Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-12-10

sailed forth in the darkness and rain.
ne WIS very dark, and was Totally an
acquainted with the surrounding
ssroclys. caves, lakes, fens, boys, dens,
and shades of DEATH" bat found the
railroad. and followed it to the east
NV progress was slow and not very
s,,re: for often | was walking, STUN.
bling and cropping along the brink OF
cliffs and precipices where one misstep
would land me into some gorge or
abyss b hundreds of feet below. But, L
kept between the rails, aud looked ior
the light that was 10 come. L walked
several hours, and finally noticed that
began 70 appear on the eastern
About sunrise came TO o
little town, the name of which 1 forget.
nv this time l felt like introducing
myself to some breakfast, but there
was no public house in the village. Tine
only chance was q little grocery SHOP
whittier / took my orders The estao-
lishment was not extensive. L oeneVe
that the entire stock in store could nave
been packed in -four barrel: How
ever, / got some cheese and cakes, anu
my wallet trudged on. :,
/ never was passionately fond OF walk
ing along q railroad, and l like this iit'
tie better. l came to the conclusion
that I could see the scenery about as
we'll TO ride as to walk, and mush
quicker and easier. So | began to ln-
auire how far it was to where l could
get on the cars. One of the bsllasttng
bosses standing near-a big, 6l0ated,
rickety. tomfool Of q curmudgeon -
came stalking forward and haughtily
asked: "Have you any money To pay
your way, sir?" told him that sup
posed l had. "Well," said he with an
atmosphere of triumph, swell, so many
people are trying to deadhead their way
over this road that we have to be par.
ticular who passes" / passed on and
left the swell-head alone in his glary.
1t now began to rain hard, and the
wind seemed to blow from five hundred
directions at the same time. About
o'clock | reached Sewell, where there
would he train due in an hour. got
A Ticket for Hinton.
forty miles further to the east, and lay
down among some grindstOnes and oil
barrels and slept soundly till the train
arrived. In an hour aud half | was
at Hinton, the first thing that looked
like town l had seen after leaving
Charleston. For forty miles along New
River / did not see all together one acre
of land under cultivation. Not a yard
or garden was to be seen. There were
plenty of railroad shanties; but they
were stuck up against the face of cliffs,
and had no surroundings, except rocks
so bleak and wild that moss will not
grow on them. The river along this
distance takes its way between noun
tains strewn with huge boulders, and
checkered with a few stunted bur oaks
and cedars. The mountains frequently
rise abruptly more than 1000 feet from
the river, and are so rugged and steep
that chamOis could not climb them.
There is no bottom land at all-not even
a strip rod wide. From the highest
pinnacles to the water edge is III I'M
broken slope; or, if it is broken, it is
where some cliff descends sheer prob
ably two or three hundred feet, with
Jagged rocks overhanging the fearful
abyss below. Mile after mile the same
scene is presented to the traveller. 1t
is spectacle of awful monotOny. One
becomes tired of looking at cliffs and
rocks and caves, and caves and rocks
and cliffs, with nothing incidental to
give the mind a chance to rest and re :
fleet. 1t would be as easy to read and
comprehend Carlyle's "French RevOlu-
tor in two days as to see and appre-
ciate the scenery along New River in
the same time. Still, it can not be said
that it is the widest or the most sublime
i'm our State. Greenland Gap" where
New Creek breaks through New Creek
mountain is grander, in point of huge
ruggedness, than anything l saw on
New River. "Reeps Gap,n In Cant
county, "The Senaea Rocts," in Pendle.
ton, and other c ellis and pinnacles
al..!c",ig the North Fork of the Potomac
are larger and stronger than those on
the tributaries of the Kanawha. Also,
the "ROaring Plains on the summit OF
the Alleghenies are more desolate and
savage than the mere naked rocks along
the Kanawha. But this is not saying
that the landscape along the New river
il common or mean. 1t Is far from 1t.
TO see Il Is well worth visit by anyone
who has q few day. Of leisure time, and
who has the patience to endure the
goose-pond iargOn of the railroad con-
ductors, and has the physical power to
stand the jerking and jolting of the
crack-wheeled rolling stock, and has a
pocket deep enough to foot the exorbit-
ant bills of the little tavern. If any
person wants to see the sights, and does
not feel disposed to meet and endure all
the above enumerated disadvantages,
he can probably get pair of cowhide
boots, I'LL his knapsack with ginger
bread and cheese and
Take It On Foot
like did. It is free country; and the
good people in that part of IL have not
yet devised any method by which they
can make traveller pay for looking Mt
the rocks as he passes along. Let us be
thankful for that.
When got off the train at Hinton,
it had quit raining, and l had nearly
half day to sec the surrounglngs. The
town was quite nice and decent place,
and has about as many stores as Beverly
has taverns--that is, about three-fourth
of the buildings in the village.
1t did not take long to see them, and
about two o'clock l moved off to the
east. Here / left the New River and
passed up the Greenbrier. / wanted TO
look at large tunnel not far off II Is
four-fifths of mile long, and is arched
with wood, butts re-arching with brick.
On my way to it, as was tramping it
along the railroad, came to where
some men were loading a train with
wood. l stopped to talk to them, and
one of them asked me where l lived. l
told him in Tucker. He seemed to re-
call the name, and after q moments
study asked me if there were not place
in Tucker called Horse Shoe Run. i
answered affirmatively, and he wanted
to know II we did not have q big sere-
made there not long ago. Thereupon
he told of an account he had seen in
the Wheeling REGISTER of a serenade
there, where some of the people had
shouts made of sacks full Of bran. and
some had eagle claws tackled fast to the
toes Of their shoes, and others were rig
ged in other manners, and all yelled
and bowled and got on the porch and
danced, bounded and leaped till the
door was opened, and all rushed in and
carried on in the same style till nearly
1ay He wantad IN knou n 7 kuaw