Year: 1872

ALBANY, Nov. /, 1872.


whether Greeley or Grant, Herman or Dix be
elected, one thing II very certatn-that nothing
can hinder this Empire State from accomplishing
ne grandest destiny OF any Commonwealth OF
equal size on the globe. have been perfectly
amazed at the vast number Of Industrial ana pro-
Austive activities spread over the State. Who In
New York ever heard Of PhGnicia or Shandaken or
Nargaretsvilles Yet each has its mills and facto-
ytes its churches and school houses and the sound
Of the saw and hammer may be heard from morning
tin night In the streets OF these towns. They lie
but twenty or thirty miles back Of the Hudson and
+ md the name Of only one ont Of the
three upon the map. l have met little
towns In the interior where ! expected
nothing but drug store and blacksmith's shop
boasting Of iron mills and wo0llen factories. On
an hands were busy people, full Of life and hope.
Nowhere could see stagnation. In the smallest
and most out-ofthe-way village new buildings were
going up "a cheering sign Of progress). From the
nour and starch OF Oswego to the stone and ce-
ment Of Rondout, every sort OF industry was In
active play. There was no misery anywhere. At
Ill the political gatherings you saw nothing but
well clad, cheerfufaced people. The bitterness OF
politics was assuaged in the general consciousness
Of prosperity and happiness. To be Governor of
such State at such time is to I'LL post OF which
she most ambitious man might well feel proud.


A HIGH OLD TOwN-L'H0MNEs QUI BIT.


Twas in Poughkeepsie the night Secretary Bout
well spoke. The enthusiasm he evoked was an
enigma to me for some time. He is the last public
speaker, not even excepting my time-honored
friend Garrett Davis that should suspect as
being capable Of raising tumult Of popular ap-
plause. But he did it, and this is the solution Of
the mystery. Poughkeepsie town climbs hill that
mounts up from the river at the same rounded
slope as the paddle box Of q steamer. Top Of the
paddle box is the town proper, where everybody
who cares to be recognized as no relation to OAR
wins pet ancestor resides. At the summit
the air is exceedingly rarined. for
get the altitude but 1t is enough
to make feel frisky and disposed to leap frog,
base ball, walking tight ropes and such like ex-
hilarating pastimes. In ascending the paddle box
nom the station which is near the river, you feel
nike the traveller amid the Alps, or like Bunyan's
Pilgrim on his weary toll after salvation Ever and
anon you lean against lamp post and sigh for
that 'bestn hotel whose chimney tops you can just
perceive peeping over the distant summit. You
reach it and unfeeling wretch informs you sit is
half mile higher up, top o. the HILL"
Oh the top Of that weary hill Will
We ever reach it, or rather perish on
the waysde, eating bologna sausages in that vul-
gar lager beer saloon, with an ever-f0aming glass
painted on Its indigo blue window shade And
when finally you reach your haven Of rest and hap
piness you find yourself forced to excaim with the
preacher, IAN is vanity and vexation Of spirit.n
It Il the rar6ed character Of the atmosphere that
makes the Po'k'es so demonstratlve. wonder II
they win recognize this brief way OF designating
them as peope.) Poke is the way l see it cur
tailed on the railroad cards. A strange kind Of
mn md I'M Whv ~ mot nkoo0


A Amsn who lives top Of the hill in Poughkeepsie
considers himself top o. the heap and looks down
upon him who lives at the bottom. The uptown
people are truly the upper ten. They consider the
downtown folks dull clods, beer and gin suckers,
with low gravelling instincts, unacquainted with
the usages OF good society, without ambition or
aspiration, and 80 ON. The uptown people won't
vote for Grant, because he does as the downtown
people do-smokes and drinks GIN. Greeley Is more
to their taste because he is aesthetic and eschews
gin for oxygen. Up town, two men will come to-
gether and talk Greeley and Grant furiously for
an hour, yet laugh all the time. The
air has the effect Of laughing gas. When I got on
top Of the plateau I thought had reached the
celestial haven of the unatic world the people
were 30 abnormany lively; everybody laughing
and shaking hands. Some were dancing, but these
were Irish hack drivers who were trying to keep
their toes warm.


DBLUsrvE CASE OF JIM.JAMs.


1--WE have tremendous time here, SIR" observed
. citizen to me in feverishy nervous state OF body
ana mind.


Hooked at him for minute and inquired :-ssYou
are not anlicted at all S'


s.Afnicted with what ~ he angrily retorted.


"With the jim-jams."


"Ohi no; not by any means - and then he laughed
when he ought to have wept; but they all laugh
In the same way. You can't make them mad. l
wanted to see feneral, but there was none to be
had. They 60 down to the bottom OF the bill to die,
where the people are dull, miserable and mean-
ChOly, and will cry at moments notice. All this
accounts for the wild enthusiasm the people show
atpublic meetings, no matter who the speaker may
be. They are "pleased with . rattle. tickled with
. straw" all because OF the peculiar ratification
Of the atmosphere. The whiskey dealers do very
little business. Nature Is the chief stimulator.
THE PHILosoPHrC AND MATHEMATICAL cHARMRRs


OF vAsSAR COLLEGE.


was anxious to get the vote OF Vassar College
on Greeley and Grant, and repaired thither for
that purpose, but was very soon diverted from
my object by the bearing and appearance or the
ladies. One pupil Of twenty Summers, passing on
the road, sent cold chill all through mo. Sho wore
glasses and gaxed through them away into the
awful depths Of inhnity. thought OF Campbell's
dream that gave his vision strength to sweep
adown the gulf OF Time.~ Such q creature never
before beheld, nor never want to behold again. As
she strobe along straight as ramrod, and all un-
conscious OF being on top Of this miserable earth,
she seemed to be either mentally studying the
calculus, or suffering rom petrifaction OF
the backbone. vassar is q wonderful seat Of
learning In fact all the learning worth cent Is
stored mp there, and 1t Is shoveed into these deli
cate young ladies In immense quantities, to fatten
them up intellectually for the market. Mentally
they are perfectly obese in TRUTH one vassar girl
has enough learning to share with all Fifth avenue
and then enough left to start twenty academies OF
the common order, and still enough to spare to run
. religious Newspaper. Physically they are lean,
though they exercise on horseback and 20 through


wrnnaafic cxarciaas daily. huf than thor IA thaa<