Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-03-12
Our George in Dixie.

1t was on the morning of Dec. 5th that
| folded my tent as it were and silently
stole away on the early train. en- route for
the sunny south. One hears so much of
the Sunny South" that he is almost lead
to believe that the sun shines for the whole
twentv-four hours, but such Is not the
case, as there are long dark nights. when
the cats get out under your window and
sing their evening songs, just as they do
in the benighted North; and there are duh
days, and wet days, when the rain will
pour right through a four dollar umbrella
as though it was a sieve. Aud then there
are pleasant days, and sunny dayS and lots
OF them, and when the sun does get his
eve on me down there, | in>tinctiytlv
reach for a fan.
left New York for Savannah on the
steamer City of Augusta, Capt. Catherine,
The ship was full. and | noticed the same
could be said of number Of the passen-
gers. am satisfied that If | were going
on sea voyage, should not take that
opportunity to get loaded, for it is in
variably the case that If one goes to bed
drunk. he wakes up sea-sick. and for two
or three days lie don't know whether he is
drunk or sea-sick though for that mat
ter he don't care much either | was for
tunate in getting nice state room on the
upper deck and seated myself at the door
awaiting the coming of my room mate, to
see " HON the fateS had East in my path.
The steward soon came along aud intro
duCed me to Young man, no was To oc-
cupy the other berth in my room; ne was
a slim, pale looking man. and appeared to
be about seventy five per cent. Irish, and
the balance consumption, His pure Eng
li>h, and the symphony of his name seem
ed to back up the first part of my estimate
of him while slight cough vouched for
the truth of the rest He al once proceed
ed to unlock the corset> of his gflp sack,
that it might breathe easier a. | imagined,
hen to nv surprise he h>hed out little
affair, unknown to the State of Maine, and
informed me that lit was a quart of as
good whi-key as | ever drank i think he
said whiskey.-and borrowing my cork
screw he proceeded to trcpan the bottle,
4 ftcI the usual ceremonies connected with
such an opera ion were gone through with,
be carefully laid the bottle away in his
| grin. renal King AS he did 20 that he had
enough Of the fluid to last him to Savan-
nah, by " hich remark judged the yalise
! must be full of II. My command of Ian
guage is scarcely adt quatc 10 convey to
YOU how pleased | wa> at the prospect Of
/ such a companion for room mate, and
! v hen few hours later saw him engaged
| In a row With drunken passenger IN the
ladies salpun. and later learned that he was
a three card moute sharp, my JOY knr"
no bounds could MT feel right about
accepting such blessing. There was no
reason why |. a stranger, should be >iu-
gled out to enjoy the cream, while Others
had the milk, 50 | sought out the captain
and told him that much a. | would like 10
enjoy the company ol my room mate
| thought it only just to him to say, that
at times | was IA very dangerous man. and
that a, NV roorI mate appeared to be a
sickly man, | might IN thu dead hours Of
night get up and do him bodily harm. The
captain looked at me and said that he
should hate to have his ship the scene of a
tragedy, and that he could see by my looks
that was a bad man when aroused, and
he would change me into one of the cells
in the dangerous ward, and give me a room
mate. that | would not be liable to commit
any depredations on. About eleven O'Clock
| awOke Ia lind my new room mate had
lust come in He stood six feet in his
stockings. and weighed upwards of 200
pounds Ca discovering me lie remaf krd
that be expected to have the room alone.
and that such was the understanding with
the purser and some other remarks that
led III. to think that my room was better
than my company, SO | mildly suggested
to him thata> wasa small insignificant
specimen if he would kindly open the
window and throw me out Ia be obliged
to him Lord bless YOU" he said, ~
don't object to your company. its the
other way. You see | am large man,
and I'm a heavy sleeper; IN fa,., ,ir. my
wife SAYS snore like thunder, and don't
l,., liz. OF n nf - ON
Since the earliest history Of civilization
there has never been a truer statement
made than this geutleman> think lie
has taken more degrees in snoring than
any other man living. After the first
nights rehearsal | told him that he ought
to have hired a man to beat gong in his
wife's room while he was away 30 she
could get little sleep. Any one in the
habit of listening to the roar of Niagara
could not get asleep in perfect stiffness.
| hoped that he had eXaggerat,d d his
ability to snore. but he had only been mod
est about it soon discovered. When
first dropped asleep he opened up the er
tcrtainmeDt with sn imitation OF piccoIo
solo, winding up each strain with one beat
on the bass drum; then he gave trio on
the slide trombone, the double bass VloI.
and the big bass instrument that the man
winds twice around his neck. Then ne
gave limitations of rivetlng up boiler In
a small room; of full Chlue>t band, OF
lot of army mules braying; and finally an
overture by full orchestra Of 100 pieces.
with the artillery, the anvils, steam mhi--
ties, fog horns whstling huoys, and other
ct cetera. At the close Of most of the
numbers on the program, he would wake
up aud ask if he had been snoring. and |
would say that thought not. a ! had not
noticed IL, and he would reply that ne was
glad that he was not disturbing me. and
of he would 60 again with another rehear-
sal. | think, however, he dld suspect l
tampered with the truth little, when he
discovered turned In Immediately after
breakfast and slept till dinner. and then
got in another nap in the afternoon. But
he was a grand. good fellow and gentle
man. and | would have lied my ears OF be-
fore would have let him know how terii-
bly he did snore. In this connection 1t Is
only lust to the officers of the ship to say
that they were entirely ignorant as To the
character of the first man they put with
me, AID on discovering the fact at once
did all they could to remedy the matter.
Other than these two little occurrences
about my room mates | mean-my trip TO
Savannah was a pleasant one. The City
of Augusta was tne one and Capt Cath
crime Is thorough seaman and courteous
gentleman and as there was no rough
weather the run was delightful.
We arrived at Savannah very early in
the morning and a. once proceeded to the
depot of the Georgia Central Railroad.
We unfortunately got there about twenty
minutes before the man did who had the
key to the door; then another twenty were
consumed before he got fire going, and
by that time the whole party some TWEEN
ty-five of us, were anything but in pleas
ant frame Of mind. There are two nEi-
sances the traveller meets here. which a
city the size of SavanDah ought to be
ashamed of-and I've no doubt she is-and
those are the absence of lunch room aud
a chance to telegraph at the depot. l ate
my supper on board the ship Monday, and
ate my breakfast at Macon Tuesday af
ternoon at half past two. | like a late
breakfast as well as any man living, but
that is OVERRIDING the thing. There is no
necessity for it either, for there could and
should be some provision made for trav-
ellers CHATS the proper word to use in
this connection, too), who are passing
through the city. A cup of coffee and
ham sandwich could be manufactured cas-
lily enough. Why, anywhere down South
you take a carving knife and rush out in
the dark and make slash with it and you
will hear pig squeal, and where you can