The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-21

after you had once counted the chill
dren and got the bandboxes and trunks
and carpet bags off your mind. Everybody
USED carpet bags in those days and some
times halr-covered trunks, although the
leather trunks, protected by stout cam
vas covers, were considered the aWeil
thing. by the way, the word swell WAS
not in use at that time; genteel was as
high praise as any accessory of dress or
convenience ever received, The ladies' wore
hoop skirts and tiers Of fiounces on their
dresses, and perhaps that fact made the
highways or travel seem more crowded
than they really were.
ION that trip on the Potomac Mount
vernon was always pointed out, with
due ceremony, by the boat officials as we
went past and the bells would toll There
were no guide books then, and even tip
ping had not come into fashion, At Ac-
qufa creek new tickets were got for Rich
mond. We got into omnibuses at Rich
mond again. as we had at Washington.
We did not have To stop at Fredericks-
burg, but we did at Petersburg, and we
got new tickets for Weldon, N. &. Mort h
Carolina did not have the standing in
the land then that she has now. If my
wife offered n North Carolina note at
stewards or any other store in the New
York shopping district, 1t was apt TO be
looked AT askance North Carolina is too
far Off. the salesman would say, and
they preferred not to take ii. South Car
further off, had better credit. Charleston
was an important seaport and rich. A
lady could give a South Carolina bill
when she was shopping and generally
get It changed without trouble. South
Carolina was not so far off from New
York in those old days
weldon was one of the points on that
trip South that stands out clear in the
memory OF every man or woman who
ever tried to eat anything there. My wife
md hn nj
full of lunch at Richmond on purpose to
avoid having to sample the Weldon fare.
The coffee was nightmare, and anybody
who ate a biscuit offered there was af
ficted with low spirits for the ensuing
az hours.
ton AT that point fresh tickets We're
purchased and we embarked by way of
steamer for Charleston. The little steamer
that piled UP and down the coast was sea-
worthy and moderately comfortable, but
as much like the steamers that go South
now as a tin basin is like "a porcelain
lined tub. The meals that were to he got
aboard were delightfully."- cooked and well
served. Nobody objected to going on
them. They were far more comfortable
than any of tho trains we had been ON.
What was the condition of the railroads
then? Very poor. The snakehead flat rails
We're III use, and there was no end to
the noise and setbacks to say nothing
of the Earring and roughness, compared
with the travel we are used to on the
Vestibuied trains now. OF course, sleep
ers Were unheard of. You made yourself
and your party as comfortable as possible
at night and stuck it out as best you
could.
when at the end of the four-days jour
ney. we arrived I'M Charleston and went
to bed in comfortable four-posters, on
soft mattresses and yielding pillows. we
appreciated the contrast as no modern
day traveller on the limited vestibule
coach is ever likely to do If there were
few delays, and the trains boats and
buses made prompt connections, we might
make the trip in three days and half
but 1t generally lasted four days, and
sometimes, when things were crochety,
it was even longer"