St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-03-19

e'0u, tickeCS purchased, StaterOOms
selected, friends called upon and bid
den goodbye. At three O'Clock the
charleston" leaves the wharf, and the
great city slowly recedes from view.
The gigantic towers of the Brooklyn
bridge look from the steamer like i'm
mense sentinels guarding the approach
to the city. Of this bridge M. de Les
seps says, 'It will be one of the great
est monuments to engineering skill and
a triumph to human endeavor.n
When the towers of the bridge and
the tall spire of Trinity sink out of
sight, it is winter. When we next
touch land it is summer. One days
sail brings us to warmer breezes. The
sea is smooth, and the salt air is gently
invigorating. The steamer is not
crowded, and the freedom of the walks
upon deck and opportunities for exer-
else and fresh wholesome air make us
all glad that we chose the sea route.
We could sit for hours upon the deck,
reading, telling stories, feeding the sea
gulls that followed all our course, or
watching the porpoises as they pitched
and rolled for cur entertainment. 1t
was restful voyage. Only the last
day was the sea rough enough to cause
sea sickness, and then those who were
cOntented to lie in their staterOOms suf-
fered only slightly from ''intestine COM
motion and revolution.n Of course not
all who take the sea route are equally
fortunate. Sometimes it is rough, but
even then the voyage is usually benef-
cial to country people who need the
change afforded by the salt air.
Leaving New York Saturday, we
reach Charleston bar Tuesday morning,
but too late to cross the bar with the
high tide, consequently we must beat
about for twelve hours waiting for an
other high tide. Other steamers are
doing the same, and we can easily i'm
imagine ourselves blOckading squad
ron, guarding the access to the histOri-
cal city a few miles away. When at
length we pass the bar and steam up
past Fort Sumter, it is evening, but a
beautiful summer evening. Overo0ats
are nuisance. The shop doors and
windows of the city are wide open.
Negroes sit lazily on the doorsteps in
their shirt sleeves. White men take ice
in their drinks. The change frem Yer
, mont is wonderful. We left the snow
two feet deep, and the thermometer
below zero. Four days had brought
} us where the thermometer stood be-
tween seventy and eighty in the shade.
, Our view of Charleston was only from
, an evening walk and morning ride.
2 The city bears evidence of decay. The
ruins of burned churches and houses,
) wrecks of the great civil war, still
stand untouched and unrepaired. No
new building is seen. Commerce has
- sought other channels. Probably no
t other city in the south has so severely
Y aud SO long as Charleston felt the evil
: consequences of the war which she did
/ so much to inhame and inaugurate.
The mining of phosphate, the one
! great industry that now gives impor-
f tance to that city, has all grown up
since 1867, and was developed only by
' nOrtheren enterprise and northern cap
, ilal. By its means, the low banks of
the Cooper and Ashley rivers seem to
e be about to pour as much wealth into
e Charleston as commerce used to bring
2 upon their waters.
D In and about the city are many
= places Of interest to visit, had we time
to spare. The celebrated Middleton
t place with its forest of flowers. Fort
A Moultrie, Fort Sumter, James and
: Morris Islands, the grave of Osceela,
= Magnolia Cemetery, st. Michaers
e church with its high box-pew and an
Y cient bells, and other places would all
s command attention. By our delay in
s getting up to the city, we have missed
5 the connecting steamer, and are fur
e nished with tickets by rail from
: Charleston to Jacksonville in lieu of
e the steamer tickets. The ride by rail
) from Charleston to Savannah is all by
e daylight. The route is near the coast,
and runs through the "black belt''
8 where the colored population largely
e predominate. Those who have read
' Stanley's ''Through the Dark Cont
, nent," have an excellent idea of the
: general appearance of the country
, through which the Charleston and Sa-
vannah railroad runs. That road ap-
; pears to have been laid out ON the ex-
f act route that Stanley took in his trav-
els from Zanzibar to the Victoria Nyan-
"a. The highways are largely single
paths for foot or horseback travel. The
houses are almost entirely little huts OF
log cabins, with close board shutters
but no glass. The forest stretches for
; miles along the road, with little evil
) dence of cultivation of the soil, but
) thickly dotted with the huts of the ne
grOes. On all that road hardly one new
house is seen except new negro huts.
There is not village that indicates
; one-fourth the enterprise of that not We
ry exciting place known to your readers
as Passumpsic. At railroad station
r would be seen few struggling and
poor houses, four or five shiftless look
ing negroes, one or two more shiftless