The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-07
OLD TIME SOUTHERN TRIP
MODERN CONTINGENCIES FOR TRAY
ELERS UNKNOWN THEN.

buses and Steamboats, Were the Modes of
Conveyance.
People who travel nowadays and
get single ticket straight through to
their destination and have their bag
gage all checked and off their mind at
the starting point, have no idea of
what a trip by rail meant back in 1886
and 1S4S, when every state used differ
II lived in Brooklyn then, and once a
year, or once every two years at the
furthest, took my wife and family to
visit my old home in South Carolina.
have vivid recollections of the strug-
giles which those trips We're, and OF the
sense of relief felt when, after seVe-
raj days of travel, / landed the party.
bandboxes and ALL safe and sound UNI
der the paternal roof. Occasionally 1T
happened that some piece of luggage
went astray, or we narrowly escaped
| losing one of the children on the way,
but generally we got through all right.
| liClC WSLS Lew pOl lCIo oli LIN SsNAS
then, except those employed to look af-
ter the railroads interests. 1t was
case of every man for himself, whether
there were transfers to be made or
eating-houses to be hunted up, and the
difference in the currency of the vari-
Gus states added considerably to the
travellers troubles.
This was how it would be. Getting
off the ferry-boat from Brooklyn, we
would pack ourselves into an omnibus
and be trundled over to the Courtlandt
street ferry to take the train south.
There 1 bought tickets for Philadel-
phia, paying for them in New York
money. Arriving in Philadelphia, we
We're packed into another bus and
were carried across the city to the rail-
road station on the other side. That
part of the journey stands out as most
tedious and disagreeable. There was
always delay and much crowding and
waiting to see how many passengers
We're to be provided for, and then the
bus took it's time about moving. At
the station / bought new tickets that
would take us as far as Baltimore. If
l happened to have any gold along, af
ter paying for luncheons, dinners and
|suppers at the eating houses, I paid
for my tickets in gold. If not, used
my New York money or the money
that I had got in Philadelphia, and
paid something for the exchange.
Certain that the road-houses at that
time made regulations either for serv-
ling very good fare or very bad. The
lrefreshment rooms at Wilmington,
tLa 1ict
when we got to Baltimore we were
put into cars drawn by four magnifi-
cent horses and taken over to the rail-
way station on the other side of the
town in fine style. Really this was a
great improvement on the omnibus
System, and everybody applauded it.
THE first street cars had not been put
on In New York very long then, and
Baltimore was considered UP to date.
There were two things that that city
was noted for then, it's pretty women
and its fine horses Some of the best
of the latter Were hitched to those new
street cars At the Baltimore station
tickets We're bought for Washington,
and there was fresh changing of mon
ey Arriving safe in the capital in the
early morning, we We're treated to a
true southern breakfast; a meal that
was so good as almost to make up for
the trouble one underwent to get there.
We had delicious fried chicken, hofni-
my that was cooked as hominy should
be, corn waffies and cakes, mullins
light and f1aky, and all served by black
walters in the deftest manner, There
We're only few negro walters in SER
vice in northern cities then, and they
We're always novelty that interested
people greatly, particularly the chill
dren. At Washington we got tickets
for boat travel on the Potomac to Ac-
Iquia creek. The day of Acquia creek,
as point of interest and Importance.
passed away long ago, but in 1916 that
trip on the Potomac was looked upon
as treat There was much to see and
enjoy after you had once counted the
children and got the band boxes and
trunks and carpet bags off your mind.
Everybody used carpet bags in those
days, and sometimes hair-covered
trunks, although the leather trunks,
protected by stout canvas covers. We're
considered the swell thing BY the
way, the word swell was not in use
at that time; genteef was as high
praise as any accessory OIL dress or
convenience ever received. The ladies
wore hoop-skirts and tiers of flounces
on their dresses, and perhaps that fact
made the highways of travel seem
more crowded than they really We're.
"On that trip on the Potomac Mount
Vernon always was 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 tipping had not come into fash
J ion. At Acquia creek new tickets were
got for Richmond. We got into omni-
buses at Richmond again, as we had at
t Washington. We did not have to STOP
at Fredericksburg, but we did at Pc
tersburg, and get new tickets for We'll
don, N. c. North Carolina did not
have the standing in the land then
that she has now. If my wife offered
Ia North Carolina note at Stewards OF
any other store in the New York shop
ping district, it was apt to be looked al
askance. North Carolina is too fan
off, the salesman would say, and they
preferred not to take it. South Caro-
lima. although in reality many miles
further off, and credit better
Charleston was an important seaport
and rich. A lady could give a South
C,orolipa hill whom she waS cbnppiDo