for Easton, thence to that famous town of crooked roads and dark bridges, and was much pained to learn from local paper the misfortune of one of its for merly most respectable dry goods merchants, and one whom in former years had transact ed business with. It seems that for some time past he had gained a reputation for sellin g dress silks so cheaply that the merchants in the neighboring stores and towns were losing all of their trade, and it could not be under stood until one day last week the truth came out by him and his wife both being arrested in one of New York's large retail stores in the act Of carrying away in an ordinary paper box several full pieces of the most costly goods. You saw full account of it in your dailies, but you ought to have seen the indignation of his fellow merchants when the matter was brought to light. They felt like lynching him, they said
 From Bethlehem I went to the "City of Brotherly Love-" and the next day tried to go over to Allentown, md after two or three unsuccessful starts succeeded in getting there by taking what is often said to be the surest way home, i. e., the longest way round. You can imagine my feelings when I took the wrong train, spent twice the usual fare, and several hours more than the proper time sim ply because I mistook the depot-for they have railroad depot on every sixth cor ner in Philadelphia, it seems to me. When I was once in Allentown I left for Reading after being we'll laughed at for being for twenty years drummer and not knowing ''the ropes" yet. By the way, the iron busi ness is ''booming' up this way still all along the Lehigh Valley, but when I reached Read ing it was changed. Seventeen of the largest mills, as learned to. day in Harrisburg were idle on account of strikes. Oh, what fools | some men are. Anxious for work at $1 per day | and then, after being advanced 25 to 50 per i cent. in less than six months, striking | and starving their families, simply because 8 few leaders, more lazy and subtle than their fellows demand an advance, more than the employers can pay and run their business without positive loss. am too indignant when writing on this subject to express my contempt for such fellows in words.
 forgot to say that before arriving at Har- | risburg took little run up to PottsvilIe to | see an old friend who has spent many years of college life inSour city, and he was delight i ed to hear about the old "Profs" aud the col | lege and loca! news in general. I promised him the JOURNAL AND COURIER when my next letter was In print, and know he will be glad to read over your columns again. We became so much interested in Connecticut matters that we forgot for the time business, dinner, and also the fact that both of us were fifteen years older than when we last met.
 M. 0. s.