The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-08-14
THE EAST.
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L LILY IaOls
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tend called the horseshoe where the
train turns short curve and doubles
back upon itself for considerable
distance, and then winds round the
side of the mountain towards the east
again.
The next place Of any Importance
met is Altoona, where 10000 or more
people are gathered together among
the hills, and where the re seems to be
large coal and iron works in opera tion:
thence to Harris burg, the capital of
Pennsylvania, there is no town of i'm
portance. For the greater part of the
distance, upwards of 250 miles, the
road runs along the Juniata in use.
In all this distance there is not spot
OF ground where farmer could hope
to settle with success. At the foot
hills above Harrisburg the Juniata
and Susquehanna rivers meet and the
river bed is here over a mile wide, but
owing to the terrible drought there is
scarcely any water flowing in it. Be-
tween Harris burg and York and
thence to tue borders of Maryland the
crops look better, but nothing to COM
pare to the crops Of Wisconsin.
Maryland, My Maryland" sounds
we'll in song. but in the most parts of
it the farmer appears to have hard
time to make both ends meet. This
is we'll illustrated by the fact that
close to the city Of Washington there
are still large tracts Of land that
never were reclaimed, and probably
never will be, for the reason that they
would produce nothing if they were.
Washington is the naStieSt metropolis
l ever set foot in, There are no
streets between the capital and the
river free from offensive smells, and
In that part called Georgetown one
may encounter fifty thousand stencil
eS, and even going down the river to
Mount Vernon the smells in many
places are intolerable. 1t is sad to re-
fleet that the chief city of nation of
seventy millions of people should have
as bad an odor as the corrupt Legisla-
lures that assemble within its halls.
From Washington to Baltimore the
road runs through one unbrOken wild
ernesS. save where some poor devil
more ventureSOme than the rest of
his kind, tried in vain to raise
little corn or cabbage, or where the
ubiquitous real estate agent has set
up his sign to entrap the unwary.
When one gets out OF this wilderness
he is in Baltimore, which is very fine
city, we'll built and having thriving
appearance, being thus in strange
contrast to the country round it.
Some thirty-six miles from Balti
more one crosses the SusQuehanna
(what euphony there is in these old
Indian nameso and few miles furth-
er on enters the state of Delaware,
but in all that distance there were nc
farming lands of any account to be
seen. Around Wilmington the soil
seemed better and the crops more for
ward, but except in fruit they were
far below the western standard. AS
the train approached Philadelphia
farms appeared in better trim than
on the Maryland side. land l might add
that all through Pennsylvania the
people use whitewash for paint.
Everything is whitcwashed in this
state save the farmer and his family.
who bear out the caricatures of them
selves in the comic papers. Philadel-
phia is fine city, with a very anti
quated appearance. The streets are
narrow and the houses are all nearly
alike. high. In the residence part Of
the city the doors were all closed, the
shutters up and the owners away to
the seashore. The postof1ice here is
very noble building having large
court yard in the center. 1ndepen
dence Hall is also remarkable old
builing, and although Of brick, still in
good preservation. Here may be seen
the chairs in which sat the men who
signed the Declaratio Of Indepen-
RI 1,n Ill no fu ho1 ~ y
called them together, with many 9TH
er remarkable relics Of that eventful
period From Philadelphia to New
York the country changes for the bet
ter. Large fields Of grain and corn in
prime condition could be seen every
where. Rich farmSteads and fine old
family mansions surrounded by trees
and shrubhery and handsome lawns
met the eye as we passed along.
Trenton and Newark are both fine
towns, but nowhere saw so pretty
country as along the Hackensack
river and around Englewood, about
twenty miles out from jersey City.
Here life is worth living, but alas, it
would require fortune to purchase
few acres.
AS for Maryland and Virginia, 1
would advise no Wisconsin man to go
there in the hope of making living
by farming. The same geological for
nation prevails from Pitts burg to
New York, namely. a sandstone grit
impregnated with iron and tilted up
in the Pennsylvania hills at an angle
OF about forty degrees. The soil pro-
duced from this formation is deSti-
tute of nutriment for plants, and is
either a sticky. yellow mud when wet
or hard, imperviouo crust when dry,
and when farmer could not get arti-
fetal manure for such land he could
grow nothing. Better, therefore, bear
our hard winters here in Wisconsin
than starve in Maryland or Virginia.
| learned also that the cold at zero in
those states effects men and animals
worse than thirty degrees below zero
would effect them here, owing to the
dampness of the atmosphere near the
ocean. Had [ not seen these states |
could never have believed that the
land was so worthless for farm pur-
poses. But having seen it, denounce
the stories spread abroad about its
fertility as impudent lies, and say to
every reader Of The Catholic Sentinel,
be cautious in emigrating East or
South until you have first examined
personally the place where you are in
vited to sOjourn.