Year: 1864

ROCKFORD, Aug. goth, 1884.
Dear Times Taking fresh start from
Toledo, it may be well to recount the .spe-
rience of a traveller at this point, before
continuing the longer journey. In going
east it is all important to make q tnel,
start from Chicago, and in so doing it is
best to take the evening train from that
city; then lose no time in securing an upper
berth in the sleeping car, stretch out the
limbs and pass the night as comfortable as
possible, for one cannot expect first dass
bed, nor to he so far removed from roise
and sudden jars as to enjoy solid slunber
through the long night, unless "natrre's
calm restorer" has been banished from the
eye-lids for long season. The night past,
We find ourselves infinitely better off han
We should, had we been try ing to coax Aeep
| out Of the short car seat Of the common
car, doubled up something after the manner
Of the letter S, but still we are dry, per-
haps feverish, dusty, and feeling as if half
the cinders from the engine had lodged in our
eyes. 1t is then that we appreciate soap
and water; the saloon affords these articles
IN abundance, and we resort thither to per-
| form our ablutions, and come forth feeling
that the sleeping cars are glorious insti.
tuition after all, that we are willing to add
our word to the vast accumulation of test-
monials in their favor, though we do not
find them so free from dust as the splendid
cards of the different companies would
induce us to believe. Returning to the
car, We find all things changed as If a
Magician had passed his wand over the
couches, for we find them all transformed
into luxuriant seats, filed with well dressed
men and beautiful women, who, but few
moments before, were turning over from
the land of dreams into the car isle, sans
coats, sans hats, sans boots, so far as the
gentlemen were concerned, and from the
amount of dry goods displayed, it is need.
less to say that the ladies were temporarily
as destitute of hoops, cloaks, shawls and
| fancy head dresses; but thanks to the cur


tains, thanks to the averted eyes, thanks
to the accommodation Of persons to plsces;
our rather mixed community Of sleeoels
are now in tit dress and habit to grace a
drawing room. and no accident has occur
red. The day has fairly dawned, the sun
shines bright, but it's pleasant in our case,
for the rain has cooled the air, and the o,er-
parched earth is drinking up the moisture
with gladness. An ever varying scene is
passing before US, broad acres of tiled
land, showing evidences of careful hus-
bandry, great forests, with here aud tlere
a clearing commenced, farm cottages, villas,
rich farmers palaces, log houses and sharties
are quickly passed by, and all We remember
Of them is that We have seen their like -
We obtain very imperfect idea of the
villages and even Of the cities We pass
through, the depots being located as they
generally are in the most out OF: the way
places to be found in the corporations, bu,
one will obtain very correct idea of good
breakfast who stops for that mealIat the
Railroad eating house at Toledo. Break


fast over, you dodge about amor g the
newsboys till you get both hands filled
with the morning papers, get your seat in
the cars again, and find everybody eating
winter-green leaves which are sold here by
The little girls at five cents a bunch
Leaving Toledo, the cars speed on through
the great State Of Ohio, towards Cleveland.
In about two hours We reach Oberlin; that
is certainly not the most prosperous looking
town We have passed through. We saw


no white ladies resting on the arms Of their
colored lords, but We saw enough of colored
pussons to convince US that we would n, yer
seek Oberln as place to r, side in There
is q great want of thrift manifested there in
the general appearance Of the buildings
throughout the town. Cleveland is reached
before noon, and after a few minutes stop
to transfer baggage, we are IF for Erie,
that spunky little city that had the pluck
to resist the powerful r r. corporations OF
| n T., and thus inaugurate the Railroad
war, and embitteied Horace Greeley against
the Citizens who tore up the track and
Obliged him to ride in sleigh for number
OF miles one very cold day. In going to
Dunkirk from Cleveland, We pass through
As fine country, inhabited by as indepen-
dent people as perhaps can be found from
the Atlantic to the prairies of the Great
West. Dunkirk reached, We begin to
recognize the freight cars of the Atlantic
& Great Western by the sense Of smell,
the odor arising from the immense amount
Of Kerosene Oil on the trains. The scenery
from here to New York is in many places
magnificent, but we pass through q great
portion of the State of New York in the
night-time-taking breakfast at Port Jarvis,
where one gets the worth of their money
and then after pleasant ride on mountain
side, hanging over lofty precipices, over


looking beautiful valleys through which
pass railroad, canal aad river, and contain.